Castlemon Harry
The Haunted Mine

CHAPTER XIII
GETTING READY FOR WORK

"I know just what you are going to do," repeated Casper, as he ran down the stairs – "you are going to steal the box, and leave me out on the prairie to get back the best way I can. For two cents I would not have anything to do with it."

But in spite of this resolution, Casper, as soon as he reached the street, turned his gaze in every direction in the hope of finding Julian and Jack; but the boys had disappeared. He walked along the streets looking everywhere for them, and finally came to a standstill opposite Julian's room.

"They will have to come here some time, and I will just take my stand here in this door and watch for them," said Casper. "They will not take that box with them, anyhow; it is much too valuable to lug about in a valise. They will send it by express."

This was something that had occurred to Casper on the spur of the moment, and he thought seriously of going back to Claus with it; but, on the whole, he decided to keep still about it. He was getting thirty cents a day for doing nothing, and he did not want to bring that to an end too speedily. Claus had plenty of money. Casper had seen the inside of his pocketbook when he took it out to pay him his money, and he might as well have thirty cents of it as not.

At the end of three hours Casper saw the carriage coming up the street. He was certain that he was right in his suspicions, because carriages of that description were not often seen in that by-street; and, more than that, there was a trunk perched in front of the driver. He drew up in front of Julian's room, and a moment afterward the boys got out. Casper saw the driver catch up the trunk and carry it upstairs, and presently he came down again, mounted to his box, and disappeared up the street.

"They are gentlemen now, and of course they could not carry that trunk upstairs," sneered Casper, coming out of his concealment. "Now, I wish I knew when they are going to start. If things were all right between Julian and myself I would go upstairs and find out; but as it is, I guess I had better keep away; he would not tell me, anyhow. I stole that box from him once, and that was where I missed it. I ought to have gone to Denver at once."

After some time spent in rapid walking, Casper once more found himself in the pool-room, and saw Claus busy with his game. Claus drew off on one side, while Casper whispered the result of his investigations to him.

"That is all right," said he, and a smile overspread his face. "You are much better at watching than I thought you were. Wait until I get through here and I will give you a cigar."

"But, Claus, though they had a valise apiece in their hands, they have no idea of carrying the box in them," said Casper; "it is too valuable."

"That's the very reason they will take it with them," whispered Claus. "They will not trust it out of their sight."

"I'll bet you that they will send it by express," answered Casper; "that is what I should do with it."

"But all persons are not as careful as you are," said Claus; and he turned to take his shot at the game.

"You need not think you can soft-sawder me in that style," thought Casper, as he backed toward a chair and took his seat to see how the game was coming out. "You have some other little trick that you want me to play. Well, if it is not too dangerous I'll do it; if it is, I won't."

"There is nothing more that we can do to-night, but I shall expect to see you bright and early to-morrow morning," resumed Claus, as he finished his game and hung the cue up in its proper place. "Here is a dollar. You may get yourself all the cigars you want."

"Thank you for nothing," said Casper to himself, as he turned to leave the room. "The last game I played with you you got an even five dollars out of me. This does not make me straight with you by a long way."

Casper did not rise bright and early the next morning, because he did not think there was any need of it. He spent a quarter of Claus's dollar for breakfast, smoked a cigar, and strolled leisurely down to the telegraph office. He was just in time to see Julian and Jack coming out. The face of the former wore a very sad expression, and there was a suspicious redness about his eyes, which looked as though he had been crying.

"By gracious! I don't think I would shed tears if I were in your place," said Casper, in disgust. "And you are going away with a hundred thousand dollars in your pocket! It beats me, how many people go to make up a world! Julian has been bidding them good-bye in there, and so he must be getting ready to go off very soon. Now I will go and see Claus."

Casper found his companion in guilt at the very place he said he would be; and, for a wonder, he was sitting there alone, in one corner of the room. He told what he had seen, adding that Julian could not keep back his tears when he came out.

"We'll give him something to cry for when he goes out of that car," said Claus, with a wink; "he will be just a fortune out of pocket."

