CHAPTER XXIX.
THE FIGHT AT THE MINE.
As the auto came near, the shots became more distinct. It seemed as ifa small-sized battle was in progress. Jerry stopped the car about athousand feet away from where the camp had been.
"Take it easy until we see where we're at," advised the sheriff."There's too many bullets flyin' around for comfort."
He got out of the machine and began creeping along on the ground onhands and knees. His deputies followed his example, and Jerry thought itwell to do likewise.
It was soon evident that an attack was being made on the hill, wherethe forces of Nestor seemed to have entrenched themselves. Stoneham,Dalsett, Berry and Pender were drawing nearer under cover of theunderbrush and were firing as they advanced. Nestor and his crowd werereplying with shot after shot, though most of the bullets were high inthe air.
"If I could only get a line on where they are," muttered the sheriff,"I'd be all right, but I can't see a thing in these bushes."
All at once the firing from the top of the hill ceased.
"I guess they're out of ammunition," said Jerry. "They didn't have verymuch when I came away."
"Then it's time we did somethin'," remarked the sheriff. "There, I see'em now. Come on, boys!"
The two deputies followed him on the run, and Jerry kept as close as hecould.
Suddenly the sheriff came to a halt. He motioned with his hand for theothers to keep quiet. Then the officer began creeping at a slow pace. Hehalted once more and waved to the others to approach. They did so withall the caution possible.
"We've got 'em!" exclaimed the sheriff. "Pud Stoneham and the rest of'em are down in a little hollow just below us. They are gettin' ready tomake a rush, I think."
Peering over the edge of a little bluff on which the sheriff's partystood, Jerry looked down and saw the gambler, Bill Berry and JackPender, each with a revolver, crouching down and peering forward. Theywere within a few hundred feet of the shaft, and Jerry could dimlyobserve Nestor and his friends grouped about the mine.
They seemed to be making a last stand. The truth of the matter was that,as Jerry had surmised, they were out of ammunition and could no longerreply to the fusillade that Stoneham and his crowd kept up. For a timethere was a lull in the firing.
Then the shots began again, coming from Stoneham, Berry and Pender. Butthey did not seem to be aiming to kill or even wound those guarding themine. Desperate as the gambler was, and great as was his wish to getthe gold claim, he would not resort to extreme measures. So he and theothers were firing over the heads of those they were attacking. Theyhoped to scare them away.
If they could do this, and rush in, securing possession of the claim,they would, under the mining laws, provided that Noddy had filed theclaim, be masters of the situation. But something was about to happen.
The sheriff was watching Stoneham like a cat. The gambler and hisfriends were unaware how close they were to danger, and continued tofire above the heads of the party at the shaft.
From their point of vantage the sheriff, his deputies and Jerry watchedwhat was going on below them. They saw Nestor, Broswick and the otherswaver, for the firing was hot, and they did not know it was a harmlessone.
"Come on!" yelled Stoneham, suddenly. "We've got 'em! Come on, an' takethe mine!"
The gambler leaped to his feet, flourishing his revolver. Pender, Berryand Dalsett prepared to follow him.
"No, you don't!" cried the sheriff.
The officer leaped forward, over the bluff, and shot downward. Full andtrue he fell, right on the back of Stoneham, bearing him to the earth.
"I say! What's this? Oh, let me up!" yelled the gambler.
"Not until I've fixed you so's you can't do any damage!" exclaimed theofficer, drawing out a pair of handcuffs and fastening them on Stoneham.
The gambler struggled hard for a few seconds. Then, finding it was of noavail, he lay quietly at the sheriff's feet.
"Where'd you come from?" he asked the officer.
"Oh, I took a little run up here in one of them new-fangled gasolenegigs," replied the sheriff, with a grin. "I heard you were up here an' Ifelt I couldn't get along without havin' a little conversation with you."
"Um!" grunted Stoneham.
Dalsett disappeared into the bushes at the instant the sheriff hadjumped on the gambler's back, and was soon lost to sight.
"Never mind him," said the officer, when he saw that capture was notpossible. "I didn't want him, anyhow. It was Pud I was after, an' I gothim."
"What'll we do with this lad?" asked one of the deputies who had grabbedPender.
