CHAPTER I
A MEETING OF FRIENDS
As the train drew slowly into the Helena station Jack's eyes searchedthe platform, looking for Hugh, and in a moment he recognized the tallform, standing well back from the crowd and looking at the platform ofeach car as it passed.
"Hurrah, Hugh!" called Jack, as he waved his hand frantically; but hehad to jump down to the platform and elbow his way through the crowdbefore Hugh's eye caught his.
"Well, son," said Hugh, as he grasped his hand in a firm clasp, "I suream glad to see you. I only got here last night myself, but it's been along day waiting around here alone, and I was afraid that maybe youwouldn't come on this train."
"Well," replied Jack, "I'm mighty glad to get here. I was a littleafraid that maybe something might have happened to keep you, and that Ishould have to do the waiting. It's all right now though, and I hope wecan get off to-morrow. I don't want to stop in towns any more than youdo, and I guess we shall both be glad to get into camp."
"Sure, we will," said Hugh. "Now, what have you in the way of baggage?Of course you've got your bed, and I see your gun and bag in your hand.I've got a room at the Merchants' Hotel, and I reckon we might as wellgo up there, and then after you've eaten we can see the sights."
"Well," said Jack, "I've got a small trunk and my bed, and we can packthose up to the hotel, and then I'll put the stuff I need in my bed andmy war bag and we'll be all ready for the stage whenever it goes."
"All right," said Hugh, "I reckon we better take one of these hackshere, and the man can put your things on top, while we ride inside. Itisn't much of a walk up to the hotel, only about a mile, but maybe we'dbetter get there as quick as we can and have our dinner and attend toour business, and then we won't have anything on our minds."
Before long they were rolling rapidly over the smooth road toward thetown, which stands at some distance from the railroad. As they passedalong, Jack saw, to the right, enormous piles of cobblestones extendingfor half a mile or more toward the town. For some time he looked at themwith curiosity, and then asked Hugh what they were.
"Why, don't you know?" Hugh replied. "That's the old placer ground thatthey used to work over when this camp was first settled. Last ChanceGulch they called it. That gravel and rock that you see there came outof the sluice boxes. Every little while, I'm told, a man comes down herenow and works over some of that gravel, and they say that to-day there'sfair wages to be made mining right here in the town. I've heard thatthere are some Chinamen that work these gravels right along. There's aheap of gold been taken out of that gulch, but, of course, just how muchnobody knows. Every now and then, in digging the foundations of a housein town, some man will turn up a little nugget of gold, and then allthe workmen quit digging and begin to pan out the foundations."
"That seems queer, Hugh, doesn't it? I suppose the same thing happens inlots of places along the Rocky Mountains, because a great many of thebig towns now stand where old mining camps used to be."
"Yes," said Hugh, "that's surely true. There's lots of gold left in thesides of these hills yet, even after the miners have been over thedirt."
"What kind of a trip did you have coming up, Hugh?" asked Jack. "Didanything happen on the road?"
"No," replied Hugh; "nothing of any account. Joe drove me in to therailroad with my stuff. He had to come in for a load of groceries and akeg of nails, and I took the train west to Ogden, and that little narrowgauge road up to Garrisons, and then came east on the main line. I waskind of scared that maybe I'd get lost, making so many changes; buteverybody I met was mighty pleasant spoken, and I didn't have a mite oftrouble. Of course you know what I saw on the road, for you and I wentback that same way two years ago, when we came back from the coast."
By this time they were climbing the hills of the town, and a momentlater the hack stopped in front of the Merchants' Hotel. Jack got aroom, in which his things were put, and the two friends went down todinner.
After this was over, it took Jack but half an hour to get from his trunkand pack in his bag the few things that he needed for his trip, and thenhe and Hugh sallied out and took a long walk out of town, into the highhills which overlook Helena and the great flat through which the riverflows.
On the way back they passed the stage office and arranged for two seatson the box of the stage that left the next morning.
