FRANK AND JOE TAKE TO WANDERING; SEE SOME WONDERFUL THINGS, AND HAVE A
NARROW ESCAPE.
Before our hero became convalescent, his comrade Douglas was "laid down"
with dysentery. In these circumstances, the digging went on slowly, for
much of the time of Meyer and Graddy was necessarily occupied in
nursing--and truly kind and devoted, though rough, nurses they proved to
be in that hour of need.
Gradually, but surely, Douglas sank. There was no doctor to prescribe
for him, no medicine to be had for love or money. In that wretched hut
he lay beside his sick friend, and conversed, as strength permitted, in
faint low tones, on the folly of having thrown his life away for "mere
gold," and on the importance of the things that concern the soul. As he
drew near his end, the name of the Saviour was often on his lips, and
often did he reproach himself for having neglected the "great
salvation," until it was _almost_ too late. Sometimes he spoke of
home--in Scotland,--and gave many messages to Frank, which he begged him
to deliver to his mother, if he should ever get well and live to return
home.
There was something in that "if" which went with a thrill to Frank's
heart, as he lay there, and realised vividly that his comrade was
actually dying, and that he too might die.
One evening Joe entered the hut with more alacrity than he had done for
many a day. He had a large nugget, just dug up, in his hand, and had
hastened to his companions to cheer them, if possible, with a sight of
it. Douglas was just passing away. He heard his comrade's hearty
remarks, and looked upon the mass of precious metal.
"Joe," he whispered faintly, "Wisdom is more to be desired than gold;
`The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'"
He never spoke again, and died within an hour after that.
At last Frank began to mend, and soon found himself strong enough to
travel, he therefore made arrangements to leave Bigbear Gully with his
inseparable friend Joe. Meyer, being a very strong man, and in robust
health, determined to remain and work out their claim, which still
yielded abundance of gold.
"Meyer," said Frank, the evening before his departure, "I'm very sorry
that we are obliged to leave you."
"Ya, das ist mos' miserable," said the poor German, looking
disconsolate.
"But you see," continued Frank, "that my remaining, in my present state
of health, is out of the question. Now, Joe and I have been talking
over our affairs. We intend to purchase three mules and set off under
the guidance of a half-caste Californian, to visit different parts of
this country. We will continue our journey as long as our gold lasts,
and then return to San Francisco and take passage for England,--for we
have both come to the unalterable determination that we won't try to
make our fortunes by gold-digging. We have sufficient dust to give us a
long trip and pay our passage to England, without making use of that big
nugget found by Joe, which is worth at least 200 pounds; so we have
determined to leave it in possession of Jeffson, to be used by you if
luck should ever take a wrong turn--as it will sometimes do--and you
should chance to get into difficulties. Of course if you continue
prosperous, we will reclaim our share of it on our return hither."
"Ah, you is too goot," cried the warm-hearted German, seizing Frank's
hand and wringing it, "bot I vill nevair use de nuggut--nevair! You
sall find him here sartainly ven you do com bak."
"Well, I hope so, for your own sake," said Frank, "because that will
show you have been successful. But if you get into low water, and do
not use it, believe me I shall feel very much aggrieved."
Next day about noon, our hero and Joe, with Junk, their vaquero, mounted
their mules and rode away.
"A new style o' cruisin' this," said Joe Graddy, one fine day, as they
pulled up under the shade of a large tree, at a spot where the scenery
was so magnificent that Frank resolved to rest and sketch it.
"New, indeed, and splendid too," he exclaimed enthusiastically, leaping
off his mule. "You can go shoot squirrels or bears if you like, Joe,
but here I remain for the next three or four hours."
As Frank had been in the habit of treating his friend thus almost every
day since starting on their tour, he was quite prepared for it; smiled
knowingly, ordered the vaquero to tether the mules and accompany him
into the forest, and then, taking his bearings with a small
pocket-compass, and critically inspecting the sun, and a huge pinchbeck
watch which was the faithful companion of his wanderings, he shouldered
his gun and went off, leaving the enthusiastic painter to revel in the
glories of the landscape.
And truly magnificent the scenery was. They had wandered by that time
far from the diggings, and were involved in all the grandeur of the
primeval wilderness. Stupendous mountains, capped with snow, surrounded
the beautiful valley through which they were travelling, and herbage of
the richest description clothed the ground, while some of the trees were
so large that many of the giant oaks of old England would have appeared
small beside them. Some of the precipices of the valley were fully
three thousand feet high, without a break from top to bottom, and the
mountain-ranges in the background must have been at least as high again.
