The Cave of Gold<br />A Tale of California in '49, Everett McNeil [best books for students to read .txt] 📗

the ages since both rivers dried up. Now, in making that turn," and he pointed to where the Golden Elbow had been, "I figure that the water struck a soft ledge of gold-bearing rock, and gradually scooped out a big cave right in the point of the turn, and, of course, as the gold was washed out of the rock, it would fall to the bottom of the cave, and, being in quite large chunks, it was too heavy for the action of the water to carry it out of the cave, while the water would carry out nearly all the other dirt and gravel, thus leaving the bottom of the cave covered with gold nuggets, the way we found it. And, after the river had dried up, rocks from the arch at the entrance to the cave would fall off, and little by little fill up the entrance and form the big arch we found. Now, that's about the way the gold came into the cave, according to my figureing. What's your idea, Rad?" and Mr. Conroyal turned to Rad Randolph.

"I think that you've hit it about right, Con," answered Mr. Randolph. "But, now that there is no hope of getting any more gold out of that cave, I am getting powerful anxious to make a start for home with what we have got. Let's go back to the Big Tree at once and get agoing homeward as soon as we can."

"Hurrah for home!" yelled Thure, starting for the opening out of Crooked Arm Gulch. "I'd rather see home now than another Cave of Gold."

In a few minutes all were back in the camp under the Big Tree; and preparations for the start homeward were begun at once.

In three hours everything was ready for the journey. The gold, there was fifty bags of it, each weighing about one hundred pounds, was packed on the fifteen horses they had secured from the robbers. Mrs. Dickson was given one of the other horses to ride, and the food and the camp supplies were packed on the remaining five horses.

The twenty-two prisoners were now all gathered in a bunch under the Big Tree, and the hands of each man strongly tied behind his back. Then Mr. Conroyal stepped out in front of them.

"You cowardly pack of scoundrels," he said, "if we could, we would gladly take you to where we could deliver you up to the justice you so richly deserve; but, under existing circumstances, that is impossible; and so we have decided to leave you here, bound as you now are, without weapons of any kind, but with food enough to last you three days, which ought to be enough to keep you until you can get to one of the mining-camps. Doubtless, by working real hard, you can manage to get the hands of one of you untied in course of the next two or three hours, and then he can soon untie the hands of the others, and you can start for one of the mining-camps as soon as you please. But," Mr. Conroyal spoke slowly, so that every man could understand every word that he uttered, "do not, if you value your lives, follow our trail. We will shoot, and shoot to kill, on sight. Now, that is all I have to say to you, except," and he grinned joyously, "to thank you for bringing us those fifteen horses and for your help in getting out the gold. I do not know what we would have done without the horses and without your help. Hope this will learn you to give up trying to steal gold and start you to digging for it," and he turned and led the little company down the canyon, bound, at last, for home.

CHAPTER XXVII HOME

Ten days later than the events just recorded in the last chapter, Iola Conroyal and Ruth Randolph sat swinging in a hammock, stretched under the broad porch that shaded the front of the Conroyal house.

"I wish we could hear from our dads and the boys," Iola said, as the two girls swung gently back and forth. "It seems like a long time now since Thure and Bud left us; and we haven't heard a word from them since they went away; and so many things might have happened to them. Why, they may already have found the Cave of Gold, and right at this moment they may be picking up gold nuggets by the basketful!" and her dark eyes sparkled at the thought.

"Yes, it has been a long time since we heard from the mines," answered Ruth; "and our mothers are beginning to worry, more than they let us know. They are afraid that the hunt for the Cave of Gold will get them into some kind of trouble with the men who murdered the old miner for the skin map, and then failed to get it. And—and not to hear a word from them, when so many things might happen, is terrible worrying. Oh, I do hope they find that Cave of Gold, and get enough gold to make us rich all the rest of our lives!" and her face brightened. "That is the way it would come out in a story book; and I can't see why it can't happen that way in real life, just this once. I dreamt, only last night, that they came back with a string of horses a mile long and all of them loaded down with gold. And—and," and her face flushed a little, "Thure brought me a nugget as big as my head, and a necklace of nuggets that reached to the ground, when he threw it around my neck. Oh, if something like that would only happen in real life!" and she laughed merrily at her own extravagant conceit.

