The Wedge of Gold

by C. C. Goodwin

  CHAPTER II.

  INDICATIONS.

  "What think you of it, Jack?"

  "It is growing soft in the drift, Jim; the stringers of ore are growingstronger and giving promise of concentrating soon."

  "So it strikes me," was the response, "and when Uncle Jimmie Fair wasdown here an hour ago, I put two things together, and they have kept methinking ever since."

  "And what were the two things, Jim?"

  "Why, Jack, did you hear him sigh as he moved the candle along the faceof the drift, and hear him say, 'You are doing beautifully, my sons,beautifully; I never had better men,' and then sighed again, and added,'I fear it's no use; I fear we shall have to drop the work soon?' Thatwas one of the things. The other was the light in his eyes when heexamined the face of the drift. If I were a gambler, Jack, I would'copper' what he said and wager all I had on the twinkle of his eyes."

  "It looks good in the drift, surely; and, Jim, if we break into an orebody any time, it will not surprise me."

  "Nor me, either, Jack; and if we strike ore here, it ought to be good,because, as I reckon it, since we left the Gould and Curry shaft, we havedrifted out of the G. & C. ground, clear through the Best and Belcher,and some distance into the Consolidated Virginia, and by the trend of thelode, if we could find an ore body here, it would be in regular coursefrom the Spanish and Ophir croppings."

  "How long have you worked here, and how much have you saved, Jack?"

  "It is three years and a month since I went to work in the Belcher,"was the reply; "I made $400 in Crown Point stocks, and I have savedaltogether $2,800 and odd."

  "I beat you by a year's work, Jack, and I have, I believe, $3,300 or$3,400 in the bank. Suppose we try a little gamble in stocks. If we couldget an ore body here, this stock would double in a week, and it will notfall very much lower if we do not find anything."

  "All right, Jim, if you say so. Meet me to-morrow at eleven o'clock atthe California Bank, and we will put in and buy a few shares."

  "Agreed," was the answer; "but our twenty minutes are up and we must go.But, Jack, _mum_ must be the word."

  "Mum goes," said Jack.

  It was a queer spot where this talk was held. It was by the air-pipe inthe drift which was run from the 1,200-foot level of the Gould and Curryshaft on the Comstock ledge in Nevada, north toward where the greatbonanza was found in the Consolidated Virginia Mine. In the face of thedrift the temperature was 120 degrees, and miners could work for onlyforty minutes and then had to retire to the air-pipe to cool off. It waswhile resting at the air-pipe that these men, James Sedgwick and JohnBrowning, talked.

  They were stripped from the waist up; all their clothing consisted ofcanvas pantaloons held up by a belt, and miners' shoes; they each had alittle band around the head in which was fastened a miner's candlestick.Thus exposed, in the candlelight, they were handsome men. The excessiveperspiration caused by the heat of the mine made their faces as fair asthe faces of women, and as they lounged, half-naked, carelessly in thedrift, their muscles stood out in knots, and in the dim light of thecandles, as they rose to return to work, their movements were supple andelastic as those of caged lions. The one who answered to the name ofBrowning was shorter than the other by an inch, but deeper-chested; thecandlelight showed that his eyes were blue, and his mustache and shortcurly hair were of chestnut color. The other was a little taller, but notso compactly built, and in the uncertain light his eyes, hair andmustache seemed to be black; but really his eyes were gray and his hairbrown. Both were young, perhaps twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ofage, and both were perfect pictures of good health and good nature.

  Their shift was from four in the afternoon to midnight; but when atmidnight they went back through the drift to the shaft to be hoisted tothe surface, the night foreman informed them that there was some troublewith the cage; that while they could still hoist rock, it was not deemedsafe to trust men on the cage, and, accordingly, some blankets,mattresses, and supper had been sent down, and they would have to spendthe night in a cross-cut running from the shaft.

  The other miners growled. These two made no complaint, but ate theirsuppers, then took their beds and spread them in the cross-cut. Sedgwickand Browning went farthest into the cross-cut, made their beds together,and lay down. When they knew by the breathing of the miners nearest themthat they were asleep, in low tones they began to talk.

