Ben's Nugget; Or, A Boy's Search For Fortune Read online

  "That's where you're right, Ben. He's made himself useful to us, and nomistake."

  "I have reason to feel indebted to him," said Dewey. "Injured as I was,I should have fared badly but for his faithful services. I am not at allsure that I should have been living at this moment had not the gratefulfellow cared for me and supplied my wants."

  It may be explained here that Richard Dewey had at one time rescued KiSing from some rough companions who had made up their minds to cut offthe Chinaman's queue, thereby, in accordance with Chinese custom,preventing him ever returning to his native country. It was the thoughtof this service that had prompted Ki Sing to faithful service when hefound his benefactor in need of it.

  Half an hour passed, and still the Chinaman did not appear.

  All three became anxious, especially Dewey. "Bradley," said he, "wouldyou mind going out to look for Ki Sing? I'm sure something has happenedto him."

  "Just what I was thinkin' of myself," said Bradley. "I'll go, and I'llbring him back if he's above ground."

  "I'll go with you, Jake," said Ben, rising from the ground on which hewas seated.

  "You'd better stay with Dick Dewey," said Bradley; "maybe he'll wantyou."

  "I forgot that. Yes, I will stay."

  "No; I would rather you would go with Bradley," said the invalid. "Twowill stand a better chance of success than one. I sha'n't need anythingwhile you are away."

  "Just as you say, Dick.--Well, Ben, let's start along. I reckon we'llfind Ki Sing before long, and then we'll have some supper."

  As the two started on their errand Richard Dewey breathed a sigh ofrelief. "I really believe I'm getting attached to Ki Sing," he said tohimself. "He's a good fellow, if he is a Chinaman, and if ever I amprosperous I will take him into my service and see that he iscomfortably provided for."

  The poor Chinaman, though Dewey did not suspect it, was at that momentin a very uncomfortable position indeed, and he himself was menaced by aperil already near at hand against which his helpless condition allowedof no defence. His lonely and monotonous life was destined to be variedthat evening in an unpleasant manner.

  CHAPTER III.

  TWO GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD.

  Perhaps two hours earlier two horsemen might have been seen ridingslowly over a lower slope of the mountain. The horses they bestrode wereof the Mexican breed, or, in common parlance, mustangs. They werethemselves dressed in Mexican style, and bore a strong resemblance tobandits as we are apt to picture them.

  These gentlemen were Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley, hailing originally fromMissouri, but not reflecting any particular credit on their nativeState. They were in fact adventurers, having a strong objection tohonest work and a decided preference for gaining a living by unlawfulmeans. The very horses they bestrode were stolen, having once belongedto Jake Bradley and Ben Stanton. The circumstances under which they werestolen will be remembered by readers of _The Young Explorer_.

  "Beastly place, this, Tom!" said Bill Mosely, with a strong expressionof disgust.

  "I should say so," answered Hadley, who was wont by this phrase to echothe sentiments expressed by his companion and leader.

  "I wouldn't have come up here if it had proved safe to stay lower down,"continued Bill Mosely. "That last man we relieved of his gold-dust mightprove troublesome if we should fall in with him again--eh, Tom?"

  "I should say so," remarked Mr. Hadley in a tone of sincere conviction.

  "I should like to see him when he wakes up and finds his bag of dustmissing," said Mosely, with a laugh.

  As he spoke he drew from his pocket a good-sized bag which appeared tobe nearly full of dust. "There must be several hundred dollars' worththere," he said, complacently.

  He expected to hear Hadley answer in his usual style, but wasdisappointed.

  "When are we going to divide?" asked Hadley, with an expression ofinterest not unmingled with anxiety.

  "You'd better let me carry it, Tom; it's all the same."

  "I should say so. No, I would prefer to take charge of my part," saidHadley, "or at least to carry the bag part of the time."

  Bill Mosely frowned darkly, and he brought his hand near the pocket inwhich he carried his pistol. "Hadley," he said, sternly, "do you doubtmy honor?"

  "I should say--not," answered Tom Hadley in a dissatisfied tone,bringing out the last word after a slight pause; "but I don't see why Ishouldn't carry the bag part of the time."

