LOST
"Hurrah!" yelled Jed, capering about. "We're in luck! Gold, Will! What'd I tell you? I knew we'd find it!" and he began dancing about like an Indian, or a cowboy celebrating a holiday.
"Oh, it's not such an awful lot," replied Gabe, more calmly, as he scooped up the yellow grains. "You'll have to wash out a good many panfuls before you'll be rich at this rate. Let's see how Will's is going to pan out."
He repeated the operation, and got more of the gold. The eyes of the two brothers shone with excitement, nor was Gabe altogether free from excitement, though it was an old story to him.
"Come on, Will, let's clean up another panful," suggested Jed.
"Hold on!" called Gabe. "Help me get camp in shape first. It'll soon be dark. That pay dirt will keep. It's been there a good many hundred years, and it isn't going to run away in the night."
"Hadn't we better stake out a claim?" suggested Jed, who was rapidly becoming familiar with mining terms.
"We'll prospect a bit more first," replied Gabe. "It may not pay us to remain here. No use cleaning up a little bit like this, when we can get big nuggets a bit further on."
"But we're sure there's gold here," objected Jed, "and we don't know whether or not there's any further on."
"Go slow," advised the old miner. "Come on, now, help me fix up the tent."
The boys knew that Gabe's advice was good, and, though they felt a wild desire to remain digging gold, they realized that they must have a place to sleep, for it was getting cool at night, now that they were well up in the mountains.
The boys were up early the next morning, and each one had washed a pan of gravel before breakfast. They obtained about a quarter of an ounce of gold each.
"How much is it worth?" asked Jed eagerly.
"Well," replied Gabe critically, "you've made about ten dollars between you this morning."
"And last night?"
"A little more. Say twenty-five dollars altogether."
"Why, we'll soon be rich!" exclaimed Jed.
"Maybe, if this gravel holds out," admitted Gabe. "But don't be too sure. I think it's only a surface mine, the gold having been washed down from some place higher up. Now get your breakfast and then we'll do some mining, until I can see what sort of a place we've struck."
They washed several panfuls of dirt that morning. To Jed's disappointment on several occasions the result, after a careful washing and shaking, was only a few grains of the precious yellow stuff. Again they would get nearly half an ounce.
"I think I'll make a rocker," said Gabe, at length. "We can do it faster then, and find out if this is going to pay."
"What's a rocker?" asked Will.
"I'll show you."
From some pieces of a box, in which some of their camp stuff was packed, Gabe constructed a sort of rude cradle, on rockers. The bottom of the box, which was rather shallow, was covered with a number of cross sticks, nailed to it like the cleats on a gangplank.
The box was filled with gravel and water. The water ran out of the lower end, carrying most of the dirt and gravel with it. The gold, being heavier, settled to the bottom, and was prevented from flowing away by the cleats. After about two hours of this work or "rocking," so called because the cradle is rocked from side to side, Gabe gathered from the box nearly a handful of pure gold grains.
"There! What do you think of that?" exclaimed Jed. "Have we struck a bonanza or not?"
"I can't tell yet," replied Mr. Harrison cautiously. "It may peter out any minute, but it's good so far."
The miner's fears were realized. As the day wore on the result of the various "clean-ups" was less and less, until, after the cradle had been filled several times, the result was only a mere pinch of gold.
"Let's dig over a wider space," suggested Jed.
"No," said the miner, "it's just as I thought, there was only a small deposit of gold there, and we've cleaned it up."
"Then there isn't any use in staying here?"
"Not unless we can find another deposit."
They hunted for it without success, remaining for several days in the place of their first strike. Then the miner decided they should continue on up into the mountains.
"The gold is above us," he said. "We've got to climb up to it."
They broke camp, packed their supplies on the backs of the horses, and started forward.
"Well, we made some money, anyhow," said Jed. "Our first attempt wasn't so bad."
"Yes, we cleaned up a few hundred dollars," admitted Gabe, "but that's hardly enough to pay our expenses for the time we spent. We'll have to have better luck than that, and I believe we will."
"I wish we could send word to dad," added Will.
"Better wait until we make a real strike," suggested Mr. Harrison. "No use raising false hopes."
They journeyed on for several days in a lonely part of the mountain, meeting no one. They had some luck, but not much, and the boys began to fear they would never reach a place where they could make a permanent camp, and dig gold in quantities sufficient to make it pay. But Gabe was not discouraged. He was too old a hand at the game of gold hunting.
"Boys," said the old miner one morning, as they were preparing to break camp, and travel on, "suppose you stay here for a few hours? I want to take a little side trip, and as it's rather dangerous I'd rather you'd stay here. I want to go up that mountain," pointing to one, off to one side, "and see if I can't see some new signs. I'll be back in a little while, so wait here for me."
Removing the pack from his horse, and with only his rifle, pick and pan, the old miner set off. The boys, for want of something better to do, dug up some gravel and washed it in their pans, but with no success. It served, however, to pass the time.
"Say, don't you think it's about time Gabe came back?" asked Will, as he looked up at the sun, and noted it was nearly noon.
"That's so. He has been gone longer than he said he would be," answered Jed. "But he'll come back. Let's try digging over here," and he went to a new spot.
He was encouraged by finding a few grains of gold, and then he and Will set feverishly to work, but they had no great success.
"My! But I'm hungry!" exclaimed Jed, several hours later. "Why!" he exclaimed, as he looked at his watch, "it's three o'clock, and Gabe isn't back yet!"
"Let's get grub," proposed Will. "Maybe he's struck good pay dirt, and he hates to leave."
They ate their meal, and again went back to their gold pans, but they found no yellow metal. The sun sank lower and lower. It was getting dark, and there were no signs of the old miner. The boys looked anxiously at each other.
"Maybe he's hurt," suggested Will.
"Maybe," admitted Jed, accepting his brother's rather gloomy view, which was something new for him.
"Had we better go look for him?"
"I don't know. He told us to stay here until he came back."
"But if he's fallen, and can't move, he'd want us to go for him."
"That's so. Let's go. Get your gun, Will, and put plenty of matches in your pockets. We may want to light a torch. Tie the horses so they won't stray."
The two boys were soon walking up the mountain path that Gabe had taken earlier in the day. It was fast getting dusk, and they were very anxious. The trail was a winding one, and twisted and turned in every direction. At first they could see the marks made by Gabe's horse, but the hoof-prints soon disappeared.
"Guess we'd better go back," suggested Will, after they had tramped for an hour. "There's no sign of him. Maybe he went on another trail, and is back at camp now. Anyhow, we can't see any more," for it was now quite dark.
"All right," agreed Jed. "Back to camp it is."
They turned, and thought they were taking the same path they had used in coming up. But they had not traveled far before they were made aware that it was not the right one.
"I don't remember that we passed this big rock before," said Jed, pausing near one, which, even in the darkness, they could see was perched on the edge of a deep gully.
"Me either. I wonder if we're on the right trail?"
They paused and, lighting matches, looked about them. They were observing lads, and it did not take them long to arrive at the conclusion that they were on a totally different path.
"Will," said Jed solemnly, "we're lost on the mountain, that's all there is to it."
"Lost! What are we going to do?"
"Stay here until morning, I guess. See if you can find some wood, and we'll build a fire. This rock will make a good shelter."