Gold
Page 1
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gold, by Stewart White
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Title: Gold
Author: Stewart White
Illustrator: Thomas Fogarty
Release Date: January 1, 2010 [EBook #30826]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLD ***
Produced by Roger Frank, Chris Curnow, Sarah Jensen and
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GOLD
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Other Books by the Same Author
The Claim Jumpers The Riverman
The Westerners The Silent Places
The Blazed Trail The Adventures of Bobby Orde
Arizona Night The Mountains
Blazed Trail Stories The Pass
The Cabin The Magic Forest
Camp and Trail The Sign at Six
Conjuror’s House The Land of Footprints
The Forest African Camp Fires
The Rules of the Game
The Mystery (with Samuel Hopkins Adams)
*
“‘I TOLD YOU YOU COULDN’T LICK ME,’ SAID HE”
*
*
Copyright, 1913, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
All rights reserved, including that of
translation into foreign languages,
including the Scandinavian
*
CONTENTS
Part I.–Panama
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Oh, Susannah! 3
II. The Hammerlock 7
III. The Voyage 19
IV. The Village by the Lagoon 28
V. A Tropical River 38
VI. The Village in the Jungle 44
VII. The Trail 56
VIII. Panama 61
IX. Northward Ho! 76
Part II.–THE GOLDEN CITY
X. The Golden City 87
XI. I Make Twenty-five Dollars 101
XII. Talbot Deserts 115
XIII. Up-River 129
Part III.–THE MINES
XIV. Sutter’s Fort 141
XV. The Gold Trail 148
XVI. The First Gold 164
XVII. The Diggings 170
XVIII. Beginnings of Government 176
XIX. Sunday at Hangman’s Gulch 185
XX. The Gold Washers 192
XXI. We Leave the Diggings 203
XXII. The Strike 210
XXIII. The Camp on the Porcupine 216
XXIV. The Indians 221
XXV. Battle 235
XXVI. We Send Out Our Treasure 244
XXVII. The Robbery 249
XXVIII. The Bully 255
XXIX. The Challenge 272
XXX. The Fight 284
XXXI. The Express Messenger 291
XXXII. Italian Bar 298
XXXIII. The Overland Immigrants 312
XXXIV. The Prisoners 320
XXXV. The Trial 327
XXXVI. The Rule of the Lawless 333
XXXVII. The Last Straw 342
XXXVIII. The Vigilantes 351
XXXIX. The Vigilantes (continued) 359
Part IV.–The Law
XL. The Rains 371
XLI. We Go Out 380
XLII. San Francisco Again 392
XLIII. The Golden Web 404
XLIV. Plutocrats! 414
XLV. The Catastrophe 425
XLVI. The Vision 433
*
*
ILLUSTRATIONS
“‘I told you you couldn’t lick me,’ said he” Frontispiece
“‘You hounds!’ he roared. ‘Don’t you dare try to sneak off!’” 78
“The big man whirled to the floor” 286
“We marched our prisoner in double-quick time to the agreed rendezvous” 360
*
*
PART I
PANAMA
*
GOLD
*
CHAPTER I
OH, SUSANNAH!
Somewhere in this book I must write a paragraph exclusively about myself. The fact that in the outcome of all these stirring events I have ended as a mere bookkeeper is perhaps a good reason why one paragraph will be enough. In my youth I had dreams a-plenty; but the event and the peculiar twist of my own temperament prevented their fulfilment. Perhaps in a more squeamish age–and yet that is not fair, either, to the men whose destinies I am trying to record. Suffice it then that of these men I have been the friend and companion, of these occasions I have been a part, and that the very lacks and reservations of my own character that have kept me to a subordinate position and a little garden have probably made me the better spectator. Which is a longer paragraph about myself than I had purposed writing.
Therefore I will pass over briefly the various reasons, romantic and practical, why I decided to join the gold rush to California in the year 1849. It was in the air; and I was then of a romantic and adventurous disposition.
The first news of the gold discovery filtered to us in a roundabout way through vessels to the Sandwich Islands, and then appeared again in the columns of some Baltimore paper. Everybody laughed at the rumour; but everybody remembered it. The land was infinitely remote; and then, as now, romance increases as the square of the distance. There might well be gold there; but more authentic were the reports of fleas, rawhides, and a dried-up coast. Minstrel shows made a good deal of fun of it all, I remember. Then, when we were of a broad grin, came the publication of the letter written by Governor Mason to the War Department. That was a sober official document, and had to be believed, but it read like a fairy tale.
“I have no hesitation in saying,” wrote the governor, “that there is more gold in the country drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers than would pay the costs of the late war with Mexico a hundred times over.” And he then went on to report in detail big nuggets and big washings, mentioning men, places, dates, in a circumstantial manner that carried conviction.