  "Had you doubted my honor," continued Mosely with a grand air, "thoughyou are my friend, I should have been compelled to take your life. Inever take any back talk. I chaw up any one who insults me. I'm aregular out-and-out desperado, I am, when I'm riled."

  "I've heard all that before," said Tom Hadley, rather impatiently.

  It was quite true, for this was the style in which Bill Mosely wasaccustomed to address new acquaintances. It had not succeeded with JakeBradley, who had enough knowledge of human nature to detect the falsityof Mosely's pretensions and the sham character of his valor.

  "You've heard it before," said Mosely, severely, "but ain't it true?That's what I ask you, Tom Hadley."

  "I should say so," slipped out almost unconsciously from the lips of thehabitual echo.

  "'Tis well," said Mosely, waving his hand. "You know it and you believeit. I'm a bad man to insult, I am. I generally chaw up them that standin my way."

  Tom Hadley was really a braver man than Mosely, and he answeredobstinately, "Give me half that gold-dust, or I'll take it."

  Bill Mosely saw his determined face and felt that it was necessary toback down. "I don't know why I don't shoot you," he said, trying to keepup his air of domination.

  "Because two can play at that game," said Hadley, doggedly.

  He produced a pouch, and Bill Mosely, much against his will, wascompelled to divide the contents of the stolen bag, managing, however,to retain the larger share himself.

  "I don't want to quarrel with a friend," said Bill, more mildly, "butyou don't act friendly to-day."

  "It's all right now," said Hadley, satisfied.

  "Maybe you think I don't want to act fair," continued Mosely in aninjured tone. "Why, the very horse you are riding is a proof to thecontrary. I didn't ask for both horses, did I?"

  "You couldn't ride both," answered Tom Hadley, with practical goodsense.

  "I wonder where the fellows are we took them from?" said Mosely, with achange of subject. "The man was a regular fire-eater: I wouldn't like tomeet him again."

  "I should say so," chimed in Hadley, emphatically.

  Bradley had paid Mosely in his own coin, and boasted of his prowess evenmore extravagantly than that braggadocio, claiming to have killed fromseventy to eighty men in the course of his experience. Mosely had beentaken in by his confident tone, and knowing that he was himself a shamdesperado, though a genuine thief and highwayman, had been made to feeluneasy while in Bradley's company.

  "I wonder what became of them?" continued Mosely, thoughtfully.

  As Tom Hadley's special phrase could not come in here appropriately, heforbore to make any remark.

  "He thought he would scare me by his fierce talk," said Mosely, whowould hardly have spoken so confidently had he known that Bradley wasonly two miles distant from him at that identical moment. "It takes agood deal to scare a man like me--eh, Tom?"

  "I should say so," returned Hadley, but it was noticeable that he spokerather dubiously, and not with his usual positiveness.

  "I'm a hard man to handle," continued Mosely, complacently, relapsinginto the style of talk which he most enjoyed. "I'm as bad as they make'em."

  "I should say so," chimed in Tom Hadley; and there was nothing doubtfulin his tone now.

  Bill Mosely looked at him as if he suspected there was somethingsuspicious under this speech, but Tom Hadley wore his usual look, andhis companion dismissed his momentary doubt. "You never saw me afraid ofany living man--eh, Tom?"

  "I should say so," answered Hadley.

  There was something equivocal in this speech
, and Bill Mosely lookedvexed.

  "Can't you say anything but that?" he grumbled. "It looks as if youdoubted my statement. No man doubt my word--and lives."

  Tom Hadley merely shrugged his shoulders. He was not a man of brilliantintellectual ability or of rare penetration, but there were times wheneven he was led to suspect that his companion was a humbug. Yet Moselyhad greater force of character, and took uncommon pains to retain hisascendency over his more simple-minded companion, and had in the mainbeen successful, though in the matter of the gold-dust he had beenobliged to score a defeat.

  As Hadley did not see fit to express any doubt of this last statement,Bill Mosely was content to let the matter drop, assuming that he hadgained a victory and recovered his ascendency over his echo.

