"He was wild once, but he's tame now."
"You are de boys who made dot man loose his whiskey, mebbe."
"I guess we are," laughed Harry. It was astonishing, the speed with which news traveled among the overlanders.
"Dot was a goot t'ing. How far you say to dose gold mines, already?"
"I t'ink I poot my gold in dem, an' bring it back home."
"I haf a goot team," replied the German, not at all worried. "I fill my sacks, an' poot dem in my wagon, an' I come home in time for winter, an' den8 I am rich. I will be one of de richest men in Illinois. Mebbe next year I do it over."
"A very fine plan," remarked Harry, gravely. And the German returned to his own fire, much satisfied.
"We've a sack of oats and a sack of flour, and I wouldn't trade 'em for his sacks of gold—yet," retorted Harry.
This night the flickering10 camp-fires of the other gold-seekers twinkled all along the road. Fiddles11 were tuned12 up, to play "Monkey Musk," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Yankee Doodle," and other tunes13, and voices joined in. What with the playing and singing, the barking of dogs and the noises from cattle, sleep was difficult except for persons as tired as were the "boys from the Big Blue."
At Fort Riley, which was a new army post, with massive stone buildings, near the juncture14 of the Smoky Hill River from the west and the Republican River from the north, here forming the Kansas River, the number of outfits15 lessened17. Some struck north, some took a short cut south for the Santa Fe Trail at the Arkansas River.
At Junction18 City, beyond, the last of the white settlements, the route of the remaining "Pike's Peak Pilgrims" again split. The main portion of the travelers seemed to favor the new trail straight westward19, up along the Smoky Hill River, and on they toiled20, to "get rich in a hurry." It was the common report that the Smoky Hill River could be followed clear to the mountains, but this, as Harry and Terry afterward21 heard, proved untrue.
Another portion turned off southward, for the Santa Fe Trail again. A good government road led down to it. Only a few had decided22 upon attempting the newest trail of all: that to the northwest, for the Republican by way of the divide between the Solomon River on the left and the Republican, far on the right.
"We're on our way," tersely23 remarked Harry, as the "Pike's Peak Limited" left Junction City for the unknown. "It's liable to be lonesome, till the stages come."
However, several wagons24 had preceded; and this first night camp was made at a creek25, and close to another party also camped.
"Whar you boys from?" That was the first question.
And—"Do you figger on diggin' out your pound of gold a day?" was the fourth question. For Eastern papers had asserted that this was the regular output of the Pike's Peak country: a pound of gold a day to each miner!
"Half a pound a day will suit us," responded Harry.
"Dearie me!" sighed the woman—a nice, motherly woman, the sight of whom imbued29 Terry with a little sense of homesickness. "We all count on a pound a day for one hundred days, so as to buy a farm back in Missouri. Maybe, if the children and I dig, we can raise it to two pounds a day. That'll be two hundred pounds, which is a right smart amount of money."
Junction City having been put behind, now there was not even a cabin to be seen. The high plain between the valley of the Solomon on the south and the valley of the Republican on the north stretched wide and unoccupied save by the squads30 of antelope31, the scant32 trees marking the creek courses, and the scattered33 white-canvased wagons ambling34 on.
It was a go-as-you-please march. Outfits wandered aside, seeking better trail or better camping-spot. Occasionally one had broken down, and was halted for repairs or rest. Already the chosen route was dotted with cast-off articles, abandoned to lighten the loads. Bedsteads, trunks, mattresses35, chairs—and Harry, pointing, cried:
"There's the 'Lightning Express' stove!"
For the German's heavy cook-stove reposed36, by itself, on the prairie—and odd enough it looked, too.
"Wish we'd come to his feather tick, some evening," quoth Terry.
Fuel, even buffalo chips (which were the dried deposits left by the buffalo, and burned hotly) were scarce. The "Limited" aimed to camp each evening at a creek, if possible, where trees might be found; but most of the dead wood had been used by other travelers, or by Indians, and the green willow37 and ash smudged. The sage38 and greasewood burned well, but burned out very quickly.
