Clive Cussler (5 page)

"Castroville," snorted the Boss. "Never heard of it."

"It happens to be in California," Lacey said indignantly, feeling a little braver.

Then he stared at Vin Fiz. "You flew here in that old pile of junk?"

"It's not a pile of junk," Lacey said angrily. "It's an enchanted airplane."

It was obvious the Boss saw nothing enchanted about the plane. "Does anyone know you're here?"

Casey shook his head. "We didn't tell anybody where we were going."

"And just where were you going?"

"New York," answered Lacey.

The Boss looked at them like they had just arrived from the moon. Then an evil grin spread across his face. "You won't be going to New York anytime soon." He turned to his henchmen. "Let's show them their new home."

The Boss and his henchmen began laughing like hyenas as the Boss led the way into the mine shaft. As soon as they were inside, their laughter echoed off the rock walls and rolled deep down the tunnel into the hill. The twins had to be careful not to trip over the wooden railroad ties holding the narrow-gauge iron tracks together. The henchman carrying Floopy dropped him roughly to the ground and began dragging him with a leash. Floopy gamely dug his paws into the rocky tunnel floor but was dragged along despite his struggles.

"Don't give me a hard time," barked the henchman.

Soon they came to a massive iron gate that blocked further entry into the tunnel. The Boss produced a key and unlatched a bronze lock. Then he swung the gate open just as an ore cart appeared from the other side pushed by two young girls not much older than Casey and Lacey. The girls were dressed in ragged and dirty dresses. They looked very tired from pushing the heavy cart, which was piled high with rock ore. One of the Boss's henchmen was in back, prodding them on with a long stick.

"Move it, girlie girls, we've got six more loads to dump before you can have your beans and water."

Floopy tried to bark through his muzzle. The Boss twisted one of the dog's long ears and sneered. "Save your strength, you stupid mutt. You'll be hitched to one of those ore carts before you know it."

Lacey slapped the Boss's hand away from Floopy's ear. "You leave my dog alone," she said stoutly.

The Boss's eyes glinted like the devil for a moment before he saw the humor in the brave girl's actions. "You're going to work for me, little girlie. I can use someone with your grit."

The twins did not like what was happening to them, did not like it at all. Their tummies were flip-flopping with dread of what might happen to them at the hands of the Boss. There was little they could do, only wait and see what would happen next.

What happened was that they walked into another huge cavern with a high rock dome. Over a hundred people were laboring with picks and shovels, loading rock into the ore carts. Men and boys wielded the picks and filled the little rusty carts while the women and girls pushed them through the tunnel to the dump outside. Some dragged a big wheel-like stone that crushed the ore before it was panned with water for gold.

In as grown-up a voice as he could rally, Casey demanded, "Why were we brought here, and who are all these people?"

"Ho, ho, snoopy, are we?" The Boss leaned down and leered nastily. "You were brought here because we couldn't let you go and tell the world that my men and I have rounded up all the townspeople and are forcing them to work as slaves mining gold so my comrades and I can all become as rich as kings."

"But there are more of them than you," said Lacey. "Why don't they band together and overpower you and your goons?"

The Boss did not like the word goons, so he stepped on Lacey's foot as he answered and made her wince. "Because we kidnapped all their children and are keeping them prisoner in another area of the mine. If they do not work, then . . ." The Boss shrugged, and the message became clear to the twins.

"You wouldn't dare hurt children," said Casey firmly.

"Only cowards would harm little children," chimed in Lacey.

"If threats make these fools mine for gold, so be it."

"The police will catch you," Lacey said angrily.

The Boss laughed from deep inside his belly. "Hardy, har, har. The police, you say. For your information, there isn't a cop within five days' ride from here. A troop of U.S. Cavalry is stationed at Fort Blodgett a good twenty miles away, but they have no idea what is going on. Old Colonel Rumby, the commandeer, rides into town only once every two months." He paused and counted on his fingers. "He's not due for another five weeks. By then, we'll be long gone, with all the gold we can carry. Enough to keep us in a rich man's lifestyle for the rest of our lives."

Casey said curtly, "Thieves never live well."

The Boss turned to his henchmen. "Only smart thieves like us. Right, boys?"

Cruel men, all the henchmen within hearing cheered and laughed and clapped their hands, envisioning their newfound and stolen wealth.

"Now it's time for you two to earn your keep," said the Boss. He nodded to a henchman with fat lips and an ugly flat nose the size of a teacup. "Put 'em to work loading the ore carts. And don't feed them until they load ten."

Casey opened his mouth to protest, but the Boss made a movement of drawing his finger across his throat. The signal sent a shiver through Casey, and he remained silent.

"Not a word out of you," snapped the Boss. "Now off to work."

Casey ignored him. "What about our dog? Leave him with us."

The Boss's lip curled. "Not a chance. I'll keep him tied to my bunk. If you don't work hard, I'll have my boys cook and eat him."

The Boss laughed a rotten laugh when he saw the twins' horrified looks. He turned his back and walked away as one of his henchmen, a man with a scar across his cheek and yellow teeth from never having brushed them, hustled the children off to a narrow-gauge track. There five ore carts sat next to a large pile of crushed ore. "Start filling these up if you young'uns know what's good for ya."

So Lacey and Casey began shoveling the crushed rock ore that had been washed free of all traces of gold. As they shoveled, they could see two of the Boss's henchmen carefully scooping up the gold dust and pouring it into leather sacks that were then laid end to end along one corner of the mine. Casey counted at least thirty sacks.

"There must be a fortune in gold in those sacks," he said, marveling at such riches.

"It doesn't belong to the Boss," Lacey said indignantly. "It belongs to all the townspeople."