Large tracts of the low grounds were covered with wild oats and rich
grasses; affording excellent pasturage to the deer, which could be seen
roving about in herds. Lakes of various sizes were alive with
waterfowl, whose shrill and plaintive cries filled the air with wild
melody. A noble river coursed throughout the entire length of the
valley, and its banks were clothed with oaks, cypresses, and chestnuts,
while, up on the mountain sides, firs of truly gigantic size reared
their straight stems above the surrounding trees with an air of towering
magnificence, which gave them indisputable right to be considered the
aristocracy of those grand solitudes.
Of these firs Frank observed one so magnificent that, although anxious
to begin work without delay, he could not resist the desire to examine
it closely. Laying down his book and pencil he ran towards it, and
stood for some time in silent amazement, feeling that he was indeed in
the presence of the Queen of the Forest. It was a pine which towered to
a height of certainly not less than three hundred and sixty feet, and,
after careful measurement, was found to be ninety-three feet in
circumference. In regarding this tree as the Queen, Frank was doubly
correct, for the natives styled it the "Mother of the Forest." The bark
of it, to the height of a hundred and sixteen feet, was, in after years,
carried to England, and built up in its original form in the Crystal
Palace of Sydenham. It was unfortunately destroyed in the great fire
which a few years ago consumed a large part of that magnificent
building.
But this was not the only wonderful sight that was seen that day. After
Frank had finished his drawing, and added it to a portfolio which was
already well filled, he fired a shot to recall his nautical comrade and
the vaquero. They soon rejoined him, and, continuing their journey,
came to a waterfall which, in some respects, excelled that of the
far-famed Niagara itself.
It had sounded like murmuring thunder in their ears the greater part of
that day, and as they approached it the voice of its roar became so
deafening that they were prepared for something unusually grand, but not
for the stupendous sight and sound that burst upon them when, on turning
round the base of a towering precipice, they came suddenly in full view
of one of the most wonderful of the Creator's works in that land.
A succession of wall-like mountains rose in two tiers before them into
the clouds. Some of the lower clouds floated far below the highest
peaks. From the summit of the highest range, a river, equal to the
Thames at Richmond, dropt sheer down a precipice of more than two
thousand feet. Here it met the summit of the lower mountain-range, on
which it burst with a deep-toned sullen roar, comparable only to eternal
thunder. A white cloud of spray received the falling river in its soft
embrace, and sent it forth again, turbulent and foam-bespeckled, towards
its second leap,--another thousand feet,--into the plain below. The
entire height of this fall was above three thousand feet!
Our hero was of course anxious to make a careful drawing of it, but
having already exhausted the greater part of the day, he was fain to
content himself with a sketch, after making which they pushed rapidly
forward, and encamped for the night, still within sight and sound of the
mighty fall.
"D'you know, Joe," said Frank, leaning back against a tree stem, as he
gazed meditatively into into the fire after supper was concluded, "it
has often struck me that men are very foolish for not taking full
possession of the splendid world, in which they have been placed."
Frank paused a few moments, but the observation not being sufficiently
definite for Joe, who was deep in the enjoyment of his first pipe, no
reply was made beyond an interjectional "h'm."
"Just look around you," pursued Frank, waving his hand towards the
landscape, "at this magnificent country; what timber, what soil, what an
amount of game, what lakes, what rivers, what facilities for farming,
manufacturing, fishing,--everything, in fact, that is calculated to
gladden the heart of man."
"Includin' gold," suggested Joe.
"Including gold," assented Frank; and there it all lies--has lain since
creation--hundreds of thousands of acres of splendid land _unoccupied_.
"Ha! there's a screw loose somewhere," said Joe, taking the pipe from
his lips and looking at it earnestly, as if the remark were addressed to
it, "somethin' out o' j'int--a plank started, so to speak--cer'nly."
"No doubt of it," said Frank; "and the broad acres which we now look
upon, as well as those over which we have lately travelled, are as
nothing compared with the other waste but fertile lands in America, on
which hundreds of thousands of the human race might live happily. Yet,
strange to say, men seem to prefer congregating together in little
worlds of brick, stone, and mortar, living tier upon tier above each
other's heads, breathing noxious gases instead of the scent of flowers,
treading upon mud, stone, and dust, instead of green grass, and dwelling
under a sky of smoke instead of bright blue ether--and this, too, in the
face of the Bible command to `go forth and replenish the earth.'"