Duke and Jenny footed steadily39, making their twelve and fifteen miles a day, up and down, into draws and out again, and the "Limited" seemed to be gradually forging ahead. For a time, each night camp might be established (a very simple matter) in company with other pilgrims; and the spectacle of the half-buffalo and the yellow mule pulling in, or already waiting, invariably excited the one conversation.
"How far to Pike's Peak, strangers?"
"Five hundred miles or so, yet, I guess," would answer Harry, politely.
"It's an awful long trail, this way, ain't it? How far to the Republican?"
"That I can't say."
Then the outfits would exchange travel notes and personal history.
But the trail was petering out, as Harry expressed, more and more, as the creeks40 were being headed, and anxious gold-seekers swerved41 aside looking for the Republican Valley and better water.
About noon one day a giant, solitary42 tree waited before. Several wagon-tracks led for it, and Duke and Jenny followed of their own accord. It was a big cottonwood, with half the bark stripped from its trunk by lightning.
"A store of good wood, there," remarked Harry. "Wonder why nobody's chopped it down."
"It's got a sign on it," exclaimed Terry. "See?" And—"'Pike's Peak Post Office,'" he read, aloud.
The sign was plain; and presently the reason of the sign was plain. On the white surface of the peeled trunk was scrawled44 a number of names and other words.
Also:
"Keep to the north."
"Climb this tree and you won't see anything."
"The jumping-off place."
"The Peoria wagon. All well."
"Bound for the Peak, are you?"
"'Litening Express'!" announced Harry. "Our German friend is still ahead."
"'Mr. Ike Chubbers'!" spelled out Terry, with difficulty. "Aw, shucks! He's this far already."
"Yes, and there he went!" laughed Harry, gleefully. "Those are sure his tracks. He's sampling his barrel."
And by token of a weaving, wobbling, sort of drunken pair of wagon-wheel tracks that made a wide swing for the north, Pine Knot Ike evidently had continued in a new direction.
"He's hunting the Republican," agreed Terry. "Hope we don't run into him."
"Nope," declared Harry. "Once is enough. Hurrah48!" he uttered. And he read: "'Stage line here. Sol Judy.'"
"That's so." And Terry peered. "But I don't see the line. Wonder which way he went. There's a double arrow, pointing both ways. Wonder if it's his. Wonder when he wrote here. If somebody hadn't written on top of him with charcoal49, a fellow might tell."
"Anyway, we won't turn off yet," declared Harry. "And if we stand here 'wondering' we won't get anywhere at all. He said to keep northwest by the high ground. Maybe that wagon track ahead is the Lightning Express. We'll keep going. Gwan, Duke! Jenny!"
"Sort of wish we'd gone by the Smoky Hill, don't you?" ventured Terry. "We'd had more company."
"When we strike the Republican we'll find plenty company," asserted Harry. "This is getting rather lonesome, I must confess."
Not a moving object was in sight. The "Pike's Peak Post Office" tree stood here all by itself, as if waiting for the stages. And yet, Terry well knew (unless the sights at Manhattan had been a dream), north and south of them thousands of people were trooping, trooping westward in long, human rivers of creaking wagons.
He and Harry gave a last look behind and on either side, searching the brushy expanse for other outfits; then they left the friendly cottonwood and headed westward again, in the tracks of the wagon before. But suddenly Harry stopped.
"Pshaw! We forgot." And he limped hastily back to the tree. With his pencil he wrote on it. Of course! Terry returned to see.
"The Pike's Peak Limited. April 20, 1859. All well," announced this latest inscription50.
"Somebody will read it," quoth Harry. "It'll show we got this far ourselves." And they returned, better satisfied, to the cart.
"There's one thing sure," continued Harry: "The less company we have, the more fuel and forage51 we'll find. We're getting into the buffalo country, too. See?"
For the surface of the ground was cut deeply by narrow trails like cattle trails, but made by buffalo wending probably from water to water. Some of the trails had been freshly trodden.
"That means we'll have to look sharp after Duke and Jenny," warned Terry.
They proceeded.
"Well, here come a party," remarked Harry. "But they're going the wrong way."
"Maybe it's some of the stage line surveyors."
