He tossed off the drink, but when he looked for the chaser the barkeeper shook his head.
"No chasers," he said, "water is too blasted scarce--that"ll be three dollars and twenty-five cents."
"Charge it to ground-rent!" grinned Wunpost. "I"m the man that owns this claim. See you later--where"s Dusty Rhodes?"
"No--_cash_!" demanded the barkeeper, looking him coldly in the eye. "I"m in on this claim myself."
"Since when?" inquired Wunpost. "Maybe you don"t know who I am? I am John C. Calhoun, the man that discovered Wunpost; and unless I"m greatly mistaken you"re not in on anything--who gave you any t.i.tle to this ground?"
"Dusty Rhodes," croaked the saloon-keeper, and a curse slipped past Wunpost"s lips, though he knew that a lady was near.
"Well, d.a.m.n Dusty Rhodes!" he cried in a pa.s.sion. "Where is the crazy fool?"
He burst from the crowd just as Dusty came hurrying across from where he had been digging out ore; and for a minute they stood clamoring, both shouting at once, until at last Wunpost seized him by the throat.
"Who"s this old stiff with whiskers?" he yelled into his ear, "that thinks he owns the whole claim? Speak up, or I"ll wring your neck!"
He released his hold and Dusty Rhodes staggered back, while the crowd looked on in alarm.
"W"y, that"s Whiskers," explained Dusty, "the saloon-keeper down in Blackwater. I guess I didn"t tell you but he give me a grubstake and so he gits half my claim."
"_Your_ claim!" echoed Wunpost. "Since when was this your claim?
You doddering old tarrapin, you only own one-third of it--and that ain"t yours, by rights. How much do you claim, I say?"
"W"y--I only claim one third," responded Dusty weakly, "but Whiskers, he claims that I"m ent.i.tled to a half----"
"A half!" raged Wunpost, starting back towards the saloon. "I"ll show the old billygoat what he owns!"
He kicked over the bar with savage destructiveness, jerking up a tent-peg with each brawny hand, and as the old man cowered he dragged the tent forward until it threatened every moment to come down.
"Git out of here!" he ordered, "git off of my ground! I discovered this claim and it"s located in my name--now git, before I break you in two!"
"Here, here!" broke in Cole Campbell, laying a hand on Wunpost"s arm as the saloon-keeper began suddenly to beg, "let"s not have any violence.
What"s the trouble?"
"Why, this old spittoon-trammer," began Wunpost in a fury, "has got the nerve to claim half my ground. I"ve been beat out of one claim, but this time it"s different--I"ll show him who owns this ground!"
"I just claim a quarter of it!" snapped old Whiskers vindictively. "I claim half of Dusty Rhodes" share. He was working on my grubstake--and he was with you when you made your strike."
"He was not!" denied Wunpost, "he went off and left me. Did you find his name on the notice? No, you found John C. Calhoun and Williemeena Campbell, the girl that loaned me her mule. We"re the locators of this property, and, just to keep the peace, we agreed to give Dusty one third; but that ain"t a half and if you say it is again, out you go--I"ll throw you off my claim!"
"Well, a third, then," screeched Old Whiskers, holding his hands about his ears, "but for cripes" sake quit jerking that tent! Ain"t a third enough to give me a right to put up my tent on the ground?"
"It is if I say so," replied Wunpost authoritatively, "and if Williemeena Campbell consents. But git it straight now--we"re running this property and you and Dusty are _nothing_. You"re the minority, see, and if you make a crooked move we"ll put you both off the claim.
Can you git that through your head?"
"Well, I guess so," grumbled Whiskers, stooping to straighten up his bar, and Wunpost winked at the crowd.
"Set "em up again!" he commanded regally and all Blackwater drank on the house.
CHAPTER VI
CINCHED
Having established his rights beyond the peradventure of a doubt, the imperious Wunpost left Old Whiskers to recoup his losses and turned to the wide-eyed Wilhelmina. She had been standing, rooted to the earth, while he a.s.saulted Old Whiskers and Rhodes; and as she glanced up at him doubtfully he winked and grinned back at her and spoke from behind the cover of his hand.
"That"s the system!" he said. "Git the jump on "em--treat "em rough!
Come on, let"s go look at our mine!"
He led the way to Black Point, where the bonanza vein of quartz came down and was buried in the sand; and while the crowd gazed from afar they looked over their property, though Billy moved like one in a dream.
Her father was engaged in placating Dusty Rhodes and in explaining their agreement to the rest, and she still felt surprised that she had ever consented to accompany so desperate a ruffian. Yet as he knocked off a chunk of ore and showed her the specks of gold, scattered through it with such prodigal richness, she felt her old sense of security return; for he had never been rough with her. It was only with Old Whiskers, the grasping Blackwater saloon-keeper, and with the equally avaricious Dusty Rhodes--who had been trying to steal more than their share of the prospect and to beat her out of her third. They had thought to ignore her, to brush her aside and usurp her share in the claim; but Wunpost had defended her and protected her rights and put them back where they belonged. And it was for this that he had seized Dusty Rhodes by the throat and kicked down the saloon-keeper"s bar. But she wondered what would happen if, at some future time, she should venture to oppose his will.
