george dropped his jaw and almost dropped the pan. he and terry stopped short in their dance, shep growled, they all stared; stared into the muzzles of a double-barrel shot-gun projecting over the top of a big boulder not fifteen steps at one side, and also into the eyes of a man squatting concealed and squinting over the sight. he was bare-headed and tow-headed.
he slowly arose, with shot-gun leveled, and proved to be a pudgy fat man in dirty checkered shirt and faded blue overalls with bib and straps; regular barnyard overalls.
"gee, the crazy dutchman!" gasped george.
"dot is one lie," corrected the man, steadily. "joost like american boys, who haf no respect. you come into my gulch to steal mein gold und you call me 'crazy' und a 'dootchmann,' und for dot i haf a mind to blow off your heads off. ja!" in his anger he spoke with a stronger german accent than ever. "vat you want, anyhow? where you from?"
"oh—i know you!" exclaimed terry, gladly. "sure i do. and you know me. you're the lightning express. remember, you sold us your sacks. i thought you'd gone home. what are you doing in here?"
now the german gaped and stared. he slowly lowered his gun, and grinned widely.
"ja, ja. sure! you are one of dose pike's peak limited boys. ja, ja! you wass driving a mule an' a boof'lo. ja, ja! well, well! an' where is dot partner—dot nice young man? and who is dis odder boy? an' what you doing in my gulch—say!"
"we didn't know it was your gulch. this boy is george stanton. he's my partner, too. my other partner's down at denver. we've been over in the gregory diggin's."
"an' are you prospecting alone? dere is more of you?" demanded the german, suspiciously.
"no, we're alone," assured terry.
"well, well. is dot so? den you needn't be afraid. i would not harm goot boys. nein, nein." now apparently in fine humor, he waddled forward to shake hands.
"we're not afraid," replied terry.
"i should say not," alleged george. "your gun wasn't cocked, and we could have ducked. you'd have had to fight the two of us at once, besides the dog. that's a powerful dog. he's licked an injun."
"is dot so?" repeated the german, eying shep. "i stick my one foot in his mouth an' kick him mit de odder. but no, no. fighting is not goot. i only fight to protect my gulch. come on down; come on down to where i lif, an' we haf supper."
"this is your dust, isn't it?" queried george, proffering the pan. "it's out of that dirt. do you own all the gulch?"
"ja; my gulch. but nefer mind. you keep what you find. i haf plenty, plenty. come on down now an' i show you somet'ings. you odder boy wash your pan. den we all go."
terry delayed not in washing his panful while he had the permission. it yielded fully as much yellow as had george's! whew! they had struck rich pay-dirt, at last, and—shucks! it belonged to somebody else. however——
"keep it, keep it," bade the german, with grand gesture. "it is not worth my bodder. i haf plenty. i gif you so much, but i do not want you to steal it."
so they carefully scraped the treasure into george's new buckskin sack already open. "we'll divvy," proposed george, "but let me carry it, will you?"—and accompanied the german down the main gulch.
"ja," he explained, to terry, "i did start myself back an' i sell you an' dot odder partner my sacks an' my tools an' my sauerkraut. an' den, when dose stages begin to pass me, an' peoples begin to come, i t'ink maybe i was one fool again, so i turn 'round."
"how did you get in here, though?" asked terry. "are you the first? did anybody else come with you?"
"ja, i am the first. no, nobody else come—joost me an' my family an' my wagon an' my oxen. people said 'the mountains, the mountains, the gold is not at cherry creek, it is in the mountains'; so we go into de mountains, an' we climb up an' we climb down, an' when we get to where dere is plenty gold, we stop. dose fellers in dot odder gulch dey come later, but i pay no attention to dem, except when one is in my gulch an' den i drive him out."
how the lightning express ever had managed to achieve all that "climbing up" and "climbing down" until it finally arrived here in this remote spot, terry could not figure out—and the german seemed not to know, himself. he certainly had earned his luck. he had spoken truly, too, for now the gulch widened, and there, before, was his headquarters—a homelike camp, with the two oxen grazing, and the wagon whose torn top still displayed the legend "litening express," and a bough-roofed dug-out, and a clothes-line with washing waving from it, and his family hovering around the cook stove set under a tree.
"i find my cook stove an' pick him up," he announced. "ja, we haf lots to eat, but no sauerkraut. only deers an' boof'lo an' chickens an' fishes."
the menu sounded very alluring, the mrs. german and all the six girls, even the youngest, smiled welcome, and the two guests were disposed to stay for the promised supper. but first their host, who seemed extraordinarily good-natured and hospitable, mysteriously beckoned them aside; led them to the wagon.
"now i show you somet'ings," he said. "let's get in mit us." he laboriously clambered in under the hood. they followed.
evidently the wagon was being used as a sleeping place, for the feather tick and blankets were spread, and two red-flannel night-caps hung against the frame-work. the german turned back the blankets and tick part way and exposed several fat gunny sacks wedged in amidst other stuff, all of which formed a floor.
"dere!" he grunted. "isn't it? ja! i told you once i fill my sacks. now i do so."
