*CHAPTER II*
_*Mr. Laughlin Tells the Story up to Date*_
Mr. Laughlin's suggestion that I should go out and look for this LostCabin and, finding it, "live happy ever after," made me but the moreanxious to hear all that was to be told regarding it.
"Well, about this here Lost Cabin Mine," he said. "There's a little,short, stubby fellow that you maybe have noticed around here, with apock-marked face,--Mike Canlan, they call him. He was up to Tremontputting in assessment on a claim he has in the mountains there away, andhe was comin' along back by the trail on the mountains that runs kind o'parallel with the stage road, but away up on the hills, and there hepicks up a feller nigh dead,--starved to death, pretty nigh. Mike getshim up on his pack-horse and comes along slow down through the mountaintill he hits the waggon road from the Poorman. There a team from thePoorman Mine makes up on him. That there fellow, Apache Kid, wasdrivin' the team, and along with him was Larry Donoghue, a partner o'his, with another team. They had been haulin' up supplies for one of thestores, and was comin' down light. They offer to help Canlan down withthe dying man, seein' as how the hoss was gettin' pretty jaded with allCanlan's outfit on its back, and this here man, too, tied on, andwabbling about mighty weak."
Laughlin broke off here to nod his head sagaciously. "From what hastranspired since, I guess Canlan was kind o' sorry he fell in with themtwo, and I reckon he wondered if there was no kind of an excuse he couldput up for rejecting their offer o' service and continuin' to pack thefeller down himself. Anyways, they got the man into the Apache'swaggon, and my house bein' the nighest to the waggon road and themountain, they pulled up at my door and we all carries the fellow up toa room. I was at the door. Canlan was sitting on the bed-foot. ApacheKid and Larry Donoghue was laying him out comf'able. The fellow groansand mumbles something, and Canlan gave a bit of a start forward, andsays he: 'There, there now, that 'll do; you 've got him up all right.I reckon that's all that's wanted. You can go for a doctor, now, if youwant to help at all.' There was something kind o' strained in hisvoice, and I think Apache Kid noticed it the way he looks round. 'Why,'he says, 'I think, seein' as you,' and he stops and looks Canlan plumbin the eye, 'seein' as you _found_ the man, you had better fetch thedoctor and finish your job. My partner and I will sit by him till thedoctor comes.' Canlan looked just a little bit rattled when Apache Kidsays, lookin' at the man in the bed: 'He seems to have got a kind o' aknock on the head here.' 'Yes,' says Canlan, 'I got him where he hadfallen down. I reckon he got that punch then.' And then Apache Kidlooks at Larry Donoghue, and Larry looks at him, and they both smile,and Canlan cries out: 'Oh, if that's what you think, why I 'll go forthe doctor without any more ado!'"
Laughlin paused, and, "You savvy the idea?" he asked.
"Not quite," I said.
He tapped me on the knee, and, bending forward, said: "Don't you see,Apache Kid and Larry hed no suspicions o' foul play at all, but they waswanting to get alone in the room with the feller, and this was justApache's bluff to get a move on Canlan. Canlan was no sooner gone thanApache Kid asks me to fetch a glass o' spirits. It was only thinkin' itover after that I saw through the thing; anyhow, I come down for theglass, and when I got up, derned if they did n't hev the man propped upin bed, and him mumblin' away and them bendin' over him listening eagerto him. They gave him the liquor, and he began talking a triflestronger, and took two-three deep gusts o' breath. Then he beganmumblin' again."
Mr. Laughlin looked furtively round and then, leaning forward again,thrust his neck forward and with infinite disgust in his voice said:"And damn me if that wife o' mine did n't come to the stair-end rightthen and start yellin' on me to come down."
Laughlin shook his head sadly. "Seems her derned old parrot wasshoutin' for food and as it had all give out she wants me to go down tothe store for some more. But I must say that she had just come inherself and did n't know nothin' about the business that was goin' onupstairs. When Canlan and the doctor did arrive and go up the fellowwas dead--sure thing--dead as--dead as--" he searched for the similewithout which he could not speak for long. "Dead as God!" he said in ahorrible whisper, raising his grey eyebrows.
I shuddered somehow at the words, and yet in such a red-hot, ungodlyplace as Baker City I could almost understand the phrase. There wasanother pause after that and then Laughlin cleared his throat again andheld up a lean finger in my face.
