CHAPTER XVI
POLLY AND ELEANOR START OUT
"Now let us hear all about those two strangers from New York?" Mr.
Brewster reminded his new guests, as they strolled away from the table.
"Well, it was as much a shock for us to find that they had been here and were now at a hospital in Denver, as it was for you to learn who they were," replied the doctor.
"I suspected some crooked work last week, but I must say that I never thought they would come out here on such a meager chance," added Mr.
Latimer. "You see, it was this way: I had a rascal employed in my office as clerk, but I never knew that he was in constant touch with Riggley & Ratzger--in fact was their stool-pigeon. He was a clerk in our offices just to get daily information about patents. And thus the other firm got hold of many tips.
"When the Court upheld us in our rights, and this firm of crooks tried in other ways to get that valuable patent and model, this clerk Brown made an accurate blue-print of the drawing we always kept locked in our safe. Then when he heard of our success in cutting the lava-jewels from the material sent us from Pebbly Pit, he did everything to locate this ranch.
"Had we wasted any time in planning to come West and meet you people here, I doubt not but that Riggley & Ratzger would have had a new scheme to hold us up. But we moved so swiftly after hearing from Kenneth and Tom, that they had to catch breath to keep up in the race.
"I am convinced that they hurried here with no set plans about the future--they wanted to get a hold on this place so as to try and bar us from immediate work, or perhaps, to make a fortune out of us by selling their option to us. They never dreamed that Latimer had a son right here, and that there was a deeper cause for our meeting you all than mere business reasons. Had either of these lawyers known about Montresor and that mine, they would not have spent so much time and money to get here to outwit us.
"It is fortunate that the doctor kept those letters at home where Brown could not read and copy them for his firm of rascals. But, to tell the truth, that was one reason why Dr. Evans was so anxious to meet you-all. We want to hear everything about the old man and that claim."
As Mr. Latimer finished speaking, Dr. Evans said: "If you will pardon me, a moment, I have here a photograph taken of my brother-in-law just before he left for the Klondike. Perhaps you will recognize something in the face to a.s.sure us it was your Montresor."
The doctor took out his large flat pocket-book and removed the card-photograph wrapped in tissue paper. This was pa.s.sed to Sam Brewster, who needed but a glance to tell him that the pictured face was the same man that he had defended so valiantly to others.
Polly ran over to her father"s side and took the picture. "Oh, you dear old friend--it is our Old Man Montresor, sure enough, but his hair was white when we knew him!" she exclaimed.
She impulsively kissed the senseless card, and every one smiled sympathetically, even though there was a suspicion of moisture in most eyes.
"I am so glad to find that he had good friends, somewhere, even though he was too proud to let any one know about his relatives. And Ken! I"m so glad to know that he, and you people, will all come in on Choko"s Find--or to be exact, it is Montresor"s Mine," said Polly.
"That"s going to be a fine tangle in law, Polly," remarked Mr. Latimer.
"You see, Montresor made you his sole heiress, so the mine is yours, not only by inheritance, but also by rediscovery after it was lost in the first land-slide.
"We stopped at Simms" office to-day--that is what made us late--and learned, without a doubt, that the two claims are the same. As it now stands, Polly and her friends are claim-jumpers on the same claim that Montresor bequeathed to Polly a few years ago. And should you all go to law over the tangle, the State of Colorado would benefit, in-as-much as the costs of an endless suit would fill the State coffers." Mr. Latimer laughed at the picture of such a thrilling law-tangle for his unraveling.
"But we are not going to law, and if that gold is mine so that no one else has any right to say what I can, or cannot do with it, I shall do what I always planned to do with it--even before Nolla and I found it again. I made up my mind that if ever one of dear old Montresor"s relatives appeared I would go halves. And if they wanted the whole thing--then they could take it, rather than fight for it. So now I am going to give half to your wife, right off, Doctor, and my other half I will divide with the girls who were with me when we located it again."
Polly was magnificent in her earnest generosity.
"Why, Miss Polly, my wife would never accept half of it. Ken wrote something of what you told him, and Mrs. Evans told me to be sure to tell you that you _cannot_ give half away. Besides, the fact that I will have so many friends willing to invest money in this device of mine, is better than all the gold in the Rockies. The jewel-cutter is now an a.s.sured success, and it will turn out dollars like a sausage grinder turns out that toothsome breakfast meat."
Every one laughed at the doctor"s funny comparison, and he continued: "However, let us hear from Tom and the others, how they managed to get down into the cave if it was buried under such mountains of trash."
"Oh, yes, John! You promised to tell us the moment Mr. Latimer and the doctor arrived," cried Eleanor, eagerly.
So without preamble, John began: "When Mike had made a temporary camp for us on Top Notch, he tried to show Tom and me just where the cave had been. But none other than a clever Indian scout could ever have found one familiar sign anywhere. Even Mike had to hunt and dig and trail around, again and again, before he gave a war-whoop.
"To cut it short, I will say, we found that the ravine upon which the cave opened, was completely filled with trash and, in fact, there were many feet of earth and timber on top of the ledge so that it would need a great deal of digging and blasting before we could hope to enter that cave again.
