EXPLANATIONS
"Wal, now," and Ham turned a puzzled and frowning face on the two boys,
the moment Colonel Fremont had vanished down the street, "what are you
tew yunks a-dewin' in Sacremento City? A-tryin' tew git yur necks
stretched, you blamed idgits? I'll be durned, if I wouldn't like tew
spank both on you!" and the frown on his face deepened. "I--"
"Oh, Ham," broke in Thure excitedly, "we've got the most wonderful story
to tell! And it all comes from that murdered miner, who, before he died,
told us about a wonderfully rich mine that he had discovered; and it was
to get the map to this mine that those two dreadful men tried to get us
hanged--"
"Whoa--up! Jest pull up y'ur hosses a bit," and Ham stared in
astonishment at the excited boy. "You're a-goin' tew fast for me tew
keep up. Come 'long back intew th' hotel, an' tell me y'ur story
straight, not in jerks an' chunks," and he led the way back into the
City Hotel, and to a quiet corner in the big waiting-room, where they
could talk undisturbed and unheard.
Here, in low but excited voices and after exacting promises of the
utmost secrecy, Thure and Bud told their wonderful story to Ham.
"Wal, I'll be tee-totally durned, if it don't sound good!" declared that
worthy, when, at last, the tale had been completed. "But thar's lots of
mighty good soundin' yarns goin' 'round camp, 'bout wonderful gold
mountains an' caves of gold. Howsomever, I never heer'd tell on
anybudy's really findin' any on 'em; an', I reckon, 'most on 'em is jest
lies. But that thar map seems tew give y'ur yarn a look like th' truth;
an', I reckon, them tew skunks must have believed th' yarn, or they
wouldn't have ben so pow'ful anxious tew git th' map. Gosh, if it should
prove true!" and Ham's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed and he drew
in a deep breath. "I'll be durned, if it should prove true, if I don't
go back tew my old home in Vermont, that I ain't seen since I was a yunk
'bout y'ur age, an' buy up th' old farm, an' build a big house on it,
an'--Gosh, a'mighty, if that yarn of y'urn ain't sot me tew dreamin'!"
and Ham came back to the earth, looking a bit foolish. "More'n likely
it's all a lie; an' thar I was a buyin' farms an' a-buildin' houses!
Queer how th' gold gits intew th' blood an' makes all humans tarnal
idgits, now ain't it?" and he shook his head wonderingly.
"But, there's the map, and the big gold nugget, and all the gold that
the murderers got from him," protested Thure. "He must have found some
kind of a mine to have got that gold; and crazy folks wouldn't draw real
maps of the gold-diggings they only imagined they had discovered."
"An' you've got that map, an' that hunk of gold with you?" and again the
eager light shone in Ham's eyes. "Wal, I reckon I'd like tew have a look
at that nugget an' map."
"But, not here," interjected Bud anxiously, as he glanced suspiciously
around the big room at a number of roughly dressed men, who were
standing in front of the bar or seated at tables playing cards. "I think
that we had better wait until we get to our dads, before we show up the
map and the nugget. We can't be too careful. Now, how comes it that you
are in Sacramento City, Ham?" and the eyes of both boys turned
inquiringly to the face of their big friend.
"Reckon you're right 'bout th' map an' nugget," admitted Ham
reluctantly. "Leastwise I don't blame you for bein' some keerful after
y'ur late experience," and his own eyes glanced sharply about the room.
"Now, as tew my bein' here, that's soon explained. Y'ur dads an' th'
rest sent me in tew git a load of camp-supplies--flour, bacon, sugar,
coffee an' sech like things tew eat, 'long with some diggin' tools an'
extra clothin'. Got in a leetle afore noon; an', heerin' thar was a
murder trial on in th' hoss-market, I hit th' trail for th' market tew
once, bein' some anxious tew see who was a-goin' tew have their necks
stretched. Wal, if I didn't 'most have tew push my heart back down my
throat with my fist, when I seed that you tew yunks was th' criminals!"
"But you made things hum, when you got started," and the eyes of Bud
glowed with admiration, as they rested on the face of his big friend.
"You just straightened things out in no time. My, but it did do me good
to see you give Brokennose that punch on the jaw!"
"Same here," grinned Ham. "But it riled me all up tew have them tew curs
git away. If ever I lay my eyes on either one on 'em ag'in," and his
eyes glinted savagely, "thar won't be no need of no rope tew hang 'em,
th' cowardly murderin' skunks!" and he banged his great fist down on the
table so hard that nearly every one in the room jumped and turned their
eyes curiously in his direction.
For a few minutes longer Ham and the two boys sat talking together, then
Ham suddenly straightened up.
"Wal, if I ain't forgettin' all 'bout them supplies in th' excitement,"
he said, hurriedly rising. "Come on, yunks, I've got tew hustle an' make
all them purchases afore night; for we've got tew git out of here afore
sun-up tew-morrer," and Ham led the way out of the hotel, to where he
had left a couple of sturdy little pack-horses tied to the trees, when
he had rushed off to see the hanging.
An open space, under the overhanging branches of a huge evergreen oak,
was now selected for the camp for the night; and hither Ham and the two
boys brought their horses, and, after unsaddling and unbridling them,
gave them a scanty supply of grass, bought at fifty cents a big hand
full, and a little barley, at a dollar a quart. Then Bud, the two boys
had drawn cuts to see who should stay, was left to watch the camp, and
Ham and Thure started out to make the needed purchases.
