Silver and Gold Part 23

He blundered out the door and down the steps, and there stretched the road before him. In the evening he was as far as Whitlow's Well and a great weight seemed lifted from his breast. He was free again, free to wander where he pleased, free to make friends with any that he met--for if the prophecy was not true in regard to his mine it was not true regarding his friends. And how could any woman, by cutting a pack of cards and consulting the signs of the zodiac, predict how a man would die? Denver made himself at home with a party of hobo miners who had come in from the railroad below, and that night they sat up late, cracking jokes and telling stories of every big camp in the West. It was the old life again, the life that he knew and loved, drifting on from camp to camp with every man his friend. Yet as he stretched out that night by the flickering fire he almost regretted the change. He was free from the great fear, free to make friends with whom he would; but, to win back the love of the beautiful young artist, he would have given up his freedom without a sigh.

His sleep that night was broken by strange dreams and by an automobile that went thundering by, and in the morning as they cooked a mulligan together he saw two great motor trucks go past. They were loaded with men and headed up the canyon and Denver began to look wild. A third machine appeared and he went out to flag it but the driver went by without stopping; and so did another, and another. He rushed after the next one and caught it on the hill but the men pushed him roughly from the running board. They were armed and he knew by their hard-bitten faces that it was another party of jumpers.

"Where are you going?" he yelled but they left him by the road without even a curse for an answer. Well, he knew then; they were going to Final, and Murray had fooled him again. Denver had suspected from the first that Murray's shutdown was a ruse, to shake down the public for their stock; and now he knew it, and that if his mine was jumped again it would be held against all comers. Another automobile whirled by; and then came men that he knew, the miners who owned claims in the district.

"What's the matter?" he called but they would not stop to talk, simply shouted and beckoned him on. Denver started, right then, without stopping for breakfast or to pick up his hobo's pack; and soon he caught a ride with a party of prospectors whose claims he had once freed from jumpers.

"It's a big strike!" they clamored, hauling him in and rus.h.i.+ng on. "Old Murray struck copper in his tunnel! _Rich?_ h.e.l.l, yes!" And they gave him all the details as the machine lurched along up the road.

Murray had struck another ore-body, entirely different from the first one--the copper had come out the drill-holes like pure metal--and then he had shut down and rushed the machine-men away before they could tell of the strike. But they had got loose down in Moroni and showed the drill-dust and every man that saw it had piled into his machine and joined the rush for Murray's.

"Jumped again!" muttered Denver and when he arrived in Pinal he found his mine swarming with men. They had built a barricade and run a pipe line down the hill to pump up water from the creek, and when he appeared they ordered him off without showing so much as a head. And he went, for the swiftness of the change had confused him; he was whipped before he began. There was no use to fight or to put up a bluff, the men behind the wall were determined; and while, according to law, they held no t.i.tle the law was far away. It was a weapon for rich men who could afford to pay the price; but how could he, a poor man, hope to win back his claim when it was held by Bible-Back Murray? He went down to the store, where the Miners' Meeting was a.s.sembled, and beckoned Bunker aside.

"Mr. Hill," he said, "you promised me one time to give me the loan of a gun. Well, now is the time I need it."

"Nope," warned Bunker, "you ain't got a chance. Them fellers are just up here to get you."

"Well, for self-defense!" protested Denver, "Dave sent word he'd kill me."

"Keep away, then," advised Bunker, "don't give him no chance. But if them fellers should jump on you, just run to my house and I'll slip you the old Injun-tamer."

Denver went out on the street, now swarming with traffic, and looked up toward his mine; and as he gazed he walked up closer until he stopped at the fork of the trails. The men behind the wall were watching him grimly, without letting their faces be seen; but as he stood there looking they began to bandy jests and presently to taunt him openly. But Denver did not answer, for he divined their evil purpose, and at last he turned quietly away.

"Hey! Come back here!" roared a voice and Denver whirled in his tracks for he knew it was Slogger Meacham's. He was standing there now, looking across the barricade, and as Denver met his gaze he laughed.

"Ho! Ho!" he rumbled folding his arms across his breast and thrusting out his huge black mustache. "Well, how do you feel about it now?"

"Never mind," returned Denver and, leaving him gloating, he hurried away down the trail. Old Bunk was right, they had come there to get him, and there was no use playing into their hands; yet at thought of Slogger Meacham his hair began to bristle and he muttered half-formed threats.

The Slogger had come to get him--and Dave Chatwourth was behind there, too--the whole district was dominated by their gang; but the times would change and with inrush of other men the jumpers would soon be out-numbered. It was better then to wait, to let the excitement die down and law and order return; and then, with a deputy sheriff at his back, he could eject them by due process of law. The claim was his, his papers were recorded and no lawyer could question their validity--no, the best thing was to let the jumpers rage, to say nothing and keep out of sight.

That was all that he had to do.

