MR. BANTA IS SURPRISED.
"You fellows look surprised," said Mr. Gibson, running his eyes from one to the other of the boys. "It seems to me, if a man told me I had that amount of money coming to me, and that I had ten thousand dollars where I could draw on it at my leisure, this room would not hold me; I should want the whole city to splurge in."
The boys made no reply. Jack drew his hand once or twice across his forehead, as if to brush away some wrinkles, while Julian got up and walked to the window.
"You did not expect to get it—did you?" continued Mr. Gibson.
"No, sir, we did not," replied Julian; "but we hoped to get it. We tried our level best to find Mr. Haberstro, following the advice of Mr. Wiggins in everything he told us to do; but he was out of our reach."
"He is dead, probably," said Mr. Gibson. "I know just what you tried to do, and all about it. Of course there will be some law to go through with before you can step into the property. Do you wish me to take charge of it for you?"
"Oh, Mr. Gibson, we really wish you would. We know nothing about law, and consequently we should not know how to act."
"And do you wish me to take charge of the rental of your blocks of buildings?"
"Yes, sir; go on just as you did before, and when we want money we will come to you."
"Well, that is a different thing altogether," said Mr. Gibson, looking down at the floor. "The twenty thousand dollars that I told you of is now in the bank, subject to my order. I guess I had better go up there with you and have it changed. You can then get money whenever you want it. By the way, Julian, Mr. Wiggins sent his kindest regards to you; and, furthermore, he gave me a letter which he wished me to hand to you. I've got one for you, Jack, from your boss; what do you call him?"
"Master mechanic," replied Jack.
Mr. Gibson opened his desk and took out two letters, which he gave to the boys. The sight of Mr. Wiggins's handwriting on the envelope was almost too much for Julian, for he put the letter into his pocket and walked to the window again.
"There is some good advice in those letters, and I want you boys to follow it out implicitly," said the lawyer. "You will always find me here, ready to tell you what to do in case you get into trouble. You must come to me or to Mr. Fay every time you get into a box. But, first and foremost, don't have anything to do with strangers. There are some of them who are bound to hear of your good fortune, and will take every means in their power to get hold of it. Don't sign any papers unless you bring them to me."
"We have already had a little experience in that line," said Julian, with a smile. "Claus came up to us and tried to pass himself off for Mr. Haberstro, and he is the one who stole our valises on our way here; but he didn't make anything by it."
"Yes—I heard all about this man Claus, and about that friend of yours, Casper Nevins. You know enough to steer clear of such fellows in future. Now, if you are all through, we'll go up to the bank."
The boys followed Mr. Gibson out of the office, along the street, turning three or four corners, until they reached the bank. He did not have any business to do with the man who stood behind the desk counting out the money, but he simply asked him,
"Is E. A. in?"
"Yes, sir; he is in his private office," replied the cashier.
The boys did not know who E. A. was, but they found out a moment later, for the lawyer led them into the presence of the president of the bank. He was gray-headed and wore a pair of gold spectacles, but he stopped his work and shook Mr. Gibson warmly by the hand. He looked curiously at the boys, but when the lawyer began his story, talking very rapidly, for there was a card hung up over his desk which said on it, "This is my busy day," he laid down his pen and glanced at Julian and Jack with some interest.
"And you want the twenty thousand dollars changed, so that it will be subject to their order?" said he.
"Yes, sir, that is my errand up here."
The president got upon his feet and walked into the room where the cashier was. When he went, the boys had not more than ten dollars in their pockets that they could call their own; when he came back, they had a small fortune coming to them.
"It is all right," said he. "And which of you boys was it who bid on the 'old horse?'" he continued, extending a hand to each of them. "You are the one? Well, my son, remember that there is an end to your money somewhere, and if you go to work and spend it all without waiting for some more to come in, the end of it is not far off. I wish you good luck."
The boys retraced their steps to the cashier's desk, and the transfer of the property from Mr. Gibson's order to their own was easily completed. Mr. Gibson signed a check, the boys attached their names to a big book which was thrust out at them, and then the cashier wanted to know if they needed any money.
"We would like about one hundred dollars apiece," said Julian.
"Very well; make out a check for it and sign your names to it, and you can get it all right. You will find the checks there on that desk."
The boys accordingly made out their checks for the money, and Mr. Gibson stood watching them, smiling to himself when he saw how the boys' hands trembled, and how anxious they were to have everything correct. The money was paid on the checks, and Julian and Jack put it into their pockets.
"You got it, didn't you?" said the lawyer.
"Yes, sir; thanks to you, we have got it," said Julian. "Mr. Gibson, I can't begin to tell you how much we thank you——"
"Oh, that is all right," said the lawyer, opening the door of the bank; "only, don't get into a fuss and lose it all."
"When we came here," continued Julian, "we had no money at all; now see how different it is! I assure you that we are not going to get into any fuss. The money is safe where it is."
"Well, let it stay there. I am pretty busy this morning, so I beg that you will excuse me. Good-bye."
The lawyer hurried away, and Julian stood a little on one side of the door of the bank, one hand thrust into his pocket where he had placed the bills, and his eyes fastened upon Mr. Gibson as long as he remained in sight.