A man and a woman approached. Both were dirty with torn and ragged clothes. He had been lifting heavy rock onto the crusher, and she had been pushing an ore cart. They looked warily at the henchmen to make sure they were not observed as they passed by the twins. They stopped and made as if they were working and spoke softly.

"How did you come to be captured by the Boss?" the man asked. He was tall and lanky with kindly blue eyes.

"We flew into town from Castroville and stopped for something to eat," Lacey answered.

"What are your names?"

Casey answered, "I'm Casey Nicefolk, and this is my twin sister, Lacey."

"It's not right for children so young to be loading ore carts," spoke the nice lady, who was not much taller than the twins. She had long red hair that hung down to her waist, and her eyes gleamed dark green.

"Are you from the town?" asked Lacey.

"I am Stoke Firepit, and this is my wife, Blaze. I'm the mayor of Gold City, or least I was until the Boss and his henchmen came to town and rounded up all the citizens. They brought us here and put everyone to work making them rich."

"He said you didn't fight because he took your children."

The mayor nodded. "Before we knew and could resist, they had captured all the children along with their teacher at the schoolhouse and imprisoned them deep in the mine. We had no choice but to do as they ordered. They threatened to harm the boys and girls."

"Has anyone tried to escape and go to Fort Blodgett for help?" asked Casey.

The mayor shook his head. "We'd be on foot and they have horses. We wouldn't get very far before they ran us down."

Lacey and Casey looked at each other and smiled knowingly. "We could get to the fort without being caught," Casey informed the mayor and his tiny wife.

"Not possible for you youngsters to outrun horses," the mayor whispered as a henchman walked past, prodding a pair of young ladies to push a loaded ore cart. While they walked by, Blaze Firepit made a show of shoveling ore while her husband lifted a rock and heaved it toward the crusher. Intrigued, he asked, "What have you got in mind?"

"We have an airplane," Casey informed them. "Lacey and I could fly to the fort."

"Airplane?" questioned the mayor skeptically.

"Didn't you hear them, dear? They said they flew in from Castroville."

"I've never heard of Castroville."

"It's in California," Lacey informed him. "It's where they grow artichokes."

The mayor was not an optimistic man by nature. He always looked on the downside and rarely looked up. But he was also a logical man, who liked to consider every possibility. "Where is this airplane of yours?"

"In the main cavern before you enter the mine shaft. The Boss had it towed from town after we landed."

The mayor went into deep thought, as he did before he made any decision. Then he shrugged.

"No, no, no. There is no way to escape from the mine. You'd be caught long before you reached your airplane."

"If you don't try," Lacey said sensibly, "you don't do. If you don't do, you don't achieve. And if you don't achieve, you don't succeed. That's what my father always says. So we must find a way."

Mrs. Firepit was not as logical as her husband, but she was more creative. "Why not hide them in an ore cart?" she suggested grandly.

"Yes, yes," Lacey said excitedly. "You could cover us with the ore. Then after we're pushed out of the mine shaft, the ladies who are pushing the cart can dump us onto the ore pile. The henchmen guarding the cart probably won't be watching very closely something they've seen many times."

"They have a point," said Blaze Firepit.

"Could be," mused her husband. "The children are small enough to lie on the bottom of the cart." He interrupted himself and looked to see if any henchmen might be watching or listening. But none paid them any attention. Without any further gloomy thoughts involving logic, he said, "If the Boss and his men catch you, they will be very mad."

"Once we're in Vin Fiz, they'll never catch us," said Casey firmly.

"When I give the word, jump into the cart. All set?"

Lacey and Casey each moved around and crouched behind an ore cart. After a minute that seemed an eternity, Mayor Firepit hissed loudly, "Now!"

Lacey and Casey did not shilly-shally. They both leaped into an ore cart as quick as you could say "jump in the ore cart."

The Firepits wasted no time in shoveling the ore from the crushing machine that had been cleaned of all gold. It was as fine as plain dirt. Most all boys enjoy playing in the dirt. Casey thought it fun as it was thrown on top of him, until he was covered completely with only his nose sticking up. Not so Lacey. She saw nothing fun about getting all dirty. She felt plain awful about being buried in the damp earth.

After the last shovelful, Mayor Firepit leaned into the cars and said softly, "Try not to move or make a sound until you are emptied on the dirt heap outside. Fly due east until you see the fort. Good luck to you, children."

"Our prayers go with you," murmured Mrs. Firepit.

One of the Boss's henchmen, seeing the ore carts were full, rudely shoved a pair of young girls onto the narrow-gauge track. "Start pushing if you want to get fed," he snarled.

The girls, not knowing Lacey and Casey were hidden under the crushed ore, leaned against the carts and began shoving them up the track. Lacey and Casey could not see because their eyes were closed under the dirt. They could hear the poor girls panting and groaning as they manhandled the heavy carts along the track. A short time later they felt the carts stop. Then came a clanking sound as the ore cart buckets were turned on their sides and the load of finely crushed ore, along with Lacey and Casey, spilled out down the dump pile.

The girls saw the children tumble down the slope and were surprised. But they quickly realized an escape attempt was in the making, whispered "good luck" and began pushing the carts back into the mine. Lacey had been right. The henchman stood back in utter boredom and did not bother to glance down at Lacey and Casey, who were now sitting up, brushing the dirt from their eyes and mouths. Instead he simply yawned and commanded the young ladies to hurry up and haul out another load of dirt.

As soon as they were alone, the twins scrambled up the dump pile and ran to Vin Fiz, still sitting undisturbed in the center of the cavern. "The bad men can't help but hear the engine when we start it," said Casey. "They'll come running."

But his fear soon faded because the airplane started its engine all by itself in almost complete silence before they even reached her. Flames came from the exhaust pipes, but miraculously, there was no sound. They leaped into their seats, threw on their helmets and goggles and tightened their belts.