  Browning was the first to speak. "By Jove, Jim," he said, "that cagestory is too thin. It worked all right up to ten o'clock, for Mackay andFair both came down and spent a good quarter of an hour in the end of thedrift and kept tapping around with their hammers. I was mean enough towatch them on the sly and saw them both taking samples. If you keepawake, you will see John Mackay down here again by six o'clock in themorning, and you may make up your mind not to see any more daylight forthree days or a week to come; that is, if the drift keeps on improving."

  "I believe it, Jack," said Sedgwick; "did you notice that the last blastleft nearly the whole face of the drift in ore? Then, did you notice aswe met the car coming out, it had long drills in it, and the shift bosswas following it up close? No blasting will be done to-night, but thedrillings will be saved for assay, and I tell you the plan is that weshall tell no tales out of school. Believe me, that cage will not besafe again till as much stock shall be taken in as is needed by thosein control."

  "And so," said Browning, "when we get to the surface our little moneywill not buy enough stock to make it any object."

  "I have been thinking of that," said Sedgwick, "and it makes me hot, forall day I have been dreaming of doubling my money."

  "I have a notion," said Browning, "to try to work my way out on theladders."

  "That will not work," replied Sedgwick; "I looked, and all the lowerladders have been taken down."

  Then a long silence followed, until at last Sedgwick spoke again. "Ihave it, Jack," said he. Lighting his candle, he groped around in thecross-cut, and found a splinter from a lagging. Fishing out a stump ofa pencil from the pocket of his pantaloons, he said, "Where is yourmoney, Browning?"

  "In the California Bank," he replied.

  "All right," was the response. Then on the splinter he wrote for amoment, and then said, "How is this?" and in a whisper read: "CaliforniaBank, Please pay to John W. Mackay whatever funds may be to ourrespective credits."

  "What is your idea, Jim?" asked Browning.

  "I mean to lay for Mackay, and when he comes down ask him, quietly, toread the writing when he gets up into daylight."

  "But what will he think we want?" asked Browning.

  "He will know mighty quick," said Sedgwick; "he knows where we work; hewill understand that we know what we see, and that while we do not intendto give away the information, at the same time we do not want to 'getleft out in the cold' on this deal."

  "What think you he will do?" asked Browning.

  "If he believes it safe, and the right kink is on him, he will draw ourmoney and buy us some stock," said Sedgwick. "He made his money that way,and it is not long since he was a timberman on this same lode."

  "Why not word it differently, and ask him squarely to buy the stock?"asked Browning.

  "Why, Jack," was the reply, "that would be a dead give-away. He wouldnever present such an order at the bank. It would be a notice to everyman in the bank and every friend of every man in the bank, and that wouldmean everybody in town, that the miners who were kept down in the deepswere trying to buy the stock of the mine. I would rather risk it thisway."

  "All right, everything goes," said Browning, and both signed the order.

  Then they talked for a long time. They had known each other slightly fora couple of years, having met first in the Belcher lower levels, andbeing thrown together in work on the face of the drift from the G. & C.shaft, they had, during the previous few days, each found that the otherwas a good and bright man, and had grown more and more intimate, and awarm friendship had sprung up between them. As they lay down again,Browning said to Sedgwick, "How did
you come to be here, Jim?"

  "Fate arranged it, I guess," was the reply. "You see, my home wasin Ohio, in the valley of the Miami. My father had a big farm--400acres--but there were two boys older than myself, and they needed theland. I took to books naturally, and the plan was to give me aneducation, and then add a learned profession, or set me up in some littlebusiness. So I went to school, and after awhile was sent to OberlinCollege. Queer old place, that! Great place for praying and for teachingthe universal brotherhood of man! The result, I used to think, was thata colored man commanded a premium over a white man there. I worried thething through for three years and a half. There was a young mulattostudent in the school named Deering, who was a great deal too big for hisclothes. He was inclined to force himself into places where he was notwanted, and at anything like the manifestation of a desire to dispensewith his society, he grew saucy in a moment. I did not mind him, but hewas vinegar and brimstone to a young student from Tennessee, a slight,weakly lad, but as brave a little chap as you ever saw, named Thorne.Well, one day, for some impertinence, Thorne struck him. Deering was anathlete; he weighed twenty pounds more than I did, fifty more thanThorne, I guess; he was quick as lightning, was most handy with hisprops, and in an instant he smashed poor Thorne's face with a blow whichknocked him half senseless.

