CHAPTER XXI
THE DRAGON'S TEETH
It is the curse of success that it raises up enemies as Jason's dragonteeth brought forth armed men. When he was skating around the country,examining mines and taking out options, Wiley could safely count everyman his friend; but now that he had made his big _coup_ on thePaymaster they were against him, from Virginia down. If he went to herpolitely with a thousand-dollar bill and asked her to take it as a giftshe would refuse to so much as look at him. And yet, as a matter offact, he was the same old laughing Wiley--only now he did not laugh. Itwas not right, but it could not be helped.
A long and weary month, full of vexatious delays and nerve-rackingdemands from his creditors, left its mark on Wiley's face; but in sixweeks the mine and mill were running. Three shifts of men broke the oreat the face and sent it up the shaft to the grizzly and from there itwas fed down through the enormous rock-crusher and then on through theball-mills and rollers to the concentrating tables below. It was crushedand sorted and crushed again and ground fine in the revolving tubes, andthen it was screened and washed and separated on vanners until nothingbut the concentrates remained. The tail sluicings were sluiced off downthe gulch, to add to the mighty dump that the Paymaster had left therein its prime. But even at its best, when it was working in gold ore thatran three or four thousand to the ton, even then the famous Paymasterhad not turned out treasure like this.
The banks were full of gold--they were shipping it to America in lots often and twelve million at a time--but tungsten was rare, it wasnecessary, almost priceless, and the demand for it increased by leapsand bounds. How could iron-masters harden the tools that were to turnout the mighty cannon that this gold had been sent over to buy, unlessthey could get the tungsten? Molybdenum, vanadium, manganese, and allthe substitutes were commandeered to take its place; but month by monththe price of tungsten crept up until now all the West was tungsten-mad.It had gone up from forty dollars to sixty, and now seventy, for atwenty-pound unit of concentrates--running sixty per cent or better oftungstic acid--and as Wiley resumed his shipments he received a franticoffer of seventy-five dollars a unit. And then once more he smiled.
There had been a time when he had felt the cold hand of Blount closingdown on his precious mine--and the other banks had refused to take overhis notes. The property was not his, there was nothing tangible uponwhich to make a loan; and then, Blount had passed the word around. Wileywas indebted to him, and heavily indebted, and when he took the applethere would be no core for the rest. But now in a week the wholesituation had changed and Wiley's smile brought forth answering smiles.The general store in Vegas extended his credit, even his supply-househad heard the good news; and Blount, who had grown arrogant, becamesuddenly friendly and fawning, trying vainly to cover up his hand. Hewas like a man who had clutched at a treasure and discovered himself alittle too soon. The treasure was still Wiley's but--well, Blount wasused to waiting, so he smiled and extended the notes.
At three dollars and more a pound it would not take many tons oftungsten to put Wiley safely out of the hole, but when he ran over hisaccounts he was startled by the bills that were piling up against him. Athousand dollars was nothing to these mining machinery houses and hispayroll was over two hundred a day; and then there was powder and timberand steel, and gasoline and oil, _and_ the freight across thedesert. That went on everything, twenty dollars a ton whether theyhauled both ways or one; and with so much at stake he had to treateveryone generously or run the chance of being tied up by a strike. Norwas there lacking the sinister evidence of some unfriendly if nothostile force, and as breakdowns recurred and unexpected accidentshappened, Wiley came and went like a ghost. His gun was always on himand he watched each man warily, seeking out his enemies from hisfriends.
As for Virginia and her mother, he had long since given up hope ofstopping their venomous tongues; and Death Valley Charley, finding thepressure too strong, had conveniently dropped out of sight. In all thattown, which he had found dead and unpeopled and had changed in a fewmonths to a live camp, there was not a single soul that he couldtruthfully say was honestly and unquestionably his friend. It was notthat they were against him, for most of them realized that their ownsuccess was bound up with his; but they were not actively for him, theydid not boost and help him, but joined in on the old anvil chorus. Hehad cheated the Widow, he had beaten Virginia out of her stock, he hadtaken advantage of Death Valley Charley! But, they added--and this waswhat galled him--what else could you expect from the son of Honest John?
Wiley gritted his teeth, but he did not speak his mind for the hour ofvindication was at hand. When he had paid off his notes and his billsfor supplies the first thing he would do, even before he took over themine, would be to buy in Blount's Paymaster stock. And with that stockin his hands, with every tell-tale endorsement to prove the damningstory of Blount's guilt, he would go to these old-timers and make themeat their words when they said his father was not honest. But as far ashe was concerned, what difference did it make whether they consideredhim honest or not? Would they feel any more kindly towards his honestold father when he had proved that he had been faithful to the end? No,they thought they were virtuous and only denouncing injustice, but whenthat charge was taken out of their mouths they would clack on out ofjealousy at his success. It was envy that really poisoned their mindsand made them spit forth spleen, envy and chagrin at their own lack offoresight.
The Paymaster dump had lain right at their doorway where all of themcould inspect its ore, but no one had noticed the heavy spar. They hadcalled it white quartz and dismissed it from their minds, but he hadcome among them with different eyes. He had gone to a school of mines,where he had learned to identify minerals, and he had kept up with themining magazines; and while these poisonous knockers had been lamentingthe results of the war he had jumped in and turned it to his advantage.He had done something practical, to the improvement of industry,something that might change in a certain measure, the very destiny ofthe world; but the moment he succeeded they had accused him of robbinghalf-wits and of oppressing the widow and the orphan. Wiley shut downhis jaws and smiled dourly.
