THE RESULT OF GROWING RICH TOO RAPIDLY.
My officious friend lifted the nugget from the bucket and laid it before
me, and for a few minutes I gloated over and passed my hand over its
unequal surface, and weighed it in my imagination until I was roused
from my reverie by those in the shaft.
"Send down the bucket, so that we can get up," shouted Fred; "we don't
want to stop here all night!"
I hurried to relieve my friend, and by the time that he was safe out of
the shaft, and the bucket had re-descended for Mike, I was comparatively
calm.
Fred and myself shook hands over our prize, and then lifted it, and
sought to form some idea of its weight, in which we were aided by the
official of the law.
"It will weigh forty pounds," cried Fred, after a moment's handling.
"More than that, sirs," answered the policeman, with a dogmatical air
that was charming to us, because every additional ounce made us richer.
"I've seen a few nuggets since I've been stationed here, and I had
oughter know about such things," he continued, turning our prize over
and over, and scrutinizing it with the air of a connoisseur. "Do you
see, there's not an ounce of quartz stuck to the whole piece, and gold
is awful heavy when it comes in the lump style."
We assented to his remarks without a word of opposition. We could have
listened to him for hours, it seemed so good to have him extol, instead
of depreciate, the nugget.
"How much, then, do you think that it will weigh?" I demanded.
"Well," replied the officer, after a moment's pause, and another lifting
operation, "I should say about fifty pounds, if my opinion was asked.
"If my advice was asked," the officer continued, in a patronizing
manner, "I should say, take that nugget to the government reception
office without delay, and after it is weighed, get a certificate of
deposit. That is my advice, but my opinion may not be worth much, one
way or the other."
We agreed that his advice was good, and that it would be wisdom on our
part to accept of it without delay, for it was rather dangerous having
so much gold in a store, when the town was swarming with thieves.
There was one person, however, who did not seem to like the proposition,
and that was Mike. He had a faint suspicion that the project was
intended to defraud him of his rightful claim to one quarter of the
nugget, and his face showed the feelings of his heart, while we were
talking of the matter.
"Is it moving ye intend to do?" he demanded, eyeing the gold as though
it had been guilty of a treacherous act.
"We are going to remove it to the government office for safety," I
replied.
"For safety?" repeated Mike. "Where could it be more safe than under me
eye, or under me head while I slept. Ough! don't bother, but let me
carry it to the store, where we can cut it up, and I can get me
quarter."
"You wouldn't spoil such a nugget as that by cutting it up, would you?"
cried the policeman; "it is the finest specimen of gold that I ever saw,
and should be preserved."
"Faith, if that is the case," muttered Mike, "it might just as well have
remained in the pit, for I don't see what good it will do us."
We succeeded in explaining to the capricious gentleman what we intended
to do, and pacified him by promising that he should have his share in
ready money before night, if he desired it; and I will do Mike the
justice of saying that he did, most emphatically, and other men would
have acted in the same way.
By the time that we had concluded to deposit our treasure at the
government office, considerable of a crowd had collected in the vicinity
of our claim, and was admiring the nugget, and wishing, with all their
hearts, that it belonged to them, and that they could be so fortunate.
We even began to receive proposals for our claim, and prices were
offered that we never dreamed of asking.
"Now is the time to sell," whispered our tempter, in the shape of the
policeman.
"Don't dispose of the mine for any consideration," cried Mike; "I'm
sartin that I know where another nugget is hid, and I'll have him out,
by the blessing of St. Patrick."
"Sell while the excitement lasts," continued the tempter; "I never knew
of two nuggets being found close together."
"It's our fortunes we'll make out of the mine," Mike exclaimed. "I'll go
back to Ireland, buy land, and be called 'the squire,' and drink
buttermilk twice a day, and ate paraties every meal. I'll have a still
of me own, and make the real poteen whiskey, and drink punch, instead of
water, and smoke 'bacca, instead of cabbage leaves. Won't I keep open
house, and none shall be more welcome than an Australian miner!"
"Will you have a pig?" asked some one in the crowd.
"A pig!" repeated Mike, with intense scorn; "I'll have a dozen of them,
and each one shall be fatter than ye."
A roar of laughter followed Mike's sally, and the questioner, who
thought that he could ridicule the honest Hibernian, instantly subsided,
and was seen no more.
We intended to send to the store for the purpose of getting a stout
bucket, into which we could put our nugget and carry it to the office;
but Mike would not listen to the suggestion for a moment. He shouldered
the precious lump of gold, and marched through the streets, as proud of
his charge as though the whole of it belonged to him, and he knew where
he could get another just like it.
A crowd of miners followed at our heels, and such a mixture of tongues
was never heard, except at the construction of the tower of Babal.
Followed by this motley crew, we passed along the streets, amidst shouts
and congratulations, until we gained the government reception office.