  "I sprang to Thorne, at the same time telling Deering it was a cowardlyact for one like him to strike a little fellow like Thorne. He answeredsomething to the effect that for a trifle he would smash me a good dealworse than he had Thorne, and--well, in a minute more there were livelytimes in that neighborhood.

  "It was a tough scrap. It was out on the green; the students gatheredaround us, and while some cried out to stop us, others shouted, 'Fairplay!' and so we were not interfered with. I remember saying to myself,'If I win, it must be a triumph of race and mind over matter;' but, Jack,that was mighty lively matter. We both had been rowing and practicing inthe gymnasium; we were both as hard as iron. Deering was as supple as aboa-constrictor, and had a fist like a twelve-pound hammer. Later, theboys told me the fight lasted twenty minutes. The last I saw was Deeringknocked out on the ground, and then my eyes closed, and the boys led meto my room. They swathed my eyes with raw beefsteaks and raw oysters,rubbed me down, and put me to bed. It was ten days before I got out; itwas two weeks before Deering did. Then there was an investigation. Itwas shown that I took up a fight that Thorne commenced; that Thorne hadgone for a gun in case I should get the worst of it. So Deering wasreinstated, and Thorne and myself expelled. At the time I had a silverwatch and four dollars in money. I sold the watch for fourteen dollars. Iwrote the facts to my father, and told him I was going West, for he is astraight-laced Presbyterian; I knew he would feel eternally disgraced bymy expulsion, and I did not want to hear his reproaches. Thorne wanted togive me money, but I told him I had plenty.

  "I worked my way to Texas, and stopped one night at the house of a bigcattle man named Thomas Jordan. I had just $1.50 left. He worked out ofme my history, and when I explained why I was expelled from school, helaughed until he cried, and said: 'And yo' licked the coon!' and thenwent off again into a mighty fit of laughter.

  "He was a man about thirty years of age, spare built, but wiry as anIndian. He had black hair and eyes; he was not educated, but wasnaturally a bright man; was brave as a lion; could ride like a Comanche;was a splendid shot, and had been West; took up a gold mine in Arizona,opened it, and sold it three years before I met him for $25,000, and withthat bought the ranch and stock. He was originally from Tennessee; when aboy was in the Confederate army; had been knocked about until he was aperfect man of affairs, and the heart within him was simply just royal.

  "Next morning, as we went out from breakfast, his vaqueros were trying toride a vicious horse. He was a big buckskin stallion, six years old, andstrong and fierce as a grizzly. The horse tossed three of them, one afterthe other, out of the saddle; neither one lasted a minute on his curvedback. I was watching the performance when Jordan came up to me and,laughing, again said: 'But yo' licked the coon!'

  "I said, 'Yes, but that was not much to brag about.'

  "'Yo' licked the coon, but was afeerd to meet the governor, eh?' he said.

  "I answered, 'That is about the size of it.'

  "'And yo' did not go home?' he said.

  "'No,' I replied.

  "'Did not send for any money?'

  "'No.'

  "'How much did yo' have?'

  "'Four dollars, and a watch which I sold for fourteen dollars.'

  "'How much have yo' left?'

  "'I believe, $1.50.'

  "'What are yo' going to do?'

  "'Going to work.'

  "'Wat at?'

  "'Anything I can get to do.'

  "'Will yo' work for me?'

  "'Yes.'

  "'Know anything about herding and driving cattle?'

  "'No, but I can learn it.'

  "'All right, what about wages?'

  "'Anything you like.'

  "'All right,' said Jordan, 'I will have the boys fix yo' up a gentlemustang and give yo' a show.'

  "I had overheard the cowboys the previous evening telling about a 'gentlebroncho' that they had given a 'tenderfoot,' and how the tenderfoot was'jolted.' I reflected that I was in Texas and might just as wellestablish myself at once. When a boy, I could ride anything on the farmor in the township. So I said:

  "'Mr. Jordan, let me try the buckskin.'

