CHAPTER XI
I MAKE TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS
We talked the situation over thoroughly, and then turned in, having lostour chance to see the sights. Beneath us and in the tent next door wenton a tremendous row of talking, laughing, and singing that for a littlewhile prevented me from falling asleep. But the last month had donewonders for me in that way; and shortly I dropped off.
Hours later I awakened, shivering with cold to find the moonlightpouring into the room, and the bunks all occupied. My blanket haddisappeared, which accounted for my dreams of icebergs. Lookingcarefully over the sleeping forms I discerned several with two blankets,and an equal number with none! At first I felt inclined to raise a row;then thought better of it, by careful manipulation I abstracted two goodblankets from the most unprotected of of my neighbours, wrapped themtightly about me, and so slept soundly.
We went downstairs and out into the sweetest of mornings. The sun wasbright, the sky clear and blue, the wind had not yet risen, balmy warmthshowered down through every particle of the air. I had felt some Maydays like this back on our old farm. Somehow they were associated in mymind with Sunday morning and the drawling, lazy clucking of hens. Onlyhere there were no hens, and if it was Sunday morning--which it mighthave been--nobody knew it.
The majority of the citizens had not yet appeared, but a handful of thepoorer Chinese, and a sprinkling of others, crossed the Plaza. The doorsof the gambling places were all wide open to the air. Across the squarea number of small boys were throwing dust into the air. Johnny, with hisusual sympathy for children, naturally gravitated in their direction. Hereturned after a few moments, his eyes wide.
"Do you know what they are doing?" he demanded.
We said politely that we did not.
"They are panning for gold."
"Well, what of it?" I asked, after a moment's pause; since Johnny seemedto expect some astonishment. "Boys are imitative little monkeys."
"Yes, but they're getting it," insisted Johnny.
"What!" cried Talbot. "You're crazy. Panning gold--here in the streets.It's absurd!"
"It's not absurd; come and see."
We crossed the Plaza. Two small Americans and a Mexican youth werescooping the surface earth into the palms of their hands and blowing itout again in a slantwise stream. When it was all gone, they examinedeagerly their hands. Four others working in partnership had spread asmall sheet. They threw their handfuls of earth into the air, all thewhile fanning vigorously with their hats. The breeze thus engenderedpuffed away the light dust, leaving only the heavier pieces to fall onthe canvas. Among these the urchins searched eagerly and carefully,their heads close together. Every moment or so one of them would wet aforefinger to pick up carefully a speck of something which he would thentransfer to an old buckskin sack.
As we approached, they looked up and nodded to Johnny in a friendlyfashion. They were eager, alert, precocious gamins, of the street typeand how they had come to California I could not tell you. Probably ascabin boys of some of the hundreds of vessels in the harbour.
"What are you getting, boys?" asked Talbot after a moment.
"Gold, of course," answered one of them.
"Let's see it."
The boy with the buckskin sack held it open for our inspection, but didnot relax his grip on it. The bottom of the bag was thickly gilded withlight glittering yellow particles.
"It looks like gold," said I, incredulously.
"It _is_ gold," replied the boy with some impatience. "Anyway, itbuys things."
We looked at each other.
"Gold diggings right in the streets of San Francisco," murmured Yank.
"I should think you'd find it easier later in the day when the wind cameup?" suggested Talbot.
"Of course; and let some other kids jump our claim while we werewaiting," grunted one of the busy miners.
"How much do you get out of it?"
"Good days we make as high as three or four dollars."
"I'm afraid the diggings are hardly rich enough to tempt us," observedTalbot; "but isn't that the most extraordinary performance! I'd nonotion----"
We returned slowly to the hotel, marvelling. Yesterday we had beenlaughing at the gullibility of one of our fellow-travellers who hadbelieved the tale of a wily ship's agent to the effect that it waspossible to live aboard the ship and do the mining within reach ashoreat odd hours of daylight! Now that tale did not sound so wild; althoughof course we realized that the gold must occur in very small quantities.Otherwise somebody beside small boys would be at it. As a matter offact, though we did not find it out until very much later, the soil ofSan Francisco is not auriferous at all. The boys were engaged in workingthe morning's sweepings from the bars and gambling houses which thelavish and reckless handling of gold had liberally impregnated. In someof the mining towns nearer the source of supply I have known of from onehundred to three hundred dollars a month being thus "blown" from thesweepings of a bar.
