The Slave of the Mine; or, Jack Harkaway in 'Frisco

by Bracebridge Hemyng

  CHAPTER VI.

  THE SLAVE OF THE DIAMOND MINES.

  The ship on which Jack Harkaway was a prisoner took out a general cargofor the Brazils.

  Captain Moreland at once put Jack at his ease.

  He assured him that there was no reason why he should be treatedharshly.

  The vessel had not been two hours at sea before he requested hispresence in his cabin.

  Jack was not in an enviable position, nor was he in an amicable frameof mind, but he felt that he was in the captain's power, and it wouldbe advisable for him to treat him with civility.

  The colored steward placed a couple of bottles with glasses on thetable, as well as a box of cigars, and retired.

  "Be seated," said the captain. "You smoke, I presume?"

  "Yes," replied Jack.

  "Help yourself," continued Moreland, pushing the box of cigars over tohim. "The wine is port and sherry; which do you prefer?"

  Jack liked sherry, and they pledged one another.

  He now had a good opportunity of looking at Moreland, who was a spare,short man, with reddish hair and small, twinkling eyes, which appearedto have a treacherous expression.

  "I wish to have you as my friend and companion during our voyage,"began Moreland.

  "Nothing would give me greater pleasure," replied Jack.

  "Of course I need not conceal anything from you?"

  "It is useless."

  "Well, I admit that I have been paid handsomely by Vasquez, the bandit,to convey you to Rio. He, I believe, was employed by some enemy ofyours."

  "Precisely. I know all that."

  "I shall enjoy your society during the voyage, for I see you are aneducated gentleman, and your companionship cannot fail to be agreeable."

  "Thank you for the compliment," exclaimed Jack, who could not helpthinking that there was something lurking behind this extraordinarycivility.

  "When you arrive at Rio our intimacy ceases, for I shall dischargecargo, take in another of bags of coffee, and return to 'Frisco."

  "Am I to be set free then?"

  "Certainly," answered Moreland.

  "I cannot understand that."

  "It is simple enough. Your enemy wishes to get you out of the way for atime. That is all."

  "I heard," said Jack, "that I was, in some mysterious way, to be sentas a slave to the diamond mines."

  "Not by me, at all events," laughed the captain.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Perfectly. My instructions are simply to land you at Rio, and therewill end my duty as regards you."

  Jack could not make this out.

  He was forced, however, to be content with the assurance given him byCaptain Moreland, and there the conversation ended.

  There were plenty of books in the cabin. He messed with Moreland.Everything he wanted was placed at his service, and he really had avery pleasant voyage round Cape Horn.

  The captain succeeded in thoroughly gaining his confidence, and he soonvoted him an excellent fellow, from whom he would be sorry to part whenthe time came.

  At length Rio was reached, and as Jack was almost without money,Moreland volunteered to advance him some for current expenses, takingin return a sight draft on his agent in San Francisco.

  When the ship swung into the dock, and the bills of lading had beengiven to the consignees, Moreland invited Jack to dine with him.

  "I know the city," he remarked, "and can take you to a good place."

  Jack accepted the invitation, and they walked out together.

  As they quitted the ship, the captain slipped something into Harkaway'spocket, without the action being perceived.

  They walked to the restaurant indicated by Moreland, and Jack'ssuspicions returned as he saw it was in a low part of the town.

  What was his professed friend's object in steering him toward theslums, as he was evidently doing?

  "Not a very savory neighborhood, this," he ventured to observe.

  "No, but you will be amply compensated, my friend, by the cooking, atthe little hotel we are in search of."

  "Oh, I comprehend," said Jack. "I am prepared to sacrifice a great dealfor artistic cooking."

  They soon reached a dingy-looking inn, where the waiters and landlordnodded familiarly to the captain, as if he was an old customer.

  The room into which they were ushered was dark and dirty, thetable-cloths uninviting, and directly Jack saw the place he had anadmonition of coming evil.

  "Really," he remarked, "this is as bad as Zola's _Assommoir_. I can'tcongratulate you on your taste."

  "Wait a while," responded Moreland. "Landlord, a bottle of wine, andthe best dinner you can get ready."

  "Si, signor," replied the proprietor, who was a swarthy, thick-set,beetle-browed Spaniard.

