IN LOVE AND WAR
With untiring zeal Norman gave himself to work on the dredge. Wolf
refused to modify his original order that a full day should first be
given as a labourer in the foundry and machine shops before he could
devote himself to his invention.
This proved an advantage rather than a hindrance. By his unfailing
courtesy, good fellowship, skill, and wit, Norman won his fellow
workmen as warm personal friends. He was able thus to secure all the
assistance he needed in his work.
Within two months the big dredge was finished.
From the first the regent had regarded Norman's fad with contempt.
That he could succeed in making money out of dirt containing but
twenty cents' worth of gold to a ton was an absurdity on its face.
While the young inventor worked day and night with tireless energy the
regent quietly perfected his grip on the life of the rapidly growing
colony. To render escape from the island or communication with the
coast more impossible than ever, he established the strict system of
double patrol around each community. No member of the Brotherhood was
allowed to leave his room at night without permission. Beyond the
outer patrol a mounted guard was established and the entire line of
beach was guarded by watchmen in relays who reported each hour, day
and night, by telephone to the commandant.
At the end of two months of Wolf's merciless rule the efficiency of
labour had so decreased, it was necessary to lengthen the number of
hours from eight to nine. As every inducement to efficiency of labour
had been removed there was no incentive to any man to do more than he
must without a fight with his guard or overseer. No vote was permitted
on the question of increasing the hours of labour. The board of
governors passed the order which Wolf wrote out for them without a
dissenting voice.
Norman had no trouble in getting a gang of willing hands to push the
monster gold-digger into position on one of the sand-points inside the
harbour.
It was mounted on a float twenty-five feet wide and sixty-five feet
long. For power it carried two fifty-horse-power distillate engines.
Tom was in charge of one and Joe of the other. For raising the sand
and gravel containing the gold two big Jackson gravel-pumps were
located on opposite corners at the front end of the float.
Old Tom blew the whistle, the engines started, and in an hour the
pumps had raised a hundred tons of sand and gravel and deposited them
in the concentrating flumes. Norman worked the dredge all night
without a moment's pause and in twelve hours his pumps had lifted
fifteen hundred tons of sand, showing a capacity of 3,000 tons per
day. When the gold was extracted and weighed it was found that the
dredge had averaged twenty cents from each ton of sand and that it
would cost less than three cents a ton to operate the entire machinery
of its production. The first experimental machine alone would net $500
dollars a day, or $150,000 a year. He could put five of these machines
to work in three months and make $3,000 a day.
* * * * *
The invention stirred the colony to its depths. Norman's appearance
was the signal for a burst of cheering wherever he went.
Wolf was dumfounded. He called his board of governors together at once
and ordered them to enact a new law to meet the situation.
Norman announced in the _Era_ that he would give the Brotherhood from
the beginning one half the net earnings of his machines, and asked
the board of governors at once to grant him the men needed to build
and operate enough dredges to reduce the hours of labour from nine to
seven.
Wolf met the emergency with prompt and vigorous action. He suspended
the editor for printing the announcement and set him to work carrying
a hod.
He issued a proclamation as regent that the dredge in the hands of its
inventor threatened the existence of the State, declared the law of
inventions under which it was built suspended, and ordered Norman to
at once operate the machine for the sole benefit of the State and
begin the construction of twenty dredges of equal capacity.
When Norman received this order he set to work without a moment's
delay and made a half-dozen dynamite bombs, gave one each to Tom and
Joe and their assistants, laid in a supply of provisions, erected a
tent on the beach beside the dredge, and set the big machine to work
for all it was worth.
Wolf promptly ordered his arrest. The men who attempted to execute the
order fled in terror at the sight of the bombs and reported for
instructions.
Wolf came in person at the head of a picked company of fifty guards.
Norman had stretched a rope a hundred feet from the dredge and posted
a notice that he would kill any man daring to cross it without his
permission.
Wolf paused at the rope. Norman stood alone on one of the big pumps
with his arms folded watching his enemy in silence.
The captain of the guard laid his hand on the regent's arm:
"You'd better not try it."
"He won't dare," Wolf growled.
"Yes, he will," the captain insisted.
"I'll risk it," the regent snapped.
"Are you mad? What's the use? He'll blow it up. You can't rebuild the
dredge--no one understands it. Use common sense. Send the girl with a
flag of truce and ask for a conference."
"A good idea--if it works," Wolf answered hesitating.
"It's worth trying," the captain urged.
Wolf returned to the house with his men, and in a few minutes Barbara
came to Norman, her face white with terror, her voice quivering with
pleading intensity.
"Please," she gasped, "for my sake, I beg of you not to do this insane
thing! The regent asks for a conference under a flag of truce. He
recognizes that it is impossible that you should remain here after
what has happened. He asks for a half-hour's talk with you to offer an
adjustment under which you can resign and return to San Francisco."
"It's a trick and a lie. He's deceiving you," Norman replied,
sullenly.
"No, I swear it's true. He is in earnest, Catherine is beside herself
with fear lest he be killed. He swore to her as he swore to me to
respect your wishes. I'll gladly give my life if he proves false."
Norman turned his face away and looked over the still, blue waters,
struggling with himself as he felt the tug of her soft hand on his
heart.
Suddenly a hundred men with Wolf at their head sprang over the steep
embankment and rushed to the dredge. Tom leaped to his feet and lifted
his bomb without a word.
Norman covered Barbara and grasped his uplifted arm.
"It's all over boys. I've surrendered!" he shouted.
Barbara faced Wolf with blazing eyes:
"You have betrayed my trust!"
Wolf brushed her aside and confronted Norman, who had thrown the bomb
he had taken from Tom's hand into the sea.
Norman paid no attention to Wolf, and seemed to see only the girl's
face convulsed with passion. His eyes never left her for a moment.
Wolf turned and secured the other men who had defended the dredge,
marching them with their hands tied behind their backs between two
rows of guardsmen off to jail.
Norman spoke at last to Barbara in low, cold tones:
"I congratulate you."
"What do you mean?" she gasped.
"That you are a superb actress. You have played your part to
perfection. Your role was very dramatic, too. A clumsy woman would
have bungled it, and lost even at the last moment."
"You cannot believe that I willingly betrayed you?" she cried, in
anguish.
"I wish I had died before I knew it," he answered, bitterly.
Barbara pressed close to his side and seized his hand fiercely. He
turned away with a shudder.
"Look at me," she pleaded.
He turned and faced her with a look of anger.
"Words are idle. Deeds speak louder than words."
"Norman, you are killing me with this cruel doubt!" she sobbed. "I
give up! I love you! I love you!"
She threw her arms around his neck and her head sank on his breast.
He resisted for a moment, then clasped her to his heart, bent and
kissed her with passionate tenderness.
"You believe me now?" she cried, through her tears.
"God forgive me for doubting you for a moment!" he answered,
earnestly.
The guard suddenly drew Norman from her arms, tied his hands, and led
him away to prison while the little figure followed, sobbing in
helpless anguish.
Wolf walked behind, his big mouth twitching with smiles he could not
suppress.