Casper had several times been on the point of asking Claus how he was going to work in order to secure to himself the full possession of all that property. He thought there would have to be some legal steps taken before the agent, or whoever had charge of those blocks of buildings, would be willing for Claus to call them all his own. Suppose the agent should write to some of the many friends he was presumed to have in Chicago, and should get no answer from them; what would Claus do then? All the friends he had were in St. Louis; he did not know anybody in Chicago, and consequently he would receive a check at the very start. If the German thought of this, he did not say anything about it. He wanted first to get the box, and then he could settle these things afterward.

"Well, there is only one thing for you to do now," said Claus, after thinking the matter over; "you must stay around Julian's room, and wait for them to go to the depot. You will find me right here."

"I shall want a cigar to smoke in the meantime," said Casper.

It was right on the end of Claus's tongue to make a flat refusal, but there was something in Casper's eye, which he turned full upon him, that made him hesitate. He growled out something about not being made of money, but finally put his hand into his pocket and produced another dollar.

"You need not mutter so lustily every time I ask you for money," said Casper to himself as he left the pool-room. "I will have to give up this business before long, and I am going to make all I can."

Casper went straight to a restaurant and got his dinner, and with a cigar for company took up his usual hiding-place in the doorway and waited to see what was going to happen. He stayed there until four o'clock in the afternoon, and then began to grow interested. He saw Julian come out and hasten away, and something told him that he had gone for a carriage. But why was it that Casper got so mad, and threw his cigar spitefully down upon the pavement? Julian was dressed in a suit of new clothes, and he looked like a young gentleman in it. The suit that Casper wore was the only one he had, and when that was gone he did not know what he should do to get another.

"That fellow must have received a good many tips while he was in the office," muttered Casper, "or else he saved his money. I wish to goodness I had saved mine, instead of giving it all to Claus."

Julian soon came back with a carriage, and it became evident that they were going to take the train for Denver. Julian and the hackman went upstairs, and when the boys came down again they each wore a traveling-coat and had a small valise in their hands. They got into the carriage and were driven away for the depot.

"Now, then, I am going to see if Claus is fooled," thought Casper, as he hurried off in another direction. "The box is not in those gripsacks; they are not large enough. Now, you mark what I tell you."

"What's the news?" said Claus, who was loitering at one of the windows of the pool-room. "Did you see them go?" he asked, in a whisper.

"I did," answered Casper. "We have just time to get down there, and that is all. You are making a mistake by not taking some baggage along."

"No, I am not. We shall go as far as the station at which the passengers take breakfast, and then we will stop and come back. That is as far as we want to go."

"And come back as empty-handed as we went," said Casper to himself. "I'll bet there won't be anything worth having in those valises."

It took Claus and Casper a long time to walk to the depot, although they went with all the speed they could command; but when, at last, they got there, they found that the ticket office was not open. It was no trouble at all for them to find the boys whom they were seeking; they occupied a couple of seats in the gentlemen's waiting-room, sitting pretty close together, too, and were engaged in earnest conversation.

"Those are the ones, are they not?" questioned Claus. "They are dressed up so fine that I would not have known them."

"Yes; they have new clothes on," said Casper. "They are going off as though they were business men starting out on a vacation."

"That is the way we will travel when we get our money," said Claus, with a wink.

"And when we do get it you may go your way and I will go mine," said Casper to himself; "I am not going to stay around where you are all the while bothering me to play a game with you. I am going to save my money; that's what I will do."

It was shortly after they reached the depot that the ticket office was opened, and Julian went to purchase tickets for himself and companion. Casper watched them until they were safe in the train, and then Claus bought two tickets for Casper and himself, and they took seats in the car behind Julian's. In that way they would keep out of sight. They did not intend to show themselves until the train stopped for breakfast the next morning, and then they would show themselves to some purpose.

The night was a long and wearisome one to Casper, who did not once close his eyes in slumber. He was wondering what was going to be the result of this new scheme of theirs, and telling himself over and over again that it would not amount to anything. It did not look reasonable that the boys should carry their box in a valise, and leave it behind when they went to breakfast while there was so much in it that needed their constant care.

"And then, after he gets the valises and finds that there is nothing in them, that is the time for me to look out," thought Casper. "He won't get away from me if I have to stay awake for two or three nights to watch him."

