Ruth Fielding In the Saddle; Or, College Girls in the Land of Gold

by Alice B. Emerson

  CHAPTER XIX--SOMETHING UNEXPECTED

  The old prospector was wild with joy. He had already dug several holesdown to the surface of the ledge along the ridge north of the spot wherethe first sample of gold-bearing rock had been secured. He claimed thateach spot showed an increase in the amount of gold in the rock.

  "It's ha'f a mile long, I bet. An' the farther you go, the richer itgits. I tell you, we're goin' all to be as rich as red mud! Whoop!"

  "Hold in your hosses, Pop," commanded Min, sensibly. "Them folks down incamp may see you prancin' around here, and they'll either think you arecrazy or know that you've struck pay dirt. And we don't want 'em in onthis yet."

  "By mighty! Listen here, girl!" gasped the old man. "We're goin' to berich, you and me. You're goin' to dress in the fanciest clo'es there is.You'll look a lot finer than that there leadin' lady actress girl.Believe me!"

  "Now, Pop, be sensible!"

  "You're a-goin' to be a lady," declared Flapjack.

  "Huh! Me, a lady, with them han's?" and she put forth both her callousedpalms. "A fat chance I got!"

  With tears in her eyes Ruth Fielding said: "Those hands have earned theright to be a 'lady's', Min. If there is gold here in quantity, youshall be all that your father says."

  "Of course she shall!" cried the other college girls in chorus.

  "Well, it'll kill me, I know that," declared Min. "I'd just about bustwide open with joy."

  Flapjack dug seven holes that afternoon, and they took seven specimensof the rock with the bright specks in it. The college girls thought theycould detect an increasing amount of gold in the ore as they advanced upthe ledge.

  The old prospector insisted upon filling in each hole as they went alongand putting back the tufts of bunch grass in order to make the placelook as it ordinarily did. Tiny numbered stakes driven down into theloose and gravelly soil was all that marked the places from which thespecimens were taken. Of course, the specimens themselves were properlymarked, too.

  The gold seemed to be right at the grass-roots, as Flapjack had said. Hetold them the ledge was all of twenty yards wide, with the widthincreasing as the value of the ore increased. The full length of theledge was still unexplored, but the depth of the vein of gold-bearingquartz was really the "unknown dimension."

  "But we're going to be rich, girls!" whispered Jennie Stone, almostdancing, as they went back to the camp at dusk. "Rich! why, I've alwaysbeen rich--or, my father has. I never thought much about it. But to own areal gold mine oneself!"

  The thought was too great for utterance. Besides, they had agreed not towhisper about the find at the camp. Not even Miss Cullam knew that thereport had come from the assayer regarding the first specimen of ore thegirls had found.

  It was not hard to hide their excitement, for there was so much going onat Freezeout Camp. Mr. Grimes was trying to rush the work as much aspossible, for the picture actors were complaining constantly regardingtheir trials and the manifold privations of the situation.

  The college girls and Ann Hicks, however, were having the time of theirlives. They dressed up in astonishing apparel furnished by the filmcompany and posed as the female populace of Freezeout Camp in some ofthe episodes. Min, in the part Ruth had especially written for her, wasa pronounced success. Miss Gray, of course, as she always did, filledthe character of the heroine "to the queen's taste"--and to Mr. Grimes'satisfaction as well, which was of much more importance.

  The weather was just the kind the "sun worshippers" delighted in. Thecamera man could grind his machine for six hours a day or more. The filmof "The Forty-Niners" grew steadily.

  Ruth had practically finished her part of the work; but Rebecca Fraynewas kept busy at her typewriter during part of the day. Therefore, Rutheasily got away from the sanctum sanctorum the next forenoon and went upto the ridge again with Flapjack and Min.

  It had been settled that Helen and Jennie should remain with the othergirls and keep them from wandering about on the easterly side of thestream.

  Flapjack had been on the ridge since early light. He was taking samplesevery few rods, and Min was wrapping them up and marking the ore and thestakes. Beyond a small grove of scrubby trees they came in sight of whatFlapjack declared was probably the end of the gold-bearing rock. Therewas a dip into another arroyo and beyond that a mesquite jungle as faras they could see.