"But Tom and I had not been lazy during the time Mike was seeking for some sign to locate the cave. And after we learned how impossible it was to enter the mine at that side where the girls had gone in, Tom and I took scientific observations with our instruments, and finally, after tiresome days, found a rushing river that gushed from some underground source.
"We immediately remembered the pit Polly had told us of, and the rushing sound of waters she had heard when leaning over the edge of the pit, so we decided that here we had found the outlet.
"We could not determine how far the river traveled underground from the pit, until it came out in the open again, but we got Mike to come with us, and, daring fellow that he is, he crept into the tunnel that hooded the stream. We tried to dissuade him from taking such a risk, but he grinned and said: "Mike like fun."
"When he returned, half an hour later, he made us understand that we might follow quite safely. My! But that was some thrill, eh, Tom?"
laughed John, shivering delightfully at the reminiscence.
Tom laughingly admitted that it was a "hair-raiser" and John continued: "We managed to cling to the narrow ledge of rock that was less than a foot above the turbulent water, and even that must have been submerged most of the time, as it was damp and slippery. Mike said the recent land-slide had had some effect on lowering the water-line of the river and that was what left the rock exposed.
"We crept slowly along this foot-hold and soon realized that we were nearing some suction-hole. Mike explained that it was the very tube that rose to the rocky floor where Polly knelt that day. I couldn"t see where this journey was going to benefit us, but Mike knew.
"Reaching the tube that slanted upwards, so that we could see roots and stubborn vines growing out of its rocky walls, we also discovered that we had a flat s.p.a.ce of more than six feet square on which we were standing. Now Mike demonstrated what he proposed doing. All our threats, persuasions, and anger, left no impression. He smiled.
"He made us understand that he was about to scale the wall by means of those roots and vines. Should he miss and fall, the rope he tied about his body would keep him from being swept down into the current. He gave us the end of the rope to fasten to our waists. When he arrived at the top, he would draw us up, one after the other.
"He managed to land on top, but I"ll have to tell you-all some other time, all that happened before we reached the underground cave where the gold was shining from walls and ceiling. It is exactly as Polly described it, and we picked up a number of nuggets that were found in the dust of ages on the stone floor, and then tried to take scientific observations. Tom took a flash-light of the cave, and we had it developed, but it was not a howling success. Still, it shows something of the interior.
"When we got back to open air again, we noticed the vast mountain-top that sat down upon that gold-mine. This would have to be removed if we mined from the top. But I believe we can manage to work in through that tunnel and secure the gold by means of lifts in that tube. This is a matter of discussion. The gold is there and it can be gotten out, just so long as Old Grizzly will behave."
There was a general chorus of sighs when John had concluded his story, and as technical matters were taken up by the men, and in this the girls were not interested, they wandered away to enjoy the twilight.
During the days that followed, Barbara left Pebbly Pit, with no regrets on her part, and not very many on the part of her summer companions. She was not in her rightful place on a ranch, and every one was honest enough to admit it. But now she was going to join "her own" and she was happy.
Tom and John were the next to leave the happy circle at the ranch. But not until all plans about the incorporating of the two companies were perfected. Each man present at that meeting, signing up liberally to supply the money to launch the two big enterprises.
The evening before John and Tom were to go back to their engineering work with their old Crew, Polly and Eleanor were out on the terrace with Tom, talking eagerly of the plans made for mining the ore from Choko"s Find. From this subject it was quite natural for the girls to launch the subject of their antic.i.p.ated winter in New York City.
"I suppose you two girls will see quite a little of Jim and Ken, when you arrive in New York," ventured Tom, wistfully (or so it seemed to romantic Eleanor).
"They said so; Jim says New Haven is not so far from New York but that the two of them--I mean the boys not the cities," laughed Polly--"may be able to visit us every week-end. That will be great fun for us, won"t it, Tom?"
"I suppose so. I wonder if John would care for you to see so much of the two boys as you plan to," replied Tom, suggestively.
"Oh, John won"t care! Why should he?" retorted Polly.
"Why _shouldn"t_ he? He"s your brother and you are growing up to be a young lady, Polly; you must think of appearances, you know," said Tom.
Polly laughed merrily. "Why, Tom! One would think you were concerned about my future, the way you preach. Just like Daddy does."
Eleanor interpreted the speech to suit herself and watched Tom"s expression closely. Tom frowned at Polly"s laugh and bit his lip to restrain himself from further preachings.
"Besides," added Polly, in a few moments, "Jim is your own kid brother, and Ken is his pal. You-all say Ken is a jewel of a boy, so why should I worry about appearances" sake when I am with them?"
Tom refused to reply to her question, and Polly quickly forgot his strange remark. But Eleanor thought over various little incidents of the past few days, and finally decided to make a radical move for Tom.
"I"m going indoors, for a minute, children--will you excuse me?" said she, starting to leave the two alone.
"With the greatest of pleasure!" declared Tom, laughingly, to Eleanor.