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Updated: June 8, 2025
The boys had not slept very well on the train, so they were thoroughly tired out. They were on the point of retiring when a bell-boy came up stating that their friend wished to see Dick for a few minutes. "Wumble must have forgotten something," said Dick. "I'll see what it is," and he took the elevator to the ground floor.
"And those claims will yield us thousands of dollars!" said Jack Wumble. "Boys, we will all be rich." "Hurrah!" shouted Tom. "I'm glad I came West, after all." "And so am I," said Sam. "Dick, what do you say?" "I say hurrah for the Eclipse Mine, and all the gold it will bring us," answered Dick. "Won't father be pleased when he learns the news?"
And he related the particulars of the meeting with Henry Bradner, and what the stranger had said and done concerning Wumble. "The snake!" ejaculated the old miner passionately. "He's a sharp, true as you are born! Why, I never put up at the Palace of the West in my life." "I wish I knew what his game was," went on Dick. "You will know Dick if I can get my hands on him.
On the way Dick told the old miner what had brought them to the West. Jack Wumble took a deep interest in all mining schemes, and listened closely to all the youth had to say. "Yes, I remember about the Eclipse Mine," he said. "And I remember this Arnold Baxter, too.
"Whoopee, Rover, don't go fer to mister me, or I'll be sorry I killed the bar for ye. I'm plain Slim Jim to all as knows me Slim Jim the hunter an' trapper. I've spent forty year on these mountains, an' like ez not I'll spend forty more, ef the good Lord allows me to live thet long. An' whar do ye calkerlate your brothers and Jack Wumble air now?" "I'm sure I don't know.
An' so you air his son, hey? Wall! wall! shake!" And Slim Jim, as he preferred to be called, thrust forth a hand that was as hard as a piece of horn. But he had a soft heart, and Dick soon learned that he was as much to be trusted as was Jack Wumble. "I'll do my best to set ye right, lad," said the old hunter, after he had listened to the details of Dick's story.
They waited around for the best part of an hour, but Henry Bradner failed to return, and at last they gave up looking for him, and the boys went back to where they had hired a room for the night, promising to rejoin Jack Wumble early in the morning, when the whole party would take a train for Denver, where Wumble wished to transact a little business before starting out for Larkspur Creek.
But he could not stop himself entirely, and reaching the stream at last he went in with a loud splash and disappeared from view! "Dick's gone!" ejaculated Sam. He tried to look over the edge of the cliff. "Oh, my! He will be drowned!" He had heard the splash, as had also Wumble, and now both dismounted with all speed and crept to the very edge of the bushes.
"Out in the mines they used to call me Lucky Harry, and a good many of my friends call me that still. May I ask your names?" "My name is Sam Rover," said the boy. "This is my brother Dick, and this my brother Tom." There were handshakings all around. "Glad to know you," said Bradner. "I hope you find Jack Wumble and that he locates your mine for you."
It was along a creek which a certain Jack Wumble had called Bumble Bee, but we could not locate this creek, and Jack Wumble had departed for fresh fields. But I have located the old miner, and he has told me that Bumble Bee Creek was in reality one of the south branches of the Gunnison River, and is now called the Larkspur.
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