The great Pike's Peak rush : $b or, Terry in the new gold fieldsSabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
General
The great Pike's Peak rush : $b or, Terry in the new gold fields
Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
Gold mines and mining -- Fiction; Pikes Peak (Colo.) -- Fiction; Western stories
"What's 'recorded'?" queried George, as they hurried off. "Are our
claims recorded?"
"Don't think so," puffed Terry. "Nobody told us to record 'em. They're
ours, and we've been sitting on them right alone. I'll ask Harry when he
comes back."
"Or we can ask Pat Casey," proposed George.
They did not find Pat. His pit was idle and he was away--hunting
witnesses to the sale by which he had bought the prospect. But they
found the church, or rather the site of the church, on Gregory Point, as
that was called, near the mouth of the gulch. Already a platform like a
floor had been constructed; several men were busy hauling logs and
leveling the ground with spades for another building; and the Yale
preacher from the True Blue claim had his sleeves rolled up and was
working with the rest. It was to be his church!
He warmly welcomed Terry, and shook hands with George also.
"Yes, indeed; plenty of work here," he jubilated--and Terry's heart beat
expectantly. "We need strong arms. Bring along ax and spade, and pitch
in. But," he added, "everything is donated, of course. The labor,
material, ground--all is a gift to help the good cause. The people in
the gulch are mighty generous, and their payment will come in this
opportunity regularly to worship God instead of always worshipping gold.
They can't live in a civilized fashion without a church. So the quicker
we have such a place, the better. What do you say? Want to help?"
Terry looked at George; George looked at Terry.
"I'd rather do that than do nothing," blurted George. "Only----"
"So would I," answered Terry. "But you see," he said, to the preacher,
"those claims have played out----"
"That's too bad," sympathized the preacher. "Both of them?"
"Yes, sir. We can't mine 'em till we have water. The water's gone. And
our jobs busted, and I reckon we'll have to earn our keep. But we'd as
lief help here till we strike another job."
"All right. Bully for you! To work once in a while for something besides
money never hurts anybody," assured the preacher. "I have to do a lot of
that myself. Bring down your tools whenever you feel like it. I expect
some of the men will be working here all night because they can't spare
the time during the day. We're going to finish the church and my cabin
before Sunday. But maybe you'd rather wait till morning. It's nearly
supper time now. Come after supper, though, to the prayer-meeting. We
hold the first prayer-meeting, around this platform. And I'll want you
to join the Sunday-school."
They left the enthusiastic preacher and his volunteers building the
first church in the diggin's.
"Might as well go home, I guess," remarked Terry.
Twilight was empurpling the hills when they arrived. This had been a
lively day, but not a very successful one.
"Anyway, we've got enough to eat," quoth George. "And if we work on the
church that may lead to something else. We'll keep busy."
"Sure," agreed Terry. "Keep a-going, as Harry said, all the way out.
Keep a-going."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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