Kitabı oku: «The Bungalow Boys Along the Yukon», sayfa 11
CHAPTER XXX
THE GRASP OF CIRCUMSTANCE
"Hard at work, eh?" asked Stapleton, as he looked over the edge of the hole.
"Yes, we're in a hurry to get to that gold," rejoined Tom cheerfully.
"That's right. That's the spirit to show," exclaimed Ingalls in a way that for him was quite hearty.
"How soon do you think we'll strike it?" asked Jack.
"In a few days sure. You're not getting impatient?"
"No, but when a fellow feels he's right close to a fortune, he can't help being anxious to close his fists on it as quickly as possible," said Tom.
"Well, you might as well knock off now," said Stapleton. "We'll have a bite of lunch and then turn in."
The boys came out of the pit, and you may be sure that they did not display much reluctance in doing so. They followed Stapleton and his partner up to the cave, where Rufus had some hot tea brewed and the remains of the supper to furnish them with a snack. As the boys drank their tea, the negro looked at them scowlingly. His every action showed dislike and hatred of the boys. He played his part to perfection, yet never made the mistake of overacting it.
After their lunch the boys declared that they felt so sleepy that they could slumber like logs till morning. They were shown a place to lay their blankets by Rufus, who grumbled at having to wait on them, to the huge delight of Stapleton and his partner.
"But we must be up early," said Stapleton, "the rising sun must find us out with our picks and shovels."
"Oh, we'll be on the job," declared Tom heartily. "With that gold so near to hand it'll be all we can do to keep from dreaming about it all night."
"Well, you did a hard day's work to-day," observed Ingalls; "if you keep that up we'll have no cause for complaint."
The boys noticed that the sleeping place assigned to them was in the rear of the cavern. The significance of this did not escape them. The men were seemingly no longer suspicious of them, but they were taking no chances. Before they retired, Stapleton and Ingalls took a survey from the door of the cave with their spyglass. While they were doing this, Rufus passed swiftly by the boys and dropped a whispered message.
"Yo' mus' try it to-night when I am in de watch. Ah'll be lookin' for yo'."
As he spoke the two men came back into the cavern and began to dispose their sleeping things. While Stapleton took his place on watch, Ingalls and Rufus laid down and were soon off into slumberland. Strange to say the boys, too, slept although their feelings were wrought up almost to the snapping point. They did not wake till they heard Ingalls arousing Rufus with a kick.
"Get up you lazy, black roustabout. It's time to go on watch."
"Wha's de mattah?" yawned out Rufus sleepily.
"Hush! Don't make so much noise. You'll wake the boys."
"Sho'! who cares fo' dem? Why don' dey go watch same as de res' ob us? Wha fo' dey lowed ter sleep sixty-leben weeks while we alls don' git no sleep at all?"
Rufus fairly roared the words out, so anxious was he that the boys should not fail to wake up, although, had he known it, they were wide awake and trembling with the tension of waiting till the decisive moment arrived.
Rufus grumblingly took up his watch while Ingalls rolled himself in his blankets. Tom rolled over on his side so that he was facing Jack.
"All ready, Jack?"
"Sure. Are you?"
"Yes, but we must wait till they are sound asleep. The racket that nigger made may have awakened Stapleton."
"Well, don't go to sleep again while we are waiting."
"Not likely. I was never more wide awake in my life."
"Same here. I can hardly wait till the moment comes."
Although it was early morning after the brief Alaskan night, still it was almost quite dark in the cave, which made the boys think that it must be overcast outside. However, this was so much the better for their plans, and they lay without stirring till the regular breathing of Ingalls and the steady continued snoring of his partner showed that both men were asleep.
But although the time had now arrived for them to make their escape, there was still an obstacle in their path. The cavern was so dark that it was hard to see where the men lay, and both boys knew that one touch of the foot against those sleeping forms and their plan would be doomed to disaster. In the event of awaking them, both men would be upon the two youths like tigers, and they might expect just as much mercy from the two crazed gold-diggers, who would surely think that the boys were sneaking off to carry their secret to the outside world. Cautiously they arose from their blankets, and recollecting where they had left their rifles they reached out for them, for without these weapons it would be impossible for them to make the long journey back to the Yukon and provide themselves with food.
This done, they began stepping out with the utmost delicacy. They did not dare to light a match, as this would have undoubtedly awakened the men who appeared to be restless sleepers. So they had to proceed in the dark. It was ticklish work. One false step and the men would be upon them. They stepped out like cats on ice, raising each foot high in the air as it was advanced.
Tom reached the entrance of the cavern in safety without having aroused either of the sleepers. Jack was not so lucky. His foot encountered Ingalls's body and the man muttered something in his sleep. For one dreadful instant Jack thought that the man was awake. His heart stood still and he fingered his rifle nervously.
