by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVIII.
A DREAM VERIFIED.
ON the following morning, to the astonishment of the miners of CedarCamp, Frank and his companions took their tools out of their claims andshifted to the claims of the two men of the "solitary tent." Every oneasked himself what could be the meaning of this move, and the generalsupposition was that they must have discovered that the two men hadstruck upon rich ground. Scores of miners sauntered across during theday, looked on, and asked a question or two; but the answers theyobtained threw no light upon the mystery. The ground looked mostunpromising; it was a flat some ten feet above the level of theriver-bed, and the spot where they were digging was twenty yards fromthe edge.
Fifteen yards further back the ground rose abruptly to a height ofthirty or forty feet; the ground around was covered with bushes, throughwhich a few good-sized trees rose. The two men had dug through two feetof alluvial soil, and about five feet of sand. Altogether, it was aplace which seemed to afford no promise whatever; and although, at thefirst impulse, some miners who were doing badly had marked out claimsnext to those staked out by Frank and his party, no steps were taken tooccupy them.
The first day was spent in getting out planks and lining the proposedshaft, which was made much smaller than the hole already dug, whichextended over the whole of the two claims. The next day a windlass wasput in position, and the work began in earnest. At the depth of twentyfeet they came upon gravel, a result which greatly raised their spirits,as its character was precisely similar to that in the bed of the stream,and showed that Frank's conjecture was a correct one, and that the riverhad at one time flowed along the foot of the high ground beyond.
When it was known in camp that the party were getting up gravel, therewas a great deal of talk. Some of the older hands came and examined theplace, and, noticing the sharp curve in the opposite bank above,concluded, as Frank had done, that instead of being, as was generallysupposed, beyond the edge of the old river-bed, it was by no meansimprobable that the party were working over what was at one time a pointwhich was swept by the main body of water coming down.
More claims were staked out, and although no one had any intention ofbeginning in earnest until they discovered what luck attended the partywho were sinking the shaft, just enough was done each day to retainpossession of the claims. Before they had gone far into the gravel theydiscovered specks of gold, and, washing a basinful from time to time,found that it was fairly rich, certainly as good as any that had beenfound a few feet below the surface of the ground at any other spot inthe camp. They determined, however, not to wash at present, but to pilethe stuff near the mouth of the shaft, to be washed subsequently, and tocontinue to sink steadily.
A fortnight after the work had begun, the old man had gained sufficientstrength to make his way across to the shaft, and after that he spenthis whole time watching the progress of the work. His tent was broughtover and pitched close at hand. By this time, as their prospects reallylooked good, Jim had told him the true history of the nugget he hadbrought home, and how much they owed to Frank; and he so far overcamehis shrinking from intercourse with his neighbours, as to become reallycordial with Frank, who, when supper was over, often strolled across andsmoked a pipe with Jim in the tent.
Frank often wondered what could have brought a man of some sixty yearsof age, and evidently well educated, and a gentleman, but, as wasequally clear, wholly unfitted by age, habits, and constitution forrough labour in such a country as that. The son had not denied that hewas English, but as he had not admitted it in so many words, Frankthought that his father might object to any questions on the subject,and in their many conversations the past was seldom alluded to.
Turk, who was Frank's constant companion, took remarkably to the oldman, and in the daytime, when the latter was sitting watching thebaskets coming up from below, generally took up his position by him,sometimes lying blinking lazily in the sun, at other times sitting upand watching the operations gravely, as if he were thoroughly aware oftheir importance.
While the ground was still unpromising, Frank and his party had boughtup, for a few dollars, the claims of several of the men who had stakedout ground next to their own, and now held six on either side of theclaim they were sinking on. Beyond these, as soon as the gravel wasknown to contain gold, other miners began to work--for the most part inparties, as the depth at which paying ground lay beneath the surface wasso great that it could only be reached by joint labour--and the flat solong neglected now became one of the busiest points in the camp.
"The gravel is getting richer and richer every day," Frank said to theelder Adams, five weeks after they began work. "I think now it would beas well to hire half a dozen men to carry it down to the stream and washit there; you could superintend them, and one of us will work at thecradle. The stuff will pay splendidly now, I am sure, and there's a bigheap on the bank."
"If you think so, by all means let us do so," the old man said. "Ishould like to begin to get some gold; we are in your debt more than ahundred dollars already, since you have been advancing money for ourliving as the work has gone on."
