"Well, I"ve been West all my life, and I"ve hired some smart lawyers, and I don"t know what an apex is yet. But in a general way it"s the high point of an ore-body--the highest place where it shows above ground. But the law works out like this: every time a man finds a mine and opens it up till it pays these apex sharps locate the high ground above him and contest the t.i.tle to his claim. You can"t do that in Mexico, nor in Canada, nor in China--this is the only country in the world where a mining claim don"t go straight down. But under the law, when you locate a lode, you can follow that vein, within an extension of your end-lines, under anybody"s ground. _Anybody"s_!"
He shifted his chair a little closer and fixed her with his fighting blue eyes.
"Now, just to show you how it works," he went on, "take me, for instance. I was just an ordinary ranch kid, brought up so far back in the mountains that the boys all called me Rimrock, and I found a rich ledge of rock. I staked out a claim for myself, and the rest for my folks and my friends, and then we organized the Gunsight Mining Company. That"s the way we all do, out here--one man don"t hog it all, he does something for his friends. Well, the mine paid big, and if I didn"t manage it just right I certainly never meant any harm. Of course I spent lots of money--some objected to that--but I made the old Gunsight pay.
"Then--" he raised his finger and held it up impressively as he marked the moment of his downfall--"then this McBain came along and edged into the Company and right from that day, I lose. He took on as attorney, but it wasn"t but a minute till he was trying to be the whole show.
You can"t stop that man, short of killing him dead, and I haven"t got around to that yet. But he bucked me from the start and set everybody against me and finally he cut out Lon Lockhart. There was a man, by Joe, that I"d stake my life on it he"d never go back on a friend; but he threw in with this lawyer and brought a suit against me, and just naturally took--away--my--mine!"
Rimrock"s breast was heaving with an excitement so powerful that the girl instinctively drew away; but he went on, scarcely noticing, and with a fixed glare in his eyes that was akin to the stare of a madman.
"Yes, took it away; and here"s how they did it," he went on, suddenly striving to be calm. "The first man I staked for, after my father and kin folks, was L. W. Lockhart over here. He was a cowman then and he had some money and I figured on bidding him in. So I staked him a good claim, above mine on the mountain, and sure enough, he came into the Company. He financed me, from the start; but he kept this claim for himself without putting it in with the rest. Well, as luck would have it, when we sunk on the ledge, it turned at right angles up the hill.
Up and down, she went--it was the main lode of quartz and we"d been following in on a stringer--and _rich_? Oh, my, it was rotten!"
He paused and smiled wanly, then his eyes became fixed again, and he hurried on with his tale.
"I was standing out in front of my office one day when Tuck Edwards, the boy I had in charge of the mine, came riding up and says:
""Rim, they"ve jumped you!"
""Who jumped me?" I says.
""Andrew McBain and L. W.!" he says and I thought at first he was crazy.
""Jumped our mine?" I says. "How can they jump it when it"s part their own already?"
""They"ve jumped it all," he says. "They had a mining expert out there for a week and he"s made a report that the lode apexes on L. W."s claim."
"I couldn"t believe it. L. W.? I"d made him. He used to be nothing but a cowman; and here he was in town, a banker. No, I couldn"t believe it; and when I did it was too late. They"d taken possession of the property and had a court order restraining me from going onto the grounds. Not only did they claim the mine, but every dollar it had produced, the mill, the hotel, everything! And the judge backed them up in it--what kind of a law is that?"
He leaned forward and looked her in the eyes and Mary Fortune realized that she was being addressed not as a woman, impersonally, but as a human being.
"What kind of a law is that?" he demanded sternly and took the answer for granted.
"That cured me," he said. "After this, here"s the only law I know."
He tapped his pistol and leaned back in his chair, smiling grimly as she gazed at him, aghast.
"Yes, I know," he went on, "it don"t sound very good, but it"s that or lay down to McBain. The judges are no better--they"re just promoted lawyers----"
He checked himself for she had risen from her chair and her eyes were no longer scared.
"Excuse me," she said, "my father was a judge." And Rimrock reached for his hat.
"Whereabouts?" he asked, groping for a chance to square himself.
"Oh--back East," she said evasively, and Rimrock heaved a sigh of relief.
"Aw, that"s different," he answered. "I was just talking about the Territory. Well, say, I"ll be moving along."
He rose quickly, but as he started for the door a rifle-cartridge fell from his torn pocket. It rolled in a circle and as he stooped swiftly to catch it the bullet came out like a cork and let spill a thin yellow line.
"What"s that?" she asked as he dropped to his knees; and he answered briefly:
"Gold!"
"What--real gold?" she cried rapturously, "gold from a mine? Oh, I"d like----"
She stopped short and Rimrock chuckled as he scooped up the elusive dust.
"All right," he said as he rose to his feet, "I"ll make you a present of it, then," and held out the cartridge of gold.
"Oh, I couldn"t!" she thrilled, but he only smiled encouragingly and poured out the gold in her hand.
"It"s nothing," he said, "just the clean-up from a pocket. I run across a little once in a while."
A panic came over her as she felt the telltale weight of it, and she hastily poured it back.
"I can"t take it, of course," she said with dignity, "but it was awful good of you to offer it, I"m sure."
"Aw, what do we care?" he protested lightly, but she handed the corked cartridge back. Then she stood off and looked at him and the huge man in overalls became suddenly a Croesus in her eyes.
"Is that from your mine?" she asked at last and of a sudden his bronzed face lighted up.
"You bet it is--but look at this!" and he fetched a polished rock from his pocket. "That"s azurite," he said, "nearly forty per cent. copper!
I"m not telling everybody, but I find big chunks of that, and I"ve got a whole mountain of low-grade. What"s a gold mine compared to that?"
He gave her the rich rock with its peac.o.c.k-blue coloring and plunged forthwith into a description of his find. Now at last he was himself and to his natural enthusiasm was added the stimulus of her spellbound, wondering eyes. He talked on and on, giving all the details, and she listened like one entranced. He told of his long trips across the desert, his discovery of the neglected mountain of low-grade copper ore; and then of his enthusiasm when in making a cut he encountered a pocket of the precious peac.o.c.k-blue azurite. And then of his scheming and hiring American-born Mexicans to locate the whole body of ore, after which he engaged them to do the discovery work and later transfer the claims to him. And now, half-finished, with no money to pay them, and not even food to keep them content, the Mexicans had quit work and unless he brought back provisions all his claims would go by default.
"I"ve got a chance," he went on fiercely, "to make millions, if I can only get t.i.tle to those claims! And now, by grab, after all I"ve done for "em, these pikers won"t advance me a cent!"
"How much would it cost?" she asked him quickly, "to finish the work and pay off the men?"
"Two thousand dollars," he answered wearily. "But it might as well be a million."
"Would--would four hundred dollars help you?"
She asked it eagerly, impulsively, almost in his ear, and he turned as if he had been struck.
"Don"t speak so loud," she implored him nervously. "These women in the hotel--they"re listening to everything you say. I can hear all right if you only whisper--would four hundred dollars help you out?"
"Not of your money!" answered Rimrock hoa.r.s.ely. "No, by G.o.d, I"ll never come to that!"
He started away, but she caught him by the arm and held him back till he stopped.
"But I want to do it!" she persisted. "It"s a good thing--I believe in it--and I"ve got the money!"
He stopped and looked at her, almost tempted by her offer; then he shook his great head like a bull.
"No!" he said, talking half to himself. "I won"t do it--I"ve sunk low enough. But a woman? Nope, I won"t do it."