The party, of three men, two of them horseback and one of them muleback, drew on at trot52 and rapid walk. The men were bearded, roughly dressed, and well armed with revolvers and rifles. Meeting the Pike's Peak Limited, they halted. So Harry and Terry halted.
"Howdy?"
"Howdy yourselves. Where you bound?"
"For the land of gold," cheerfully answered Harry.
"Land o' nothin'!" rebuffed the spokesman of the party. "Turn back, turn back, 'fore43 you starve to death."
"Why? Are you from the Pike's Peak mines?"
"We're from the Cherry Creek diggin's, young feller, but we didn't see any mines there nor nowheres else. It's all a fake, and we're on our way to tell the people so and save 'em their bacon."
"Aren't you bringing any gold?" exclaimed Terry. "Have you been there long?"
"Long! Gold!" And he turned his pocket inside out. "That's the size of your elephant. We've been there since last November, sonny, and the gold is in your eye. That Pike's Peak craze is the biggest hoax53 ever invented. It's just a scheme of a few rascals54 to sell off town lots. They want to get people to come out yonder; and gold is the only thing that'll persuade 'em into the barrenest, porest country on the face of the 'arth. We've been thar, so we know. We couldn't get out, in the winter; but everybody's leavin' now, to tell the folks along all the trails to face back and go home."
Terry felt a sinking of the heart. Harry also seemed to sober.
"What gold is it that's been sent out of there, then?" he asked.
"Californy gold! Fetched through from Californy. Never was taken out of that Pike's Peak country at all. Californy gold, used to fool the people with, back in the States."
"But my father brought home two hundred dollars in gold, and he found it there somewhere, himself—near Pike's Peak," argued Terry, with sudden thought. "We've already got a mine!"
"He did, did he? Waal, if he did he was lucky, and he was luckier to get out with it. Thar may be a little gold—thar's gold to be washed from 'most any mountain stream, but you can't eat gold. Yon country's a freezin' country and a starvation country and an Injun country, fit for neither civilized55 man nor beast. The government'll need to step in and forbid people goin' to it. The hull56 of it ain't wuth an east Kansas acre."
"All right. Much obliged," said Harry. "So long."
"Goin' on?"
"We'll try a piece farther," said Harry. "How's the trail ahead? Did you see any stage line stakes?"
"Stage line stakes! What you dreamin' of? That stage idee is another hoax. You'll find that out, together with a few other things. But if you're set on bein' a pair of young fools, go on. We haven't more time to waste with you."
"Look out for Injuns," called one, over his shoulder.
"Humph!" mused58 Harry. "Doesn't sound very encouraging, but we can't believe everything we hear, for and against, both. If we did, we'd never know what to do. A fellow has to act on his own hook, sometimes, until he can judge by his own experience, where he can't depend on the experience of others. That party may have secret reasons for talking so." He eyed Terry. "Shall we go on, clear through? I don't think a few discouragements will turn the wheel-barrow man back."
"Duke! Jenny! Hep with you!" responded Harry. "Hurrah for the Pike's Peak Limited, and maybe the Lightning Express, too! But no German with a wife and six girls and a feather bed shall beat this outfit16. We're liable to come on a stake, any time. And the next will be only a few miles, and the next another few miles, and at that rate we'll hit the Republican River smack60."
But to Terry, surveying the monotonous61, empty landscape, single stakes planted maybe days' journeys apart seemed rather small landmarks62.
In mid-afternoon they did indeed overtake the "Litening Express." It was halted beside a small, stagnant63 water-hole, as if making early camp. The wife and the six girls were sitting around, in disconsolate64 manner, and the German himself was soaking his naked feet in the water.
"What's the matter here?" hailed the cheerful Harry. "Broken down? You're pointing the wrong way."
For that was so. The one wagon track beyond had doubled, and the wagon, from which the team had been unspanned, was heading east instead of west.
"Yah," stolidly65 answered the German. "We go back. Dere iss no elephant. Now we go back again home quick. We haf met some men who haf told us."
"Oh, pshaw!" uttered Harry. "You're half-way. Better go the rest of the way and see for yourself. You mustn't let a few wild rumors66 stop you."