"There is no hurry on that account," Frank said. "Ever since we washedthe first pail of gravel it has been evident that there was at leastsufficient gold to pay for washing out, and that my advances wereperfectly safe; so there is no hurry on that account. But at present ithas so improved that it would be rich enough to pay really well;besides, we shall be getting it stolen. I fancy last night two or threebuckets-full were taken away at that edge of the bank; and as there hasbeen a perfect rush for staking out claims to-day, I have no doubt thatit was found to pan out very rich."
The result of the first day's washing more than realised theiranticipations, for when the cradle was cleared up over fifty ounces ofgold were found at the bottom; and at the end of three days the old manpaid Frank and his party their wages at four dollars a day each from thetime they had commenced working at the shaft.
Another fortnight and they reached the bed rock. Each day the find hadbecome heavier, but the climax was reached when they touched the rock.It was found that just where they reached the bottom, the rock whichformed the bank bordering the flat came down almost perpendicularly tothe level rock which had formed the old bed of the stream. This was wornperfectly smooth by the action of the water, and in the bed rock was agreat caldron scooped out by an eddy of the stream. This was filled upwith gravel, among which nuggets of gold were lying thickly; and whenits contents were taken to the surface and separated, the gold was foundto weigh over three thousand ounces. The lower part of the ground wasthen dug out to the full size of the claim, and when all this was washedit was found that the total amount of gold obtained from the claim wasover six thousand ounces.
As the work went on from day to day, Frank observed a gradual changecoming over the elder of the two men. At first he had been excited, andat times irritable; but as each day showed increased returns, and itbecame a moral certainty that the claim was going to turn out extremelyrich, the excitement seemed to pass away. He talked less, and spent lessof his time in watching the work going on, sometimes not even comingdown to watch the clear-up at the end of the day's work. Even thediscovery of the rich pocket in the rock scarcely seemed to stir him.His son, upon the contrary, made no secret of his satisfaction at thefortune which was falling to them. He shook off the reserve which had atfirst distinguished him; a weight of care seemed to fall from hisshoulders, and his spirits became at times almost exuberant.
At first he had looked to Frank almost a middle-aged man, although hisface and figure showed that he could not be many years his own senior;now he looked almost like a schoolboy, so full was he of life andspirits. The old man had taken much to Frank, and although during thelatter part of the time he had talked but little, he liked him to comeinto the tent every evening to smoke a pipe and chat with his son. Hehad several times endeavoured to draw from Frank his reason for leavingEngland and coming out to California at an age when many lads are stillat school; but he had ob
tained no reply to his hints, for Frank did notcare to enter upon the story of that incident at Westminster.
The evening when the claims had been worked out, and the last cradlewashed out, the old man asked Frank to bring Abe and his companions tothe tent after they had had their supper. The tent showed little signsof the altered circumstances of its owners; a few more articles of cheapcrockery and a couple of folding chairs were the only additions that hadbeen made. Some boxes had been brought in now to serve as seats, and onone in the centre were placed half a dozen bottles of champagne, whichthe young man proceeded to open.
"My friends," the elder said, "I am going away to-morrow, and I trustthat your claims will turn out every bit as rich as ours has done."
"Even if they don't turn out as rich," Frank said, "there is no fear oftheir not turning out well. We consider we have made a capital bargainwith you; we have been paid by you for our work in sinking the shaft,and now it will be easy for us to work our claims. It was a lucky dayfor us when we made that contract to sink your shaft."
"I am glad you think so, and very glad that you are likely to share myluck; still, I feel greatly indebted to you. It was a bargain, ofcourse, but it was a bargain in which you were taking all the risk.There is, as you say, every probability of your claims turning out well;but there's no certainty in gold-mining, and at any rate we cannot goaway with a fortune without feeling that, to some small extent at least,you will participate in it. Therefore I here hand you over each a bagwith a hundred ounces of gold, so that, come what may, your time andlabour here will not have been thrown away. You will not, I hope, painme by refusing," he said, seeing that the men looked doubtfully at eachother. "We owe it all to you, for when you threw in your lot with us wewere desperate and starving."
"Wall, if you put it in that way, I don't see that we can say no, mate,"Abe said, "though we are well content with our look-out, I can tell you,and could get a biggish sum for our claims to-night if we were disposedto sell them. Still, what you says is true, though it isn't every onewho makes a good thing out of a bargain as is ready to go beyond it. Itwas a fortunate day for you may be that you fell in with my mate here,and it was a fortunate day for us when he fell in with you. When I goesback east and settles down on a farm I has got my eyes on, I shallalways say as I owed my luck to my mate strolling over to talk to thetwo men as was working what seemed a hopeless claim in Cedar Camp.
"Wall, I suppose you are going back with your pile to the old country. Ican only say as we wish you good luck thar, and plenty of enjoyment outof your money. Here's luck."