We ate a frugal breakfast and separated on the agreed business of theday. Yank started for the water front to make inquiries as to ways ofgetting to the mines; Talbot set off at a businesslike pace for thehotel as though he knew fully what he was about; Johnny wandered ratheraimlessly to the east; and I as aimlessly to the west.
It took me just one hour to discover that I could get all of any kind ofwork that any dozen men could do, and at wages so high that at first Ihad to ask over and over again to make sure I had heard aright. Onlynone of them would bring me in two hundred and twenty dollars byevening. The further I looked into that proposition, the more absurd, ofcourse, I saw it to be. I could earn from twenty to fifty dollars byplain day-labour at some jobs; or I could get fabulous salaries by themonth or year; but that was different. After determining this to mysatisfaction I came to the sensible conclusion that I would make what Icould.
The first thing that caught my eye after I had come to this decision wasa wagon drawn by four mules coming down the street at a sucking walk.The sight did not impress me particularly; but every storekeeper cameout from his shop and every passerby stopped to look with respect as theoutfit wallowed along. It was driven by a very large, grave, blond manwith a twinkle in his eye.
"That's John A. McGlynn," said a man next my elbow.
"Who's he?" I asked.
The man looked at me in astonishment.
"Don't know who John McGlynn is?" he demanded. "When did you get here?"
"Last night."
"Oh! Well, John has the only American wagon in town. Brought it out fromNew York in pieces, and put it together himself. Broke four wildCalifornia mules to drag her. He's a wonder!"
I could not, then, see quite how this exploit made him such a wonder;but on a sudden inspiration I splashed out through the mud and climbedinto the wagon.
McGlynn looked back at me.
"Freightin'," said he, "is twenty dollars a ton; and at that rate it'llcost you about thirty dollars, you dirty hippopotamus. These ain't nosafe-movers, these mules!"
Unmoved, I clambered up beside him.
"I want a job," said I, "for to-day only."
"Do ye now?"
"Can you give me one?"
"I can, mebbe. And do you understand the inner aspirations of mules,maybe?"
"I was brought up on a farm."
"And the principles of elementary navigation by dead reckoning?"
I looked at him blankly.
"I mean mudholes," he explained. "Can you keep out of them?"
"I can try."
He pulled up the team, handed me the reins, and clambered over thewheel.
"You're hired. At six o'clock I'll find you and pay you off. You gettwenty-five dollars."
"What am I to do?"
"You go to the shore and you rustle about whenever you see anything thatlooks like freight; and you look at it, and when you see anything markedwith a diamond and an H inside of it, you pile it on and take it up toHoward Mellin & Company. And if you can't lift it, then leave it foranother trip, and bullyrag
those skinflints at H. M. & Co.'s to send aman down to help you. And if you don't know where they live, find out;and if you bog them mules down I'll skin you alive, big as you are. Andanyway, you're a fool to be working in this place for twenty-fivedollars a day, which is one reason I'm so glad to find you just now."
"What's that, John?" inquired a cool, amused voice. McGlynn and I lookedaround. A tall, perfectly dressed figure stood on the sidewalk surveyingus quizzically. This was a smooth-shaven man of perhaps thirty-fiveyears of age, grave faced, clean cut, with an air of rather ponderousslow dignity that nevertheless became his style very well. He wasdressed in tall white hat, a white winged collar, a black stock, a longtailed blue coat with gilt buttons, an embroidered white waistcoat,dapper buff trousers, and varnished boots. He carried a polished caneand wore several heavy pieces of gold jewellery--a watch fob, ascarf-pin, and the like. His movements were leisurely, his voice low. Itseemed to me, then, that somehow the perfection of his appointments andthe calm deliberation of his movement made him more incongruous andremarkable than did the most bizarre whims of the miners.
"Is it yourself, Judge Girvin?" replied McGlynn, "I'm just telling thisyoung man that he can't have the job of driving my little Californiacanaries for but one day because I've hired a fine lawyer from the Eastat two hundred and seventy-five a month to drive my mules for me."
"You have done well," Judge Girvin in his grave, courteous tones. "Forthe whole business of a lawyer is to know how to manage mules and assesso as to make them pay!"
