Jimmie gave a low groan of horror and turned away. He knew that Toombs fully deserved his fate. Still, his punishment seemed to be a brutal one. He knew that the mangled body of the unfortunate man would be swept from level to level and from rock to rock until it came to the round aperture in the floor which carried the water straight down for how many hundred feet no one could estimate.
He knew that in time the Indians would find a way of getting out the gold unless the corporation represented by Jack’s father should take advantage of the information secured by the Boy Scouts and get the gold in advance. He knew, too, that Toombs’ craving for gold would at last be satisfied. For a long time his body would swing about in eddys which whirled about heaps of gold worthy a king’s ransom.
“Serves him just right!” the boy mused as he turned away. “He was the crookedest man that ever lived. And now,” he added with a sigh, “I’ll get back to camp and see if the boys have been cooking anything more to eat.”
When he reached the camp, a great kettle of bear stew was simmering over the fire, and Frank and Jack were explaining to Mr. Bosworth the story of the night and telling of the discovery of the wonderful deposit of gold in the vicinity of the Devil’s Punch Bowl. The capitalist seemed overjoyed at the success of the expedition, and when Jimmie, in a voice not very strong, described the death of Toombs and the re-flooding of the mine, the silence was broken only by exclamations of pity for the man whose greed had led him to such a frightful death.
“But how are we going to get this gold out, now that the mine is flooded?” asked Mr. Bosworth.
“Huh,” grinned Jimmie, “guess we can unflood it. I could do it myself with a good big shovel.”
“I presume the Indians will change the course of the outlet as soon as they find some willing to market the gold for them,” suggested Ned.
“We have not the least intention in the world of robbing the Indians of all the wealth,” Mr. Bosworth declared. “On the contrary, we’ll get the gold out and give them a fair share of the proceeds of the mine. After dinner, we’ll go up and negotiate with them.”
“I hope you’ll send me back to New York immediately,” pleaded Gilroy, turning to his employer.
“We’ll all be going out directly,” was the reply.