  The wine was produced, and seemed to Jack to have a peculiar flavor.

  Being thirsty, he drank heartily of it, while Moreland contentedhimself with sipping it.

  "You don't drink?" observed Harkaway.

  "Excuse me, I rarely do before eating; it takes away my appetite."

  A dizziness began to attack Jack, and a soft, sensuous, dreamy feelingstole over him.

  What could it mean?

  Had he been brought into the place by his kind friend, the captain, tobe drugged and betrayed into some carefully set trap?

  Indeed, it looked like it.

  "What is the time?" said the captain.

  "I have no watch," replied Jack. "Vasquez kindly relieved me of thattrifle in the Nappa Valley."

  "I had mine when I left the ship," continued Moreland, "and I have beenwith no one but you."

  "What do you mean by that?" asked Jack.

  It appeared as if there was some latent accusation in this remark.

  "Oh, nothing," answered the captain. "I have to report to the AmericanConsul at three, and it is necessary that I should know the time."

  He began to search in all his pockets.

  Jack watched him with an abstracted air, while his stupor increased,and it seemed all the time as if it was too much trouble for him tospeak.

  "Very odd where that watch of mine is gone to," continued Moreland.

  "Very," ejaculated Harkaway.

  "Are you sure you have not taken it?"

  "I?"

  Jack was dumbfounded with astonishment, and could only stare atMoreland.

  "I must have this investigated," said the latter. "Waiter!"

  "Signor?"

  "Call an officer--quick!"

  Jack was like one in a dream.

  He could not believe that what he heard was real.

  Some insidious drug had been mixed with the wine, and like theopium-eater, he was seeing and hearing things that did not exist.

  Presently the waiter returned with a policeman.

  "Who wants me?" he inquired.

  "I do. Arrest and search that man. I accuse him of stealing my watch."

  He pointed to Harkaway, whom the officer approached.

  Jack endeavored to rise and strike his false friend, but he seemed tohave lost all power over his limbs.

  Obscured as his intellect was, however, by the drugged wine, he sawthat he was the victim of an infamous plot, the depth of which, as yet,he could scarcely gauge.

  Moreland had won his confidence to prevent his making a charge ofabduction against him on their arrival in Rio.

  That was clear enough.

  What was to follow remained for coming events to develop.

  The officer began to search Jack, who laughed in a half imbecilemanner, as if it was a good joke, and made no resistance.

  In his coat pocket were found a watch and chain.

  "Is that yours?" asked the officer, holding it up.

  "Yes. I will swear to it. Besides, my name is on the case. It was apresent to me. Oh! the ingratitude of some people!"

  "Shall I arrest the thief?"

  "Yes; lock him up. I will follow and make the complaint."

  Jack was dragged rudely from the room to the
police court, which wasnot far off.

  Captain Moreland hastily settled the bill and followed his victim.

  A magistrate was sitting on the bench, and Jack soon had a specimen ofhow swiftly justice is administered in Brazil.

  Moreland told his story, stating how he had given the prisoner apassage from San Francisco, and how he had returned his kindness bystealing his watch, while under the influence of liquor.

  "He is drunk now," he added, "or perhaps he would not have done it."

  "Do you press the charge?" asked the court.

  "It is my duty to society to do so."

  Turning to the prisoner, the court asked him if he had anything to say.

  Jack was more and more under the influence of the drug, whose effectsmade themselves felt in a greater degree every minute.

  He thought he was dreaming, and continued to laugh at what he thoughtwas an excellent joke.

  "No," he replied.

  "I shall sentence you to five years' hard labor in the mines!"exclaimed the magistrate.

  "That's all right," replied Jack; "I knew that was coming."

  He laughed louder than ever.

  The jailer took him to a cell and locked him up. He soon fell intoa profound slumber, from which he did not awake until the followingmorning.

  Captain Moreland was perfectly satisfied, for he fulfilled his contractwith his employer to the letter.

  There was no chance of his victim's being pardoned, and little of hisescaping.

  Practically, he was out of the way for five years, during which timeLord Maltravers could prosecute his plans with regard to Miss Vanhoosen.

  Perhaps the hardships he would encounter in the mines might enfeeblehis magnificent physique, and kill him before his sentence expired.