"There's where the place comes in," said he, "where you says 'the plotthickens,' for I 'm a son of a gun if word did n't come down next daythat the fellers up at the Poorman Mine had picked up just such anotherdead-beat. This here corpse of which I bin tellin' you was indemnifiedafter as having been in company with the other. But the man the Poormanboys picked up was jest able to tell them that he had seen the lights o'their bunk-house and was trying to make for it. Told them that he andtwo partners had struck it rich in the mountains, pow'ful rich, he said,and hed all been so fevered like that they let grub run out. Then theywent out looking for something to shoot up and could n't find a thing.One of 'em went off then to fetch supplies, lost his way in themmountains, wanders about nigh onto a week--and hits their own camp ag'inat the end o' that time. Isn't it terrible? You'd think that afterstriking it luck jest turned about and hed a laugh at 'em for a change.They comes rushin' on him, the other two, expecting grub-- Grubnothing! He was too derned tired to budge then, and so the other twosets out then-- This fellow what the Poorman boys picked up was doin'his level best to tell 'em where the place was, for the sake of hispartner left there, and in the middle of his talk he took a fit andnever came out of it. All they know is that there was a cabin built atthe place. That's the story for you."
"But what about the man who was brought down here; did he not leave anyindication?"
"Now you 're askin'," said Laughlin. "But I see you bin payin'attention to this yere story. Now you're askin'. Nobody knows whetherhe did or not. But this I can tell you--that Apache Kid and LarryDonoghue has done nothing since then but jest wander about with the tailof an eye on Canlan, and Canlan returns the compliment. And here 'sminers comin' in from the Poorman and stoppin' in town a night andtrying to fill Apache Kid and his mate full, and trying the same onCanlan to get them to talk, and them just sittin' smilin' through itall, and nobody knows what they think."
"But," said I, "if they do know, could the three of them not come tosome agreement and go out and find the place? If the third man is deadthere, I suppose the mine would be theirs and they could share on it.Besides, while they stay here doubtless other men will be out lookingfor the cabin."
The landlord listened attentively to me.
"Well," said he, "as for your first remark, Canlan is too all-fired harda man to make any such daffy with them, and there's just that touch ofthe devil in Apache Kid and that amount of hang-dog in Donoghue toprevent them making up to Canlan, I reckon. Not but what they pump eachother. Sometimes they get out there on the verandah nights, and, youbein' in the know now, you 'll understand what's running underneatheverything they say. As for the other men goin' out and looking for acabin! Shucks! Might as well go and look for that needle you hearpeople talk about in the haystack. Not but what a great lot has goneout. Most every man in the Poorman Mine went off with a pack-hoss tohunt it, and plenty others too. And between you and me," said thelandlord, "I reckon they 're all on the wrong scent. They 're all awayalong Baker Range, and I reckon they must be on the wrong scent there orelse them three others wouldn't be sittin' here in Baker City smiling;that is, if they dew know where the location is."
Just then the Chinese cook arrived quietly on the scene to inform Mr.Laughlin of the progress of dinner. Then a laugh sounded in the passageand Apache Kid entered the bar-room accompanied by a heavy-set,loose-jawed man of thirty years or thereby, a man with a slovenlyappearance in his dress and a cruel expression on his face.
"That's them both," said Laughlin, prodding me with his elbow as theymarched t
hrough the bar and out to the rear verandah where we heard themdragging chairs about, and the harsh voice of the parrot, evidentlyawakened from his reveries in the sunshine:
"Well, well! If this ain't----" and a dry cackle of laughter.
"They 're lookin' right lively and pleased with themselves," said theproprietor. "I reckon if Canlan comes along to-night it will be worthyour while, now that you know the ins and outs of the business, to keepan eye on the three and watch the co-mical game they keep on playin'with each other. But it can't go on forever, that there game. I dohope, if they make a bloody end to it, it don't take place in my house.Times is changed from the old days. I 've seen when it was quite anadvertisement to have a bit of shooting in your house some night. Andif there was n't enough holes made in the roof and chairs broke, youcould make some more damage yourself; and the crowd would come in, andyou 'd point out where so-and-so was standing, and where so-and-so wassettin', and tell 'em how it happened, and them listening and setting upthe drinks all the time. It certainly was good for business, a littleshooting now and then, in the old days. But times is changed, and thesheriff we hev now is a very lively man. All the same, we ain't donewith Lost Cabin Mine yet--and that ain't no lie."