Harry was speedily thrown from the bouncing drag, but he clung to the lines. Having careered, plunging and tugging and side-stepping, until she was astraddle of the outside trace, Jenny stopped. Duke, who had been bawling and galloping, half hauled, half frightened, stopped likewise, the yoke crooked on his neck; and all stood heaving.
"This"ll never do," panted Harry. "Jenny"s too fast for him--either her legs are too long or his are too short. We"ll have to train them singly and hitch them tandem. That"s it: tandem."
"You mean one in front of the other?" wheezed Terry.
"Yes."
"Which where, then?"
"Oh, Jenny for the wheel team and Duke for the lead team, I think,"
decided Harry. "By rights, Jenny ought to have the lead, because she"s faster; and Duke ought to have the pole, because he"s heavier. But Jenny is quick-tempered with her heels, you know, and Duke is quick-tempered with his head, so we"d best keep their tempers separated. We can teach Duke to "haw" and "gee," but Jenny"s main accomplishment is simply to "haw-haw.""
"Here comes George," announced Terry. "Now he"ll "haw-haw," too."
Through the gloaming another boy was loping in, on a spotted pony. He was a wiry, black-eyed boy--George Stanton, from the Stanton ranch some two miles down the valley.
"Whoop-ee! Which way you going?" he challenged. "What is it--a show?"
"Going to Pike"s Peak," retorted Terry.
"Tonight? With that team? Aw----!"
"Pretty soon, though. We"re practising."
"Watch us, and you"ll see us drive to the corral," invited Harry. "Let"s turn "em around, Terry. Easy, now. I"ll hold Jenny back and you hurry Duke."
"I"ll help," proffered the obliging George. "Gwan, Duke."
"Duke! Gwan!" ordered Terry.
"Whoa, Jenny! Steady, Jenny!" cautioned Harry.
With Harry hauling on the lines, George, pony-back, pressing against Duke"s shoulder, and Terry urging him at the flank, they all managed to achieve a half circle. Duke, his eyes bulging with rage and alarm, occasionally balked; Jenny flattened her ears and shook her scarred head; but finally the corral bars were really reached. It seemed like quite a victory.
"First lesson ended," decreed Harry. "Too dark, and we"re tired if they aren"t. We"ll put "em in together and they can talk it over."
Released into the corral, neither Jenny nor Duke appeared to be in very good humor. Duke rumbled and pawed, flinging the dirt; Jenny laid her ears and bared her teeth. Suddenly Duke charged; whereat Jenny nimbly whirled, and met him with both hind hoofs. Aside staggered Duke, to stand a moment, glaring at her and rumbling; then he turned and stalked stiffly to the other end of the enclosure. Jenny "hee-hawed" shrill and derisive, and kneeling down, rolled and kicked; scrambled up, shook herself, and began to nose about for husks.
"Now they understand each other," remarked Harry. "They"ve agreed to pull singly."
"Say--are you fellows really going to Pike"s Peak?" asked George. "With that team?"
"Yes, sir-ee. We"re in training, aren"t we, Terry?" responded Harry.
"That"s right. Dad said if we"d find our own outfit we could strike out."
"We"ve got the fever, too, sort of, down at our house," confessed George. "That"s what I rode up about. Now I guess I"d better go back and tell the folks. Maybe I can join you," he added, waxing excited.
"The more the merrier. That will make twenty-five thousand and three,"
laughed Harry.
"If I can"t, I"ll be coming later," called back George.
"We"ll locate a claim for you," promised Terry, grandly--as if he and Harry were already on the way.
CHAPTER II
THE "PIKE"S PEAK LIMITED"
"I"ll tell you what I"ll do," spoke Terry"s father, finally. "I"ll lend you $100--"grub-stake" you, as they say, from the dust that I fetched back last winter. That"s half. And I"m to have half interest in whatever you find."
"Hum! This sounds like a good business proposition, if you mean it,"
accepted Harry, scratching his nose.
"Do you mean it, Dad?" cried Terry, overjoyed. "Supposing we find your mine. Do we get half of that?"
"That"s part yours, anyway. But I don"t think you"ll find it unoccupied.
Doubt if you find it at all. You"ll likely meet up with some of the Russell brothers out there, though. You might ask Green Russell or Oliver or the doctor if they have any recollection of my being along with "em, one of their Fifty-eighters, by name of Jones, and if they remember where I got the dust. Yes, I mean it: you and Harry"ll need supplies, and you ought to have a little cash in hand besides."
"But we can go to digging gold, the first day we get there, can"t we?"
argued Terry.
"You might be a bit awkward and break a pick or shovel, and want a new one," remarked his father, drily.
Anyway, the $100 was not to be sneezed at. To be sure, Harry, with Terry a.s.sisting, had proceeded right ahead making ready. He was a wonder, was Harry. He had brought the two wagon-wheels from the mud-hole, and (Terry helping) had constructed a two-wheeled cart: had fitted a shallow body on the axle-tree and attached a pair of long heavy shafts. Jenny was to haul in the shafts, and the chains of Duke were to be run back to stout eye-bolts.
"You see," reasoned Harry, "some days when Jenny is tired and wishes to stop, Duke will be pulling the cart and she"ll have to come along whether or no."
Jenny"s collar and Duke"s wooden bow and single yoke (manufactured to suit the case, from cast-off materials) were rough and ready, but no worse than the rest of the harness. However, on the whole Harry was rather proud of his work, and Terry was rather proud of Harry. Just now they were engaged in stretching a canvas hood over the cart.
As for Jenny, the yellow mule, and Duke, the half-buffalo--their days, of late, had been exciting ones. While they were being trained to haul tandem the ranch yard had resembled a circus-ring, much to the alarm of Terry"s mother, and to the entertainment of Terry"s father and the Stantons.
George and Virgie (who was his little sister) came up, whenever they could, to watch the preparation; and Mr. Stanton was considerably interested, himself. But George was more than interested; he was roundly sceptical--also, as anybody might see, envious.
"Aw, you don"t think you"re ever going to get there with that contraption, do you?" he challenged. "A rickety old cart, and an old mule and a half-buffalo! You"ll bust down."
"I"d rather bust down than bust up," retorted Terry.
"It"ll take you a year. Look at how your wheels wobble." And George added, somewhat oddly: "Wish I was going."
"If it"ll take us a year, you might as well wait and come on with your own folks later," reminded Harry. "You"ll probably travel in style, and pa.s.s us."
"That"s right," hopefully answered George. "We"ll pa.s.s you during the summer. You see if we don"t."
"Said the hare to the tortoise," gibed Harry. "Terry and Jenny and Duke and I may be slow, but we"re powerful sure--if our wheels keep turning."