"It ain't much use for you to engage these seats," said the man in theoffice; "I don't believe there's ary person going out to-morrow morningexcept you two, still I'll put your names down for the two seats on thebox if you like. It can't do no harm, anyhow. You have your stuff downhere to-morrow morning any time after seven o'clock and we'll take careof it and see that it goes on the stage."
Their long walk had given Hugh and Jack a good appetite and theyheartily enjoyed their supper. After they had eaten they started outagain and walked through the brilliantly lighted streets, looking in atthe windows of shops and saloons, each of which seemed to be full ofcustomers. The air was mild and balmy and the beautiful night hadbrought many people into the street.
As they passed an open door, from which shone a bright light, Jacklooked in and saw people sitting at tables playing cards, while towardthe back of the room was a long narrow table surrounded by men whoseemed greatly interested in what was going on.
"What are they doing in there, Hugh?" said Jack.
"Why, I reckon that's a gambling house," was the reply. "You knowthere's no law against gambling in most of these Montana towns, the wayI hear there is in towns back East. Everybody is free to go in and playif he wants to."
"I've never been in a gambling house, Hugh. Can't we go in and look on?I'd like to see what they are doing."
"Why, yes," said Hugh; "there's no harm in going in and looking on. Thatisn't the sort of thing that I would do for fun, but there's no harm init and you may see something that will teach you a good lesson. I neverwas much on gambling myself. I never had much money to lose, and I neverwanted to win anybody else's. It never seemed to me quite square to takemoney without you worked for it. I never could see the sense of betting,either; but, come on; let's go in."
Hugh led the way into the room, and Jack followed. The people playing atthe various tables and those overlooking the game paid no attention tothem. All were intent on their own affairs. Hugh walked around to oneend of the long table and gradually edged his way into the crowd, gentlypushing men this way and that in so good-natured a fashion that no oneobjected to it. Jack kept close behind him, and presently, when Hugh hadreached a point where he had a good view of the table, he squeezed backa little and let Jack pass in and stand in front of him.
Behind the table sat a man smoking a long cigar, while in front of himwas a little silver box about the size of a playing card, from which atshort intervals the man drew two cards, one after another, which heplaced on two little piles by the box. In the middle of the table was along frame on which were painted representations of cards, and on thesecards, in various positions, were placed circular disks, white, red, andblue. The players placed these disks on the cards, and then when twocards came out of the box, sometimes the dealer took over to his side ofthe table the chips that were on a particular card, or else put on thatcard as many more chips as were already on it. Then the player usuallyremoved these chips and put some or all of them on another card. Most ofthe people about the table appeared to be acquainted with each other,and those who spoke to the dealer seemed to know him, calling him by hisfirst name. For some minutes Jack watched the game intently and began tohave a glimmering idea of how it was played. Once or twice he whispereda question to Hugh, but Hugh shook his head for silence, and one or twoof the people near by looked frowningly at the speaker. "Evidently,"Jack thought, "this is not a place for conversation."
As they stood there, the crowd in the room increased; more and morepeople gathered around the faro table; the smoke in the air grewthicker, and there was the sound of more or less hum and bustle.Presently Jack felt a hand on his shoulder, and looking
back at Hugh sawhim move his head toward the door, and the two pushed their way throughthe crowd and out again into the street.
"Might as well get away from there," said Hugh; "they are playing prettyheavy. Two or three men came in that were full of liquor, and it looksto me as if there might be trouble in there to-night. There's no specialreason why we should be there if there's going to be any shooting."
"No," said Jack, "I should say not. It's about the last place in whichI'd want to be shot, a gambling house."
"Yes," said Hugh, "you're dead right about that. I don't know as I'dmind about being killed if I had to be killed, but I'd like to have itdone in the right sort of a place."
"Is there much of that thing going on in town, Hugh?" asked Jack.
"Right smart," said Hugh. "I reckon from what I saw last night and fromwhat I hear that there must be twenty-five or thirty places like that,and maybe a good many more that are not as decent as that one."
"Well," said Jack, "do men lose much money there?"
"I reckon they do," answered Hugh. "A whole lot more than they canafford, even if the game is straight. There's quite a percentage infavor of the dealer and a good many of the games are not straight."
