CHAPTER XII
TALBOT DESERTS
I followed him to the hotel somewhat gloomily; for I was now the onlymember of our party who had not made good the agreed amount of thepartnership. It is significant that never for a moment did either Johnnyor myself doubt that Talbot would have the required sum. Johnny, hisspirits quite recovered, whistled like a lark.
We arrived just in time for the first supper call, and found Talbot andYank awaiting us. Yank was as cool and taciturn, and nodded to us asindifferently, as ever. Talbot, however, was full of excitement. Hisbiscuit-brown complexion had darkened and flushed until he was almostSpanish-black, and the little devils in his eyes led a merry dancebetween the surface and unguessed depths. He was also exceedinglyvoluble; and, as usual when in that mood, aggravatingly indirect. Hejoked and teased and carried on like a small boy; and insisted onordering an elaborate dinner and a bottle of champagne, in the face ofeven Johnny's scandalized expostulations. When Johnny protested againstexpenditure, it was time to look out!
"This is on me! This is my party! Dry up, Johnny!" cried Talbot. "Fillyour glasses. Drink to the new enterprise; the Undertakers' MiningCompany, Unlimited."
"Undertakers?" I echoed.
"Well, you all look it. Call it the Gophers, then. Capital stock justeight hundred and eighty dollars, fully subscribed. I suppose it isfully subscribed, gentlemen?" He scrutinized us closely. "Ah, Frank! Isee we'll have to take your promissory note. But the artisticcertificates are not yet home from the engravers. Take your time. Maybea relative will die."
"Talbot," said I disgustedly, "if I hadn't happened to smell your breathbefore supper I'd think you drunk."
"I _am_ drunk, old deacon," rejoined Talbot, "but with the Wine ofEnchantment--do you know your Persian? No? Well, then, this:
"Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I'll not ask for wine!"
"A woman!" grumbled the literal Yank.
"The best, the most capricious, the most beautiful woman in the world,"cried Talbot, "whose smile intoxicates, whose frown drives to despair."
"What _are_ you drivelling about?" I demanded.
"The goddess fortune--what else? But come," and Talbot rose with asudden and startling transition to the calm and businesslike. "We cansmoke outside; and we must hear each other's reports."
He paid for the dinner, steadfastly refusing to let us bear our share. Inoticed that he had acquired one of the usual buckskin sacks, and shookthe yellow dust from the mouth of it to the pan of the gold scales withquite an accustomed air.
We lit our pipes and sat down at one end of the veranda, where we wouldnot be interrupted.
"Fire ahead, Yank," advised Talbot.
"There's two ways of going to the mines," said Yank: "One is to gooverland by horses to Sutter's Fort or the new town of Sacramento, andthen up from there into the foothills of the big mountains way yonder.The other is to take a boat and go up river to Sacramento and then packacross with horses."
"How much is the river fare?" asked Talbot.
"You have to get a sailboat. It costs about forty dollars apiece."
"How long would it take?"
"Four or five days."
"And how long from here to Sutter's Fort by horse?"
"About the same."
"Depends then on whether horses are cheaper here or there."
"They are cheaper there; or we can get our stuff freighted in byGreasers and hoof it ourselves."
"Then I should think we ought to have a boat."
"I got one," said Yank.
"Good for you!" cried Talbot. "You're a man after my own heart! Well,Johnny?"
Johnny told his tale, a little proudly and produced his required twohundred and twenty dollars.
"You had luck," said Talbot non-committally, "and you ran a strong riskof coming back here without a cent, didn't you? I want to ask you onequestion, Johnny. If you had lost, would you have been willing to havetaken the consequences?"
"What do you mean?" asked Johnny blankly.
"Would you have been willing to have dropped out of this partnership?"
Johnny stared.
"I mean," said Talbot kindly, "that you had no right to try to get thismoney by merely a gambler's chance unless you were willing to accept thelogical result if you failed. It isn't fair to the rest of us."
"I see what you mean," said Johnny slowly. "No; I hadn't thought of itthat way."
"Well, as I said, you had luck," repeated Talbot cheerfully, "so weneedn't think of it further." It was characteristic that Johnny tookthis veiled rebuke from Talbot Ward in a meek and chastened spirit; fromany one else his high temper could never stand even a breath ofcriticism. "How about you, Frank?" Talbot asked me.
I detailed my experiences in a very few words and exhibited my goldslug.
