Terry delayed not in washing his panful while he had the permission. It yielded fully as much yellow as had George"s! Whew! They had struck rich pay-dirt, at last, and--shucks! It belonged to somebody else.
However----
"Keep it, keep it," bade the German, with grand gesture. "It is not worth my bodder. I haf plenty. I gif you so much, but I do not want you to steal it."
So they carefully sc.r.a.ped the treasure into George"s new buckskin sack already open. "We"ll divvy," proposed George, "but let me carry it, will you?"--and accompanied the German down the main gulch.
"Ja," he explained, to Terry, "I did start myself back an" I sell you an" dot odder partner my sacks an" my tools an" my sauerkraut. An" den, when dose stages begin to pa.s.s me, an" peoples begin to come, I t"ink maybe I was one fool again, so I turn "round."
"How did you get in here, though?" asked Terry. "Are you the first? Did anybody else come with you?"
"Ja, I am the first. No, n.o.body else come--joost me an" my family an" my wagon an" my oxen. People said "the mountains, the mountains, the gold is not at Cherry Creek, it is in the mountains"; so we go into de mountains, an" we climb up an" we climb down, an" when we get to where dere is plenty gold, we stop. Dose fellers in dot odder gulch dey come later, but I pay no attention to dem, except when one is in my gulch an"
den I drive him out."
How the Lightning Express ever had managed to achieve all that "climbing up" and "climbing down" until it finally arrived here in this remote spot, Terry could not figure out--and the German seemed not to know, himself. He certainly had earned his luck. He had spoken truly, too, for now the gulch widened, and there, before, was his headquarters--a homelike camp, with the two oxen grazing, and the wagon whose torn top still displayed the legend "Litening Express," and a bough-roofed dug-out, and a clothes-line with washing waving from it, and his family hovering around the cook stove set under a tree.
"I find my cook stove an" pick him up," he announced. "Ja, we haf lots to eat, but no sauerkraut. Only deers an" boof"lo an" chickens an"
fishes."
The menu sounded very alluring, the Mrs. German and all the six girls, even the youngest, smiled welcome, and the two guests were disposed to stay for the promised supper. But first their host, who seemed extraordinarily good-natured and hospitable, mysteriously beckoned them aside; led them to the wagon.
"Now I show you somet"ings," he said. "Let"s get in mit us." He laboriously clambered in under the hood. They followed.
Evidently the wagon was being used as a sleeping place, for the feather tick and blankets were spread, and two red-flannel night-caps hung against the frame-work. The German turned back the blankets and tick part way and exposed several fat gunny sacks wedged in amidst other stuff, all of which formed a floor.
"Dere!" he grunted. "Isn"t it? Ja! I told you once I fill my sacks. Now I do so."
"What"s in "em?" blurted George.
"Gold. My gold."
George"s eyes bulged; Terry heard him pant, and he caught his breath himself.
"In every sack?"
"Ja." One of the sacks had a rent in the upper side. The German inserted his fingers and thumb and extracting some of the contents, displayed the sample in his pudgy, calloused palm. The sample was black sand, all yellowed and asparkle with glittering grains.
"I wash him cleaner when I get time," announced the German. "First I fill all my sacks up tight. Den maybe it winter an" I must go away. My wife an" I an" two leetle girls sleep in here on top; dose odder girls sleep under; n.o.body get my gold. I fill my sacks in my wagon, an" some day I hitch up my oxen an" drive off alretty." He smoothed down the bed again, over the treasure. "I am a smart man. I save some sacks, dot time when I sell."
"But you"ve got millions!" exclaimed Terry. "I should think you"d go out instead of staying. You can"t use that gold here."
"It is notting," a.s.serted the German. "My gulch is so much gold I cannot dig him fast enough. If I go away somebody come in an" steal." He blinked at Terry with his fat eyes. "Maybe I sell, to goot boys who would stay an" watch while I go an" come back. Den we could all work togedder."
"Sell all the gulch?"
"No, no. Maybe I sell one piece. I sell dot piece where you wash out dose pans. I haf plenty more an" I do not like to walk so far. I sell him cheap--it is notting to me, but I will not be stolen from. I sell him to goot boys for $100."
"One hundred dollars!" gasped Terry and George. They could scarcely believe their ears.
"Ja. So cheap. I will not gif him away. It is better for boys to pay a leetle somet"ings, an" when dey haf bought, den dey haf rights. One hoondred dollar--you bring in dot odder partner an" dig all you want to an" you watch my gulch, an" when I come back we all dig togedder an" get rich."
"But how much land will be ours to dig in?"
"I do not care," and the German airily waved his hand. "Dere will be t"ree of you? I sell you the right to six hoondred feet. Dot is two hoondred feet apiece. Ja. An" you watch an" don"t you let anybody steal."
Terry looked at George. George was fairly purple with excitement.
"Guess we"d better take it."
"Guess we had," agreed George, gruffly.
"That"s a bargain, then."
"We haven"t got a hundred dollars here, though," stammered Terry, to the German. "We"ll go back to Gregory Gulch right away and get it, and get our partner, and we"ll hustle in here."
"Dot"s all right," agreed the German. "Dot"s all right. You are goot boys. I wait. I haf one sack not yet full alretty."
"We won"t stay for supper," proclaimed Terry. "We"ll hustle. It"s nearly dark, anyway. Come on, George!"
He piled out. George piled out. The German rather tumbled out. They grabbed their tools. "Goot-bye, goot-bye," answered the German, and in a moment they were hurrying down the gulch.
"We"ll sell the Gregory claims," panted Terry. "Sell to Ike. That"s where we"ll get the hundred dollars."
"Sure," panted George. "Talk about your pound a day! We"ll make more than that in here."
"I should say! Reckon we washed out ten dollars in just those two pans."
"And there"ll be millions!"
"That German has a million now!"
"Wait till we tell Harry about the sacks."
"Not a word of this to those Tarryall and Grab-all folks. Keep mum!"
"You bet. Don"t want any stampede. We"ll pretend we"re going out disgusted."
"Wonder if the German expects us to stay in all winter?"
"We don"t care. We can build a cabin and kill buffalo and deer."
"And pile up the sand and wash cleaner after the snow comes."
"Shall we start tonight? Ought to be making tracks."
"N-no," said Terry. "It"ll be dark before we can pack up. Shucks!"
For the sun had set early behind the high peaks and already the dusk was creeping into the hollows.