H. Irving Hancock

“ Jim Ferrers, rifle resting across the front of his saddle, rode at the head of the Reade-Hazelton party as that outfit reached the edge of the claim.
On either side of the guide, just to the rear, rode Tom and Harry. Behind them tramped four men armed with rides, the other two men carrying a board, stakes and a hammer.
"The first man who sets foot on this claim dies!" shouted Dolph
Gage hoarsely.
"Same thing for any man who raises a rifle against us," Ferrers called back. "Gage, I want only a good excuse for taking one honest shot at you!" ”

“ That question was enough to cause the young engineer to forget that he had intended to inspect the tub-load of ore. He strolled back to the head of the shaft. The wind was biting keenly today. Harry was dressed in the warmest clothing he had, yet his feet felt like lumps of lead in his shoes.
"Arizona may be hot, but I'd rather do my mining down there, anyway," thought the young engineer. "If I could move about more, this wouldn't be so bad." ”

“ Jim answered, rather curtly. "You hired him for a chore-boy, to help me. He hasn't done a tap yet. He's no good."
"Don't be too hard on him, Ferrers," pleaded Tom solemnly. "I've just heard the youngster's sad story. Do you know what really ails him? Cigarettes!"
"Him? Cigarettes!" observed Ferrers disgustedly. "The miserable little rascal!"
"You see," smiled Tom, turning to the boy, "just what men think of a lad who tries to look manly by smoking cigarettes."
"Cigarettes? Manly?" exploded Jim Ferrers, with a guffaw. "Men don't smoke cigarettes. That's left for weak-minded boys." ”

“ So another length of line was passed around Hazelton, until he felt as though he had been done up in network.
"Now; we'll give your partner a chance to show up," muttered Gage, throwing himself on the ground. "You young fellers will have to learn the lesson that you're thirty miles from anywhere, and that we rule matters around here. We're going to keep on ruling, too, in this strip of Nevada."
"Are you?" grimaced Hazelton. "Then, my friend, allow me to tell you that you are making the mistake of trying to reckon without Tom Reade!" ”

“ Over where the drilling had been done a mass of dirt and rock was shot up into the air.
"What are you running so fast for, Harry?" laughed Tom, as he pursued his chum back to the scene of the blast.
"I want to see if we stirred up any real ore. I want to know if our claim is worth the grub it takes to feed the men," was Hazelton's almost breathless response. ”

“ Taking in deep breaths, he tramped along the path over to the shaft ere he turned his steps toward the cook shack.
"Come right in, Mr. Reade, and eat something," urged Cook Leon.
"This is the first time I've seen you in days. You must be hungry."
"There's a fellow ten times smarter than I who's looking after Hazelton," spoke Tom cheerily, "so I believe I am hungry. Yes; you may set me out a good supper."
"Who's the very smart man that's looking after your friend?" Leon asked. ”

“ As Tom stood, deep in thought, the face of his patient friend rose before him.
"I don't mind going to smash for myself, in a good, hard fight," Reade went on audibly. "But it seems a crime to drag Harry down to poverty with me. If I could only get him to go away I'd give up my own life, if need be, to prove what's under our ridge of Nevada dirt." ”

“ Tom went on quietly. "I'm one of the heads here, and the management of this camp has been left more or less in my hands. I gave you a weak, deluded, almost worthless little piece of humanity as a helper. I'll admit that he isn't much good, but yet he's a boy aged fourteen, at any rate, and therefore there may be in that boy the makings of a man. Your way of tackling the job is no good. It's a fool way, and, besides, it's a brutal, unmanly way."
"I guess you'd better stop, right where you are, Mister Reade!" snapped Leon, an ugly scowl coming to his face. ”

“ Tom replied. "Yet you see that I'm not very nervous about them, especially in a part of the country where none are ever found. It's your nerves, Alf—-and cigarettes!"
"I wish I had one now," sighed the younger boy.
"A rattlesnake?" Tom inquired innocently.
"No—-of course not! A cigarette."
"But you're going to forget those soul-destroying little coffin-nails,"
Reade suggested. "You're going to become a man and act like one.
You're going to learn how much more fun it is to have your lungs
filled with pure air instead of stifling cigarette smoke." ”