"Say, Jack," said he, suddenly; "I don't believe Mr. Gibson had any right to give us this money."
"He hadn't?" exclaimed Jack. "Why, it was his."
"No, it was not; it belongs to that Haberstro estate. It seems to me he ought to have got an order from the court before giving any of the money up to us."
"Perhaps he has an order," said Jack.
"Then why did he not say something about it? I would like to know when the court sits. If the Judge finds any blundering in the business, why, then we are up a stump. What will we do if this man Haberstro comes up, all on a sudden, and tells us he wants this hundred dollars?"
"Whew!" said Jack; "I did not think of that."
"But Mr. Gibson probably knew what the decision of the court was going to be or he would not have done this," added Julian, after a moment's pause. "I guess we are all right, but I shall feel better when we have all that property in our hands."
Julian wished now, when it was too late, that he had not spoken to Jack about this. During the dinner hour he was unusually silent and thoughtful, and the landlady's questioning could not get a word out of him. He would arouse up long enough to reply, and then he would fall to thinking again.
"I will never tell you another piece of news as long as I live," said Julian, as they went up to their room to get ready to accompany Mr. Fay to call on the miner. "You always have enough to say at dinner, but to-day you were as solemn as an owl."
"I could not help it," said Jack. "If that man who owns this property turns up here, I tell you we shall be in a fix. We shall spend this before the winter is over, and how are we to get a hundred dollars to pay him? I'll speak to Mr. Gibson about that the next time I see him."
"I believe that would be a good plan," said Julian, after thinking the matter over. "I'll bet you that he has some good reason for it."
In due time the boys arrived at Mr. Fay's office, and found him ready to accompany them. All he said was that he was going out for half an hour, and if anybody came to see him he was to be told that he would soon be back; and then he set off, with his long strides, to lead the way to Salisbury's hotel. The boys found it as much as they could do to keep up with him.
"I guess you have been a messenger-boy in your day," said Julian.
"I was a messenger-boy for six years," replied Mr. Fay. "Of course I did not want to hold that position all my life, so I learned telegraphy at odd times, and got my promotion as fast as I was qualified for it, until at last I got where you see me now. That's the way that young men ought to do—look out for promotion."
"We received good news down there at Mr. Gibson's office," continued Julian.
"I knew you would. Have you the property all in your hands?"
"No; there is some law-business to go through with, first. We told Mr. Gibson to go ahead with it, as he did before."
"That was the best thing that you ever did," said Mr. Fay, earnestly. "Gibson is an honest man, even if he is a lawyer, and you will get every cent that is coming to you. Now, then, here we are. You will find this rather a different hotel from the one you first stopped at when you came here, but the old fellow makes lots of money out of the miners. There is nobody stays here except those who have shovelled dirt."
Mr. Fay opened the door as he spoke, and the boys speedily found themselves in the living-room of the hotel. Before they had time to look around them the chief telegraph operator walked up and laid his hand upon the shoulder of a man who sat with his back to him.
"You are here yet, are you, Banta?" said he.
"Yes," replied the miner, looking up to see who it was that accosted him. "I am on hand, like a bogus coin made out of iron pyrites; you can't get rid of me."
"I have brought some boys with me who would like to know something about the mines at which you are working," said Mr. Fay; and he proceeded to introduce Julian and Jack.
Banta speedily proved that he was a gentleman, for he straightway got upon his feet to shake hands with the boys.
"All right," said the miner; "if anybody can tell them about Dutch Flat, I am the man."
"They are going to stay here this winter, and go out with you next spring," Mr. Fay went on.
"All right," said the miner, again; "I will put them where they can dig gold so fast that you won't see anything but gold coming out of the pit."
"But they have a gold-mine up there already."
"They have? Where is it located?"
Mr. Fay could not answer this question, so he stood aside and waited for Julian to tell him the whereabouts of the mine. The boy began by asking him,
"Do you know the mine that Winkleman used to work when he was here?"
Mr. Banta started, and looked at Julian to see if he was in dead earnest. The boy gazed fixedly at him, and the miner finally settled back in his chair and pulled himself down until his neck rested on the back of it.
"Of course I know that mine," said he. "You don't think of working there, do you?"
"We thought some of trying it," replied Julian.
"Pete, what do you think of that?" asked Mr. Banta, pushing his hand against the shoulder of the man who sat nearest him, with his eyes closed, as if he were fast asleep. "Here are two boys going up to Dutch Flat next spring to work the Winkleman mine."
"Well," replied Pete, without lifting his head, "I am glad I am not going up there."
"Are the ghosts so awful thick up there?" asked Julian, who felt his courage oozing out at the ends of his fingers.
"You know something about it—don't you? The ghosts are so thick up there that you can't go down in the mine to shovel a bucketful of dirt without scaring some of them up."
"Well, you will have to excuse me," said Mr. Fay. "I should like to see what those ghosts are, but my work calls me. You will take charge of the boys next spring, will you, Mr. Banta?"
"Sure I will; but they are plumb dunces if they try to work that mine. I will go with them as far as I can, and the balance of the way they will have to depend on themselves."
Mr. Fay said he believed they could do that, opened the door and went out, and Julian and Jack were left alone.