Finally, to Casper's immense relief, day began to dawn and some of the wakeful passengers to bestir themselves. He arranged his hair with the aid of a comb which he had in his pocket, and then sat on the seat and waited impatiently for Claus to wake up. All night long the German had slumbered heavily, as though he felt at peace with himself and all the world. That was something that Casper could not understand. Here he was, fully intending to steal a fortune from a boy who had come honestly by it, and yet he could sleep peacefully and quietly over it!

"I wonder if I shall be the way he is?" soliloquized Casper. "I will try this once, and if we don't get the box I will go back and go to work – that's the best thing I can do."

It was not long before a brakeman came in and told them that they were approaching the place where they would be allowed fifteen minutes for breakfast; whereupon Casper leaned over and shook Claus by the shoulder.

"It was time you were getting up," said he in a whisper; "it is time to go to work."

"I heard every word that was said," said Claus. "This is the place to which I bought tickets, and it is as far as we shall go. Go forward, and see if they are in the car ahead of us."

"But suppose they see me?" said Casper.

"You must not let them see you. Keep out of their sight. If they leave their valises behind when they go out to breakfast, it is all I want."

Casper went, but he walked slowly, as if he did it under protest. When he arrived at the end of the car he found he could not see anything from there, so he opened the door and went out on the platform. He was gone a good while, but when he came back his face told Claus all he wished to know.

"They are there," Casper whispered, "and are getting ready to go out. I saw the valises in the rack over their seats."

"That's all right. Now, when we go out you must keep close behind me. I will come in at the front end of the car as if I had a perfect right there, and if I say anything to you, you must just nod your head."

"What must I do that for?" asked Casper.

"Because there may be somebody looking. I want to convince everybody that I have a right to the valises. Now, you go on ahead, and do as I tell you."

Casper did not approve of this plan at all. The understanding between him and the German was that he was to have no hand in stealing the valises, but this looked as though he was the prime mover in the affair. Before he could make any further objection the cars stopped, the gong sounded for breakfast, and the passengers began to move toward the door.

CHAPTER XIV
HOW CASPER WAS SERVED

"Come on, now, and remember what I told you," said Claus, getting on his feet. "There they go! All we have to do, now, is to go in there and get the valises. You know where they sat, don't you?"

Casper glanced toward the front end of the car, and saw Julian and Jack step down and hurry toward the dining-room. Claus waited until most of the passengers got off, and then, with a motion to Casper to follow him, he went boldly forward and climbed the steps. He opened the door, and, when Casper went in, he said.

"Now tell me exactly where they sat, so that I can pick up the valises without exciting anybody's suspicions."

"Do you see that red-faced man sitting on the right-hand side?" whispered Casper. "And do you see those valises in the rack directly in front him? Well, they are the ones you want."

"All right! We will have them out of there in a jiffy."

"I don't like the way that man looks at us," Casper ventured to remark; "perhaps he knows them."

"It don't make any difference to me whether he does or not. If he says anything to us, we will tell him the valises belong to us, and that we have come after them."

Calling a smile to his face, Claus went down the passage-way, looking at the various valises stowed away in the racks. When he arrived opposite the seat where Julian had sat before he left the train, a look of surprise spread over his countenance, and he stepped in and took them down, one after the other.

"These are ours, ain't they?" he asked, turning to Casper.

"Yes – they are the ones."

"I don't see what those boys put them in here for. Now we will take charge of them ourselves."

He passed one valise to Casper, who took it and made his way out of the car, while Claus kept close at his heels.

"Now we want to go somewhere and get out of sight as soon as we can," said Casper, looking around guiltily, and almost expecting a policeman to take him by the collar. "I shall not feel easy until this train goes."

"Well, we don't want to get out of sight just yet," said Claus. "That red-faced man kept his eyes on us, didn't he? Let us see what he will make of it now."

"Why, Claus, you are not going in there?" queried Casper, when his companion led the way toward the waiting-room. "Julian and Jack went in there, and they will be certain to discover us."

"No, they won't. You follow me, and do just as I do."