"How do you mean, Hugh?" said Jack. "Do the gamblers cheat?"
"Yes," said Hugh, "I reckon they do. Some of those fellows are awfulslick at dealing and shuffling. They can shuffle the cards just aboutthe way they want them, so that they know just what card is coming outnext, and if they see the bets are going against them they can slip twocards out of the box instead of one and make themselves win instead oflose."
"But," said Jack, "I should think they would get caught at it."
"No," said Hugh, "scarcely ever; and if a man does see anything crooked,it's only his word against the dealer's, and the dealer is apt to havetwo or three friends around the table who will talk for him. If theworst comes to worst, why, of course, the dealer has got to draw quick,and usually he is a man who can do that."
"Do you mean shoot, Hugh?" said Jack.
"Well, yes," said Hugh; "sometimes it comes to that, though generallythe dealer can bluff it out, especially if he's got two or three men towrangle and shout for him."
"Well," said Jack, "that seems pretty rough."
"It is rough," said Hugh; "but that's the way it is in a good many ofthese towns."
Soon after seven o'clock next morning Jack and Hugh were at the stageoffice with their beds, their bags, and their rifles. For a time theysat on their rolls of bedding talking, but at length a man came out froma stable near by and spoke to Hugh, and the beds were carried into thestable and lashed on to the rack behind the stage and the bags throwninto the boot under the driver's seat. A little later the four horseswere brought out and hitched to the vehicle, and presently the driver,carrying his long whip, came from the office. The stage was led out intothe street before the stable, the driver mounted, and Jack and Hughfollowed him, all three sitting on the front seat. Then a clerk camefrom the office and spoke to the driver, telling him that there were noother passengers that morning, and with a parting nod the team startedoff and trotted swiftly out of town.
"Hugh," said Jack, "is this the sort of stage that they use everywherein the mountains?"
"No," replied Hugh, "I reckon not. This is the old-fashioned stage, suchas they used to drive in crossing the plains away back before therailroad was built, but stage-driving is pretty near over now and theold stages are laid on the shelf. Usually for these short littlemountain trips most any kind of a jerky or even a lumber wagon is used.This stage here is one of the real old kind."
It was a high, large vehicle hung on C springs, with abundant roominside and two or three seats without. Back of the seats the roof of thecoach was strengthened with slats of wood running lengthwise, and allabout this roof was a high iron railing, so that a good lot of baggagemight be piled there and lashed firmly to the top.
"I have seen coaches like this more than once," said Jack. "Up inMassachusetts, where my grandfather lives, they have just such a coachas this to send around the village to gather passengers for the train inthe morning, and it takes away the passengers that come by the train andleaves them at their homes. Once, too, when I went to the CatskillMountains, they had a stage like this to take us from the landing at theriver up to the hotel, a long drive."
"Well," said Hugh, "these coaches are easy to ride in, but by the time aman's been on the stage about twenty-four hours he is generally in theframe of mind where he is willing to fight with his best friend. Yousee, the trouble is, he can't get any sleep, and without sleep a man'stemper shortens up pretty fast."
"Well," said Jack, "we have got to go more than twenty-four hourswithout sleep, haven't we? We travel right along, don't we?" he asked,turning to the driver, who nodded in reply and added that it would takein the neighborhood of twenty-four hours to get to Benton. "Of course,"he remarked, "we could go faster if there was any reason for it. Wechange teams about every fifteen miles, but there is no reason why weshould hurry the horses. It doesn't make any difference to you, Ireckon, whether yet get in at four o'clock in the morning or six, doesit?"
"Not a bit," said Jack. "I like this riding on a stage, but I don't knowjust how long I'll continue to like it."
They had now turned from the flat prairie, over which the smooth roadran straight, and were entering a wide valley of the mountains, whichgradually closed in on them until there seemed hardly room for more thanthe river that flowed through it and the road.
"That's Wolf Creek," said the driver, motioning toward the stream withhis whip. "And this here canyon that we are going through is calledPrickly Pear Canyon."