"And I dreamt—" and then Iola stopped abruptly.

A faint halloo, coming from far-off, at this moment had reached the ears of both girls, and brought them out of the hammock in one jump, and turned their two pairs of eyes to staring excitedly across the level of the valley in front of the house.

A mile away they saw two horsemen, swinging their hats around their heads and hallooing loudly, riding excitedly toward the house; and back of them came a long train of horses and men.

For a minute the two girls stood, as if turned to stone, staring with widening eyes at those two horsemen, at the train of horses and men behind them; and then, with a yell that made their mothers jump from the chairs where they were sitting in the cool of the house and rush to the door, they leaped off the porch and ran toward the two horsemen.

"It's Thure and Bud! It's dad and the rest!" they shouted, as they ran.

In a few minutes the racing boys—for the two horsemen were Thure and Bud—and the running girls met.

The boys jumped from their saddles, and, the next instant, they were in the arms of the girls.

"We found it! We found it!" shouted Thure, a moment later, dancing up and down with excitement. "We found the Cave of Gold! And here," and he thrust one of his hands into his pocket, "is your breastpin nugget!" and he handed the big gold nugget he had found to Ruth. "And here is your necklace of gold nuggets!" and he threw over the happy girl's head and around her neck a long string of gold nuggets that he had strung on a deer sinew, during the homeward journey.

Bud, during this time, had been going through the same delightful performance with Iola.

That was the most wonderful night in the history of the Conroyal and the Randolph households!

First, of course, after the greetings were over, the gold had to be taken off the horses and carried into the house and piled up in the center of the floor of the big room; and then, with all of the two families and all of the friends who took part in the search for the Cave of Gold, not forgetting you may be sure Mr. and Mrs. Dickson, seated in a circle around the piled-up bags of gold, the story of the adventures of Thure and Bud and the finding of the dead miner's marvelous Cave of Gold had to be told.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed Iola happily, when, at last, the tale was ended. "It is just like a story out of a book; and I wouldn't believe it at all, if I couldn't see the gold piled up right in front of me. Now," and her eyes looked wonderingly at the bags of gold, "how much is all that gold worth? Is it worth a Hundred Thousand Dollars?" and her eyes grew big with the thought of the enormous wealth that lay within touch of her hand.

"I reckon it is," laughed Mr. Conroyal. "But, supposing we see just about how much it is worth. Thure, you and Bud go and get the big scales, and we will weigh it."

In a few minutes the two boys returned, carrying between them a small platform scales, capable of weighing a few hundred pounds at a time, and set it down by the side of the pile of bags of gold.

Mr. Conroyal now placed the bags of gold, four at a time, on the scales, and announced their weights; and Thure and Bud, pencils and paper in their hands, set down the amounts. When the last bag had been weighed, all waited anxiously while the two boys added up the various amounts. Thure was the first to finish the addition.

"Five thousand one hundred and three and a half pounds!" he yelled.

"Exactly what I got," announced Bud a moment later.

"Give me the pencil and paper," and Mr. Conroyal caught the pencil and paper from Thure's hands. "I'll see about what that amount of gold is worth," and he began figuring on the paper, with hands that trembled just a little with excitement. Presently he looked up, his face flushed and his eyes shining.

"Of course I can't tell exactly how much the gold is worth," he said, "not knowing exactly how much it will bring an ounce; but, I am sure we can count on its bringing a Million Dollars, a Million Dollars, boys! And that, since there were ten in the company, will give each one of us at least One Hundred Thousand Dollars!"

"Great Moses! That means that we are all rich! Hurrah!" and Thure jumped to his feet and yelled so loudly that Iola thrust her mantilla over his mouth, fearing that the glad noise might bring the roof down on their heads.

"And that we can now go to our dear home in New York," Mrs. Dickson said softly, pressing the hand she held of her husband and looking happily into his eyes.