The shops were crowded with men buying goods to take with them to the
gold-mines, or diggings, as the mines were almost universally called,
and paying for them with gold-dust, the name given to the fine particles
of rough gold dug out of the ground, at the rate of about sixteen
dollars to the ounce of gold. On every counter stood a pair of scales,
with which to weigh the gold; and it was a curious sight to Thure to see
these men, whenever they bought anything, pull out a little bag or other
receptacle, take out a few pinches of what looked like grains of coarse
yellow sand, and drop them on the scales, until the required weight was
reached, in payment for the purchase. Ham, himself, had only gold-dust
with which to make his payments; and it made Thure feel quite like a
real miner, when he handed the little gold-bag to him and told him to
attend to the paying, while he did the selecting of the goods needed.
By sundown all the purchases were made and carried to the camp and
everything made ready for an early start in the morning.
After supper--they got their own suppers, all deciding that the food at
the hotels was too rich for their blood, or, rather, pockets--Thure and
Bud, boy-like, notwithstanding their weariness, wanted to take a little
stroll about the town; but Ham promptly and emphatically vetoed any such
a move on their part.
"I'll be durned if you dew!" he declared decisively, the instant the
subject was broached. "You'll stay right here in camp, an' crawl intew
y'ur blankets, an' git tew sleep jest as quick as th' good Lord'll let
you. You shore have had all th' excitement you need for one day; an' th'
devil only knows what trouble you'd be a-gettin' intew, if you was
allowed tew run loose, promiscus like, about th' streets of Sacermento
City at night. It's bad enough by day, as you sart'in otter know; but by
night! Not for tew yunks like you!" and Ham shook his head so decidedly
and frowningly that neither boy ventured even a word in protest against
his rather arbitrary decision.
But, although they remained in camp, Thure and Bud never forgot that
first night in Sacramento City. The scenes about them were so unique, so
weirdly and romantically beautiful, so suggestive of dramatic
possibilities, that they impressed themselves indelibly on memories new
to such sensations.
As the sun went down a gray chill fog arose from the river and the
lowlying shores and fell down over the little city like a thin wet veil,
blurring and softening and reddening the light from the innumerable
camp-fires, built under the dark shadows of overhanging trees, and the
broad glows coming from canvas houses and tents, lighted from within,
and the bright glares that poured through the doors and windows of the
more brilliantly illuminated dance-halls and gambling-hells, giving to
all a weird and dream-like aspect, fascinating, romantic, and beautiful.
Their camp was situated some distance from the center of the city's
activities; but near enough for the sounds of its wild revelries to
reach their ears, softened a little by the distance. A dozen or more
bands were playing a dozen or more different tunes from a dozen or more
different dance-halls, all near together along the levee and the
neighboring streets; and, sometimes, high above even these discordant
sounds, rose the human voice, in loud song, or boisterous shout, or
peals of rough laughter. Around some of the near-by camp-fires men had
gathered and were singing the loved home melodies; and from one of these
groups came the voice of a woman in song, sounding singularly sweet and
entrancing in the midst of all those harsher sounds. Above their heads a
gentle wind blew murmuringly and whisperingly through the wide-spreading
branches of the evergreen oak; and, at their feet, snapped and crackled
the ruddy flames of their own camp-fire.
By nine o'clock the lights of the surrounding camp-fires began to grow
dimmer, and the songs and the laughter and the talking of the groups
around them ceased. All these were seeking their beds or blankets; and
soon only the noise and the music, the songs and the shouts of the
revelers broke the stillness of the night.
For a little while, before closing their eyes in sleep, Thure and Bud
lay in their blankets listening to these distant sounds of wild revelry.
Suddenly, above the music, above the songs and the shouts and the
laughter, rang out the sharp--crack--crack--of two pistol shots,
followed by an instant's lull in the sounds; and then the music, the
songs, the shouts, and the laughter went on, louder and madder than
ever.
At the sound of the pistol shots both boys had leaped out of their
blankets and stood listening intently; but Ham had only grunted and
rolled over in his blanket.
"Ham! Ham! Did you hear that?" called Thure excitedly. "Someone must
have been shot!"
"Shut up, an' crawl back intew y'ur blankets," growled Ham. "'Tain't
none of our bus'ness, if some fool did git shot. It's probably some
drunken row. Whiskey's 'most always back of every shootin' scrap. It
beats me," and the growl deepened, "how full-growed men, with
full-growed brains, can put a drop of that stuff intew their mouths,
after they've once seen what it does tew a feller's interlect, makin' a
man intew a bloody brute or a dirty beast or a grinnin' monkey; an' yit,
th' best an' th' wisest on 'em goes right on drinkin' it. It shore gits
me! Now," and he turned his wrath again on the two boys, "git right back
intew y'ur blankets, an' shut y'ur mouths an' y'ur eyes, an' keep 'em
shut till mornin'," and once again and with a final deep rumbling growl,
he rolled over in his blanket and lay still.
Thure and Bud crawled slowly back into their blankets; and, at last,
with the sounds of the distant revelry still ringing in their ears, fell
asleep.