CHAPTER XXI
FALSE SECURITY
Only those, probably very few of you, who have ever taken part in agold rush can understand and appreciate the wild excitement thatprevailed when the flashing lights revealed the rock of the cave to beseamed and studded with yellow veins and patches. It aroused even themost lethargic of the cowboys. And, truth to tell, none of them werevery strongly of that type. They were accustomed to live amidexcitement of one kind or another, and this was but a new sort.
"Gold! Gold!" was the exulting murmur on all sides.
"There's enough here to make us all rich!" cried Yellin' Kid, his loudvoice echoing through the cavern.
"No more ridin' fence for me!" cried Snake.
"Me, I'm going to have one of them pianos that plays itself!" declaredBillee, whose soul, hitherto, had been obliged to get its feast ofmusic from a mouth organ.
"And look where them hombres have been takin' out our gold!" exclaimedYellin' Kid as he flashed his light on a wall where, unmistakably,excavating had been going on. There were signs of new digging in therock and dirt of the cave's sides and the ground beneath showed alitter of debris.
"You ought to make 'em pay for all they took out!" declared Snake toBud.
"Maybe it would be a good idea to catch 'em first," suggested Dick,quietly.
"Well, that's so. We'll do that after we have begun to dig out thegold," decided the cowboy. "Oh, boy! Look at the yaller stuff!" andhe picked up what seemed to be a nugget of great value. It was ofgleaming yellow and heavy in his hand.
The boy ranchers were no whit less excited than their older companions.But perhaps the finding of the gold mine, in which, knowing Mr.Merkel's generosity, the cowboys believed they all would share, meantmore to the older men than it did to the boys. The latter were, in asense, owners of the ranch and were not doomed to days and nights ofhard work on the range. There was a brighter future before them,because of their advantageous position, than there was ahead of Billeeand the others. Up to now the old cowboys had seen nothing but a hardlife (though there were enjoyable spots here and there) and theycounted on dying with their boots on, not from violence, perhaps, somuch as from wearing out at their labors. Now they saw a chance ofgetting rich quickly, or, if not exactly rich, at least of gaining acompetence.
No wonder they were excited.
"Boy howdy! I can't hardly believe it!" shouted Yellin' Kid. "Firsttime I was ever on a ranch that developed gold!"
"It's the first for me, too," said Bud.
"What's the best thing to do?" asked Nort, of no one in particular.
"Hadn't the boss better file a claim of discovery?" suggested a cowboywho said he had once lived in California.
"He don't need to file nothin'!" declared Billee. "This gold is foundon Mr. Merkel's land. Everything on the land is hissen. He can workthe gold mine same as he can his cattle ranges."
That seemed to be the consensus of opinion and it was decided that allremaining to be done was to inform Bud's father of the discovery, startto work the claim and take the profit.
"And clean out them rascals!" added Billee.
"Oh, sure!" agreed Bud. "It's queer, though," he went on as he flashedhis light about the cave, "that if gold has been here since thebeginning, as it must have, that the secret of it only just now gotout. And if the gang that's been working this mine has been shootingout poison gas to keep people away from here, why didn't some rumor ofthis gold strike filter out before?"
"There's something wrong," declared Billee. "I don't believe thedeaths that took place in this here valley, from the time I knowedabout 'em, had anything to do with this gold cave. I'm sure theydidn't. And, what's more, this claim has only been worked recent like.You can tell that by the fresh marks of the digging."
This was plain to all, and the more they thought of it the more of apuzzle it was. Clearly poison gas, if such it was, had only recentlybeen used to guard the approach to the cave. What, then, was theexplanation of the former mysterious deaths?
But the boys and their friends were so excited over the discovery ofthe yellow metal that they gave little heed to this phase of thematter. All the talk had to do with getting out the ore and findinghow much it assayed to the ton.
"But we can't let the cattle business slide; can we?" asked Dick, as heand most of the others prepared to depart. A guard was to be left inthe cave, and sufficient food and supplies would be sent them to enablethem to remain on constant duty.
"Oh, no, we won't give up the cattle business," decided Bud. "We'llwork that and the mine, too."
Mr. Merkel was duly astonished when, that night, his son succeeded ingetting in touch with him over the long-distance telephone from LosPompan. Bud found a booth to talk from which insured his conversationnot being broadcast in the town. If news of the gold strike got out itmight mean a rush. Not that any land around the gulch or cave could bepreempted by others, for it was all on Mr. Merkel's ranch. But noteverybody would respect his property rights and there might be trouble.
"Are you sure it's gold, son?" asked the ranchman over the wire.
"Why of course it is, Dad. What else could it be?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to make sure before I start a torch-lightprocession. I'll send you out a good mining man. Don't do anythinguntil he arrives, and keep your shirts on--all of you."
"All right, Dad. I know what you mean. We won't broadcast it."
"Better not. There might be a slip-up, you know."
"I don't see how there can be, but we'll keep it mum."
Busy days followed at Dot and Dash. While the cattle business was notpassed up, Bud and his cousins devoted all their time to the discoveryin the cave, and let the new cowboys attend to the shipping and care ofthe cattle. Some of the yellow ore was dug out and taken to the ranchhouse to await the arrival of the mining expert. Meanwhile it wascarefully guarded.
Covering several days a careful exploration of the cave had been madewithout discovering any of the enemy. There were several exits fromthe cavern, and it was surmised that the "gas gang," as they weredubbed, had escaped by one of these.
"But as long as they're gone, we haven't anything to worry about," saidBud. "We're sitting pretty now."
"Nothing to worry about," added Nort.
"And I guess we won't find any more dead cattle," said Dick. "It musthave been some of the gas they were experimenting with that killed thecows and Sam's horse."
"Sure!" assented Bud.
Thus were the boys lulled into a false security, and their fond dreamswere not shattered for several days. It was on the afternoon of theday before the mine expert was to arrive that Bud, Nort and Dick,riding toward the cave to find out how matters were progressing there,saw, on a hillside some distance away from the glen, a number ofmotionless lumps.
"Looks like some of the steers from the main herd had strayed and weretaking a siesta," suggested Nort.
"Yes," admitted Bud, slowly. "But I wonder----"
Suddenly he put spurs to his pony and dashed toward the dark objects.His cousins followed and as they got near enough they saw that thecows, far from taking a siesta, were in their last sleep.
"They're dead!" exclaimed Bud. "Dead same as the others were--fromgas, or something. Boys, that gang is back again!"
"Then it's all up with the men on guard at the mine!" cried Nort.