"Yes, there's great room," said Joe, "for the settin' up of a gin'ral
enlightenment an' universal emigration society, but I raither think it
wouldn't pay."
"I know it wouldn't, but why not?" demanded Frank.
"Ah, why not?" repeated Joe.
As neither of them appeared to be able to answer the question, they both
remained for some time in a profound reverie, Frank gazing as he was
wont to do into the fire, and Joe staring through smoke of his own
creation at the vaquero, who reclined on the opposite side of the fire
enjoying the tobacco to the full by letting it puff slowly out at his
nose as well as his mouth.
"Joe," said Frank.
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Joe with nautical promptitude.
"I have been thinking a good deal about our affairs of late, and have
come to the conclusion that the sooner we go home the better."
"My notions pre-cisely."
"Moreover," continued Frank, "I think that we have come far enough in
this direction, and that it would be a good plan to return to Bigbear
Gully by a different route from that by which we came here, and thus
have an opportunity of seeing some of the other parts of the diggings.
What say you to that?"
"I'm agreeable," answered Joe.
"Well then, shall we decide to commence our return journey to-morrow?"
"By all means. Down wi' the helm, 'bout ship an' lay our course on
another tack by daylight," said Joe, shaking the ashes out of his pipe
with the slow unwilling air of a man who knows that he has had enough
but is loath to give up; "I always like to set sail by daylight. It
makes one feel up to the mark so to speak, as if one had lost none of
the day, and I suppose," he added with a sigh which resolved itself into
a yawn, "that if we means to start so bright an' early the sooner we
tumble in the better."
"True," said Frank, whose mouth irresistibly followed the example of
Joe's, "I think it will be as well to turn in."
There was a quiet, easy-going lowness in the speech and motions of the
two friends, which showed that they were just in a state of readiness to
fall into the arms of the drowsy god. They rolled themselves in their
blankets, placed their rifles by their sides, their heads on their
saddles, and their feet to the fire.
Joe Graddy's breathing proclaimed that he had succumbed at once, but
Frank lay for a considerable time winking owlishly at the stars, which
returned him the compliment with interest by twinkling at him through
the branches of the overhanging trees.
Early next morning they arose, remounted their mules and turned back,
diverging, according to arrangement, from their former track, and making
for a particular part of the diggings where Frank had been given to
understand there were many subjects of interest for his pencil. We
would fain linger by the way, to describe much of what they saw, but the
limits of our space require that we should hasten onward, and transport
the reader at once to a place named the Great Canon, which, being a very
singular locality, and peculiarly rich in gold, merits description.
It was a gloomy gap or gorge--a sort of gigantic split in the earth--
lying between two parallel ranges of hills at a depth of several hundred
feet, shaped like a wedge, and so narrow below that there was barely
standing room. The gold all lay at the bottom, the slopes being too
steep to afford it a resting-place.
The first diggers who went there were said to have gathered vast
quantities of gold; and when Frank and Joe arrived there was quite
enough to repay hard work liberally. The miners did not work in
companies there. Indeed, the form of the chasm did not admit of
operations on a large scale being carried on at any one place. Most of
the men worked singly with the pan, and used large bowie-knives with
which they picked gold from the crevices of the rocks in the bed of the
stream, or scratched the gravelly soil from the roots of the overhanging
trees, which were usually rich in deposits. The gorge, about four miles
in extent, presented one continuous string of men in single file, all
eagerly picking up gold, and admitting that in this work they were
unusually successful.
But these poor fellows paid a heavy price for the precious metal in the
loss of health, the air being very bad, as no refreshing breezes could
reach them at the bottom of the gloomy defile.
The gold at that place was found both in very large and very small
grains, and was mixed with quantities of fine black sand, which the
miners blew off from it somewhat carelessly--most of them being "green
hands," and anxious to get at the gold as quickly as possible. This
carelessness on their part was somewhat cleverly taken advantage of by a
keen old fellow who chanced to enter the hut of a miner when Frank and
Joe were there. He had a bag on his back and a humorous twinkle in his
eye.
"Well, old foxey, what do _you_ want?" asked the owner of the hut, who
happened to be blowing off the sand from a heap of his gold at the time.
"Sure it's only a little sand I want," said the man, in a brogue which
betrayed his origin.
"Sand, Paddy, what for?"