  When Jack woke up in his cell he pressed his hand to his aching headand exclaimed:

  "Where the deuce am I?"

  He sat up and reflected.

  "Seems to me," he continued, "I had a dream. Moreland invited me todine; accused me of stealing his watch. Hang his impudence! I wasarrested, and got five years in the mines. _Was_ it a dream?"

  A look at the cell convinced him that it was not so much a dream as aterrible reality.

  The perspiration broke out all over him, and he began to feel terriblyalarmed.

  Presently the jailer entered with a suit of convict's clothes and somebreakfast.

  "Eat and dress," he said.

  "Certainly," replied Jack; "but let me ask you a few questions."

  "Be brief."

  "Am I a convict?"

  "You are."

  "Is there no appeal? Cannot I communicate with the English or AmericanConsul?"

  "No time for that," replied the jailer. "In half an hour the chain-gangstarts for the mines, and you are one of them."

  "For heaven's sake, do something for me!"

  The jailer shook his head.

  "I am innocent," asseverated Jack.

  "The stolen property was found on you. It is a clear case. An angelcould not save you."

  "But I assure you, my friend, that I am innocent. It is a baseconspiracy of which I am the victim."

  "Eat and dress!" said the jailer, harshly. "In half an hour I shallcome and fix the chain on you."

  With these words he banged to the door with a hollow, sepulchral sound,which to Jack sounded like the knell of doom.

  He recognized the fact that he was indeed a slave.

  "Well," he muttered, "I must admit it was cleverly done; to repine isuseless. I will make the best of the situation. Harvey, if not mortallywounded, will come after me. Thanks to what Elise said, my friends knowwhere I am."

  He deliberately ate his breakfast, and then attired himself in thehideous yellow suit of a convict sent to the mines.

  In the present there was no hope.

  It was to the future that he had to look for comfort, assistance andfreedom.

  Many were the wild tales he had heard of the sufferings in the mines bythe poor creatures condemned to toil there.

  His heart sank within him as he recalled these stories.

  Yet in the midst of all his misery the fairy-like form of LenaVanhoosen would come before him.

  She seemed to be ever bidding him hope on, and telling him that it isalways darkest before dawn.

  When the half hour was up the jailer, relentless as fate itself,appeared, and fastened a chain around his ankle.

  In the court-yard of the prison twenty unfortunates, similarlysituated, were assembled.

  They were all chained together, and at the word "March," the gate wasthrown open and they slowly filed out.

  Part of the journey was performed by railway, the convicts having aspecial car, but a considerable distance had to be traversed on foot,and this was painful and toilsome.

  Every week the ranks of the miners, depleted by sickness and death,were reinforced by fresh batches of criminals.

  It was seldom that a mine slave lasted longer than five years.

  The wretches, cruelly tasked and badly fed, broke down and perishedmiserably.

  The government worked the mines for its own benefit, entirely byconvict labor, and made a handsome profit out of it, for the laborcost them nothing but what they paid for food, and often diamonds oflarge size, first water, and great value were found when the mines werereached. The prisoners were detailed to certain sections, and Jack hadto work underground with a desperate-looking ruffian whose name wasAlfonso.

  The most favored prisoners worked above ground, receiving the "dirt" asit came up the shafts, and washing it in the streams which flowed downfrom the sides of the mountains.

  These were watched by overseers, and the diamonds were, when found,handed to superintendents.

  The men worked in couples, and were allowed to talk. They had threemeals a day of coarse food, and slept in wooden huts at night, laboringfrom dawn to dusk.

  Jack and Alfonso were supplied with a pickax, a shovel and a basket.

  They first picked down the earth or diamond-studded dirt, then shoveledit into the basket, afterward carrying it to the nearest shaft, whereit was taken in hand by others, and sent up to the surface.

  "What are you in for?" asked Alfonso.

  "They say I took a man's watch, and I got five years," replied Jack.

  "That's nothing," continued Alfonso; "I killed my man, and I was sent'down' for life."

  Jack shuddered.

  He was in the company of a murderer.

  "Don't I wish I could get away!" continued the ruffian.

  "What would you do?" asked Jack.

  "Can you keep a secret?"

  "I guess so."