On either side of the stream the hills rose sharply, sometimes in steepgrassy slopes, shaggy with clumps of small pines and spruces, at others,in a sheer rocky precipice, or yet again in steep slopes covered withsmall shrubbery through which great knobs of rock showed here and there.
"Any game on these hills?" asked Hugh of the driver.
"Plenty of deer," was the reply, "and some elk; lots of bear, too. Notmany people travel over these hills, except prospectors, and they don'tdo any hunting to amount to anything."
As he finished speaking, Jack, who had been scanning the hillside aheadof the team, suddenly grasped Hugh's arm and said, "There's a deer now,Hugh."
"Sure enough," said Hugh, and all hands looking, a black-tail was seenfeeding alone on the hillside, not eating the grass, but walking fromone clump of weeds or brush to another and biting a mouthful of foodfrom each. As they drew nearer, the animal heard the trotting of thehorses or the rattle of the coach and stood for a few moments lookinginnocently at the team as it approached. The deer was a young buck, hishorns, of course, in the velvet, for it was but the last of June. Hestudied the team with his huge ears turned forward to catch the soundwhich it made, and every now and then lifted his head higher, and seemedto feel the air with his nose.
At last, when the coach was fairly close to him, the driver said, "Doeither of you want to take a shot at him?"
"Not I," said Hugh.
"Nor I," said Jack.
"Well," said the driver, "I'm glad you don't, for it would take us sometime to butcher him, and I don't like to loaf much just after startingout. The end of the day is the better time to drive slowly."
Presently the buck seemed to have satisfied himself that there waspossible danger in this great object approaching him, and turning, hebounded lightly along the hillside, gradually working up until at lasthe passed out of sight.
"Wasn't it fine, Hugh," said Jack, "to see him use his nose. That iswhat a deer depends on, isn't it? He doesn't trust his eyes very much,nor his ears, but his nose never lies to him."
"Well," replied Hugh, "that's so. And it isn't so only about deer, butabout all sorts of game animals. I've had deer walk right straight up tome. So long as I kept still they didn't pay any attention to me, andlikely thought I was a stump or a rock, but just as soon as they passedalong near enough to catch the wind of me the
y never stopped to look orlisten, but got up and dusted the best they knew how; and yet you cancome on a bunch of deer and they'll hear you and jump to their feet andlook at you, and maybe you can fire three or four shots at them and killtwo or three before they'll run away."
"Yes," said the driver, "that's sure enough true; but you mustn't saythat it's only deer or game that acts that way. Take a dog now----"
"Yes," said Hugh, "that's right enough, too."
"Why," said the driver, "I have seen dogs--owned 'em, too--that didn'tseem to get any satisfaction at all out of their eyes; they couldn'ttrust them. I have seen the time when I'd be walking along with my dog,and maybe I'd get a little ahead or a little behind him and I'd stop totalk with three or four fellows, and the dog would start to look for me;and even if he saw me right plain, he wouldn't be sure it was me untilhe had come up behind me and stuck the end of his nose against my leg sothat he could smell me. I remember once standing with three or four menin front of the Bella saloon in Benton when my dog did a trick likethat. One of the men I was talking to didn't like dogs; in fact, he wasawful scared of them. The dog came up to us and smelt of each man, andwhen he shoved his nose hard against the leg of the man who was afraidof dogs, the man felt the dog's nose and looked down and saw the dog,and he thought he'd been bit. He jumped about four feet into the air andreached for his gun to try to kill the dog that had bit him, but theothers of us got hold of him and held him until we'd explained matters.
"Curious how scared some people are over a little thing, and yet maybeall the time they've got good sand and wouldn't run away in the worstkind of a scrap."
"Yes," said Hugh, "that's one of the queer things about human nature;you never can tell what it is that is going to scare a man. I've seenmen that would run a mile to get away from some little bug like a spideror a hornet, and yet I know those men weren't cowards, because I've seenthem in tight places and they were always willing to take as many risksas anybody. Why, once I even saw a man that was afraid of a mouse."
"No?" exclaimed the stage driver.