"For emery, sure," said the man, with a very rueful look; "troth it's
myself as is gittin' too owld entirely for the diggin's. I was a broth
of a boy wance, but what wid dysentery and rheumatiz there's little or
nothin' o' me left, so I'm obleeged to contint myself wid gatherin' the
black sand, and sellin' it as a substitute for emery."
"Well, that is a queer dodge," said the miner, with a laugh.
"True for ye, it _is_ quare, but it's what I'm redooced to, so av you'll
be so kind as plaze to blow the sand on to this here tray, it'll be
doin' a poor man a good turn, an' costin' ye nothin'."
He held up a tin tray as he spoke, and the miner cheerfully blew the
sand off his gold-dust on to it.
Thanking him with all the fervour peculiar to his race, the Irishman
emptied the sand into his bag, and heaving a heavy sigh, left the hut to
request a similar favour of other miners.
"You may depend on it," said Frank, as the old man went out, "that
fellow is humbugging you. It is gold, not sand, that he wants."
"That's a fact," said Joe Graddy, with an emphatic nod and wink.
"Nonsense," said the miner, "I don't believe we lose more than a few
specks in blowing off the sand--certainly nothing worth speaking of."
The man was wrong in this, however, for it was afterwards discovered
that the sly old fellow carried his black sand to his hut, and there,
every night, by the agency of quicksilver, he extracted from the sand
double the average of gold obtained by the hardest working miner in the
Canon!
At each end of this place there was a hut made of calico stretched on a
frame of wood, in which were sold brandy and other strong liquors of the
most abominable kind, at a charge of about two shillings for a small
glass! Cards were also to be found there by those who wished to gamble
away their hard-earned gains or double them. Places of iniquity these,
which abounded everywhere throughout the diggings, and were the nightly
resort of hundreds of diggers, and the scene of their wildest orgies on
the Sabbath-day.
Leaving the Great Canon, our travellers--we might almost term them
inspectors--came to a creek one raw, wet morning, where a large number
of miners where at work. Here they resolved to spend the day, and test
the nature of the ground. Accordingly, the vaquero was directed to look
after the mules while Frank and Joe went to work with pick, shovel, and
pan.
They took the "dirt" from a steep incline considerably above the winter
level of the stream, in a stratum of hard bluish clay, almost as hard as
rock, with a slight surface-covering of earth. It yielded prodigiously.
At night they found that they had washed out gold to the value of forty
pounds sterling! The particles of gold were all large, many being the
size of a grain of corn, with occasional nuggets intermixed, besides
quartz amalgamations.
"If this had been my first experience o' them there diggin's," said Joe
Graddy, as he smoked his pipe that night in the chief gambling and
drinking store of the place, "I would have said our fortin wos made, all
but. Hows'ever, I don't forget that the last pair o' boots I got cost
me four pound, an' the last glass o' brandy two shillin's--not to speak
o' death cuttin' an' carvin' all round, an' the rainy season a-comin'
on, so it's my advice that we 'bout ship for home as soon as may be."
"I agree with you, Joe," said Frank, "and I really don't think I would
exchange the pleasure I have derived from journeying through this land,
and sketching the scenery, for all the gold it contains. Nevertheless I
would not like to be tempted with the offer of such an exchange!--Now,
I'll turn in."
Next morning the rain continued to pour incessantly, and Frank Allfrey
had given the order to get ready for a start, when a loud shouting near
the hut in which they had slept induced them to run out. A band of men
were hurrying toward the tavern with great haste and much gesticulation,
dragging a man in the midst of them, who struggled and protested
violently.
Frank saw at a glance that the prisoner was his former companion
Bradling, and that one of the men who held him was the stranger who had
been so badly wounded by him at the camp-fire, as formerly related.
On reaching the tavern, in front of which grew a large oak-tree--one of
the limbs of which was much chafed as if by the sawing of a rope against
it--the stranger, whose comrades called him Dick, stood up on a stump,
and said--
"I tell you what it is, mates, I'm as sure that he did it as I am of my
own existence. The man met his death at the hands of this murderer
Bradling; ha! he knows his own name, you see! He is an escaped
convict."
"And what are you?" said Bradling, turning on him bitterly.
"That is no man's business, so long as I hurt nobody," cried Dick
passionately. "I tell you," he continued, addressing the crowd, which
had quickly assembled, "I found this fellow skulking in the bush close
to where the body was found, and I know he did it, because he all but
murdered me not many months ago, and there," he continued, with a look
of surprise, pointing straight at our hero, "is a man who can swear to
the truth of what I say!"