The miners all emptied their glasses, and then, shaking hands withfather and son, filed out of the tent. Frank was about to follow themwhen he was stopped by a gesture from the old man. He had not likedaccepting the present, but he did not wish to act differently from hiscomrades, and he saw that his refusal would really hurt the donor.
"Sit down a bit, lad," he said; "James is going to the camp to get a fewthings for our journey to-morrow, and I shall be alone, and now thatit's all over I feel the reaction. It has been an exciting time the lastmonth."
"It has indeed," Frank agreed, "and I have often thought to myself whata comfort it was that they had established a regular way of sending downgold twice a week with an escort; it would have been terrible if you hadhad to keep all that gold by you."
"Yes, I often thought so myself, and your offer to keep the gold in yourtent on the days when the escort wasn't going was a great relief to me."
"It was safe enough with us," Frank said. "No one would venture to try atent with a pretty strong party; but with only your son and yourselfthere might have been a temptation to some broken-down gambler to carryit off. Besides, we have Turk as a guard, and I don't fancy any onewould venture to try any tricks with our tent while he is inside it."
"Well, I hope it will be your turn now," the old man said, "and thatbefore another two months are over you too will be setting out on yourway home with what your friend called your pile."
"I shall not be doing that," Frank said; "whatever we find, I have nothought of going back to England."
"No? Well, lad, I don't want your confidence if you would rather notgive it; but I will tell you my story, and perhaps when you have heardit you may be the more inclined to tell me yours. It is a painful storyto tell, but that is part of my punishment; and you, lad, have a rightto hear it, for I know that it is to you I owe my life, and that it isthrough you that I am to-morrow going home to do all that I can toretrieve my fault, and to wipe out the stain on my name. I was asolicitor, with a good practice, in a town of the west of England,--itdoes not matter what it's name was. I lost my wife, and then, like afool, I took to drink. No one knew it except my son, for I never wentout in the evening, but would sit at home drinking by myself till Icould scarce stagger up to bed.
"He did all that he could to persuade me to give it up, but it had gottoo strong a hold upon me. At last we quarrelled over it, and he leftthe house, and henceforth we only met at the office. He was engaged tobe married to the daughter of our Vicar. When the crash came--for inthese cases a crash is sure to come sooner or later--the business hadfallen off, and a bill was presented for payment which I had altogetherforgotten I had signed. Then there was an investigation into my affairs.I could help but little, for there were but few hours in the day nowwhen my brain was clear enough to attend to any business whatever. Thenit was found that ten thousand pounds which had been given me to investby one of my clients had never been invested, and that it was gone withthe rest.
"I had not intended to do anything dishonest, that even now I canaffirm. I had intended to invest it, but in my muddled state put offdoing so, and had gone on paying the interest as if it had been investedas ordered. When I knew that I had not enough in the bank to replace it,I went into foolish speculations to regain what I had lost; but untilthe crash came I had never fairly realised that I had not only ruinedmyself but was a swindler. I shall never forget the morning when James,who had been up all night going through my papers with my head-clerk,came down and told me what he had discovered. I was still stupid fromwhat I had drunk overnight, but that sobered me. I need not tell youwhat passed between my son and me. I swore never to touch liquor again.He sold out of consols five thousand pounds which he had inherited fromhis mother, and handed it over to the man I had defrauded, giving himhis personal bond that he would repay the rest of the money, should helive; and on those terms my client agreed to abstain from prosecutingme, and to maintain an absolute silence as to the affair.
"Then Jim broke off his engagement, and took passages for us in asailing ship for Panama, and so on to San Francisco. I need not tell youthe struggle it was to keep to my promise; but when Jim had given upeverything for me, the least I could do was to fight hard for his sake.My thoughts were always fixed on California, my only hopes that I mightlive to see the rest of the debt repaid, and the boy's money replaced,so that he could buy a business and marry the woman he loved. I dreamtof it over and over again, and, as I told you, three times I dreamt ofthe exact spot where we are now sitting.
"Somehow, in my dreams, I knew that if I dug straight down under the oldtree that formed the centre of the dream I should find gold. This becamea fixed idea with me, and when we reached the gold-fields I neverstopped long in camp, so bent was I upon finding the tree of my dreams.Jim bore with me wonderfully. I knew he did not believe in my dream, buthe was always ready to go where I wanted. I think now he thought that Iwas going out of my mind, or feared that if he thwarted me I might taketo drink again. However, at last we found the tree--at least I waspositive it was the tree of my dreams. James tried to dissuade me fromdigging in a place which looked so unpromising; but nothing would determe save death, and you see the result. We shall go back; the debt willbe cleared off, Jim will marry his sweetheart, and I shall live with himto the end of my days. He is a grand fellow is Jim, though I dare say itdidn't strike you so when you first knew him."