  "'What!' said Jordan, 'would yo' mount that wild beast? He's a devil. Mybest riders cannot sit him. Indeed, he has tossed half the cowboys inTexas.'

  "'Let me try him,' said I.

  "'_All right_,' said Jordan, 'come on.'

  "We climbed into the big corral. One of the boys threw a rope upon thehorse, drew him up to the center post, blinded him, and said to me:

  "'Young feller! If you ride him, you'll be a good one, shore 'nough.'

  "I took off my coat, vest and suspenders, tied a heavy handkerchiefaround my stomach, fixed the saddle, sprang upon the horse, and the blindwas drawn off at the same moment. Then for ten minutes I had a game aslively as I had experienced with the coon. How he did jolt me! But I sathim. Then, when all his other tricks had failed, he started in a run forthe center post of the corral, with the intention of raking me off. Butit was his side that struck the post; my knee was on top of the saddle,and when the rebound knocked him away from the post it was not a seconduntil I was back in the saddle; and then I assumed the offensive anddrove the rowels into him. Between the shock of the blow and the surpriseof the rowels, he gave up, made a feeble jump or two, stopped and stoodtrembling.

  "I dismounted, and the cowboys threw up their hats and cheered the'tenderfoot.' Then I took down the reins of the hackamore (the MexicanJaquema), bent the brute's head around, and tied him in a half circle tohis own tail. Then, borrowing a cowboy's whip, I tapped him gently withit, and kept him turning and tumbling until he was covered with foam, andI saw he was completely subdued. Then I untied the rope, gave him hishead, and then sprang again (without a blind this time) into the saddle.He moved off in a walk; then I trotted him, then put him in a gallop, andafter circling the corral two or three times, reined him up to thecowboys, stopped him, and dismounted.

  "'No wonder he licked the coon!' said Jordan.

  "And one of the cowboys standing near said, 'Bet y'r boots!'

  "I went to work and was a cowboy for a year, and it was a happy year, forI had no trouble and any number of friends. I could ride and shoot withany of them, and soon learned to throw a rope. My riding the big stalliongave me a mighty prestige, for I learned later that many had tried himand no one had kept the saddle for two minutes. He was my vaquero horse,and many a cowboy stopped and looked as I rode by.

  "I had been with Jordan but a short time when one evening he brought abook and said:

  "'Jim! look at this. A preacher-lookin' chap stopped over night har ayear ago and went off in the mornin', and forgot ter take it. See if yo'don't think it's ther durndest stuff y
o' ever seen!'

  "I looked at the book. It was the Iliad, Pope's translation.

  "'Why, Jordan,' I said, 'this is a wonderful book.' Then I brieflyexplained what the great epic was, who the Greeks and who the Trojanswere, the cause of the war between them, how nations fought in thosedays, what gods they worshiped, and added, 'Let me read you a littleof it.'

  "'Why, in course,' said Jordan. 'If yo' ken make a blamed thing out erit, we'd all like to har it; wouldn't we, boys?'

  "They all assented. I was just out of school and read pretty well.

  "So I opened the volume at random and it happened to be in Book XVI.,where Pelides consents that Patroclus shall put on his own armor and leadhis Myrmidons into the fight, where Achilles arouses and sets in arrayhis terrible warriors, has the steeds yoked and prays Dodonian Jove togive to his friend the victory, and then to grant him safe return. Afterreading ten minutes, I closed the book, and asked Jordan if I should readanymore.

  "'Sarten,' he said. 'That war fine. It are like that mornin' atMurfreesborough when all thar bugles war callin' 'nd ther big guns warbeginnin' ter roar.'

  "Then I opened at the beginning and read right along for an hour. All thecompany were greatly excited, declaring 'it war fine.'

  "I read to them every evening the winter through, read the Iliad entire,and in the meantime Jordan had sent to Galveston for more books, beggingme to select them, and declaring he would fill the house with them if Iwould only 'steer his buyin' so as not by his purchases 'ter make a holyshow' of himself.

  "When finally the great annual round-up came, I held my own with the bestriders, on trial I could draw and shoot with the quickest and surestshots, and could handle a rope fairly well. I enjoyed the life.

