CHAPTER XI
THE STINGING LIZARD
In a certain stratum of society, now about to become extinct, it isconsidered quite _au fait_ to roll a drunk if circumstances willpermit. And it was from this particular stratum that the barkeeper atThe Mint had derived his moral concepts. Therefore he considered it nocrime, no betrayal of a trust, to borrow the thousand dollars with whichhe was to pay John C. Calhoun from that prince of opportunists, JudsonEells. It is not every banker that will thrust a thousand dollarbill--and the only one he has on hand--upon a member of thebungstarters' brotherhood; but a word in his ear from Pisen-face Lynchconvinced Fellowes that it would be well to run straight. Fate hadsnatched him from behind the bar to carry out a part not unconnectedwith certain schemes of Judson Eells and any tendency to run out on histrusting backers would be visited with summary punishment. At least thatwas what he gathered in the brief moment they had together before Lynchgave him the money and disappeared.
As for John C. Calhoun, a close student of inebriety might have noticedthat he became sober too quick; but he invested their departure in sucha wealth of mystery that the barkeeper was more than satisfied. A shortways out of town Wunpost turned out into the rocks and milled around foran hour; and then, when their trail was hopelessly lost, he led the wayinto the hills. Being a stranger in the country Fellowes could not saywhat wash it was, but they passed up _some_ wash and from that intoanother one; and so on until he was lost; and the most he could do wasto drop a few white beans from the pocketful that Lynch had provided.The night was very dark and they rode on interminably, camping at dawnin a shut-in canyon; and so on for three nights until his mind became ablank as far as direction was concerned. His liberal supply of beans hadbeen exhausted the first night and since then they had passed over ahundred rocky hog-backs and down a thousand boulder-strewn canyons. Asto the whereabouts of Blackwater he had no more idea than a cat that hasbeen carried in a bag; and he lacked that intimate sense of directionwhich often enables the cat to come back. He was lost, and a littlescared, when Wunpost stopped in a gulch and showed him a neat pile ofrocks.
"There's my monument," he said, "ain't that a neat piece of work? Ilearned how to make them from a surveyor. This tobacco can here containsmy notice of location--that was a steer when I said it wasn't staked.Git down and help yourself!"
He assisted his companion, who was slightly saddle-sore, to alight andinspect the monument and then he waited expectantly.
"Oh, the mine! The mine!" cried Wunpost gaily. "Come along--have you gotyour sack? Well, bring along a sack and we'll fill it so full of goldit'll bust and spill out going home. Be a nice way to mark the trail, ifyou should want to come back sometime--and by the way, have you got thatthousand dollar bill?"
"Yes, I've got it," whined the barkeeper, "but where's your cussed mine?This don't look like nothing to me!"
"No, that's it," expounded Wunpost, "you haven't got my system--they'sno use for you to turn prospector. Now look in this crack--notice thatstuff up and down there? Well, now, that's where I'd look to find gold."
"Jee-rusalem!" exclaimed the barkeeper, or words to that effect, anddropped down to dig out the rock. It was the very same ore that Wunposthad shown when he had entered The Mint at Blackwater, only some of itwas actually richer than any of the pieces he had seen. And there was asix-inch streak of it, running down into the country-rock as if it weregoing to China. He dug and dug again while Wunpost, all unmindful,unpacked and cooked a good meal. Fellowes filled his small sack and allhis pockets and wrapped up the rest in his handkerchief; and before theypacked to go he borrowed the dish-towel and went back for a last hoardof gold. It was there for the taking, and he could have all he wanted aslong as he turned over the thousand dollar bill. Wunpost was insistentupon this and as they prepared to start he accepted it as payment infull.
"That's _my_ idea of money!" he exclaimed admiringly as he smoothedthe silken note across his knee. "A thousand dollar bill, and you couldhide it inside your ear--say, wait till I pull that in Los! I'll walk upto the bar in my old, raggedy clothes and if the barkeep makes anycracks about paying in advance I'll just drop _that_ down on themahogany. That'll learn him, by grab, to keep a civil tongue in his headand to say Mister when he's speaking to a gentleman."
He grinned at the Judas that he had taken to his bosom but Fellowes didnot respond. He was haunted by a fear that the simple-minded Wunpostmight ask him where he got that big bill, since it is rather out of theordinary for even a barkeeper to have that much money in his clothes;but the simple-minded Wunpost was playing a game of his own and he askedno embarrassing questions. It was taken for granted that they were bothgentlemen of integrity, each playing his own system to win, and thebarkeeper's nervous fear that the joker would pop up somewhere found nojustification in fact. He had his gold, all he could carry of it, andWunpost had his thousand dollar bill, and now nothing remained to hopefor but a quick trip home and a speedy deliverance from his misery.