Our broad grins faded. The minstrels’ jokes changed colour. As I look back, it seems to me that I can almost see with the physical eye the broad restless upheaval beneath the surface of all society. The Mexican war was just over, and the veterans–young veterans all–filled with the spirit of adventure turned eagerly toward this glittering new emprise. Out in the small villages, on the small farms, the news was talked over seriously, almost without excitement, as offering a possible means of lifting the burden war had laid. Families strained their resources, mortgaged their possessions, to equip and send their single strongest members to make the common fortune.
Then came the song that caught the popular ear; and the rush was on. Most great movements are done to song, generally commonplace. It was so in this instance. Oh, Susannah! or rather a modification of the original made to fit the occasion, first sung in some minstrel show, ran like fire in the tinder of men’s excited hopes. From every stage, on every street corner, in every restaurant and hotel it was sung, played, and whistled. At the sound of its first notes the audience always sprang to its feet and cheered like mad.
The desire to go to El Dorado was universal, and almost irresistible. The ability to go was much more circumscribed. For one thing, it cost a good deal of money; and that was where I bogged down at the first pull. Then I suppose a majority did have ties of family, business or other responsibilities impossible to shake off. However, we all joined one or more of the various clubs formed for the purpose of getting at least some
of their members to California; and discussed heatedly the merits of the different routes; and went into minute and fascinating details as to processes of which we knew less than nothing; and sang Oh, Susannah! and talked ourselves into a glorified fever of excitement; and went home with our heads in the clouds. Once in a great while some of these clubs came to something–as a body I mean; for individual members were constantly working themselves up the summit of resolution to rush headlong and regardless down the other side and out of our sight. When a man had reached a certain pitch of excitement he ran amuck. He sold anything, deserted anything, broke through anything in the way of family, responsibility, or financial lacks in order to go. But, as I say, occasionally one of these clubs pooled its individual resources and bought some old tub of a whaler, or outfitted a wagon train, and started off. But generally we got only as far as Oh, Susannah! I remember once, in coming out from one of our meetings, finding myself next a solemn and earnest youth originally from my own rural village. He walked by my side for several squares lost in a brown study. Then suddenly he looked up.
“Frank,” said he with conviction, “I believe I’ll go. I know most of this talk is wildly exaggerated, but I’m sensible enough to discount all that sort of thing and to disbelieve absurd stories. I shan’t go with the slightest notion of finding the thing true, but will be satisfied if I do reasonably well. In fact, if I don’t pick up more than a hatful of gold a day, I shall be perfectly satisfied.”
Which remark sufficiently indicates about where we all were!
*
CHAPTER II
THE HAMMERLOCK
We had many sorts of men in our club, but nearly all young. One, in especial, early attracted my attention, and held it through all the changing vicissitudes of our many meetings. I say attracted me, though fascinated would be perhaps the better word, for after the first evening of his attendance I used deliberately so to place myself that I could watch him.
He came always in a rather worn military cape, which on entering the door he promptly threw back in such a manner as to display the red lining. This seemed an appropriate envelopment of his flaming, buoyant personality. He walked with his chin up and his back straight, and trod directly on and over the ends of his toes so that he seemed fairly to spring with vigour. His body was very erect and tall and pliant, bending easily to every change of balance. If I were never to have seen his face at all I should have placed him as one of the laughing spirits of the world. His head was rather small, round, well poised, with soft close-set ringlets all over it like a cap, in the fashion of some marble gods I have seen. He had very regular, handsome features, with a clear, biscuit-brown complexion, and a close-clipped, stubby, light moustache. All these things were interesting and attractive, though no more so than are the vigour and beauty of any perfect animal. But the quality of his eyes placed him, at least to me, in a class apart. They were sober, clear eyes, that looked out gray and contemplative on the world about them; so that one got the instant impression of a soul behind them that weighed and judged. Indeed they were not laughing eyes at all, and rather negatived the impression made by the man’s general bearing. But somewhere down in them something flickered like a strong burning candle in a brisk wind. Occasionally it was almost out; then again it blazed up clear, so that one thought to see it plainly through the steady brooding look. It always fascinated the beholder, for it was mysterious. Whether it came and went, grew and shrank, following delicately the moods or reflections of the spirit within, or whether it was a purely fortuitous effect of light and refraction, no man was ever able to say. And some men later made some very bad guesses. I myself think it was the devil of genius–a devil behind the steady control of a clear brain. His name, I soon discovered, was Talbot Ward.
At this period I was starting in as an assistant bookkeeper to a large exporting firm. They were enterprising people, and already they were laying plans to capture some of the California trade. The office talk I heard concerning the purchase of ships, the consignment of arms, the engagement of captains and of crews further inflamed my imagination. I received the vast sum of nine dollars per week. As I was quite alone in the world, and possessed no other resources, the saving of the five hundred dollars agreed upon as the least sum with which it was possible to get to California was fairly out of all question.
One evening, after the meeting, to my great surprise, Ward fell into step with me. We had up to that moment never exchanged a word.
“In New York long?” he demanded.
“About six months,” I told him.
