CHAPTER XIX
FORTUNE KNOCKS AT THE DOOR
"I swan! what's the matter, partner--my sakes; is it a _rattler_ youuncovered, I wanter know?"
Perk on his part was already sharing the excitement of his pal, althoughapparently from an entirely different reason. He had already started toscramble to his knees, being doubtless bent on taking some aggressiveaction, when he saw Jack reach forward and deliberately pluck someobject from the hole under the displaced adobe fire brick, and hold itup to view.
As he saw its nature Perk's jaw dropped, and he was the picture ofabject astonishment--but it was far from being any poisonous reptilethat Jack was thus exhibiting with such a grand flourish; just as thoughhe might be some necromancer or magician, and drawing all manner ofamazing things out of an apparently empty stove-pipe hat.
"Gosh-a-mighty! that looks like real money! I swan!" burst from Perk'slips, as he continued to stare.
"Just what it's supposed to be, Pal Perk," said Jack, trying to keep hisown voice from displaying a genuine tremolo--"a neat wad of it, waitinghere for us to drop in and pick it up. Seems like things might be setup, like tenpins in the alley, for two lucky dogs to knock down with acouple of rolled balls."
"If that don't beat anything I ever did see," continued the astoundedPerk, now grinning, as though the pleasant nature of their find wascommencing to appeal to him. "Jest think o' a pair o' air trampsahappenin' along, runnin' across this here deserted shack, an' findin' afortune askin' to be taken care of--don't it beat the Dutch what c'nhappen--Arabian Night's adventures can't hold a candle to the real thingin these modern days. Some ol' miser musta hid that boodle under thebricks, so's to keep the Mex raiders comin' up over the internationalborder from gettin' their itchin' fingers on it--how 'bout that, Jack?"
"Off color, I'm afraid, Perk," Jack told him, after taking a quick lookat his wonderful find in the hearth _cache_; "that miser story might gowith some but it doesn't wash with me worth a red cent. In the firstplace if this money had been hidden here by a miser, he'd have taken itaway with him when he cut stick. Then again it would surely have beenpartly in hard cash, like gold eagles, and such stuff--all hoards ofmisers, you remember, are made up like that, Perk, and when you givethis the once-over you'll also notice how it's all in bills, mostlyfresh ones at that, as if they hadn't seen much circulation, as youmight say."
Perk drew in a long breath, and continued to stare hard at the objectJack was holding out in front of him; it might be that something in theother's words and manner suggested certain possibilities that seemedalmost too staggering for poor Perk to digest offhand.
"Gee whittiker jewsharps! Jack--what's this you're hintin' at, ol'pal--give it to me easy-like, so I c'n swaller it--all in bills--mostlyfresh ones at that--not seen much handlin' around--say, are you tryin'to tell me they're every one five dollar bills,--Jack?"
"I reckon that's what they are, Perk, I'd say, from taking a quick lookat the same."
"Bad currency--counterfeits--bogus stuff, er--what?" gasped the other.
"Look for yourself, and you'll recognize them as having been printedfrom the same plates as the one we're carrying with us as a sample ofSlippery Slim's best work."
"Je-ru-salem crickets! I'm knocked silly for a fact," whimpered Perk;and then, as if mustering up his vanishing stamina he went on to add:"but however could they've got right there under that brick--conjurer'sblack magic, looks like to me, partner, it sure does."
"Nonsense! that part of it is easy enough to figure out," asserted Jack,as usual very matter-of-fact; "the only thing that seems to border onthe miraculous is our running across this packet of all the people inthe Far West--it looks to me as if some sort of Destiny might behandling the cards--that all we have to do is to keep moving andeverything's bound to come our way."
"Sure does seem like a snap, and that's a fact," agreed Perk, calmingdown a little as he began to grow more accustomed to the great discoverythat had resulted from their deciding to drop down, and have a sociablecup of hot coffee; "but I'll be danged if I c'n make head or tail out o'this happening--now, what under the sun did anybody want to stick thatwad o' long green under the same adobes, I'd like to know, partner?"
"Oh! there might be any number of answers to that question, Perk; forinstance didn't we learn that it was the habit of Slim, or one of hisbusy bees, to jump across the border every little while with a load ofthe flimsy, and dole the stuff out to a number of agents he has workingwith him in this section of the country, also all the way over to LosAngeles and San Diego?"
"That was the spiel they gave us, for a fact, boss," admitted Perk,wagging his head eagerly, as though he felt certain clever Jack would beable to figure things out, and hit on some sort of explanation thatwould cover these mysterious happenings.
"Well, this, then, might be one of his hidden _caches_--at certain timesthis unknown agent hides some _real_ money in such a hole as this, andcomes along another dark night it might be to pick up the big wad thatwas left in exchange for the small one he contributed. And that is theway the game runs, so I was told."
"By gum! but what grand luck for us to come in on this deal,Jack--pretty soft, I'd call it, and neither of us had any hand in iteither--just hit on this little bank by sheer chance! Goin' to crib theloot, are you, partner?"
Jack scratched his head as though certain plans were flitting throughit, and he must make a choice.
"Well, we have to start somewhere, you understand, Perk, and it lookslike the finger of Fate might be pointing right at this shack, andtelling us to get busy and pick up a strong clue that, if followed up,would take us straight to that hideout Slim's got across in Mexico."
"Guess I see what you mean now, brother," ventured Perk, his facelighting up with extreme joy; for he felt they were already on thetrack, and that from that hour there must be rapid action continuously."If so be that 'ere critter that slams out these bills on greenhorns andcome-ons is gettin' anxious to see what sorter prize he's drawn in thelottery, why, he might jest come along any ol' time now, since thestorm's over an' there's nawthin' to hold him up. Got any idea he's nighdue here, partner?"
"Shouldn't be a bit surprised if he walked in on us any time," venturedJack; and then, seeing the puzzled look on his chum's rugged face hewent on to add: "I didn't mention the fact but while we were making ourway over from the ship I felt certain I glimpsed several far-off lights,as if they might be in windows of cabins or houses of some sort. Then,too, I surely did hear a big dog barking, and something like a roostercrowing."
"Well, I'll be jiggered if you ain't got sharper ears than I c'n boast,Jack, ol' hoss, which ain't no lie either."
"Don't you believe it, Perk; it just happened that you were so wrappedup in thinking of that coffee treat you didn't pay as much attention tooutside things as I did. So it seems as if there might be some kind of avillage or prairie town not more than two miles from this abandoned oldshack and if that's so then the chances are this agent who's beenworking the public for Slim probably lives there. Then again, like asnot he has a pretty good idea about when his bunch of kale ought to beplaced under that brick--in fact he might have made his way out herethis very night only for the storm threatening."
"Just so, partner," Perk hastened to say, brimful of energy, "which,bein' the case, it's up to us to lay a sweet little mantrap, so's totrip him by the heels if so be he knocks on our door. How'll we fetchit, Jack?"
"First of all we'll finish our supper, and clean up here," came theready explanation; "he may smell the odor of coffee and bacon, but thenyou might expect this shelter to be used once in a while by Mexicantramps, or passing cowboys, especially when a big storm threatens, sothat isn't going to scare the Johnny. As for us, we'll fix things so asto give him a nice little surprise, by hiding out, after making thingsall dark inside here, with water thrown on the fire to smother the hotcoals, after which there's nothing to do but take things easy until heshows up--if he does."
; "I sabbe, okay, partner; let's get busy, for the bacon's done brown to aturn."