  They had met no one for some hours, and did not look for an encounterwith anything wearing the semblance of humanity, when all at once TomHadley uttered an exclamation.

  "What is it, Tom?" asked Mosely.

  "Look there!" was the only answer, as Hadley, with outstretched finger,pointed to a Chinaman walking slowly up the hill.

  "It's a heathen Chinee!" exclaimed Mosely with animation.

  "I should say so," echoed Hadley.

  Mosely urged his mustang to greater speed, and soon overtook Ki Sing,for it was Richard Dewey's attendant whom the two adventurers had fallenin with.

  CHAPTER IV.

  KI SING IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY.

  Ki Sing turned when he heard the sound of horses' feet, for in thatmountain-solitude such a sound was unusual. He was not reassured by theappearance of the two men, whose intention seemed to be to overtake him,and he turned aside from the path with the intention of getting out ofthe way.

  "Stop there, you heathen!" called Bill Mosely in his fiercest tone.

  Ki Sing halted, and an expression of uneasiness came over his broad,flat face.

  "What are you doing here, you Chinese loafer?"

  Ki Sing did not exactly comprehend this speech, but answered mildly,"How do, Melican man?"

  "How do?" echoed Bill Mosely, laughing rather boisterously.--"Tom, theheathen wants to know how I do.--Well, heathen, I'm so's to be around,and wouldn't mind chawing up a dozen Chinamen. Where do you live?"

  "Up mountain," answered Ki Sing.

  "Which way?"

  The Chinaman pointed in the right direction.

  "What do you do for a living?"

  "Wait on Melican man--cookee, washee."

  "So you are a servant to a white man, John?"

  "Yes, John."

  "Don't you call me John, you yellow mummy! I'm not one of yourcountrymen, I reckon.--What do you say to that, Tom? The fellow'sgettin' familiar."

  "I should say so," remarked Tom Hadley, with his usual originality.

  "What's the name of the Melican man you work for?" continued Mosely,after a slight pause.

  "Dickee Dewee," answered Ki Sing, repeating the familiar name applied byBradley to the invalid. The name seemed still more odd as the Chinamanpronounced it.

  "Well, he's got a queer name, that's all I can say," continued Mosely."What's your name?"

  "Ki Sing."

  "Ki Sing? How's Mrs. Ki Sing?" asked Mosely, who was disposed, like thecat, to play with his victim before turning and rending him.

  "Me got no wifee," said the Chinaman, stolidly.

  "Then you're in the market. Do you want to marry?"

  "Me no want to mally?"

  "So much the worse for the ladies. Well, as to this Dickee, as you callhim? What does he do?"

  "He sick--lie down on bedee."

  "He's sick, is he? What's the matter with him?"

  "Fall down and hurt leggee."

  "Oh, that was it? What did he do before he hurt himself?"

  "Dig gold."

  Bill Mosely became more interested. "Did he find much gold?" he askedeagerly.

  "Yes, muchee," answered Ki Sing, unsuspiciously.

  "Does he keep it with him?"

  Bill Mosely betrayed a little too much interest when he asked thisquestion, and the Chinaman, hitherto unsuspicious, became on his guard.

  "Why you wantee know?" he asked shrewdly.

  "Do you dare give me any of your back talk, you yellow heathen?"exclaimed Mosely, angrily. "Answer my question, or I'll chaw you up inless'n a minute."

  "What you ask?" said Ki Sing, innocently.

  "You know well enough. Where does this Dickee keep the gold he foundbefore he met with an accident?"

  "He no tellee me," answered Ki Sing.

  This might be true, so that Mosely did not feel sure that the Chinaman'signorance was feigned. Still, he resolved to push the inquiry, in thehope of eliciting some information that might be of value, for already aplan had come into his mind which was in accordance with his generalcharacter and reputation--that of relieving the invalid of his hoard ofgold-dust.

  "Where do you think he keeps the gold, John?" he asked mildly.

  Ki Sing looked particularly vacant as he expressed his ignorance on thissubject.

  "Has he got a cabin up there?" asked Mosely.

  "Yes."