"That's the best I can do," I ended, "and half of that does not belongto me. I can, however, in a few days scrape up the full amount; there isplenty to do here. And barring bull luck, like Johnny's, I don't seemuch show of beating that, unless a man settled down to stay here."
Talbot stared at me, ruminatively, until I began to get restive. Then hewithdrew his eyes. He made no comment.
"I suppose you have your money," suggested Yank to him, after a pause.
"Oh--yes," said Talbot as though awaking from profound reverie.
"Well, tell us about it. How did you get it? How long did it take you?"
"About half an hour. I figured that everybody in a place like this wouldbe wanting news. So I sorted out that bundle of old newspapers youfellows were always laughing at, and I went out and sold them. Lucky Igot busy with them early; for I don't doubt the arrival of the_Oregon_ broke the market."
"How much did you get for them?" asked Johnny.
"A dollar apiece for most, and fifty cents for the rest. I came out twohundred and seventy dollars ahead all told. That, with Frank's and myten dollars, gave me sixty dollars above the necessary amount."
Johnny arose and kicked himself solemnly.
"For not guessing what newspapers were good for," he explained. "Go on!What next? What did you do with the rest of the day?"
Talbot leaned forward, and all the animation of the dinner tablereturned to his manner and to his face.
"Boys," said he earnestly, "this is the most wonderful town that hasever been! There has been nothing like it in the past; and there willnever be anything like it again. After I had sold out my papers I wentwandering across the Plaza with my hands in my pockets. Next the ElDorado there is a hole in the ground. It isn't much of a hole, and theedges are all caving in because it is sandy. While I was looking at ittwo men came along. One was the owner of the hole, and the other said hewas a lawyer. The owner offered to rent the hole to the lawyer for twohundred and fifty dollars a month; and the lawyer was inclined to takehim up. After they had gone on I paced off the hole, just for fun. Itwas twelve feet square by about six feet deep! Then I walked on downtoward the water front, and talked with all the storekeepers. They do aqueer business. All these goods we see around came out here onconsignment. The local storekeepers have a greater or lesser share andsell mainly on commission. Since they haven't any adequate storehouses,and can't get any put up again, they sell the stuff mainly at auctionand get rid of it as quickly as possible. That's why some things are socheap they can make pavements of them when a ship happens to come inloaded with one article. I talked with some of them and told them theyought to warehouse a lot of this stuff so as to keep it over until themarket steadied. They agreed with that; but pointed out that they wereputting up warehouses as fast as they could--which wasn't very fast--andin the meantime the rains and dust were destroying their goods. It wascheaper to sell at auction."
"And a heap more exciting," put in Johnny. "I went to one of them."
"Well, I wandered down to the shore, and looked out over the bay. It wasfull of shipping, riding high at anchor. I had an idea. I hired a boatfor five dollars, and rowed out to some of the ships. Believe me or not,most of them w
ere empty; not even a watchman aboard! I found some of thecaptains, however, and talked with each of them. They all told the samestory."
"Crews skipped to the mines, I suppose?" said Yank.
"Exactly. And they _couldn't_ get any more. So I offered to hire afew of them."
"The captains?" I inquired.
"No; the ships."
"The _what?_" we yelled in chorus.
"The ships."
"But if the captains can't get crews----"
"Oh, I don't want to sail them," went on Talbot impatiently. "It washard work getting them to agree; they all cherished notions they couldget crews and go sailing some more--good old salts! But I hired four, atlast. Had to take them for only a month, however; and had to pay them inadvance five hundred apiece."
"I beg pardon," said Johnny softly, "for interrupting your pleasingtale; but the last item interested me. I do not know whether I quiteheard it right."
"Oh, shut up, Johnny," said Yank; "let the man tell his story. Of coursehe didn't have the money in his pocket. How did you get it, Tal?"
Ward shot him a grateful glance.
"I told them I'd pay them at four o'clock which gave me plenty of time."
"Two thousand dollars--oh, of course!" murmured Johnny.
"So then," continued Talbot, "I hustled ashore; and went to see some ofmy merchant friends. In two hours I had contracts with twelve of themthat totalled six thousand dollars."
"Why didn't some of them go out and hire ships on their own account?"asked Yank shrewdly.