But to avoid them was not so easy, for as the day wore on and no attempt was made to oust them, the jumpers walked boldly into town. At first it was Chatwourth, to buy some tobacco and break in on the Miners' Meeting; and then Slogger Meacham, a huge mountain of a man, came ambling down the street. He slouched down on the store platform and leered about him evilly, but Denver had retreated to his cave under the cliff and the Slogger returned to the mine. Then they came down in a body, Chatwourth and Meacham and all the jumpers; but though his mine was left open Denver refrained from going near it, for their purpose was becoming very plain. They were trying to inveigle him into openly opposing them, after which they would have a pretext for resorting to actual violence. But their plans went no further for he remained in retirement and the Miners' Meeting adjourned. Soon the street was deserted, except for their own numbers, and they returned to the mine with shrill whoops.

From his lookout above Denver watched them with a smile, for his nerve had come back to him now. Now that Murray had made his strike, and increased the value of the Silver Treasure by a thousand per cent over night, Denver's mind had swung back like a needle to the pole to his former belief in the prophecy. He had doubted it twice and renounced it twice, but each time as if by an act of Providence he was rebuked for his lack of faith. Now he _knew_ it was so--that the mine would be restored and that only his dearest friend could kill him. So he smiled almost pityingly at the loud-mouthed jumpers and went boldly down the trail.

The hush of evening was in the air when he knocked at Bunker Hill's door and after a look about Old Bunk went back into the house and brought out a heavy pistol. It was an old-fas.h.i.+oned six-shooter of the Indian-tamer type--a single action, wooden-handled forty-five--and Bunker fingered it lovingly as he handed it over to Denver.

"For self-defense, understand," he said beneath his breath, "and look out, that bunch is sure ranicky."

"Much obliged," responded Denver and tested the action before he slipped the gun in its belt. He was starting for his cave, when from his cabin up the street the Professor came out and beckoned him.

"What do you want?" called Denver; then, receiving no answer, he strode impatiently up the street.

"Come in," urged the Professor touching his nose for secrecy, "come in, I vant to show you some-t'ing."

"Well, show it to me here," answered Denver but the Professor drew him inside the house.

"You look oudt vat you do," he warned mysteriously, "dem joompers are liable to see you."

"I should worry," said Denver and, whipping out the gun, he made the motions of fanning the hammer.

"Now, now," reproved Diffenderfer drawing back in a panic; and then he laughed, but nervously.

"Well, what do you want to show me?" demanded Denver bluntly. "Hurry up now--I hear somebody coming."

"Oh, nutting--come again!" exclaimed the Professor apprehensively. "Come to-morrow--I show you everyt'ing!"

"You'll show me now," returned Denver imperturbably, "I'm not afraid of the whole danged bunch. Come on, what have you got--a bottle?"

"Yoost a piece of copper from Murray's tunnel--Mein Gott, I hear dem boys coming!"

He sprang to the door and dropped the heavy bar but Denver struck it up and stepped out.

"What the h.e.l.l are you trying to do?" he demanded suspiciously and the door slammed to behind him.

"Run! Run!" implored the Professor staring out through his peep-hole but Denver lolled negligently against the house. A crowd of men, headed by Slogger Meacham, were coming down the street; but it was not for him to fly. He had a gun now, as well as they, and his back was against the wall. They could pa.s.s by or stop, according to their liking; but the show-down had come, there and now.

They came on in a bunch down the middle of the street, ignoring his watchful glances; but as the rest trampled past Slogger Meacham turned his head and came to a bristling halt.

"Well," he said, "out for a little airing?" And the jumpers swung in behind him.

"Yes," answered Denver regarding him incuriously and the Slogger moved a step or two closer.

"You start anything around here," he went on significantly, "and you'll be airing the smoke out of your clothes. We got your number, see, and we're here to put your light out if you start to make a peep."

"Is that so?" observed Denver still standing at a crouch and one or two of the men walked off.

"Come on, boys," they said but Meacham stood glowering and Chatwourth stepped out in front of him. "I hear," he said to Denver, "that you've been making your brag that you kin whip me with a handful of stones."

"Never mind, now," replied Denver, "I'm not looking for trouble. You go on and leave me alone."

"I'll go when I d.a.m.ned please!" cried Chatwourth in a pa.s.sion and as he advanced on Denver the crowd behind him suddenly gave a concerted shove.

Denver saw the surge coming and stepped aside to avoid it, undetermined whether to strike out or shoot; but as he was slipping away Slogger Meacham made a rush and struck him a quick blow in the neck. He whirled and struck back at him, the air was full of fists and guns, swung like clubs to rap him on the head; and then he went down with Meacham on top of him and a cras.h.i.+ng blow ringing in his ears. When he came to his senses he was stripped and mauled and battered, and a stranger stood over him with a gun.

"You're my prisoner," he said and Denver sat up startled.

"Why--what's the matter?" he asked looking about at the crowd that had gathered on the scene of the fight, "what's the matter with that jasper over there?"

"He's dead--that's all," answered the officer laughing shortly, "you hit him over the head with this gun."

"I did not!" burst out Denver, "I never even drew it. Say, who is that fellow, anyway?"

"Name was Meacham," returned the officer, "come on."

CHAPTER XXVI