Casper turned his eyes and looked back at the train. There was the red-faced man, sitting by the car window, closely watching all their movements, and when he saw them enter the waiting-room into which Julian and Jack had gone a few moments before, his suspicions, if he had any, were set at rest, and he settled back in his seat and picked up a newspaper which he had just purchased. Claus kept on to the waiting-room, but he did not stop when he got there. He kept right on through and went out at the other door, and after walking briskly for a few minutes, and turning several corners until he was sure that the depot had been left out of sight, he seated himself on the steps of a deserted house, took off his hat, and wiped his forehead.

"It was not such an awful thing to get those valises, after all," said he. "When that train goes, we will go and get our breakfast."

"But I would like to know what is in those valises first," said Casper. "I tell you, you are fooled. I have felt this valise all over on the outside, and there is nothing in it that feels like a box."

"I don't suppose you could feel anything of that kind in it, because I don't believe the box was put in there," said Claus. "My only hope is that they took the papers out of the box and put them in here; consequently they left the box at home."

"Good enough!" exclaimed Casper, catching up his valise and feeling the outside of it, to see if he could feel anything that seemed like papers that were stowed away on the inside of it; "I never thought of that. Now, how shall we go to work to get the valises open? I haven't a key in my pocket that will fit them."

"I haven't, either; but as soon as we get our breakfast we will go up the road a little distance and cut them open. These gripsacks will never be worth anything to anybody after we get done with them."

Even while they were talking in this way they heard the shriek of the whistle twice, followed by the ringing of the bell, and knew that their train was getting ready to start on again; whereupon Claus got up and said he was as hungry as a wolf, and that he must procure a breakfast somewhere.

"I shall not eat much till I find out what those valises are hiding from us," said Casper. "It would be just dreadful if we should fail, after all the trouble we have been to."

By the time they got back to the depot the train was well under way; but Claus went out and looked after it, to satisfy himself that the coast was clear. Then they placed their valises in charge of the clerk at the desk, enjoyed a good wash, and went in and took their seats at the table. Their meal was a better one than they had had served up to them at St. Louis, especially when they were hard up for money; and, after taking their time in eating it, Claus settled the bill, took his valise, and started up the railroad track.

"Have you a cigar?" he asked, before they had gone a great ways. "That is all right. We will go on until we get into that sagebrush, and then we will stop and look into these things. I will take just a hundred thousand dollars for my find."

"I'll bet you will take less than that," said Casper; for, somehow, he could not get over the idea that the box had been sent by express. "There is nothing in them that you want."

It did not take them more than a quarter of an hour to get into the sagebrush; and, after looking all around to make sure that there was no one in sight, they stepped down from the track and seated themselves on the bank beside it. Claus did not waste any time in trying his keys upon the valise, but stretched out his legs and put his hand into his pocket, and when he pulled it out again he held a knife in it.

"The shortest way is the best," said he, thrusting the blade into the valise he held in his hand. "Come out here, now, and let us see what you have."

His knife made short work of the valise, but nothing in the way of papers could be found. It was Jack's valise that he had destroyed, and all he found in it was a brush and comb, and half a dozen handkerchiefs.

"I just knew how it would be," said Casper, despairingly. "You will find the same things in here."

He had never seen Claus look so angry and disappointed as he was at that moment. With a spiteful kick of one foot he sent the valise out of sight in the sagebrush, and was about to send the other things to keep it company, when he happened to think of something.

"I guess I'll keep the handkerchiefs and brush and comb for the good they may do me," said he. "Where's your valise?"

Casper handed it over, and in a moment more that valise was a wreck, also. They found things in it similar to those found in Jack's gripsack, with the exception of a book which Julian had purchased to read on his journey, the leaves of which were uncut. Casper took possession of the handkerchiefs and the brush and comb, while Claus slowly rolled up the book and sat with his eyes fastened on the ground. He was mad – Casper could easily see that, and he dared not interrupt his train of thought. Claus sat for some moments communing with his own thoughts, then broke into a whistle and got upon his feet.

"To say that I am disappointed, and angry, too, would not half express my feelings," said he, pulling off his hat with one hand and digging his fingers into his head with the other. "I did not suppose they would send those papers by express, for I know it is something that I would not have done. I would have kept them by me all the while, so that I could see that they were safe. Now, the next thing is to determine upon something else."