The vein of quartz which had caught Wunpost"s eye was enclosed within another, not so rich, and a third mighty ledge of low-grade ore encased the two of them within its walls. This big d.y.k.e it was which formed the backbone of the point, thrusting up through the half-eroded porphyry; and as it ran up towards its apex it was swallowed and overcapped by the lava from the old volcanic cone.
"Look at that!" exclaimed Wunpost, knocking off chunk after chunk; and as a crowd began to gather he dug down on the richest streak, giving the specimens to the first person who asked. The heat beat down upon them and Campbell called Wilhelmina to the shelter of his makeshift tent, but on the ledge Wunpost dug on untiringly while the pocket-miners gathered about. They knew, if he did not, the value of those rocks which he dispensed like so much dirt, and when he was not looking they gathered up the leavings and even knocked off more for themselves. There had been hungry times in the Blackwater district, and some of this quartz was half gold.
An Indian wood-hauler came down from Wild Rose Spring with his wagon filled with casks of water, and as he peddled his load at two-bits a bucket the camp took on a new lease of life. Old Whiskers served a chaser with each drink of whiskey; coffee was boiled and cooking began; and all the drooping horses were banded together and driven up the canyon to the spring. It was only nine miles, and the Indians would keep on hauling, but already Wunpost had planned to put in a pipe-line and make Willie Meena a town. He stood by Campbell"s tent while the crowd gathered about and related the history of his strike, and then he went on with his plans for the mine and his predictions of boom times to come.
"Just you wait," he said, bulking big in the moonlight; "you wait till them Nevada boomers come. Things are dead over there--Keno and Wunpost are worked out; they"ll hit for this camp to a man. And when they come, gentlemen, you want to be on your ground, because they"ll jump anything that ain"t held down. Just wait till they see this ore and then watch their dust--they"ll stake the whole country for miles--but I"ve only got one claim, and I"m going to stay on it, and the first man that jumps it will get this."
He slapped the big pistol that he had borrowed from Wilhelmina and nodded impressively to the crowd; and the next morning early he was over at the hole, getting ready for the rush that was to come. For the news of the strike had gone out from Blackwater on the stage of the evening before, and the moment it reached the railroad it would be wired to Keno and to Tonopah and Goldfield beyond. Then the stampede would begin, over the hills and down into Death Valley and up Emigrant Wash to the springs; and from there the first automobiles would burn up the ground till they struck Wild Rose Canyon and came down. Wunpost got out a hammer and drill, and as he watched for the rush he dug out more specimens to show. Wilhelmina stood beside him, putting the best of them into an ore-sack and piling the rest on the dump; and as he met her glad smile he laid down his tools and nodded at her wisely.
"Big doings, kid," he said. "There"s some rock that"ll make "em scream.
D"ye remember what I said about Dusty Rhodes? Well, maybe I didn"t call the turn--he did just exactly what I said. When he got to Blackwater he claimed the strike was his and framed it up with Whiskers to freeze us out. They thought they had us jumped--somebody knocked down my monument, and that"s a State Prison offense--but I came back at "em so quick they were whipped before they knew it. They acknowledged that the claim was mine. Well, all right, kid, let"s keep it; you tag right along with me and back up any play that I make, and if any of these boomers from Nevada get funny we"ll give "em the gate, the gate!"
He did a little dance and Billy smiled back feebly, for it was all very bewildering to her. She had expected, of course, a certain amount of lawless conduct; but that Dusty Rhodes, an old friend of their family, should conspire to deprive her of her claim was almost inconceivable.
And that Wunpost should instantly seize him by the throat and force him to renounce his claims was even more surprising. But of course he had warned her, he had told her all about it, and predicted even bolder attempts; and yet here he was, digging out the best of his ore to give to these same Nevada burglars.
"What do you give them all the ore for?" she asked at last. "Why don"t you keep it, and we can pound out the gold?"
"We have to play the game, kid," he answered with a shrug. "That"s the way they always do."
"Yes, but I should think it would only make them worse. When they see how rich it is maybe someone will try to jump us--do you think Judson Eells will come?"
"Sure he"ll come," answered Wunpost. "He"ll be one of the first."
"And will you give him a specimen?"
"Surest thing--I"ll give him a good one. I believe that"s a machine, up the wash."
He shaded his eyes, and as they gazed up the winding canyon a monster automobile swung around the curve. A flash and it was gone, only to rush into view a second time and come bubbling and thundering down the wash.
It drew up before the point and four men leapt out and headed straight for the hole; not a word was said, but they seemed to know by instinct just where to find the mine. Wunpost strode to meet them and greeted them by name, they came up and looked at the ground; and then, as another machine came around the point, they asked him his price, for cash.
"Nothing doing, gentlemen," answered Wunpost. "It"s too good to sell.