"Say, for cripes' sake," he wailed, "ain't they any short-cut home? I'mso lame I can hardly walk."
"Well, there is," admitted Wunpost, "I could have you home by morning.But you might take to dropping that gold, like you did them Bostonbeans, and I'd come back to find my mine jumped."
"Oh, I won't drop no gold!" protested Fellowes earnestly, "and thembeans was just for a joke. Always read about it, you know, in these herelost treasure stories; but shucks, I didn't mean no harm!"
"No," nodded Wunpost, "if I'd thought you did I'd have ditched you, backthere in the rocks. But I'll tell you what I _will_ do--you let mekeep you blindfolded and I'll get you out of here quick."
"You're on!" agreed Fellowes and Wunpost whipped out his handkerchiefand bound it across his whole face. They rode on interminably, but itwas always down hill and the sagacious Mr. Fellowes even noted a deepgorge through which water was rushing in a torrent. Shortly after theypassed through it he heard a rooster crow and caught the fragrance ofhay and not long after that they were out on the level where he couldsmell the rank odor of the creosote. Just at daylight they rode intoBlackwater from the south, for Wunpost was still playing the game, andhalf an hour later every prospector was out, ostensibly hunting for hisburros. But Wunpost's work was done, he turned his animals into thecorral and retired for some much-needed sleep; and when he awoke thebarkeeper was gone, along with everybody else in town.
The stampede was to the north and then up Jail Canyon, where there wasthe only hay ranch for miles; and then up the gorge and on almost toPanamint, where the tracks turned off up Woodpecker Canyon. They wereback-tracking of course, for the tracks really came down it, but beforethe sun had set Wunpost's monument was discovered, together with thevein of gold. It was astounding, incredible, after all his earlyefforts, that he should let them back-track him to his mine; but thatwas what he had done and Pisen-face Lynch was not slow to takepossession of the treasure. There was no looting of the paystreak asthere had been at the Willie Meena, a guard was put over it forthwith;and after he had taken a few samples from the vein Lynch returned on thegallop to Blackwater.
The great question now with Eells was how Wunpost would take it, butafter hearing from his scouts that the prospector was calm he summonedhim to his office. It seemed too good to be true, but so it had seemedbefore when Calhoun had given up the Wunpost and the Willie Meena; andwhen Lynch brought him in Eells was more than pleased to see that hisvictim was almost smiling.
"Well, followed me up again, eh?" he observed sententiously, and Eellsinclined his head.
"Yes," he said, "Mr. Lynch followed your trail and--well, we havealready taken possession of the mine."
"Under the contract?" inquired Wunpost and when Eells assented Wunpostshut his lips down grimly. "Good!" he said, "now I've got you where Iwant you. We're partners, ain't that it, under our contract? And youdon't give a whoop for justice or nothing as long as you get it_all_! Well, you'll get it, Mr. Eells--do you recognize thisthousand dollar bill? That was given to me by a barkeep named F
ellowes,but of course he received it from you. I knowed where he got it, and Iknowed what he was up to--I ain't quite as easy as I look--and now I'mgoing to take it and give it to a lawyer, and start in to get my rights.Yes, I've got some rights, too--never thought of that, did ye--and I'mgoing to demand 'em _all_! I'm going to go to this lawyer and putthis bill in his hand and tell him to git me my _rights_! Not partof 'em, not nine tenths of 'em--I want 'em _all_--and by grab, I'mgoing to _get_ 'em!"
He struck the mahogany table a resounding whack and Eells jumped andglanced warningly at Lynch.
"I'm going to call for a receiver, or whatever you call him, to lookafter my interests at the mine; and if the judge won't appoint him I'mgoing to have you summoned to bring the Wunpost books into court. AndI'm going to prove by those books that you robbed me of my interest andnever made any proper accounting; and then, by grab, he'll _have_to appoint him, and I'll get all that's coming to me, and you'll getwhat's coming to _you_. You'll be shown up for what you are, alow-down, sneaking thief that would steal the pennies from a blind man;you'll be showed up right, you and your sure-thing contract, and you'llget a little _publicity_! I'll just give this to the press, alongwith some four-bit cigars and the drinks all around for the boys, andwe'll just see where you stand when you get your next rating fromBradstreet--I'll put your tin-front bank on the bum! And then I'll sayto my lawyer, and he's a slippery son-of-a-goat: 'Go to it and see howmuch you can get--and for every dollar you collect, by hook, crook orbook, I'll give you back a half of it! Sue Eells for an accounting everytime he ships a brick--make him pay back what he stole on theWunpost--give him fits over the Willie Meena--and if a half ain'tenough, send him broke and you can have it _all_! Do you reckonI'll get some results?"