"There," cried Mike, throwing down his load upon the counter of the
office, much to the astonishment of the clerks; "plase weigh that, and
see how much it comes to, for I want me quarterings."
The clerks did not comprehend his words, although they did understand
the meaning of his action; and while a couple of police officers, who
were stationed at the building, drove from the room all those not
interested in the matter, we watched the large scales that were to tell
us to a farthing how much the nugget was worth.
"Well," cried Mike, "can't ye spake, and let us know how much me
quarterings come to?"
The clerk, who was figuring, looked at the speaker with silent contempt,
and did not even condescend to reply, much less hasten his movements.
"Your nugget," said the clerk, at length, addressing Fred and myself,
"weighs just fifty-one pounds two ounces, and if there is no quartz in
the interior of the lump--and I think that there is not--at the present
price of gold it is worth, in round numbers, about two thousand five
hundred pounds sterling. A pretty good day's work, sirs."
"Say it again," cried Mike, all ready for another Irish break-down.
The clerk repeated the amount with much amiability. He had just learned
that Mike had an interest in the nugget, and his respect for the man
increased in proportion to his wealth.
"Two thousand five hundred pounds sterling," repeated Mike, in
amazement. "Who would have thought that there was so much money in the
world? I'll ate nothing but paraties, and drink nothing stronger than
buttermilk and whiskey hereafter. Two thousand pounds and five hundred
of 'em to make the figures look a little odd. Ough! murder, won't the
old woman and the childers be plased to see me riding home in an
illegant coach and four, dressed like a lord!"
The subject was one of so much importance that Mike, in defiance of the
dignified-looking clerk, indulged in a hornpipe, and was only brought to
his senses when told that he would be locked up by the policemen as a
lunatic, unless he was more quiet.
"I'll be like a lamb," he replied; and then, after a moment's quiet, he
leaned over and whispered to the clerk, in a confidential manner,--"If
the nugget is worth two thousand five hundred pounds sterling, pray,
what is me quarterings worth? Answer me that, if ye can."
We did not give the clerk time to make the calculation, but offered
Mike, on a venture, a sum equivalent to two thousand seven hundred
dollars for his quarterings, while we concluded to run the risk of the
interior of the nugget being filled with quartz. Mike accepted the
proposition without delay, and merely taking a certificate of deposit,
we returned to the store, counted out in sovereigns the amount that was
due Mike, made him put his cross, in the presence of Mr. Critchet, to a
paper certifying that he had been paid in full, and with the gold in his
pocket, off he started for his nearest countrymen, for the purpose of
treating every Irishman that he met, and getting rid of his sudden
wealth as soon as possible.
I urged him for half an hour to let the larger portion of his funds
remain in our hands, but he was obstinate, and feared trickery. I then
endeavored to persuade him to deposit all but a hundred sovereign in the
government office, but strange to say, he was more fearful of the
government concern than he was of our firm. At length I got out of all
patience, for I saw that, instead of devoting his fortune to his
relatives, he was determined to have a spree, and I let him go without
another word of remonstrance.
He conducted himself precisely as I anticipated. For one week two thirds
of his countrymen suspended work, and drank cheap whiskey at Mike's
expense. His gold vanished like snow on the top of Mount Alexander at
midday, and although many of the better class of Irish visited our store
every day, and begged that we would interfere and help save a portion of
his wealth, we declined to do so; and even Mr. Brown, who was appealed
to, shrugged his shoulders, and made an oft-quoted remark that "a fool
and his money were soon parted." The most that we would do was to
promise that Mike should not buy a single sixpence worth of liquor at
our store, and we kept our word, for which we got most heartily abused
by our late employee's friends; and one day we were obliged to have two
or three arrested, owing to a display of pugilism which they made.
All things must have an ending, and to follow out Mike's fortunes, I may
as well state that he soon lost all of his money, was deserted by those
who called themselves his friends, and that he was left without the
means of buying a loaf of broad, or a glass of whiskey to keep off the
_delirium tremens_. He applied to us for employment, and we gave him
something to do; but the thoughts of his folly weighed heavily on his
mind, and one morning we found Mike hanging by his neck, in the rear of
the store where we stabled our horses.
Had he but adhered to his first resolve, of returning to Ireland, and
living in peace for the remainder of his days, his gold would have been
of some use, not only to him, but to the community; but as matters
transpired, the finding of the nugget was his greatest misfortune.
But to return to the day when our wealth was increased by a lucky stroke
of the pickaxe, and when we began to think seriously of mining claims as
means of making fortunes. In this connection we were advised by Mr.
Critchet, who, although not of a sanguine temperament, had made
considerable money in speculation as well as in digging, and was
enthusiastic when he learned that we had been amply repaid for all funds
which we had advanced.