"He is a grand fellow," Frank agreed heartily, "an
d I am truly glad, Mr.Adams, that all has turned out so well."
"And now, can you tell me something of yourself, Frank? It is to you weowe it that things have turned out well; and if, as I rather guess, youhave got into some scrape at home, I can only say that my son and myselfwill be very glad to share our fortune with you, and to take one-thirdof it each."
"I thank you greatly, sir, for your generous offer, but it would be ofno use to me. I have, as you suspect, got into a scrape at home, but itis from no fault of my own. I have been wrongfully suspected ofcommitting a crime; and until that charge is in some way or othercleared up, and the slur on my name wiped off, I would not return toEngland if I had a hundred thousand pounds."
"And can nothing be done? Would it be any use whatever to set to work onany line you can suggest? I would make it my own business, and follow upany clue you could give me."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Adams; thank you with all my heart: butnothing can be done, there is nothing to follow. It was not a questionof a crime so committed that many outside persons would be interested init, or that it could be explained in a variety of ways. So far as thecase went it was absolutely conclusive, so conclusive that I myself,knowing that I was innocent, could see no flaw in the evidence againstmyself, nor for months afterwards could I perceive any possibleexplanation save in my own guilt. Since then I have seen that there isan alternative. It is one so painful to contemplate that I do not allowmyself to think of it, nor does it seem to me that even were I myselfupon the spot, with all the detective force of England to aid me, Icould succeed in proving that alternative to be the true one except bythe confession of the person in question.
"If he were capable of planning and carrying out the scheme whichbrought about my disgrace, he certainly is not one who would under anyconceivable circumstances confess what he has done. Therefore, there isnothing whatever to be done in the matter. Years and years hence, if Imake a fortune out here, I may go home and say to those whose esteem andaffection I have lost, 'I have no more evidence now than I had when Ileft England to support my simple declaration that I was innocent, butat least I have nothing to gain by lying now. I have made a fortune, andwould not touch one penny of the inheritance which would once have beenmine. I simply come before you again solemnly to declare that I wasinnocent, wholly and conclusively as appearances were against me.' Itmay be that the word of a prosperous man will be believed though that ofa disgraced schoolboy was more than doubted."
"And is there no one to whom I could carry the assurance of yourinnocence?" Mr. Adams asked. "Some one may still be believing in you inspite of appearances. It might gladden some one's heart were I to bearthem from your lips this fresh assurance; were I to tell them how youhave saved me when all hope seemed lost; were I to tell them how allhere speak well of you, and how absolutely I am convinced that somehideous mistake must have been made."
Frank sat for some time silent.
"Yes," he said, at last. "I have a little cousin, a girl, she was likemy sister; I hope--I think that, in spite of everything, she may stillhave believed me innocent. Will you see her and tell her you have seenme? Say no more until you see by her manner whether she believes me tobe a rascal or not. If she does, give her no clue to the part of theworld where you have come across me; simply say that I wished her toknow that I was alive and well. If you see that she still, in spite ofeverything, believes that I am innocent, then tell her that I affirm onmy honour and word that I am innocent, though I see no way whatever ofever proving it; that I do not wish her to tell my uncle she heard fromme; that I do not wish her to say one word to him, for that, much as Ivalue his affection, I would not for the world seem to be trying toregain the place he thinks I have forfeited, until I can appear beforehim as a rich man whom nothing could induce to touch one penny of hismoney, and who values only his good-will and esteem. That is her nameand address."
And Frank wrote on the leaf of his pocket-book, "Alice Hardy, 354 EatonSquare."
"I do not think you will have to deliver the message; it is hardlypossible that she should not, as my uncle has done, believe me to beguilty. Still, I do cling to the possibility of it. That is why Ihesitate in giving you the commission, for if it fails I shall lose mylast pleasant thought of home. If you find she has believed in me, writeto me at Sacramento, to the care of Woolfe & Company, of whom I alwaysget my stores. There is no saying where I may be in four or five months'time, for it will take that before I can hear from you. It may be, inthat case, she too will write. If she does not believe in me, do notwrite at all; I shall understand your silence; and, above all, unlessyou find she believes in me, say no more than that I am alive and well,and give no clue whatever to the part of the world where we have met."
"I will discharge your commission," Mr. Adams said. "But do not beimpatient for an answer; I may not find a steamer going down to Panamafor some time, and may have to go thence to New York, and thence takea steamer to Europe. I may find on my arrival that the young lady isabsent from home, perhaps travelling with her father, and there may bedelays."