He asked this last softly, bowing his bristling head to where he couldlook Judson Eells in the eye, and the oppressor of the poor tookcounsel. Undoubtedly he _would_ get certain results, some of whichwere very unpleasant to contemplate, but behind it all he felt somethingyet to come, some counter-proposal involving peace. For no man startsout by laying his cards on the table unless he has an ace in thehole--or unless he is running a bluff. And he knew, and Wunpost knew,that the thing which irked him most was that sure-fire Prospector'sContract. There Eells had the high card and if he played his hand wellhe might tame this impassioned young orator. His lawyer was not yetretained, none of the suits had been brought, and perhaps they neverwould be brought. Yet undoubtedly Wunpost had consulted some attorney.
"Why--yes," admitted Eells, "I'm quite sure you'd get results--butwhether they would be the results you anticipate is quite anotherquestion. I have a lawyer of my own, quite a competent man and one inwhom I can trust, and if it comes to a suit there's one thing you_can't_ break and that is your Prospector's Contract."
He paused and over Wunpost's scowling face there flashed a twinge thatbetrayed him--Judson Eells had read his inner thought.
"Well, anyhow," he blustered, "I'll deal you so much misery----"
"Not necessary, not necessary," put in Judson Eells mildly, "I'm willingto meet you half way. What is it you want now, and if it's anythingreasonable I'll be glad to consider a settlement. Litigation isexpensive--it takes time and it takes money--and I'm willing to do whatis right."
"Well, gimme back that contract!" blurted out Wunpost desperately, "andyou can keep your doggoned mine. But if you don't by grab I'll fightyou!"
"No, I can't do that," replied Eells regretfully, "and I'll tell you,Mr. Calhoun, why. You're just one of forty-odd men that have signedthose Prospector's Contracts, and there's a certain principle involved.I paid out thirty thousand dollars before I got back a nickel and Ican't afford to establish a precedent. If I let you buy out, they willall want to buy out--that is, if they've happened to find a mine--andthe result will be that there'll be trouble and litigation every time Iclaim my rights. When you were wasting my grubstake I never said a word,because that, in a way, was your privilege; and now that, for somereason, you are stumbling onto mines, you ought to recognize my rights.It is a part of my policy, as laid down from the first, under nocircumstances to ever release anybody; otherwise some dishonestprospector might be tempted to conceal his find in the hope of gettingtitle to it later. But now about this mine, which you have named TheStinging Lizard--what would be your top price for cash?"
"I want that contract," returned Wunpost doggedly but Judson Eells shookhis head.
"How about ten thousand dollars?" suggested Eells at last, "for aquit-claim on the Stinging Lizard Mine?"
"Nothing doing!" flashed back Wunpost, "I don't sign no quit-claim--norno other paper, for that matter. You might have it treated withinvisible ink, or write something else in, up above. But--aw cripes,dang these lawyers, I don't want to monkey around--gimme a hundredthousand dollars and she's yours."
"The Stinging Lizard?" inquired Eells and wrote it absently on hisblotter at which Wunpost began to sweat.
"I don't _sign_ nothing!" he reminded him, and Eells smiledindulgently.
"Very well, you can acknowledge it before witnesses."
"No, I don't acknowledge nothing!" insisted Wunpost stubbornly, "andyou've got to put the money in my hand. How about fifty thousand dollarsand make it all cash, and I'll agree to get out of town."
"No-o, I haven't that much on hand at this time," observed Judson Eells,frowning thoughtfully. "I might give you a draft on Los Angeles."
"No--cash!" challenged Wunpost, "how much have you got? Count it overand make me an offer--I want to get out of this town." He muttereduneasily and paced up and down while Judson Eells, with ponderoussurety, opened up the chilled steel vault. He ran through bundles andneat packages, totting up as he went, and then with a face as frozen asa stone he came out with the currency in his hands.
"I've got twenty thousand dollars that I suppose I can spare," he beganas he spread out the money, but Wunpost cut him short.
"I'll take it," he said, "and you can have the Stinging Lizard--but myword's all the quit claim you get!"
He stuffed the money into his pockets without stopping to count it, morelike a burglar than a seller of mines, and that night while the towngathered to gaze on in wonder he took the stage for Los Angeles. No oneshouted good-by and he did not look back, but as they pulled out ofBlackwater he smiled.