There was small hope now of changing the widow and her "orphan" but ifhe could not convert them he could show them. As sure as he knewanything he was convinced that Colonel Huff had simply fled from hiswife's nagging tongue and, when he got the time, Wiley intended to hirea pack-train and set out across Death Valley to find him. Virginia cameand went, but always she avoided him scrupulously. Not once since shehad returned from Vegas had she met his questioning eyes; and to all hisadvances she turned a deaf ear, if the statements of Charley could betrusted. The carefully thought out scheme of getting back the Huff stockand then forming an alliance against Blount had died before it was born;or it remained at best in suspended animation, pending Death ValleyCharley's return. He had gone off with his burros but the longer Wileywaited on him the more he saw that Charley was a broken reed. No, thetrimming of Blount, if it was done at all, would have to be done byhim--and all he needed was time.
Two months and a little more lay between him and the day ofreckoning--the twentieth day of May. In that short time he must meetheavy obligations, pay off his notes, buy Blount's stock and purchasethe mine; and if anything should happen--if the hoist should breakdown, the mill blow up, the market for tungsten fail--well, he couldkiss the Paymaster good-by. The market and other influences were onthe knees of the gods, but Wiley decided that there should be no moreaccidents. That was something preventable and no more love-sickengineers were going to use his gearings for a clothes mangle. Heengaged two watchmen who were mechanics as well and then he kept watchover his watchmen. Neither by day nor by night did he go down the hillfor more than a few minutes at a time and on dark, stormy nights hewandered about like a specter watching the shadows for Stiff NeckGeorge. He was out there somewhere, Wiley knew it as instinctively ashe knew that Virginia hated him, and yet he never appeared. He nevermade threats nor showed himself in the open but, somewhere, h
e was outthere in the darkness; and sooner or later he would strike.
The days dragged on slowly, with cold, March winds and sandstormsboiling in over Shadow Mountain; and then driving rain followed bybright, sunny weather and struggling flowers in the swales. It wasspring, in a way, but not the spring of yester-year, with its songs andlaughter and high hopes. Wiley felt the old call to be up and away, buthis racer remained in its shed. He paced about restlessly, waiting forsomething to happen, observing the slightest signs--and then he foundher tracks in the dust. Virginia had come up the trail in the night andhad gone down past the mill. He knew her tracks well and, among thebroad brogans of the miners, they stood out like the footprints of afairy. Wiley's heart leapt up in his breast--and then it stood still.Had she come as an enemy or a friend?
He followed her trail to where it had been trampled out by thewatchman in making his regular rounds; and then, below the mill, hepicked it up again as it went on down the path. Not once had shehesitated or turned from the beaten trail, but she had gone down afterthe graveyard shift. That went on at eleven and her tracks weresuperimposed on the hob-nailed boot-marks of the miners. When they hadcome off shift they had trampled them out again, except for a printhere and there; and by the color of the dust Wiley shrewdly judgedthat she had visited him between twelve and one. Between thewind-blown footprints of the night-shift and the fresh red of the dayshift as they had mounted the trail at seven, her high-arched stepshad been made about midnight, for the dust had been whitened by theair. Wiley followed them silently, trampling them out as he went, andthat night as the graveyard shift came on he slipped out and hid bythe trail. What kind of a watchman was this, who let a woman come andgo and never even saw her tracks in the dust? He could watch forVirginia; and meanwhile, incidentally, he could keep tab on thissleepy-headed guard.
The _chuh_, _chuh_ of the engine echoed loud in the canyon asthe hoist brought up the first cars, and then the rumble of the trams asthey were pushed down the track and the clatter of the ore down thegrizzly. A sharp _blap_, _blap_, from the compressor showedthat the machine-men had set up their drills; and beneath all the restthere was the hushed rumble of the mill and the thunderous _rhump_,_rhump_, of the rock-breaker. It was a ponderous affair of the oldjaw-type, surmounted by a fly-wheel of a full ton's weight that drove itrhythmically on; and as Wiley listened it made a music for his ears assweet as any bass viol. In this mine of his there was an orchestrationof busy sounds, from the clang of the bell to start or stop the engine,to this deep, rumbling undertone of the crusher; and every clang andcrunch brought him that much nearer to the day when he would be free.
He took shelter within the black mouth of a short tunnel by the trailand looked out at his little world--the huge mill, dimly lighted, thegaunt gallows-frame against the sky, and the sleeping town below. He hadmade them his own and now he must fight for them; and watch over them,day and night. Above him the stars shone out clean and cold, a millionof them in the dry, desert air; and in the east the half moon rose upslowly above Gold Hill, where the wealth of ages lay hid. It had givenup its gold but his hand had struck the blow that would open up itstreasure vaults of tungsten. All it needed now was watchfulness andpatience. The moon rose up higher and he dozed within the shadow andthen a sound brought him to with a start. It was the crunch of gravel onthe trail before him and as he looked out he saw Virginia.