"My uncle is not her father," Frank said; "she is a ward of his. But Iwill not be impatient; not for six months will I give up such hope as Ihave."
"There is one more thing before I say good night," Mr. Adams said. "Ihave been in great need, and know how hard it is to struggle when luckis against one, and I should like to give a small sum as a sort ofthank-offering for the success which has attended me. In a mining campthere must be many whom a little might enable to tide on until luckturns. Will you be my almoner? Here is a bag with a hundred ounces ofgold, the last we got to-day from our claim. Will you take it, and fromtime to time give help in the way of half a sack of flour and otherprovisions to men who may be down in the world from a run of ill-luck,and not from any fault of their own."
"I will gladly do so," Frank replied; "such a fund as this would enableme to gladden the hearts of scores of men. You can rely upon it, sir,that I will take care to see that it is laid out in accordance with yourinstructions."
After leaving the tent, Frank found James Adams sitting down on a log ashort distance away.
"I would not disturb you," the latter said, "as I thought perhaps youwere having a chat with my father--indeed he told me he should like tohave a talk with you alone; but I want myself to tell you how consciousI am that I owe my happiness to you. Has my father told you how I amsituated, and that I am going home to claim the dearest girl in theworld, if, as I hope and believe, I shall find she has waited for me?"
"Your father has told me more," Frank said; "he has told me how noblyyou devoted your life to his, and why, and I am truly glad that so muchgood has come of our meeting. More than that first little help I mustdisclaim, for it was Abe and not I who believed in your father's dreams,which I confess I had no shadow of belief in, though they have, sounaccountably to me, been verified."
"Nothing you can say, Frank, will minimise what you have done for us.You saved my father's life. If it had not been for you his dream wouldnever have been carried into effect, and he would now be lying in thegraveyard on the top of the hill, and I should be working hopelessly asa day labourer. I only want to say, that if at any time you want afriend, you can rely upon James Adams up to the last penny he has in theworld."
The next morning Mr. Adams and his son started for San Francisco, andFrank and his party began to work their claims from the bottom of theshaft. Although they paid well, they proved far less rich than they hadexpected; they got good returns from the gravel, but found no pockets inthe bed rock, which was perfectly smooth and even. They found that oneither side of the Adams' claims the wall of rock behind swept round;this, no doubt, had caused an eddy at this spot, which had worked outthe hole in the bed rock, and caused the deposit of so large a quantityof gold here; and, singularly enough, Mr. Adams' dream had led him totake up the exact spot under which alone the gold had been so largelydeposited. The party had taken on several hands, and six weeks sufficedto clear out the paying stuff in their claims, and it was
found that,after paying all their expenses, there remained eight hundred ounces ofgold; a handsome result, but still very far below what they had reasonto expect from the richness of the stuff in the claims lying in thecentre of their ground.
This, however, added to the five hundred ounces they had received fromMr. Adams, gave them a total of about a thousand pounds each. They helda consultation on the night of the final clean-up. Two of the party weredisposed to return east with their money, but they finally came round toAbe's view.
"A thousand pounds is a nice sum--I don't say it ain't--for less thansix months' work; still, to my mind, now we are here, with the chance ofdoing just as well if we go on, I think it would be a fool's trick togive it up. Five thousand dollars will buy a good farm east, but onecould work it with a good deal more comfort and sartainty if one hadanother five thousand lying in the bank ready to draw upon in case ofbad times. We ain't fools; we don't mean to gamble or drink away what wehave made; it will just lie in the bank at Sacramento until we want todraw it. If we work another year we may double it, but we can't make itless; we have got our horses still, and I vote we go back to our work asit was before, three of us digging and two carrying. We know that way wecan pay our expenses, however bad our luck may be, so thar ain't nothingto loose in sticking to it for a bit longer, and thar may be a lot togain."
This view prevailed, and in a short time the party moved off to anotherplace; for Cedar Camp was getting deserted, the other claims taken up onthe flat had paid their way, but little more, and the men were off tonew discoveries, of which they had heard glowing accounts.
For the next two months no marked success attended the labours of Frankand his comrades, they paid their expenses, and that was all. Frankenjoyed the life; he was in no hurry to get rich, and it gave him greatpleasure to be able occasionally to give a helping hand to miners whoseluck was bad, from the fund with which Mr. Adams had intrusted him. Thework was hard, but he scarcely felt it, for his muscles were now likesteel, and his frame had widened out until he was as broad and strong asany of his companions, and few would have recognised in him the lad whohad shipped on board the _Mississippi_ fifteen months before.