“ At one point on the piece of rock there was a small, dull yellow glow.
Reads pawed the rock over in eager haste. Then he drew the hammer from his belt, striking the rock sharply. Piece after piece fell away until a solid yellow mass, streaked here and there faintly with quartz, lay in his hand.
"By the great Custer!" quivered Tom.
"What's the matter, boss?" called one of the workmen. "Got a sliver in your hand?"
"Have I?" retorted Tom joyously. "Come here and take a look."
"Haul away!" sounded Ferrers's hoarse voice from below.
"Tell Jim to stop sending and come up a minute," nodded Tom. ”

“ He read eagerly, praying for light.
"I've got it, at last," he announced, moving over to the bunk, beside which Ferrers stood.
"Got what?" asked Jim.
"I believe I'm on the track of the right stuff to give poor old Harry."
"What's the name of the stuff you're going to give harry"
"There are three medicines mentioned here," replied Reade, holding up the book. "They're all to be given."
"Three medicines!" gasped Jim. "By the great Custer three are enough to kill a horse!"
"I'm going to try 'em," sighed Tom stolidly. "The poor fellow will die if nothing is done for him." ”

“ By this time light had begun to dawn upon the bronzed, athletic young engineer, but he preferred to pretend ignorance a little while longer.
"Say, don't you carry the makings?" demanded the boy.
"You'll have to be more explicit," Tom retorted. "Just what are you up to? What do you want anyway?"
"I want the makings for a cigarette," replied the boy, shifting uneasily to the other foot. "You said you'd pay me five dollars a month and find me in everything, didn't you?"
"Yes; everything that is necessary to living," Reade assented.
"Well, cigarettes are necessary to me," continued the boy. ”

“ Men, the mine may—-perhaps I would better say probably will—-turn out a fizzle. I am afraid you men are voting for some weeks of wasted work and a hungry tramp back to Dugout City at the end. As much as we want to go on with the work, we hate to see you all stand to lose so much."
"You're no fool, Mr. Reade. Neither is Mr. Hazelton," returned
Walsh bluntly. "You're both engineers, and not green ones, either.
You've been studying mines and mining, and it isn't just guess-work
with you when you say that you feel sure of striking rich ore."
"Only one of us is sure," smiled Tom Reade wistfully. ”

“ Reade warned their guide.
"It's all right," declared Ferrers indifferently, as he rose to his full height, then discovered the path by which Tom had descended. "The critters took to cover as soon as they heard me making a noise."
With that explanation Ferrers slid rather than walked down into the gully.
"Where are the rest of your men?" questioned Mr. Dunlop, eagerly.
"I'm all there are," explained Jim, "except one pesky little puffer of cigarettes. He's hiding his stained fingers somewhere in the brush half a mile from here."
"There are no more men to your crowd?" spoke Dr. Dunlop anxiously. ”

“ Fifteen seconds later a rifle cracked out behind them, the bullet striking the dirt well to the left of Tom's party.
"It's a bluff, Jim, and——-" began Reade.
Crack! spoke Ferrers's ride.
"I knocked Gage's hat off," said the guide dryly. "Now, if he fires again, it'll show that he's looking for trouble."
"The fellow who goes looking for trouble is always a fool," Tom remarked.
"Because trouble is the most worthless thing in the world, yet a fellow who goes looking for it is always sure to find twice as much as he thought he wanted." ”

“ Hazelton could stay on his cot when it came his time to turn in."
"But say! If you knew how dead, dog-tired I am!" moaned Alf.
"Oh, let him sleep on my cot," interposed Harry, good-heartedly. "If I can't stand the cot when I come to use it, then it won't be the first night that I've slept on hard ground and rested well."
"All right, Alf, climb in," nodded Tom. "But see here. Cigarettes make you as nervous as a lunatic. If you have any bad dreams tonight, and begin yelling, then I'll rise and throw you outdoors. Do you understand?" ”

“ Dunlop.
Jim Ferrers explained the easiest way of reaching the camp in a motor car.
"And I'd advise you to come to our camp, too," Tom added. "You'll be safer there than here."
"But we would; expose you to danger, too," Mr. Dunlop objected.
"We're rather used to danger," smiled Tom placidly. "In fact, just a little of danger makes us feel that we're getting more enjoyment out of life."
"Do you think it a good plan to take up the invitation of these gentlemen, Timmins?" inquired Mr. Dunlop.
"It's the safest thing you can do, sir," answered Joe Timmins. ”