"Don't you intend to fill your sacks?" added Terry.
"Dere iss no gold, so dey say; an' notting else," insisted the German.
"Once you believed there was, and now you believe there isn't," laughed Harry. "You might as well believe the first as the second, as far as you know."
"And there is gold, because we've got a mine," encouraged Terry.
"Nein." And the German shook his head. "I set out to fill my sacks; dose men say I cannot fill dem. So I go home. I t'ink you better go home, too. You camp here with us, an' I fix my feet, an' we haf a goot supper, an' den in mornin' we travel togedder."
"Nope, we're bound through," replied Harry. "This is no time of day for us to camp." And Terry was relieved to hear him say so, for the stagnant pool, with the German's feet in it, did not look very inviting67. "What did you find ahead?"
"Notting an' nobody," grumbled68 the German. "All joost like dis." And he swept his arm around to indicate the bare stretch of plains. "Purty soon you see where I turn to go home, an' den you be all by yourself. I do not like it. I like peoples. So I go home."
"You didn't see any stake, did you?" queried Terry.
"What stake?"
"To mark the stage line."
"What for would dey poot any stage line where dey ain't peoples?" demanded the German.
"All right: how'll you sell your mining tools?" asked Harry, with alert mind. "You've no use for them."
"Mebbe I dig garden. But I sell dem to you for one dollar an' half—de whole lot."
"Done!" cried Harry. "And how about those sacks?"
"Dey iss goot potato sacks. But what will you gif me for dose sacks?"
"Four bits."
"Well, I guess you take dem. You t'ink to poot potatoes in dem? Nein, nein; you iss crazy. It iss as crazy as to t'ink to poot gold in dem."
When they left the German, who had resumed the soaking of his sore feet in the general pool, they were possessed69 of two new picks, two new spades, a cask of sauerkraut, and the bale of sacks.
"What'll we ever do with the sacks?" inquired Terry.
Harry scratched his long nose.
"Blamed if I know, yet," he admitted. "But you never can tell."
In about an hour they passed the place where the "Litening Express" had turned about. Now there was no trail at all, except the endless buffalo trails. Somewhere they had lost even the hoof-prints of the three horsemen.
They made late and solitary evening camp on the farther side of a deep creek bed, whose banks had been broken down by crossing buffalo. There was so little water that Terry had to dig a hole, in order to get a pailful for supper and breakfast. But in wandering about searching for buffalo chips in the gloaming, he shouted gladly:
"Here's a stake—a new one! It says: 'Station 11'!"
Harry limped to inspect.
"Bully70!" he enthused. "We don't care where the other ten are. This shows we're on the right road. Well, Mr. Station Master, I want supper and beds for two, and a guide to the next station. What's the tariff71, and what'll you trade for sauerkraut and gunny-sacks? But I wish your company'd make your stations a little bigger, for this is a powerful big country."
However, tiny as it was, the stake appealed as a human token. There were signs, also, of an old camp, near the creek; and from the stake hoof-marks led away westward, as if to the next stake.
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1
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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2
buxom
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| adj.（妇女）丰满的，有健康美的 | |
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3
mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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4
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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5
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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6
bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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7
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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8
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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11
fiddles
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| n.小提琴( fiddle的名词复数 )；欺诈；（需要运用手指功夫的）细巧活动；当第二把手v.伪造( fiddle的第三人称单数 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动 | |
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12
tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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13
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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14
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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15
outfits
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| n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 ) | |
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16
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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tersely
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| adv. 简捷地, 简要地 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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swap
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| n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易 | |
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imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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squads
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| n.（军队中的）班( squad的名词复数 )；（暗杀）小组；体育运动的运动（代表）队；（对付某类犯罪活动的）警察队伍 | |
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antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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ambling
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| v.（马）缓行( amble的现在分词 )；从容地走，漫步 | |
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mattresses
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| 褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
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reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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43
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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46
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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47
busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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48
hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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49
charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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50
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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51
forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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52
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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53
hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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55
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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57
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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59
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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60
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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landmarks
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| n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址） | |
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63
stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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disconsolate
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| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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71
tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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