But a minute later he knew that it had been a false alarm and speedily thereafter he joined his brother at the cave mouth. Silhouetted against the dark sky was the form of Rufus. Both boys' hearts gave a glad bound at the sight of him.
The negro said nothing, but wiggled his hand in front of his face as though to signify that he was glad to see them. Then beckoning to them mysteriously, he asked the entirely superfluous question:
"Am yo' hyah?"
Equally unnecessarily Tom made his response.
"We are both here, as you can see, Rufus."
"Gollyumption, ain't it as dark as de ten plagues ob Egyup? But dat am a good ting fo' yo' alls. De darker de better till yo' gits clar away."
"That's so. Well, here's your money, Rufus, and thank you. But how about tying you?"
"Gracious, ah plum forgot dat part ob de business! Hyah! Take dis rope and lace me up good an' tight. Don' min' mah feelin's. Ah'm durable."
The negro was trussed up hand and foot by the boys, who then pressed his hand, and with more murmured thanks to him they slipped away into the darkness. They had a general idea of the lay of the land and made off as fast as they could in the direction that Tom judged was the correct one. As they went, their hearts were filled with genuine thankfulness toward the black-skinned friend who had helped them out of a bad dilemma.
And now, as we shall not see Rufus or his masters again, we may as well take this opportunity of detailing their future careers.
Following the discovery that the boys had gone, leaving Rufus tied and gagged, the fury of the two men knew no bounds. Had they discovered the boys then, there is no question but they would have killed them. But although they ranged the woods they did not discover any trace of the two lads, and being eager to get back to their crazy task of undermining the mountain, they soon gave up the search.
They were hastened in this by their insane fears that the boys would communicate the secret of their camp to outsiders, and that a horde of gold-seekers would swoop down on Dead Man's Mine and rob them of their so-called rightful gains. Rufus had acted his part perfectly, and not for an instant did they suspect him. His groans and moans and imprecations upon the heads of the runaways left no room to doubt that he was even more affected by their escape than his masters.
"De scan'lous willians des crep' up behin' me and caught me de worses' wallop ober de ear dat you eber felt," he said. "Den dey knock me down an' tie me up de way yo' fin' me. Which way did dey go? Why, dat 'a way." And Rufus pointed in exactly the contrary direction to that in which the young runaways had gone.
Deeming it a useless task to carry the pursuit any further, the two men, as has been said, resumed their disordered operations on the mine. Day by day their insanity became more and more marked, till finally they hardly gave themselves time to eat or sleep in the belief that the boys would soon be back with a party of men to steal the mine.
They worked all day and finally all night, sleeping a few winks in the mine itself and having Rufus bring them scanty mouthfuls of food. It was a true tragedy of the far north that now began to draw toward a close.
Rufus pleaded with the two men, for whom he really cherished an affection, to listen to reason, but they were too far gone for that. Their every thought now was centered on the gold, which they were certain was close at hand. In the strength of their delirium they actually undermined a great part of the conical hill, a task that would have been thought almost impossible.
Then one morning the end came. Rufus went to the pit to beg the men, who had been working for twenty hours on a stretch, to leave off for a time and get a little rest. He found them lying in the excavation side by side, each with a shovel in his hand, just as he had dropped. Rufus gave them as fitting a burial as he could, and then, as many a man has done before, he uttered a deep curse against gold, the love of which was the infernal cause of all the trouble. Then making up his few possessions into a bundle, he made his way out to the settlements with his strange story. And so ended two careers which might have been useful and dignified had it not been for the lure of gold that ensnares so many men and breaks so many promising lives. Jim Stapleton and Seth Ingalls were not the first men to yield up their lives at the behest of the demon of gold-seeking, and the most pathetic part of their story is that it is exactly true as related in this volume. The author heard it while in the Yukon some years ago, along with many other tales of the same sort.
As for the boys, they endured many hardships and not a few perils on their way back to the Yukon Rover. But in due course, thin, half-famished and footsore they reached the craft. With what a warm welcome they were received may be readily imagined. They found Mr. Dacre quite recovered and Sandy as chipper as ever.
The days that ensued were filled with hunting, fishing and long tramps along the trap-line, till every one of the lads was muscled like an athlete and brown as a berry.
One late August morning the first breath of the northern winter came down upon them. The boys hailed it with delight, for they knew then that the real business of their strange voyage on the Yukon was about to begin. With winter would come the trapping season and the long-awaited silver foxes. The boys looked forward eagerly to the time when they could glide with snowshoes through the frozen woods on their visits to the traps.
But they little knew what the winter held in store for them. It was not to be all sport and jollity. When the iron hand of the frost king closes on the far northland, the time has arrived when men and boys are tried on no common anvil to see of what metal they be. Ahead of the lads lay many strange experiences and perils in the frozen wilds. Those who care to read of their adventurous winter in the Yukon country may do so in the next volume of this series, entitled The Bungalow Boys "North of Fifty-three."