  "Well, she's more'n a ha'f a mile long," sighed the old prospector."Ev'ry thing's got to come to an end in this world they say. We needn'tgrow bristles about it---- Great cats! What's them?"

  "Oh, Pop!" shrieked Min, "We ain't here first."

  "What _are_ those stakes?" asked Ruth, puzzled to see that the peeledposts planted in the gravelly soil should so disturb the equanimity ofthe prospector and his daughter.

  "Somebody's ahead of us. Two claims staked," groaned Flapjack. "Andlayin' over the best streak of ore in the whole ledge, I bet my hat!"

  There were two scraps of paper on the posts. Min ran forward to read thenames upon them. Flapjack rested on his pick and said no further word.

  Of a sudden Ruth heard the sharp ring of a pony's hoof on gravel. Sheturned swiftly to see the pony pressing through the mesquite at the footof the ridge. Its rider urged the animal up the slope and in a momentwas beside them.

  "What are you doing on my claim and my partner's?" the man demanded, andhe slid out of his saddle gingerly, slipping rude crutches under hisarmpits as he came to the ground. He had one foot bandaged, and hobbledtoward Ruth and her companions with rather a truculent air.

  "What are you doing on my claim?" "the hermit" repeated, and he wasglaring so intently at Flapjack that he did not see Ruth at all.

  The prospector was smoking his pipe, and he nearly dropped it as hestared in turn at this odd-looking figure on crutches. It was easyenough to see that the claimant to the best options on Freezeout ledgewas a tenderfoot.

  "Ain't on your claim," growled Peters at last.

  "Well, that other fellow is," declared "the hermit," "Let me tell youthat my partner's gone to Kingman to have the claims recorded. They areso by this time. If you try to jump 'em----"

  "Who's tryin' to jump anything?" demanded Min, now coming back fromexamining the notices on the stakes. "Which are you--this here 'E' or'R'yal?'"

  "Royal is my name," said the man, gruffly.

  "Brothers, I s'pose?" said Min.

  The young man stared at her wonderingly. "I declare!" he finallyexclaimed. "You're a girl, aren't you?"

  "No matter who or what I am," said Min Peters, tartly. "You needn'tthink you can stake out all this ledge just because you found itfirst--maybe."

  It was evident that both Flapjack and his daughter considered theappearance of this claimant to the supposedly richest options on theledge most unfortunate.

  "I know my rights and the law," said the young man quite as truculentlyas before. "If it's necessary I'll stay here and watch those stakes tillmy--my partner gets back with the men and machinery that are hired toopen up these claims."

  "By mighty!" groaned Flapjack. "The hull thing will be spread throughArizony in the shake of a sheep's hind laig."

  "Well, what of it? You can stake out claims as we did," snapped "thehermit." "We are not trying to hog it all."

  "These men you're bringin' 'll grab off the best options and sell 'em toyou. You're Easterners. You're goin' to make a showin' and then sell themine to suckers," said Min bitterly. "We know all about your kind, don'twe, Pop?"

  Peters muttered his agreement. Ruth considered that it was now time forher to say another word.

  "I am sure," she began, "that Mr.--er--Royal will only do what is fair.And, of course, we want no more than our rights."

  The man with the injured ankle looked at her curiously. "I'm willing tobelieve what you say," he observed. "You have already been kind to me.Though you didn't come back to see me again. But I don't know anythingabout this man and this--er----"

  "Miss Peters and her father," introduced Ruth, briskly, as she saw Minflushing hotly. "And
they must stake off their claims next in running tothe two you and your partner have staked."

  "No!" exclaimed Min, fiercely. "You and the other two young ladies comefirst. Then pop and me. It puts us a good ways down the ledge; but it'sonly fair."

  The young man looked much worried. He said suddenly:

  "How many more of you are informed of the existence of this gold ledge?"

  "After my claim," said Ruth, firmly, "I am going to stake out one forRebecca Frayne. She needs money more than anybody else in our party--moreeven than Miss Cullam. The others can come along as they chance to."

  "Great Heavens!" gasped the young man. "How many more of you are there?I say! I'll make you an offer. What'll you-all take for your claims,sight-unseen?"

  "There! What did I tell you?" grumbled Min Peters. "He's one o' themEastern promoters that allus want to skim the cream of ev'rything."