"Fact," said Hugh. "He was afraid of a mouse, and when one ran over hisface, just after he had gone to bed, he got up and sat by the fire allnight for fear it would do it again."
"Why, Hugh," said Jack, "don't you remember that the great Napoleon wasafraid of a cat. It would make him sick if there was one in the room,even though he didn't see it and didn't know that it was there. AndNapoleon was one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived, and, Isuppose, a brave man."
"Yes," said Hugh, "I reckon he was."
"I have known lots of people," Jack went on, "who were afraid of snakes.It didn't make any difference whether they were venomous snakes or not.Just as long as they were snakes, they scared these people."
"That's so," said Hugh. "I've known one man that was afraid of snakes,and, what's more, he could tell if there was one around, whether he sawit or not. He said he smelled them. That seems queer, too."
"It does for a fact," remarked the driver.
Before they had passed through the Prickly Pear Canyon they reached thestage station where the horses were to be changed. There all hands gotdown and walked about a little to stretch their legs; but in a very fewminutes four fresh horses had been harnessed and they recommenced theirjourney.
"Do you ever have trouble with road agents on this line?" Hugh asked ofthe driver.
"No," said he, "we've never been stopped but once. The fact is, wescarcely ever carry anything that makes it worth while for anyone tostop the stage. Early this spring, though, my partner was held up justas he was coming over the Bird Tail Divide. There had been some talk ofsending out some dust from Benton by the stage, but it was given up andthe gold went out another way. Of course none of us knew that it wasgoing, but the news must have got out somehow, for that night, just asthe stage reached the top of the Bird Tail Divide and the two leadershad got up onto the level, two men stepped out in the moonlight and toldBuck--that's my partner--to stop. He started to lay the whip on hishorses, but they were all walking, and the men brought down their gunsand called to him again that if he started they'd kill the leaders. Sohe pulled up and asked the men what they wanted, and they said theywanted the treasure chest and told him to throw it down. He said therewasn't any treasure chest, and if they didn't believe him they couldcome and search the coach. With that a third man that Buck hadn't seenbefore popped up from the side of the road and climbed up and lookedthrough the boot and searched Buck, and then went through the wholestage. They were a pretty mad lot when they let Buck go on."
"Was it ever known who they were?"
"No," said the driver. "I always had an idea that Buck knew who thelittle fellow was that searched the stage, but as they didn't getanything and didn't bother Buck any, I reckon he didn't want to say muchabout it."
All through the day they trotted briskly forward changing horses atregular intervals, so that the teams were always fresh and progressrapid. They had dinner and supper at the stage stations which theypassed, and about ten o'clock at night reached Fort Shaw.
By this time both Hugh and Jack were tired and sleepy, but the driverseemed as fresh as ever.
While the horses were being changed, Hugh sat down on the front steps ofthe building and smoked his pipe, and Jack, trying to get the sleep outof his eyes, walked up and down on the boardwalk. As he was doing thishe was joined by a little Irishman, who conversed pleasantly.
"Are you working now?" said the little man, as he puffed at his shortpipe.
"No," said Jack, "not now. I'm just going up to Benton."
"Do yez want work?" asked the stranger. "I need a couple more hands onme ranch down below here and I'd like to hire yez. Thirty dollars andboard is what I pay; good wages for the time and for the country."
"Well," said Jack, "I'd like the work and I'd like the money, but I'mjust traveling through the country and I've got to meet a man in Benton,and couldn't stop now to take even a good job."
"Well," said the man, "I'm sorry. If ever yez come through Shaw again,maybe ye'd be needin' work, and ye'd better come to my place and see ifI can't give yez a job. Maloney is me name, on Sun River, five milesbelow the post."
Jack was quite tickled at this offer, and when they started again, toldHugh about it.
"Yes," said Hugh, "you are getting to be a man now, and ought to be ableto do a man's work, and I reckon you are."
All through the night the stage rattled and swung over the prairie, andsoon after the sun rose the next morning trotted swiftly across Bentonbottom and drew up at the end of its journey.