I drove to the beach, and speedily charged my wagon with as large a loadas prudence advised me. The firm of Howard Mellin & Company proved tohave quarters in a frame shack on what is now Montgomery Street. It wasonly a short haul, but a muddy one. Nearly opposite their store a newwharf was pushing its way out into the bay. I could see why this andother firms clung so tenaciously to their locations on rivers ofbottomless mud in preference to moving up into the drier part of town.
I enjoyed my day hugely. My eminent position on the driver'sseat--eminent both actually and figuratively--gave me a fine opportunityto see the sights and to enjoy the homage men seemed inclined to accordthe only wagon in town. The feel of the warm air was most grateful. Suchdifficulties as offered served merely to add zest to the job. At noon Iate some pilot bread and a can of sardines bought from my employers.About two o'clock the wind came up from the sea, and the air filled withthe hurrying clouds of dust.
In my journeys back and forth I had been particularly struck by thebold, rocky hill that shut off the view toward the north. Atop this hillhad been rigged a two-armed semaphore, which, one of the clerks told me,was used to signal the sight of ships coming in the Golden Gate. Thearms were variously arranged according to the rig or kind of vessel.Every man, every urchin, every Chinaman, even, knew the meaning of thesevarious signals. A year later, I was attending a theatrical performancein the Jenny Lind Theatre on the Plaza. In the course of the play anactor rushed on frantically holding his arms outstretched in aparticularly wooden fashion, and uttering the lines, "What means this,my lord!"
"A side-wheel steamer!" piped up a boy's voice from the gallery.
Well, about three o'clock of this afternoon, as I was about deliveringmy fifth load of goods, I happened to look up just as the semaphore armshovered on the rise. It seemed that every man on the street must havebeen looking in the same direction, for instantly a great shout went up.
"A side-wheel steamer! The _Oregon_!"
At once the streets were alive with men hurrying from all directionstoward the black rocks at the foot of Telegraph Hill, where, it seems,the steamer's boats were expected to land. Flags were run up on allsides, firearms were let off, a warship in the harbour broke out herbunting and fired a salute. The decks of the steamer, as she swept intoview, were black with men; her yards were gay with colour. Uptown somedevoted soul was ringing a bell; and turning it away over and over, tojudge by the sounds. I pulled up my mules and watched the vessel swingdown through the ranks of the shipping and come to anchor. We had beatenout our comrades by a day!
At five o'clock a small boy boarded me.
"You're to drive the mules up to McGlynn's and unhitch them and leavethem," said he. "I'm to show you the way."
"Where's McGlynn?" I asked.
"He's getting his mail."
We drove to a corral and three well-pitched tents down in the southernedge of town. Here a sluggish stream lost its way in a swamp of greenhummocky grass. I turned out the mules in the corral and hung up theharness.
"McGlynn says you're to go to the post-office and he'll pay you there,"my guide instructed me.
The post-office proved to be a low adobe one-story building, with thenarrow veranda typical of its kind. A line of men extended from its doorand down the street as far as the eye could reach. Some of them hadbrought stools or boxes, and were comfortably reading scraps of paper.
I walked down the line. A dozen from the front I saw Johnny standing.This surprised me, for I knew he could not expect mail by this steamer.Before I had reached him he had finished talking to a stranger, and hadyielded his place.
"Hullo!" he greeted me. "How you getting on?"
"So-so!" I replied. "I'm looking for a man who owes me twenty-fivedollars."
"Well, he's here," said Johnny confidently. "Everybody in town is here."
We found McGlynn in line about a block down the street. When he saw mecoming he pulled a fat buckskin bag from his breeches pocket, opened itsmouth, and shook a quantity of its contents, by guess, into the palm ofhis hand.
"There you are," said he; "that's near enough. I'm a pretty goodguesser. I hope you took care of the mules all right; you ought to,you're from a farm."
"I fixed 'em."
"And the mud? How many times did you get stuck?"
"Not at all."
He looked at me with surprise.
"Would you think of that, now!" said he. "You must have loaded herlight."
"I did."
"Did you get all the goods over?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'll acknowledge you're a judgematical young man; and if you wanta job with me I'll let that lawyer go I spoke to the judge about. Hehanded it to me then, didn't he?" He laughed heartily. "No? Well, you'reright. A man's a fool to work for any one but himself. Where's your bag?Haven't any? How do you carry your dust? Haven't any? I forgot; you're atenderfoot, of course." He opened his buckskin sack with his teeth, andpoured back the gold from the palm of his hand. Then he searched for amoment in all his pockets, and produced a most peculiar chunk of goldmetal. It was nearly as thick as it was wide, shaped roughly into anoctagon, and stamped with initials. This he handed to me.