"Pl-pl-please don't ki-kill me!" cried the boy, a coward, now that hisside had lost.
"Kill you!" exclaimed the sheriff. "The worst that'll happen to you willbe a good spankin'. That's what we do to babies out here!"
Pender showed no inclination to escape, nor did Bill Berry, who stoodsullenly to one side.
"Get up!" the sheriff commanded Stoneham, and the gambler struggled tohis feet. His air of bravado was gone and he hung his head. "I'll takeyou back to town in a little while," the officer announced.
There was a crackling in the bushes and, cautiously parting them, Nestorstepped into view.
"What's happened?" he asked Jerry.
"It's all right," replied the boy. "I filed the claim, I beat Noddy, andthis is the sheriff, who has arrested Mr. Stoneham."
"Good for you!" cried the miner. "We've been havin' a pretty lively timesince you went away, an' you got back just in time. So the papers arefiled, eh? Well, that gives us the mine now, an' we're all rich!"
"I'd rather have Mr. Stoneham here than a gold mine," remarked thesheriff.
"Is he so valuable?" asked Nestor.
"He is to me," was the answer. "There's a reward of five thousanddollars for his capture for counterfeitin' money, an' besides thathe's wanted on half a dozen charges. When I heard he was here, I jesthustled, I tell you."
It was getting dusk now, and, after a little thought, the sheriffdecided not to take his prisoner back to town that night.
"If you don't mind, I'll camp out here with you," the officer said toNestor, and the miner extended a hearty invitation. Soon supper wasprepared and partaken of sitting around the camp-fire.
Stoneham's hands were unshackled long enough to enable him to eat, butthe sheriff guarded him closely. He was not going to have his captiveescape if he could help it. Pender and Berry ate in dogged silence.
After supper, when the men had lighted their pipes, Nestor told thesheriff the story of the trip to the gold mine. The official was muchinterested.
"It's a good thing you have the claim to your mine filed," he said."I understand there's a great rush of diggers this way. They were atEagleville yesterday, a town about twenty miles from here, and I expectthey'll be stragglin' in here to-morrow. Whenever there's news of a goldstrike the miners are on the trail like a hound after a fox."
The moon rose over the trees and made the glow of the camp-fire seemlike a tallow candle beside an electric light. The forest was floodedwith the radiance and it was almost as bright as day.
"I could almost go out and gather some specimens," remarked ProfessorSnodgrass, who had said little since the exciting events of theafternoon.
"What do you want most?" asked the sheriff.
"I'd like to get--look out, there! Don't move for the life of you! Waituntil I get my net!" cried the professor, suddenly, staring at somethingclose to the officer.
"What is it, a rattlesnake?" asked the sheriff, somewhat alarmed at theprofessor's excitement.
"Don't move! Don't move!" was all the naturalist replied.
"Well, if it's a snake you can bet your boots I won't stir until you'vegot it," answered the sheriff. "I seen a man bit by one once and hedidn't last half an hour. But say, my friend, don't be any longer thanyou can help. It's sort of a strain on my nerves, you know."
"Softly! Easy!" spoke the professor.
He had his net now and was tiptoeing
up to where the officer sat, closebeside Stoneham.
"There!" cried the professor, slapping the meshes down on the ground."I've got him!"
"Have you got the rattlesnake?" asked Jerry.
"Rattlesnake?" inquired the naturalist, gathering something carefullyin the folds of the net. "Who said anything about a snake? I've justcaptured a white lizard, one of the rarest that exists. It's worth onethousand dollars."
"Well," exclaimed the sheriff, "it nearly scared me to that amount, theway you acted. I thought sure I was goin' to be hit by a snake."
After the excitement, unintentionally caused by the professor, hadquieted down, and he had put his lizard away with his other specimens,it was voted time to turn in. Blankets were brought from the automobileto serve as coverings, and the fire was replenished.
In order to be sure his prisoner would not escape, the sheriff tiedStoneham to a big tree. As an additional precaution the officer passedone end of the rawhide thong about his own arm, so that the slightestmovement on the gambler's part would be noted.
Then Nestor, who agreed to take the first watch, began pacing up anddown in front of the camp, while the others fell asleep.