“Farm bred, of course?” he remarked. “Where?”
“Ashbury in Vermont,” I replied, without the slightest feeling that he was intrusive.
He stopped short in the street and looked me up and down reflectively, but without comment.
“I’ve been watching you at these fool meetings,” said he, falling into step again.
In spite of myself I experienced a glow of gratification at having been the object of his interest.
“Fool meetings?” I echoed inquiringly.
“Suppose, by a miracle, all that lot could agree, and could start for California to-morrow, in a body–that’s what they are organized for, I believe,” he countered–“would you go with them?”
“Why not?”
“Martin is why not; and Fowler is why not; and that little Smith runt, and six or eight others. They are weak sisters. If you are going into a thing, go into it with the strong men. I wouldn’t go with that crowd to a snake fight if it was twelve miles away. Where do you live?”
“West Ninth Street.”
“That’s not far. Have you a good big room?”
“I have a very small hall bedroom,” I replied wonderingly; “a number of us have the whole of the top floor.”
Somehow, I must repeat, this unexplained intrusion of a total stranger into my private affairs did not offend.
“Then you must have a big sitting-room. How many of you?”
“Four.”
“Can you lick all the others?”
I stopped to laugh. By some shrewd guess he had hit on our chief difficulty as a community. We were all four country boys with a good deal of residuary energy and high spirits; and we were not popular with the tenants underneath.
“You see I’m pretty big─” I reminded him.
“Yes, I see you are. That’s why I’m with you. Do you think you can lick me?”
I stopped short again, in surprise.
“What in blazes─” I began.
He laughed, and the devils in his eyes danced right out to the surface of them.
“I asked you a plain question,” he said, “and I’d like the favour of a plain answer. Do you think you can lick me as well as your rural friends?”
“I can,” said I shortly.
He ran his arm through mine eagerly.
“Come on!” he cried, “on to West Ninth!”
We found two of my roommates smoking and talking before the tiny open fire. Talbot Ward, full of the business in hand, rushed directly at the matter once the introductions were over.
Our arrangements were very simple; the chairs were few and pushed back easily, and we had an old set of gloves.
“Which is it to be?” I asked my guest, “boxing or wrestling?”
“I said you couldn’t lick me,” he replied. “Boxing is a game with rules; it isn’t fighting at all.”
“You want to bite and gouge and scratch, then?” said I, greatly amused.
“I do not; they would not be fair; a fight’s a fight; but a man can be decent with it all. We’ll put on the gloves, and we’ll hit and wrestle both–in fact, we’ll fight.”
He began rapidly to strip.
“Would you expect to get off your clothes in a real fight?” I asked him a little sardonically.
“If I expected to fight, yes!” said he. “Why not? Didn’t the Greek and Roman and Hebrew and Hun and every other good old fighter ‘strip for the fray’ when he got a chance? O
f course! Take off your shirt, man!”
I began also to strip for this strange contest whose rules seemed to be made up from a judicious selection of general principles by Talbot Ward.
My opponent’s body was as beautiful as his head. The smooth white skin covered long muscles that rippled beneath it with every slightest motion. The chest was deep, the waist and hips narrow, the shoulders well rounded. In contrast my own big prominent muscles, trained by heavy farm work of my early youth, seemed to move slowly, to knot sluggishly though powerfully. Nevertheless I judged at a glance that my strength could not but prove greater than his. In a boxing match his lithe quickness might win–provided he had the skill to direct it. But in a genuine fight, within the circumscribed and hampering dimensions of our little room, I thought my own rather unusual power must crush him. The only unknown quantity was the spirit or gameness of us two. I had no great doubt of my own determination in that respect–I had been on too many log-drives to fear personal encounter. And certainly Talbot Ward seemed to show nothing but eager interest.
“You don’t show up for what you are in your clothes,” said he. “This is going to be more fun than I had thought.”
My roommates perched on the table and the mantelpiece out of the way. I asked the length of the rounds.
“Rounds!” echoed Talbot Ward with a flash of teeth beneath his little moustache. “Did you ever hear of rounds in a real fight?”
With the words he sprang forward and hit me twice. The blows started at the very toe of his foot; and they shook me as no blows, even with the bare fist, have ever shaken me before or since. Completely dazed, I struck back, but encountered only the empty air. Four or five times, from somewhere, these pile-driver fists descended upon me. Being now prepared, to some extent, I raised my elbows and managed to defend my neck and jaws. The attack was immediately transferred to my body, but I stiffened my muscles thankfully and took the punishment. My river and farm work had so hardened me there that I believe I could have taken the kick of a mule without damage were I expecting it.
The respite enabled my brain to clear. I recovered slowly from the effect of those first two vicious blows. I saw Ward, his eyes narrowed calculatingly, his body swinging forward like a whalebone spring, delivering his attack with nice accuracy. A slow anger glowed through me. He had begun without the least warning: had caught me absolutely unaware. I hit back.