"Do you intend to make another effort to get the money?" asked Casper, very much surprised. "Your 'three times and out' did not amount to anything – did it?"

"No, I don't suppose it did," said Claus, who was evidently thinking about something else. "I guess you have done about all you can do, and so you had better go back to St. Louis."

This was nothing more than Casper expected. He had his ten dollars stowed away somewhere about his clothes, together with small sums which he had saved from the amount that Claus had paid him, and so he could pay his way back to St. Louis easily enough; but what should he do when he got there? He shuddered when he thought of it. Here was winter coming on, and unless he should obtain work very soon he would have to go out to where his mother lived, which was all of two hundred and fifty miles from there. And what should he say when he got home? He had gone to St. Louis with big boasts of what he intended to do when he got there, and for him to turn up penniless and friendless at his mother's house was rather more than he had bargained for.

"And what will you do?" asked Casper.

"I haven't had time to think the matter over," said Claus, who was rather surprised that his companion took his discharge, or whatever you might call it, so easily, "but I think I shall go on to Denver."

"And I can't be of any use to you there?"

"No, I don't think you can. I may not be back to the city before next spring."

"I wish you would tell me what you are going to do when you get there. You can't get the box; that will be safe in the bank."

"But perhaps I can pass myself off for Mr. Haberstro. I have some of his cards in my pocket."

"But you will only get yourself into trouble if you try that game. There are people out there who know Haberstro."

"Well, that is so," said Claus, looking reflectively at the ground. "I shall have to think up some way to get around that. At any rate, you cannot be of any further use to me, and so you had better start by the next train."

"Well, you had better give me some money before you turn me off in this way," said Casper. "How am I going to get back to the city without money?"

"Where is that ten dollars you got out of the telegraph office when your time was up?" asked Claus, who did not like it whenever the subject of giving some of his hard earnings was brought up before him. "You have not spent all of that, I know."

"Yes, I have. I have just a quarter, and there it is," said Casper, pulling out of his pocket the coin in question.

"I wish to goodness I had never seen you!" said Claus, shoving his hand into the pocket in which he kept his money. Casper heard the jingling of some silver pieces, and thought that perhaps his companion might be tempted to give him a few dollars. That would be better than nothing, and he would have some money left when he reached St. Louis. "If I had never seen you, I would have more dollars left in my pocket than I have now," said Claus, bringing out a handful of small change.

Casper said nothing in reply. He wanted to see how much Claus was going to give him; and, once he had the money in his hand, he could talk to him as he pleased.

"There are five dollars that I will give you, and you need not ask me for any more," said Claus, counting out the money; "for, if you do, you won't get it."

"I don't know whether five dollars will pay my fare to St. Louis or not," said Casper. "Give me six."

"No, sir; that's all I have to spare. It will take you so close to the city that you can easily walk in," said Claus, turning on his heel and starting toward the town they had just left. "You can walk twenty-five miles very easily."

It was right on the point of Casper's tongue to "open out" on Claus, and give him as good as he sent. Wouldn't he have had more dollars in his pocket if he had never met the man who was anxious at all times to play a game of billiards or pool with him, especially on pay-day, when Casper was known to have money in his pocket? But, on thinking the matter over, he decided that he would say nothing about it. Claus was a pretty big man, and there was no knowing what he would do if the boy made him angrier than he was now.

"He is going to be fooled again," said Casper, as he fell in behind Claus, who walked toward the town as if he were in an awful hurry to get there. "What good will it do him to go on to Denver? He can't get the box there, neither can he cheat Julian out of his money. Julian will find any amount of friends there – I never heard of a boy with a hundred thousand dollars in his pocket who could not find somebody to stand by him – and they will tell him what to do. Oh! why did I make so great a mistake! I ought to have started for Denver the moment I got my hands on that box. Well, I got five dollars out of Claus, anyhow."

Casper sauntered along behind Claus, who was walking rapidly, and when he reached the depot he looked all around for his companion, but failed to see him. Claus had gone off somewhere, and Casper was there alone.