"It's about a fifty-dollar slug," said he, "you can get it weighed. Giveme the change next time you see me."
"But I may leave for the mines to-morrow," I objected.
"Then leave the change with Jim Recket of the El Dorado."
"How do you know I'll leave it?" I asked curiously.
"I don't," replied McGlynn bluntly. "But if you need twenty-five dollarsworse than you do a decent conscience, then John A. McGlynn isn't theman to deny you!"
Johnny and I left for the hotel.
"I didn't know you expected any mail," said I.
"I don't."
"But thought I saw you in line----"
"Oh, yes. When I saw the mail sacks, it struck me that there might bequite a crowd; so I came up as quickly as I could and got in line. Therewere a number before me, but I got a place pretty well up in front. Soldthe place for five dollars, and only had to stand there about an hour atthat."
"Good head!" I admired. "I'd never have thought of it. How have yougotten on?"
"Pretty rotten," confessed Johnny. "I tried all morning to find a decentopportunity to do something or deal in something, and then I got mad andplunged in for odd jobs. I've been a regular errand boy. I made twodollars carrying a man's bag up from the ship."
"How much all told?"
"Fifteen.
I suppose you've got your pile."
"That twenty-five you saw me get is the size of it."
Johnny brightened; we moved up closer in a new intimacy and sense ofcomradeship over delinquency. It relieved both to feel that the other,too, had failed. To enter the Plaza we had to pass one of the larger ofthe gambling places.
"I'm going in here," said Johnny, suddenly.
He swung through the open doors, and I followed him.
The place was comparatively deserted, owing probably to the distributionof mail. We had full space to look about us; and I was never moreastonished in my life. The outside of the building was rough andunfinished as a barn, having nothing but size to attract or recommend.The interior was the height of lavish luxury. A polished mahogany barran down one side, backed by huge gilt framed mirrors before which werepyramided fine glasses and bottles of liquor. The rest of the wall spacewas thickly hung with more plate mirrors, dozens of well-executed oilpaintings, and strips of tapestry. At one end was a small raised stageon which lolled half-dozen darkies with banjos and tambourines. Thefloor was covered with a thick velvet carpet. Easy chairs, some of themleather upholstered, stood about in every available corner. Heavychandeliers of glass, with hundreds of dangling crystals and prisms,hung from the ceiling. The gambling tables, a half dozen in number, werearranged in the open floor space in the centre. Altogether it was a mostastounding contrast in its sheer luxury and gorgeous furnishing to thecrudity of the town. I became acutely conscious of my muddy boots, myold clothes, my unkempt hair, my red shirt and the armament strappedabout my waist.
A relaxed, subdued air of idleness pervaded the place. The gamblerslounged back of their tables, sleepy-eyed and listless. On tall stoolstheir lookouts yawned behind papers. One of these was a woman, young,pretty, most attractive in the soft, flaring, flouncy costume of thatperiod. A small group of men stood at the bar. One of the barkeepers wasmixing drinks, pouring the liquid, at arm's length from one tumbler toanother in a long parabolic curve, and without spilling a drop. Only onetable was doing business, and that with only three players. Johnnypushed rapidly toward this table, and I, a little diffidently, followed.
The game was roulette. Johnny and the dealer evidently recognized eachother, for a flash of the eye passed between them, but they gave noother sign. Johnny studied the board a moment then laid twenty-twodollars in coin on one of the numbers. The other players laid out smallbags of gold dust. The wheel spun, and the ball rolled. Two of the menlost; their dust was emptied into a drawer beneath the table and thebags tossed back to them. The third had won; the dealer deftly estimatedthe weight of his bet, lifting it in the flat of his left hand; thenspun several gold pieces toward the winner. He seemed quite satisfied.The gambler stacked a roll of twenty-dollar pieces, added one to them,and thrust them at Johnny. I had not realized that the astounding luckof winning off a single number had befallen him.
"Ten to one--two hundred and twenty dollars!" he muttered to me.
The other three players were laying their bets for the next turn of thewheel. Johnny swept the gold pieces into his pocket, and laid back theoriginal stake against _even_. He lost. Thereupon he promptly aroseand left the building.
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