Read Clive Cussler for Free Online

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