"Because I didn't mention the word 'ship' until I had their business,"said Talbot. "I just guaranteed them storage, waterproof, practicallyfireproof, dustproof, and within twenty-four hours. I guess most of themthought I was crazy. But as it didn't cost them anything, they werewilling to take a chance."
"Then you didn't raise your ten thousand dollars from them in advancepayments!" I marvelled.
"Certainly not. That would have scared off the whole lot of them. But Igot their agreements; I told you it took me two hours. Then I walked upthe street figuring where I'd get the money. Of course I saw I'd have todivide the profits. I didn't know anybody; but after a while I decidedthat the best chance was to get some advice from honest anddisinterested man. So I asked the first man I met who ran the biggestgambling place in town. He told me Jim Recket."
"Jim Recket?" I echoed. "He's the man I was to leave change for my goldslug with."
"Recket keeps the El Dorado, next door in the tent. He impressed me as avery quiet, direct, square sort of a fellow. The best type ofprofessional gambler, in matters of this sort, generally is.
"'I am looking for a man,' said I, 'who has a little idle money, sometime, no gold-mining fever, plenty of nerve, and a broad mind. Can youtell me who he is?'
"He thought a minute and then answered direct, as I knew he would.
"'Sam Brannan,' he said.
"'Tell me about him.'
"'To take up your points,' said Recket, checking off his fingers, 'hecame out with a shipload of Mormons as their head, and he collectedtithes from them for over a year; that's your idle money. He has all thetime the Lord stuck into one day at a clip; that's your "some time." Hehas been here in the city since '48 which would seem to show he doesn'tcare much for mining. He collected the tithes from those Mormons, andsent word to Brigham Young that if he wanted the money to come and getit. That's for your nerve. As for being broad minded--well, when adelegation of the Mormons, all ready for a scrap, came to him solemnlyto say that they were going to refuse to pay him the tithes any more,even if he was the California head of the church, he laughed them offthe place for having been so green as to pay them as long as they had.'
"I found Sam Brannan, finally, at the bar in Dennison's Exchange."
"What was he like?" asked Johnny eagerly. "I'll bet I heard his namefifty times to-day."
"He is a thickset, jolly looking, curly headed fellow, with a thickneck, a bulldog jaw, and a big voice," replied Talbot. "Of course hetried to bully me, but when that didn't work, he came down to business.We entered into an agreement.
"Brannan was to furnish the money, and take half the profits, providedhe liked the idea. When we had settled it all, I told him my scheme. Hethought it over a while and came in. Then we rowed off and paid thecaptains of the ships. It was necessary now to get them warped in athigh tide, of course, but Sam Brannan said he'd see to that--he has somesort of a pull with the natives, enough to get a day's labour, anyway."
"Warp them in?" I echoed.
"Certainly. You couldn't expect the merchants to lighter their stuff offin boats always. We'll beach these ships at high tide, and then run somesort of light causeway out to them. There's no surf, and the bottom issoft. It'll cost us something, of course; but Sam and I figure we oughtto divide three thousand clear."
"I'd like to ask a question or so," said I. "What's to prevent themerchants doing this same hiring of ships for themselves?"
"Nothing," said Talbot, "after the first month."
"And what prevented Brannan, after he had heard your scheme, from goingout on his own hook, and pocketing _all_ the proceeds?"
"You don't understand, Frank," said Talbot impatiently. "Men of ourstamp don't do those things."
"Oh!" said I.
"This," said Johnny, "made it about two o'clock, as I figure your story.Did you then take a needed rest?"
"Quarter of two," corrected Talbot, "I was going back to the hotel, whenI passed that brick building--you know, on Montgomery Street. Iremembered then that lawyer and his two hundred and fifty dollars for ahole in the ground. It seemed to me there was a terrible wastesomewhere. Here was a big brick building filled up with nothing butgoods. It might much better be filled with people. There is plenty ofroom for goods in those ships; but you can't very well put people on theships. So I just dropped in to see them about it. I offered to hire theentire upper part of the building; and pointed out that the lower partwas all they could possibly use as a store. They said they needed theupper part as storehouse. I offered to store the goods in an accessiblesafe place. Of course they wanted to see the place; but I wouldn't leton, naturally, but left it subject to their approval after the lease wassigned. The joke of it is they were way overstocked anyway. Finally Imade my grand offer.