  "Generally every one was my friend, but there was one rough customer, aman named Turner, who did not like me, though I had never done a thing inthe world to offend him. He made his boasts that no one had ever 'gotaway' with him or ever would. He had a tough record and many peoplefeared him, for he was a powerful man physically, and cruel in all hisinstincts.

  "One day something was needed from the station, and I rode Buckskin downto get it. The station was a couple of miles from Jordan's house. Thirtyor forty cowboys were there on a lark, and all had been drinking alittle.

  "They hailed me boisterously and wanted me to drink. I laughingly toldthem I never drank, and good-naturedly threatened to make it hot for thewhole band if they did not behave themselves. I had neither coat nor veston, and they could all see I had no weapons about me. They all laughed,for they were a jovial, good-hearted crowd.

  "But just then this rough Turner showed up and said: 'Who is threateningto make it hot for us?'

  "Half a dozen of the boys explained that I was only joking, but Turnerwas bent on mischief.

  "'He won't drink with us, hey? Well, we'll drink with him,' he said, andturning to me ordered me to call up the crowd and treat, or tell thereason why.

  "I replied that one reason was that I did not very often drink, andanother was that I never drank on compulsion.

  "He was frantic in a moment, and suddenly drew his revolver. I caught thebarrel and turned it up just as he fired, then took it from him, handedit to one of the boys, and told him to keep it until Turner had time toreflect on what a fool he was making of himself.

  "He was only the more furious at that. He sprang backward two or threefeet, then drawing a huge knife made with it a savage lunge at me. Iseized his wrist, and after a brief struggle wrenched the knife from hishand, but still holding his wrist told him that unless he grew quiet Ishould have to box his ears.

  "The boys laughed and jeered at this, which only further incensed theungovernable brute, and he declared that he would give $100 for thechance to whip me in a fair fist fight.

  "At this I released his wrist and told him he should be accommodated. Theboys gathered in a ring around us. Turner came at me like a wild beast,but he had no scientific use of his hands and I had had a littlepractice.

  "I knocked aside his blow with my left, and with the open palm of myright hand gave him a sounding box on his left ear.

  "The cowboys yelled with delight at this, crying, 'Turner, did you hearthat?'

  "Turner rallied and made another rush at me. This time I struck his blowaside with my right hand and boxed his right ear with the palm of my lefthand.

  "So the business continued for several seconds. I never closed my hands,but just boxed him right and left, the boys fairly screaming with joy,until I finally gathered all my strength and gave him one resoundingcuff that sent him full length to grass, the most abject-looking, baffledbully that I ever saw.

  "Seeing how completely whipped he was, I went to him, and taking him bythe arm, said, 'Turner, you were right about my treating; come in andtake a drink with me. There's nothing like exercise to make one thirsty.'

  "But he would not drink. He arose, skulked away, got his gun and knife,mounted his mustang, and left that part of Texas.

  "Next day the boys told Jordan about the scrap, and he danced for joy. Heat once rode away to the station to get all the particulars, and when hereturned at night he called me aside and said, 'Jim, yo' is thinkin' ofleavin' har. We couldn't get along at all without yo'. I seen my lawyerter-day and told him ter make a deed o' half this ranch 'nd stock ter JimSedgwick, and so thar firm now war "Tom and Jim" er "Jim and Tom," Idon't give er continental which.'

  "Of course I could not accept the gift, but it took me three days tosatisfy the great-hearted man why I could not. I told him I was boundto go further West, that his heart had run away with his head, and heyielded at last, but insisted that the offer was a 'squar' one and wouldlast always if I ever came back.

  "When the year was up I had saved $212 at regular cowboy wages and wouldaccept no more, though Jordan begged me to take 'sunthun decent.'

  "I came West, learned a little of mining--how to hold and hit a drill--inColorado, then took a run up into Montana, came down across Idaho andfinally reached this place. Liking the ways of things here I went towork. I have not missed a dozen shifts in three years."

  Browning chuckled at the story, and when Sedgwick ceased he said:

  "Isn't it jolly queer that we have been thrown together? My home was inDevonshire, England. My step-father was a merchant who finally became ahalf banker and half broker. When I was a little kid my mother died, andmy father after a while married a widow who had a little daughter fiveyears younger than myself. My father died, and my stepmother married aman named Hamlin.

