CHAPTER XXXI. BENTON OPENS THE TRUNK.

Soon after supper Albert Benton went to the village, and this left Grant and Tom free to transfer their gold-dust to a trunk in Mr. Crambo’s chamber. When the change had been made, Grant said in a satisfied tone: “Now, Benton can open the chest and welcome.”

“I’d like to be present when he is doing it,” said Tom Cooper.

Albert Benton was anxious to obtain a key that would open the chest. He scraped acquaintance with a clerk at the village hotel, and casually remarked: “I’m in a bad fix. I’ve got a trunk at home that I can’t open.”

“Why not?” asked the clerk.

“I haven’t a key that will fit it. You don’t happen to have any keys, do you?”

“I’ve got half a dozen,” said the clerk, taking a handful from his pocket. “They are keys that I picked up about the hotel.”

263“Will you lend them to me?”

“Certainly. If you find one that suits, you can have it.”

Benton took them, well pleased. From the size it seemed to him probable that one of them would fit the chest.

“Thank you,” he said. “I will return them to you to-morrow.”

“Oh, don’t be in any hurry. They are of no use to me.”

He left the hotel, and it chanced soon afterward that Grant and Tom entered it. Tom was in search of a cigar, for he was a confirmed smoker.

“I just had a call from one of your fellow boarders,” remarked the clerk, who knew both Tom and Grant.

“Benton?”

“Oh, is that his name? I only knew that he boarded at Paul Crambo’s. Seems a sociable sort of fellow.”

“Quite so,” answered Tom dryly.

“He is talking of buying a restaurant in the village—the one kept by Hardy.”

“I heard him mention it.”

264“He says he was in that business in Sacramento.”

“Yes,” said Grant; “I knew him there.”

“I did him a favor to-night—lent him some keys,” continued the clerk.

As may be imagined, this announcement was of great interest to Tom and Grant.

“What did he want keys for?” inquired Tom.

“He said he couldn’t open his trunk. He thought one of those I lent him might do.”

Tom and Grant exchanged glances. They understood very well what it was that Benton wanted to unlock.

“Did he think he would raise the money to buy the restaurant?” inquired Tom.

“Yes, he said he was negotiating for a loan.”

Meanwhile Benton had observed Tom Cooper and Grant walking together. He had the keys in his pocket, and was anxious to test the question whether one of them would fit.

“Why shouldn’t I try this evening?” he asked himself. “It is a fine night, and Grant and Cooper will probably stay out some time. 265If I could only get the gold-dust and settle the matter about the restaurant to-morrow! Hardy won’t keep it for me very long. He is likely to meet a man with money any time.”

Benton kept on his way, and, seizing his opportunity, stole upstairs quietly and, as he thought, unobserved. But Mrs. Crambo saw him and suspected his purpose. When two minutes later Tom and Grant entered the house, she remarked: “Mr. Benton has just gone upstairs.”

“I expected he would. He has borrowed some keys in the village.”

Tom removed his shoes, and went upstairs softly. He saw at once that the door of his chamber was open. He approached quietly, and looked through the crack. There was Benton on his knees before the chest, trying one key after another.

At length he succeeded. The last key fitted the lock, and he raised the lid eagerly.

“Now for it!” he muttered in a tone of exultation.

When the lid of the chest was opened, a pile of shirts and underclothing was revealed. It 266is hardly necessary to say that Benton did not care for these. He was in search of something more valuable.

Eagerly he took out the clothing and piled it on the floor beside the chest. Then he looked anxiously for a box containing gold-dust, for it had occurred to him as probable that the two friends would keep their gold in a tin box. But to his deep disappointment no box was visible, nor any other receptacle for the coveted dust.

“I was on a false scent!” he exclaimed bitterly. “Where in the world do they keep their gold?”

He was beginning to replace the clothing in the chest, when the door was opened and Tom Cooper and Grant entered. Benton sprang to his feet in confusion, and tried to push his way out of the room. But at a signal from Tom, Grant closed the door and set his back against it.

“Now, Mr. Albert Benton,” said Tom Cooper sternly, “what are you doing here in our room?”

In spite of his assurance Albert Benton did not know what to say.

267“I—I was in search of some old linen to wrap round my ankle,” he stammered.

“And so you entered our room, and broke open my chest?”

“I hope you will excuse me, I was indiscreet,” muttered Benton.

“That is a very mild way of putting it,” retorted Tom. “Benton, you are a thief.”

“Do—you—mean—to insult me?” asked Benton.

“Yes, if the truth insults you. Shall I tell you what you were after?”

Benton did not reply, and Tom Cooper resumed: “You thought we kept our gold-dust in that chest.”

“Upon my honor!” protested Benton.

“The less you say about your honor the better,” returned Tom, with contempt. “Grant, what shall we do with him?”

Benton began to be alarmed. Tom Cooper was a young giant. He had been brought up to his father’s business, and his muscles were as firm and strong as steel. Benton knew very well that he would be like a child in his grasp.

268“Spare me,” he said, “and I will not trouble you any more.”

“I don’t think you will if you know what is best for yourself. But you deserve to be punished for what you have already done. Grant, open the window.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Benton, in alarm.

“I’ll show you.”

Tom seized the thief, and bore him in his strong arms to the window. He held him outside, making a futile resistance, and then dropped him.

The distance to the ground was only fifteen feet, and Benton landed on all-fours, a little jarred, but not seriously hurt.

“Now,” said Tom, leaning out, “you had better leave this neighborhood as expeditiously as possible, or I will brand you as a thief, and let the citizens take what course they choose.”

Benton knew very well that in California at that time thieves were not tolerated, and were often strung up to a tree without ceremony. He felt that he had better not stand upon the order of his going, but go at once.

269“Let me go into the house and get my things,” he said submissively.

“Have you settled up your board bill with Mrs. Crambo?”

“I have only five dollars!” he pleaded.

“Let the board go!” said Mrs. Crambo, who was on the stairs. “All I ask is that he shall go himself, and never come back.”

Benton crept upstairs, and, getting his small satchel, left the house. Where he went Tom and Grant did not learn, nor did they care.

“That fellow will never thrive,” said Tom. “He has made a bad beginning. Any man who wants to get rich by appropriating the property of another is sure to come to a bad end.”

“I guess you are right, Tom,” said Grant. “I am relieved to have Benton out of the house.”

“You have lost your boarder, Mrs. Crambo,” said Tom. “How much board is he owing you?”

“About five dollars.”

“We will pay that; won’t we, Grant?”

270“Certainly,” answered Grant.

“I won’t accept it,” said Mrs. Crambo decidedly. “It isn’t your fault that Mr. Benton came here. As for the small sum he owes me, I can get along without it. It won’t break me. I don’t believe you and your friend have any money to spare.”

“We have been doing pretty well, Mrs. Crambo. We have no cause to complain.”

“I am very glad to hear it, for you are likely to stay here longer. You have been working hard, and you are entitled to all you have made.”

“Have you really been doing well, Mr. Cooper?” questioned Paul Crambo.

“Yes, Mr. Crambo; we haven’t made a fortune, but we have been very well paid for our work. Would you like to buy a share in the claim?”

Paul Crambo shook his head.

“Digging for gold doesn’t agree with me,” he said. “You are young men, and can stand it, but I have a pain in the back if I work over an hour.”

Tom Cooper anticipated this reply, or he 271would not have made the proposal. He preferred to have Grant for his sole partner. Nor did he care to have any third party know how rich the claim really was. Notwithstanding the hint he had given, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Crambo had any idea what a bonanza the boys had struck.