  "I tried to escape, but the soldiers, who are always on guard, nightand day, saw me and fired. They brought me down. I've the bullet in myleg now."

  "Is that so?"

  "Yes; but they didn't get it," said Alfonso, laughing.

  "It? What do you mean by 'it'?"

  "The diamond, my lad. I've got the biggest beauty that ever came out ofthe mines."

  "You have?"

  "Yes, sir. It's worth a king's ransom. It ought to be in the crown of aroyal personage. It's fit for an emperor."

  "Is it so fine?"

  "Magnificent. It's as big as the Koh-i-noor, which is the largest inthe world. I shall never get out, though, so what use is it?"

  He sighed deeply.

  "Why don't you give it to the authorities?" inquired Jack.

  "Can you tell me why I should?"

  "No."

  "Do they treat us too well?"

  "No, indeed."

  "Aren't we slaves and dogs, and lead a life of utter and hopelessmisery?"

  "Very true."

  "They shall never have it. No, my lad. It's safe; but I've taken afancy to you, and if anything happens to me, I want you to know whereit is."

  Jack expressed his thankfulness for this proof of the convict's goodwill.

  "Where is it?" he asked, his curiosity being aroused.

  The convic
t bared his right leg and advanced to the lamp which gavethem the light by which they were working.

  "Any one around?" he asked.

  "I can't see any one," replied Jack.

  "You never can tell when the overseers come around. They're on the spyall the time."

  "We are alone," Jack said.

  "See here, then."

  Alfonso took his hand and placed it on his flesh. Jack felt a lumpunder the skin.

  "What's that?" he asked.

  "The diamond," replied Alfonso, under his breath.

  "Impossible! how could it get there?" Jack asked, incredulously.

  "Didn't I tell you they brought me down with a bullet?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, they saw it had lodged just under the skin, and the brutesdidn't think it worth while to get the doctor to cut it out. A day ortwo afterward I found the diamond."

  "Well?"

  "So I takes a knife and cuts it out myself, and seeing there was roomfor the bullet, I shoved the diamond into the hole and let the skingrow over it and there it is now."

  "In your body?"

  "In my living body," replied Alfonso, "and no word of a lie about it."

  "Didn't it hurt?"

  "I'll bet you it did. I suffered the tortures of the damned for weeks,and it hurts now if I strain myself or lie on that side."

  Jack was overpowered with astonishment.

  "You've got grit in you," he remarked.

  "Didn't I tell you I killed my man? Any one who's got pluck enough toslay his enemy and risk the gallows can do anything," answered Alfonso.

  "What do you want me to do?" inquired Jack.

  "If I die, cut it out."

  "And then?"

  "Hide it somewhere. I can't tell you where. We must think."

  Suddenly a mine-boss came along, with gentle, cat-like footsteps.

  "What are you two skulking for?" he asked, exhibiting a rattan, hisbadge of office.

  "Who's skulking?" asked Alfonso, savagely.

  "You are."

  The murderer looked at him with a foreboding gleam in his eye.

  "Pedro," he said, "I warned you once before not to interfere with me."

  "It is my duty."

  "Let me alone; I'm a desperate man, and I'd just as soon be dead asworking here. Do you understand?"

  "I understand that you are threatening me," answered Pedro, "and Ishall report you."

  This "report" meant fifty lashes on the bare back of the prisoner,delivered publicly before retiring to rest.

  Alfonso gnashed his teeth savagely.

  "Take care," he said.

  "I shall report you twice if you do not instantly go to work."

  This was intended to convey the fact that the punishment would bedoubled, and the number of lashes increased to one hundred.

  Alfonso's eyes glared like those of a wild beast.

  Jack shrank back, for he felt sure that some terrible tragedy was aboutto take place.

  In any case of disobedience reported by the overseers, the convictswere unmercifully flogged with a rawhide, and Alfonso had been treatedto that kind of discipline twice during his period of incarceration.

  What wonder that a man condemned for life to the most degradingdrudgery, who had no hope of a commutation of his sentence, and whocould only expect to die in his chains, should rebel when he thoughthimself persecuted by those in authority over him?

  "I have warned you," said Alfonso, in a strangled voice.

  "And I have warned you," replied the keeper.

  "Recollect that I have already killed one man."

