Mystery of the Haunted Mine

15 A Person Without a Dream Is Dead

Gary Cole came out of the shop with his mother's Christmas gift tucked under his arm. The cold December wind swept down from the Espectros and moaned through the lamplighted streets of Cottonwood Wells. Gary looked up and down the street for Tuck and his Honda. The lean one was standing at the nearest corner beside his motorcycle talking to a girl. Gary walked toward them. It would be a good Christmas for the Coles. What with the reward money and the money from the gold they had taken from the Lost Espectro, the Coles were making plans for the dude ranch Pete had always wanted.

Gary eyed the girl as he came up behind Tuck. She was a doll, tall, dark-haired, and well dressed. "Hey, amigo," he said. "Introduce me!"

Tuck turned slowly. "You loco, man? Remember our partner when we hunted the Lost Espectro? The one who got shipped off to boarding school in Phoenix to keep her from fooling around the Espectros?"

Gary stared at her. Gone were the ugly braces and the generous sprinkling of freckles. Gone was the short-cropped and untidy hairdo. Gone were the Levi's and the faded checkered shirt, the battered old hat, and the dusty boots. Susan Alice Browne was no longer the hoyden who had helped solve the mystery of the Espectros. She was now a young lady.

"Close your mouth, Gary," she said gently. "You look much better that way." She smiled. "I was allowed home for Christmas."

"You make it sound like a reform school," said Tuck.

Gary swallowed. "How is it, Sue?" he asked.

She raised her head a little. "I must say the atmosphere is more congenial and much, much more polished than that of Cottonwood Wells Union High."

"Yeh," said Tuck. "Lookit her, Gary!"

Gary actually felt embarrassed. The metamorphosis of Susan Browne from lowly caterpillar into lovely butterfly was almost impossible to believe.

Tuck grinned. "Gary doesn't have a date yet for the Christmas dance, Sue."

She smiled gently. "A kid dance? Rock and roll no less!"

Gary eyed her and the devil took over. "Well, Sue, I'd be happy to take you, but I'm not sure I want to go myself. Jerry Black thinks he has a good lead on a couple of burroloads of silver that were buried near Massacre Spring about seventy years ago, and since we have Christmas vacation now, Tuck and I figured we'd take a crack at looking for it. So we have to get our plans made and our gear ready. Sorry about the dance. Good night, Sue." He started to walk toward his jeep.

"Gary Cole!" she snapped. "So happens I do want to go to that dance with you! So happens I have a Christmas vacation too! And if you think for one minute that you and my cousin Tucker C. Browne are going to look for that silver without me, you have another think coming!"

Tuck rolled up his eyes. "Now you've done it, Gary," he said. "Can't trust you one minute."

The three experienced treasure hunters started out through the cold night air toward the Cole ranch, Sue Browne riding beside Gary in the jeep, and Tucker C. Browne leading the way on his roaring Honda, trying to cut down his time between The Wells and the ranch. To the northeast bulked the dark and brooding Espectros, still holding many of their old secrets and perhaps some new ones as well. They held a spell over those who had been born in their shadows, a spell that could never be broken in a lifetime. For if the Espectros had not given the trio of treasure hunters great riches, at least they had given them a place to hunt for them, and a person without a dream is dead.