"Now is the time to sell," he said, when he heard half a dozen
applicants make inquiries regarding the terms for our now famous claim.
"Don't hold back, and say that you don't believe that the mine contains
another nugget. That won't do in Ballarat. Speak up with confidence, and
tell about the richness of the mine, and your disinclination to sell.
That will only make people more eager, and you will get better terms."
"But we don't believe that the claim will ever pay another dollar," I
replied.
"What is that to you?" he retorted. "Didn't you buy without
expectations, and haven't you ever purchased a lottery ticket and drawn
a blank? A claim is a lottery, and one of the most treacherous kind.
Sell while you can, and try another site."
We remembered of a purchase that we had made in California, when a
shrewd fellow sold us his worked-out claim for two hundred dollars, and
we were laughed at for our greenness. We felt a desire to retaliate, but
we had been taught in New England schools that two wrongs did not make
one right, and we banished the plan from our minds of urging people to
buy our mine on the plea that it was rich beyond comparison. If it was
desired, we determined that it should be bought without extolling
claptrap of any kind.
While we were in this frame of mind, a stranger entered our store, and
expressed a desire to see the nugget which had turned half the heads in
Ballarat.
He manifested no disappointment when told that it was at the government
office, and after asking a few questions, boldly made an offer for our
claim that was greatly in advance of what we had anticipated.
There was a moment's hesitation on our part, and we were strongly
tempted to close the bargain; but better thoughts came to our aid, and
we declined the offer, on the ground that he offered more money than the
mine was really worth, and more than he could possibly get back.
"That," replied the would-be purchaser, "is my lookout. I know the
condition of the mine, and what has been taken from it. If my offer is
accepted I am willing to pay the price that I mention, and whether it
repays me or not is none of your affair."
It would have been cruel to disappoint the man, and as money was our
object, and he was so anxious to do us a service, we, with great
magnanimity, accepted of one thousand dollars in gold dust, and gave the
purchaser a deed of the claim.
"A good day's work!" cried Fred, rubbing his hands, as soon as the
stranger's back was turned. "A dozen or twenty more such, and then, hey
for home!"
We had made, as Fred said, a good day's work for the firm, for, of
course, Smith's interest was equal to our own, and he shared in any
speculation that we might enter into; but while I am on the subject, I
may as well tell of a money-making operation that entirely eclipsed the
above transaction, even including the finding of the nugget.
I was in Melbourne, one time, having run down from the mines for the
purpose of buying a few articles which we wanted forwarded by express,
and while I was dodging from one store to another, I saw that the stock
of flour was rather low, and that, unless fresh arrivals soon augmented
the small quantity on hand, the price must go up. I made a few cautious
inquiries, and found that the dealers at Sydney were not much better off
than those at Melbourne, and it occurred to me that soon a speculation
movement would begin, and that we might as well have a hand in it as to
let others make all the money.
As I said before, I made careful inquiries, and discovered that two
ships were daily expected, one from Chili, and the other from New York,
and both were loaded with flour. No vessel was expected from England
with grain on board, although it was not known for certainty.
Upon this intelligence I pondered for an hour or two, and then resolved
to try my luck in the way of speculation. Flour was selling at fair
prices, I think, although, owing to the non-publication of a price
current, and to the absence of an exchange, no two merchants sold alike.
After I had made up my mind what I intended to do, I went to the bank
where we had five thousand pounds lying to our credit, drew out the
money, and then began my purchases. In each case I stipulated that the
flour should remain in store one week, until I could get teams to cart
it to Ballarat. To this a ready assent was given, and the merchants
expressed themselves pleased to transact business with me. In some
instances I paid cash, especially where the quantity bought was very
slight, not amounting to more than fifty barrels, or one hundred sacks;
but where I bought two or even three hundred barrels, I claimed the
privilege of one month's credit, after paying twenty per cent. of the
amount down.
In two hours I had engaged nearly every barrel and sack of flour in
Melbourne, and then, and not till then, did I begin to tremble for the
result of my speculation. A dozen times during the night did I wander
through the streets of the city, and down to the water's edge, for the
purpose of seeing how the wind blew, and each time did I find that it
was favorable for vessels entering the harbor. I consulted an aged
mariner, with tar plentifully sprinkled upon the seat of his trousers,
and the son of Neptune told me, with many grave shakes of his head,
that,--
"You can't always tell about these things; sometimes the wind blows one
way here in this bloody hole, and sometimes it blows different on the
ocean."
The next day I despatched two large teams to Ballarat loaded heavily
with flour, and sent a letter by the mail, telling Fred what I had done,
and advising him to put the price up, but to first, frighten the
merchants by bantering them with offers for their stock. I knew that
that course would startle them into asking at least one third more than
they had been demanding, and that a dozen of the most prominent ones
would start for Melbourne without a moment's delay for the purpose of
seeing what the movement meant.