“ Reade nodded.
"No, by the Great Nugget, you're not a coward," retorted Ferrers. "No man who has seen you in a tough place will ever set you down for a coward."
"Yet I must be, if I don't tote a gun in a wild country," smiled
Reade.
"But to go back to the case of that good-for-nothing, Dolph Gage,"
Jim Ferrers resumed. "You advise me to forget that he shot at me?"
"Oh, no, I don't," Tom retorted quietly. "But you don't have to go out and take your own revenge. There are laws in this state, aren't there?" ”

“ There isn't any claim left that will pay you for the trouble of locating and working it."
"We're going to hope for better luck than your words promise us, sir," Harry hinted.
"You'll have your labor for your pains, then, and the satisfaction of finding yourselves fools," exclaimed Dunlop testily. "You'd better drop all that nonsense, and report to me after breakfast."
"It's not to be thought of, Mr. Dunlop," Tom replied gravely. "We are here in the land of gold. We think we see our chance to work for ourselves for a while, and we're going to make the most of our chance." ”

“ Heedless of the black looks of Dolph, Tom dug his heels into his pony's flanks, moving forward at a trot.
"Gage," called the young engineer, steadily, "I think you have been in wrong often enough. This time I am sure that you will want to keep on the right side."
"You keep on the right side by staying off the claim!" Gage ordered, but at that instant Reade rode over the boundary.
For an instant no man could guess who would fire the first shot. ”

“ Reade asked, almost eagerly.
"Not yet. There was no need, until we had satisfied the investors."
"Perhaps Hazelton and I can make some deal with you, Mr. Dunlop,"
Reade proposed.
"In what line?" inquired Dunlop. "Are you miners—-or machinists?"
"When we want to be really kind to ourselves," smiled Tom, "we call ourselves engineers."
"Mining engineers?" demanded Mr. Dunlop, gazing at the two youths in astonishment.
"No, sir. Neither Hazelton nor myself ever handled a mine yet," Tom answered. "But we have done a lot of railroad work."
"Railroad work isn't mine digging," objected Mr. Dunlop. ”

“ Harry asserted.
"What's your idea of an optimist, anyway?" laughed Tom.
"An optimist is a fellow who believes that banknotes grow on potato vines," laughed Harry.
"Oh, we'll get our gold all right," Reade predicted.
"We will, and a lot more. Tom, you and I still have mineral rights that we can file, with Ferrers as trustee."
"We'll go prospecting for two more bully claims just as soon as we begin to see pay-rock coming out of this vein," Tom planned. "Alf, you lazy cigarette fiend, hurry up and bring me some more of the canned meat." ”

“ You know that we must these things before we can climb to the top of our profession. The gold that's hidden somewhere under that ridge would give us the offices, the assistants, the draftsmen, the equipment and the bank account that we need before we can launch ourselves into first class engineering feats of the great civilization that rules the world today. Harry, I've firm faith in our claim, and I can go on working on a meal every third day. ”

“ If you smoke you think men will look upon you as being more manly. That's it, it?"
"It must be manly, if men do it," Alf argued.
"You funny little shaver," laughed Tom, good-humoredly. "So you think that, when men see you smoking cigarettes, they immediately imagine you to be one of them? Cigarette-smoking, for a boy of fourteen, is the short cut to manhood, I suppose."
Tom laughed long, heartily, and with intense enjoyment. ”

“ Tom ranged half a dozen on the top blanket. When Harry's glistening eyes had looked them all over, Tom produced other specimens of ore. Dr. Scott examined them, too, with a critical eye.
"If you've got much of this stuff in your mine, Reade," said the medical man, "you won't need to work much longer."
"Won't need to work much longer?" gasped Tom Reade. "Man alive, we don't want to stop working. When a man stops working he may as well consult the undertaker, for he's practically dead anyway. What we want gold for is so that we can go on working on a bigger scale than ever! ”

“ Then if you'll put in a good part of tonight riding, tomorrow you can do your best to pick up the men. Get the kind, Jim, who don't balk at bullets when they have to face 'em, for we've a hornets' nest over yonder. Get sober, level-headed fellows who know how to fight—-men of good judgment and nerve. Pay 'em what's right. You know the state of wages around here. While you're at Dugout, Jim, pick out a two-mule team and a good, dependable wagon for carting supplies. ”