  "When I became twenty-two years old, my step-father wanted me to marrythis little girl. I declined, first, because she seemed to me a sister,and second, I was head and ears in love with the step-daughter of thevillage barrister. The girl was my sister's running mate, so to speak,and though I had never said one word of love to her, my heart was on thelowest level in the dust at her feet. It was, by Jove!

  "In those days I was a bit wild, I guess. I did not get out of schoolwith much honor. I used to ride steeple-chase and hurdle races and danceall night. Sometimes, too, I had a scrap, and was careless about themoney I spent. The old barrister--his name was Jenvie--believed I wasthe worst kid in the United Kingdom. One evening Rose Jenvie--her realname was Leighton, she was my glory, you know--had been visiting myfoster-sister, and remaining until after dark, I walked home with her.It was a starlit night in summer, and we talked as we walked as youngpeople do. The gate to the path leading up to her house was open, and Icontinued to walk by her side until we were almost at the door, when the'Governor' sprang up from a bench on the little lawn, where he had beensitting, and, rudely seizing his step-daughter by the arm, broke out witha torrent of insulting reproaches that she should dare to be walkingalone at night by the side of the most worthless scapegrace in allEngland.

  "The dear girl tried to explain that my part of the affair was merely anact of courtesy, but the old chap was hot, and that only made him ravethe worse.

  "I stood it a minute, and then said, 'Never mind, Miss Rose! You gowi
thin doors, please, and your governor will feel better when he has timeto think.'

  "At this he turned upon me, ordered me off the grounds, and added that ifI did not go at once he would kick me over the hedge. Then I laughed andsaid: 'Oh, no, Mr. Jenvie, you certainly would not do that.'

  "Something in my voice, I guess, vexed him, for he sprang at me like aSiberian wolf. He was a big, hearty fellow, about forty years old, andthe blow he aimed at me would have felled a shorthorn. But I knocked itaside, as he made the rush, which swerved him a little to one side, andthe opportunity was too good. Bless my soul! Before I thought, I plantedhim a stinger on the neck, and he went down like a felled ox. And he laythere for fully a minute. The beautiful girl never screamed or uttered aword, except, 'O, Jack, I hope you are not hurt!' She had never called meJack before, and by Jove, it sounded sweeter to me than a wedding march.The old chap in a dazed way rose up on his hands. I saw he was coming outof it, and with a hasty 'Good night, Miss Rose,' I got out of the way. Iwent home and told my governor the whole story, and wasn't he mad! Jenviewas his closest friend, you know, and so he ordered me to go andapologize to the old barrister. I told him flatly I would not. Then heordered me out of the house, and, first bidding mother and sister Gracegood-bye, I left. I had four pounds six, and with it I went down to anold aunt's of mine in Cornwall. After three days there I met some miners,had a night with them, which ended by their initiating me into theirclan. Next morning, thinking it over, my better self asserted itself, andthe whim took me to learn the mining business.

  "I worked a year, and when off shift I read all the books on geology andmining that I could find; I found a pamphlet telling me all about thislode and its possibilities. I had worked steadily and had saved moneyenough to pay my way here; I came, and went to work the second day afterarriving on the lode."

  "What are your plans, Browning?" asked Sedgwick.

  "I have no certain plans," was the answer. "I have just lived on animpossible dream, you know, of making L5,000, then going back, and ifRose Jenvie is not married to try to steal her away. If I could makea good bit of money I would buy a place, a big tract of downs inDevonshire. I could, by draining it and running it my way, make it doublein value in three years."

  "And I," said Sedgwick, "have been nursing just such another dream, whichis to make $30,000 to go back and cancel the mortgage of $5,000 on theold home place, and then to buy old Jasper's farm on the hill. It is adaisy. It contains 300 acres and is worth $40 an acre. If I could dothat, I believe I could reconcile the old gent, and make him think I wasnot so mightily out of the way after all when I fought at college and ranaway. But $30,000--good Lord! when will a man get $30,000 working for $4a day on the Comstock?"

  "It is a close, hard game," said Browning. Then there was silence, thecandle burned out, and in a moment more both miners were asleep.