"what's in 'em?" blurted george.
"gold. my gold."
george's eyes bulged; terry heard him pant, and he caught his breath himself.
"in every sack?"
"ja." one of the sacks had a rent in the upper side. the german inserted his fingers and thumb and extracting some of the contents, displayed the sample in his pudgy, calloused palm. the sample was black sand, all yellowed and asparkle with glittering grains.
"i wash him cleaner when i get time," announced the german. "first i fill all my sacks up tight. den maybe it winter an' i must go away. my wife an' i an' two leetle girls sleep in here on top; dose odder girls sleep under; nobody get my gold. i fill my sacks in my wagon, an' some day i hitch up my oxen an' drive off alretty." he smoothed down the bed again, over the treasure. "i am a smart man. i save some sacks, dot time when i sell."
"but you've got millions!" exclaimed terry. "i should think you'd go out instead of staying. you can't use that gold here."
"it is notting," asserted the german. "my gulch is so much gold i cannot dig him fast enough. if i go away somebody come in an' steal." he blinked at terry with his fat eyes. "maybe i sell, to goot boys who would stay an' watch while i go an' come back. den we could all work togedder."
"sell all the gulch?"
"no, no. maybe i sell one piece. i sell dot piece where you wash out dose pans. i haf plenty more an' i do not like to walk so far. i sell him cheap—it is notting to me, but i will not be stolen from. i sell him to goot boys for $100."
"one hundred dollars!" gasped terry and george. they could scarcely believe their ears.
"ja. so cheap. i will not gif him away. it is better for boys to pay a leetle somet'ings, an' when dey haf bought, den dey haf rights. one hoondred dollar—you bring in dot odder partner an' dig all you want to an' you watch my gulch, an' when i come back we all dig togedder an' get rich."
"but how much land will be ours to dig in?"
"i do not care," and the german airily waved his hand. "dere will be t'ree of you? i sell you the right to six hoondred feet. dot is two hoondred feet apiece. ja. an' you watch an' don't you let anybody steal."
terry looked at george. george was fairly purple with excitement.
"guess we'd better take it."
"guess we had," agreed george, gruffly.
"that's a bargain, then."
"we haven't got a hundred dollars here, though," stammered terry, to the german. "we'll go back to gregory gulch right away and get it, and get our partner, and we'll hustle in here."
"dot's all right," agreed the german. "dot's all right. you are goot boys. i wait. i haf one sack not yet full alretty."
"we won't stay for supper," proclaimed terry. "we'll hustle. it's nearly dark, anyway. come on, george!"
he piled out. george piled out. the german rather tumbled out. they grabbed their tools. "goot-bye, goot-bye," answered the german, and in a moment they were hurrying down the gulch.
"we'll sell the gregory claims," panted terry. "sell to ike. that's where we'll get the hundred dollars."
"sure," panted george. "talk about your pound a day! we'll make more than that in here."
"i should say! reckon we washed out ten dollars in just those two pans."
"and there'll be millions!"
"that german has a million now!"
"wait till we tell harry about the sacks."
"not a word of this to those tarryall and grab-all folks. keep mum!"
"you bet. don't want any stampede. we'll pretend we're going out disgusted."
"wonder if the german expects us to stay in all winter?"
"we don't care. we can build a cabin and kill buffalo and deer."
"and pile up the sand and wash cleaner after the snow comes."
"shall we start tonight? ought to be making tracks."
"n-no," said terry. "it'll be dark before we can pack up. shucks!"
for the sun had set early behind the high peaks and already the dusk was creeping into the hollows.
"we'll start first thing in the morning, then," declared george. "hurrah! we've struck it, haven't we?"
"that's so." the fact was so stupendous that terry felt almost frightened over the great good fortune.
"two days there and two days back again."
"he said he'd wait. he's got a sack to fill."
"hope we don't talk in our sleep," babbled george.
"if we don't, nobody'll guess we're rich. we mustn't go grinning 'round, just the same," babbled terry.
"no. we'll act mad, like the rest."
and so, this evening, they were careful to appear very solemn. but of course the night was a difficult one for sleep, when a fellow's brain thronged with golden secrets.
and as early as they two were in their morning start for gregory gulch, others were as early. this camp of grab-all was largely a disgruntled camp. there was no lumber on hand for sluices, the conveniently worked ground had already been taken up by the tarryall men, most of the newcomers were short on provisions, nobody knew but that winter would set in before many weeks; and so everybody from gregory was planning to leave as soon as he had located a claim.
in fact, when jenny finally was packed, and in the pink dawn unwillingly stepped forth at the bidding of "gwan! hep, now!" from terry and a slap on the flank from george, half a dozen outfits were heading up the trail.
urged to make the most of her long legs, jenny pressed after.
"you boys are in more of a hurry to get out than you were to get in, seems to me," challenged one party whom they passed. "must have heard of a new strike, eh?"
"yes, sir-ee!" affirmed terry, daringly. he had to say that much, or he'd burst, but of course the man did not believe him.
they made the trip in best time, and arrived at gregory gulch soon after sun-up of the third morning.