"'Look here,' said I, 'you rent me that upper story for a decent lengthof time--say a year--and I'll buy out the surplus stock you've got upthere at a decent valuation.' They jumped at that; of course theypretended not to, but just the same they jumped. I'll either sell thestuff by auction, even if at a slight loss, or else I'll stick it aboarda ship. Depends a good deal on what is there, of course. It's mostlybale and box goods of some sort or another. I've got an inventory in mypocket. Haven't looked at it yet. Then I'll partition off that wareroomand rent it out for offices and so forth. There are a lot of lawyers andthings in this town just honing for something dignified and stable. Ionly pay three thousand a month for it."
Johnny groaned deeply.
"Well," persisted Talbot, "I figure on getting at least eight thousand amonth out of it. That'll take care of a little loss on the goods, ifnecessary. I'm not sure a loss is necessary."
"And how much, about, are the goods?" I inquired softly.
"Oh, I don't know. Somewhere between ten and twenty thousand, Isuppose."
"Paid for how, and when?"
"One third cash, and the rest in notes. The interest out here is ratherhigh," said Talbot regretfully.
"Where do you expect to get the money?" I insisted.
"Oh, money! money!" cried Talbot, throwing out his arms with a gestureof impatience. "The place is full of money. It's pouring in from themines, from the world outside. Money's no trouble!"
He fell into an intent reverie, biting at his short moustache. I arosesoftly to my feet.
"Johnny," said I, in a strangled little voice, "I've got to give backMcGlynn's change. Want to go with me?"
We tiptoed around the corner of the building, and fell into each
other'sarms with shrieks of joy.
"Oh!" cried Johnny at last, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Money's notrouble!"
After we had to some extent relieved our feelings we changed my goldslug into dust--I purchased a buckskin bag--and went to find McGlynn.Our way to his quarters led past the post-office, where a long queue ofmen still waited patiently and quietly in line. We stood for a fewmoments watching the demeanour of those who had received their mail, orwho had been told there was nothing for them. Some of the latter werepathetic, and looked fairly dazed with grief and disappointment.
The letters were passed through a small window let in the adobe of thewall; and the men filed on to the veranda at one end and off it at theother. The man distributing mail was a small, pompous, fat Englishman. Irecognized McGlynn coming slowly down with the line, and paid him halfthe dust in my bag.
As McGlynn reached the window, the glass in it slammed shut, and theclerk thrust a card against it.
"_Mails close at 9 P.M._"
McGlynn tapped at the glass, received no attention, and commenced tobeat a tattoo. The window was snatched open, and the fat clerk, veryred, thrust his face in the opening.
"What do you want?" he demanded truculently.
"Any letters for John A. McGlynn?"
"This office opens at 8:30 A.M." said the clerk, slamming shut thewindow.
Without an instant's hesitation, and before the man had a chance toretire, McGlynn's huge fist crashed through the glass and into his face.
The crowd had waited patiently; but now, with a brutal snarl, it surgedforward. McGlynn, a pleasant smile on his face, swung slowly about.
"Keep your line, boys! Keep your line!" he boomed. "There's no trouble!It's only a little Englishman who don't know our ways yet."
Inside the building the postal force, white and scared yet over themenacing growl of the beast they had so nearly roused, hastened toresume their tasks. I heard later that the last man in line reached thewindow only at three o'clock in the morning. Also that next day McGlynnwas summoned by Geary, then postmaster, to account for his share in therow; and that in the end Geary apologized and was graciously forgiven byMcGlynn! I can well believe it.
We found Yank and Talbot still at the edge of the hotel veranda.
"Look here, Tal!" said Johnny at once. "How are you going to finish allthis business you've scared up, and get off to the mines within areasonable time? We ought to start pretty soon."
"Mines?" echoed Talbot, "I'm not going to the mines! I wouldn't leaveall this for a million mines. No: Yank and I have been talking it over.You boys will have to attend to the mining end of this business. I'llpay Frank's share and take a quarter of the profits, and Frank can payme in addition half his profits. In return for the work I don't do, I'llput aside two hundred and twenty dollars and use it in my business here,and all of us will share in the profits I make from that amount. Howdoes that strike you?"
"I don't like to lose you out of this," said Johnny disappointedly.
"Nor I," said I.
"And I hate to lose the adventure, boys," agreed Talbot earnestly. "But,honestly, I can't leave this place now even if I want to; and Icertainly don't want to."
I turned in that night with the feeling that I had passed a veryinteresting day.
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