  "And how far might it be?"

  "Long way," answered Ki Sing, who wished to divert Mosely from the planwhich the faithful servant could see he had in view.

  Bill Mosely was keen enough to understand the Chinaman's meaning, andanswered, "Long or not, I will go and see your master. I am a doctor,"he added, winking to Hadley, "and perhaps I can help him.--Ain't I adoctor, Tom?"

  "I should say so," answered Hadley, whose respect for truth did notinterfere with his corroborating in his usual style anything which hiscompanion saw fit to assert.

  Ki Sing did not express any opinion on the subject of Bill Mosely'smedical pretensions, though he was quite incredulous.

  "Lead the way, John," said Mosely.

  "Where me go?" asked the Chinaman innocently.

  "Go? Go to the cabin where your master lives, and that by the shortestpath. Do you hear?"

  "Yes."

  Ki Sing, however, still faithful to the man who had befriended him inthe hour of danger, did not direct his course toward Richard Dewey'scabin, but guided the two adventurers in a different direction. Thecourse he took was a circuitous one, taking him no farther away from thecabin, but encircling the summit and drawing no nearer to it. He hopedthat the two men, whose purpose he suspected was not honest norfriendly, would become tired and would give up the quest.

  He did not, however, understand the perseverance of Mosely when he feltthat he was on the scent of gold.

  Finally, Mosely spoke. "John," he said, "is the cabin near by?"

  Ki Sing shook his head. "Long way," he answered.

  "How did you happen to get so far away from it, then, I should like toknow?" and he examined the face of his guide sharply.

  But Ki Sing's broad face seemed utterly void of expression as,neglecting to answer the question, he reiterated his statement, "Houseelong way."

  "The man's a fool, Tom," said Mosely, turning to his companion.

  "I should say so," was all the help he got from Hadley.

  "Do you know what I mean to do, Hadley?--Here, you yellow mummy, go alittle ahead." (The Chinaman did so.)--"There's a bonanza up there inthat cabin, wherever it is. The Chinaman says that this man with thequeer name had got out a good deal of gold before he met with anaccident--broke his leg, likely. Well, it stands to reason he's got thegold now. There ain't no chance here of sendin' off the dust, and ofcourse he's got it hid somewhere in his cabin. Do you see the point,Tom?"

  "I should say so."

  "And I should say so too. It strikes me as a particularly good chance.This man is disabled and helpless. He can't prevent us walking off withhis gold, can he?"

  "Suppose he won't tell us where it is?" suggested Tom Hadley withextraordinary mental acuteness.

  "Why, we'll knock him on the head or put a bullet in him, Hadley. It'sa pity if two fire-eaters like us can't tackle a man with a broken leg.What do you say?"
/>   "I should say so."

  Fifteen minutes more passed, and they seemed to be getting no nearertheir destination. At any rate, no cabin was in sight. Ki Sing onlyanswered, when interrogated, "Long way."

  "Hadley," said Bill Mosely, "I begin to believe that heathen'smisleading us. What do you say?"

  "I should say so."

  "Then I'll attend to his case.--Here, you heathen!"

  "Whatee want?"

  Bill Mosely sprang from his mustang, seized Ki Sing, and, in spite ofhowls, with Hadley's assistance tied him to a small tree with a strongcord he had in his pocket.

  "That disposes of you, my friend," he said, mounting his mustang. "Ithink we shall find the cabin better without you."

  The two men rode off, leaving poor Ki Sing in what appeared, consideringthe loneliness of the spot, to be hopeless captivity.

  CHAPTER V.

  FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BILL MOSELY.

  Bill Mosley and his companion pushed on after leaving the poor Chinamantied to the tree.

  "The yellow heathen may starve, for all I care," said Mosely,carelessly. "It's all his own fault. Why didn't he speak up like a manand tell me what I wanted to know?"

  "I should say so," chimed in Tom Hadley.

  "The question is now, 'Whereabouts is that cabin we are in search of?'"

  Hadley appeared to have no idea, and no suggestion to offer.

  "It strikes me it must be somewhere near the top of the mountain," saidMosely. "What do you say?"