  "Bah!" replied Pedro, the keeper, drawing a pistol. "If you were somuch as to raise your little finger toward me, I would stretch you acorpse on this floor."

  "What should I be doing to let you?" asked Pedro, with a sneer whichwas peculiarly aggravating.

  Alfonso breathed heavily.

  "Do you mean to report me?" he demanded.

  "Certainly I do, and you know very well what that means."

  "Yes--I--do," answered the convict--speaking with difficulty.

  "Shall I tell you?"

  "No need of it; my back bears the record."

  "For two days in succession, my friend," exclaimed Pedro, who seemed totake a pleasure in tormenting the convict, "you will be flogged in thepresence of your companions."

  Alfonso's herculean frame trembled, and he shook like an aspen leaf.

  "God!" he cried, uplifting his eyes to the dark rock above him, "mytime has come--and his."

  With a wild gasp he sprang upon Pedro.

  Harkaway would have interfered, but he saw that it was useless to makeany attempt to separate them.

  It was a duel to the death between these two men.

  He would only have endangered his own life and have done no good.

  Pedro discharged his pistol, as he had threatened to do, but Alfonsoreceived the bullet in his left shoulder without flinching. With hisright hand he drove the sharp point of his pick into the skull of thekeeper.

  Pedro fell with a groan.

  Again and again the infuriated convict struck him until, in his madfrenzy, he had smashed his skull into a jelly.

  "What have you done?" asked Jack.

  "Settled him, any way. There is one mine-boss gone, and the world isrid of another petty tyrant," replied Alfonso.

  "And what will become of you?"

  "I shall solve the great problem, my friend," said the convict, now adouble murderer.

  He stooped and picked up the pistol which Pedro had allowed to dropfrom his hand.

  "You do not mean that you will take your own life?"

  "That is precisely what I do mean."

  "How?"

  "Look here!" exclaimed Alfonso. "I take you to be a sensible man,though young. What have I, a slave, to live for? Is it any pleasure tome to exist, as I have been existing for the last year, since I havebeen in this infernal place?"

  "No, I admit that; but----"

  "What?"

  "While there is life there is hope."

  "Not for such as I. Have I not killed this man, almost in self-defense,I may say?"

  "I admit it."

  "Well, if I live a few hours more they will seize me, flog me till I amin a dying condition, and then hang me. Why should I not die now?"

  Harkaway could not see any valid reason why he should prolong hismiserable and forfeited existence.

  "You are right," he said. "It is clear that suicide in your case is anatonement, if not a virtue."

  "Comrade," exclaimed Alfonso, "they say that those who are about to diesee future events clearly."

  "I have heard that," replied Jack.

  "I can see you free and happy."

  "Ha!" cried Jack. "When?"

  "Before long. I congratulate you. Do not forget what I told you aboutthe diamond."

  "I will not."

  "Cut it out as soon as I am dead, and then give the alarm at the mouthof the shaft."

  "I will; but where shall I put it?"

  Alfonso looked wildly around him.

  "I don't know. I can't tell," he replied. "My brain is in a whirl. Ihear strange voices ringing in my ears. Angels are talking to me. I amconversing with the spirits of the mighty dead and they bid me come tothem."

  Jack saw now that the man was crazed.

  His troubles and his hard lot had weakened his mind, and he was nolonger responsible for his actions.

  What ought he to do under the circumstances?

  If he snatched the pistol from his hand, he would run the risk of beingshot, and it would be no charity to the poor wretch to save his life inorder that, after cruelly torturing him, the authorities at the minesmight take it in a few hours.

  Holding out his hand, he said:

  "Good-by."

  The murderer grasped it warmly.

  "You say good-by! Have you anything to add?" he asked.

  "Yes. God bless you and----"

  Jack hesitated.

  "What?"

/>   "Forgive you, for His Son's sake."

  "Good! _Adios_, signor."

  These were the last words that Alfonso spoke, for he placed the muzzleof the pistol against his right temple and fired.

  There was a loud report, which gave out cavernous echoes, a thicksmoke, which nearly obscured the light of the lamp, and the murdererfell prostrate over the corpse of the mine boss.

  The bullet had done its work only too well.

  He died without a word, a sigh, or a groan.