As it was sunset when we came to anchor, we deferred our landing
till the next morning; but one of the owners coming on board brought
a large budget of letters, among which there were several for our
party. Having devoured them with that intensity of interest that can
be understood only by those who have been in similar circumstances, we
laid them aside for a more careful perusal, and gathering round the
two or three old settlers who had come from the shore, listened with
breathless attention, the careless, genteel indifference with which
they talked of hundreds, of thousands, and of millions, affecting the
imagination far more than the wildest excitement. As the old man says
in the play, there is a positive pleasure in simply talking of such
big numbers; they fill the mind with such grand and noble ideas.
The next day boats came from the shore in hopes of obtaining
passengers.
"How much do you charge?" cried Captain Bill, looking suspiciously
down upon the boatman.
"Only one dollar!" he replied, and in a tone that seemed to say that
the rates of fare had recently fallen; but our minds had not yet
sufficiently expanded to receive this information with the gratitude
it deserved. We looked admiringly upon the sturdy knave who dared to
speak thus disrespectfully of the almighty dollar, but preferred to
wait till we could obtain a passage in one of the boats belonging to
the ship. An opportunity soon offered; and in a few minutes we were
gliding across the bows of the vessels that lay in denser phalanx near
the wharf. On the high yellow bank stood groups of men ragged and
miserable. They leered upon us, as we passed, as much as to say, "Now
then, here you are! but wait awhile my hearties, till you've been here
long enough to find out a thing or two; and then,--"
This, however, was only a subsequent interpretation; at the time,
I had no doubt that everybody had his pockets stuffed with gold,
and, like enough, a heavy belt around his waist filled with the same
precious metal; and the rags and tatters that flaunted so boldly
seemed rather to confirm this gratifying supposition.
Strolling, yet that is not the word, buzzing a few hours through the
city was enough to fill us brim full of excitement. To repeat the
figure already employed, we had descended farther and farther into
this worldwide maelstroom, and seemed now each moment about to plunge
into the vortex. Round and round, faster and faster, spun the dizzy
tide; sure such a devil's dance was never danced before.
Everything was on a monstrous and perverted scale. The apparent
simplicity of the means employed was ridiculous compared to the
sublime result. It seemed impossible that a wealth greater than
the Indies should flow through such a narrow channel;--that such
prodigious power should be confined in the one story, wood and canvass
houses of that awkward shambling city. It was as marvellous almost,
and incredible, as that the genie of the Arabian tale should have
shrunk his steeple bulk into the little copper vessel,--or that the
more modern genie of steam, which the other so well symbolized, should
suffer himself to be penned in any other than walls of iron and brass.
Piles of merchandize of every description, bags, barrels, boxes, and
bundles, filled the stores to suffocation, and ran over into the
street. Fat gouty mittens, bursting with gold dust,--the thumb alone
stiff with a hundred dollars,--turned up their round yellow bellies
on the rude counters, like a frog in the last stages of the dropsy;
while bars and lumps of still more seductive unity nestled on the
window seat, or leaned poker-and-shovel-wise against the corners.
Pounds and ounces took the place of dollars and cents,--the appearance
of one of the latter was sure to provoke a laugh, but the dollar,
though a decided parvenu, was gradually working his way into good
society. The time had past when a pinch of gold dust was the lowest
standard of value, and when, for want of silver, the nobler metal was
forced to perform the most menial offices of trade.
Among all this, in the midst of all these symbols of wealth and power,
the miner who had called them into being, moved about with an air
of sturdy independence, which received a fresh accession every time
he squeezed, between his thumb and fingers, the buckskin bag in his
breeches' pocket. Little groups assembled at the corners, and in the
principal stores, each one striving to surpass the last speaker in
his stories of big lumps,--of holes that paid five or ten dollars a
bucket,--and of pockets that made the lucky finder rich in a single
hour.
There was something very attractive in this use of the word pocket.
There was an appropriateness, an harmony about the idea that imposed
upon the understanding. There was such a thing, to be sure, as an
empty pocket,--but the old grandam earth had lived a great many
years,--she had always been a saving sort of a body, and must have
hoarded up quite a handsome pennyworth; it would certainly be a fine
thing to have the ransacking of her chinks and crannies.
But the gambling-houses presented scenes of yet fiercer excitement.
The finest buildings in the city were devoted to this purpose. Wide
doors, standing constantly open, admitted the visitor at once into
spacious apartments, where, for every hour in the twenty-four, except
a short interval in the morning twilight, were heard the chink of gold
and silver, and the confused hum of voices. There is no employment
so thirsty as gambling; and the large and splendidly appointed bar
was the most striking feature in these establishments. Here the
fever-and-aguish gamester sought by one fire to put out another; one
drank because he was hot, another because he was cold,--this one
because he was losing, that because he had gained.
A curious crowd of spectators circled among the little tables,
watching, with an interest second only to that of the principal
performers, the movements of the game; or gazing boldly, or with
modest obliquity of vision, upon the lascivious pictures that hung on
the walls. Little boys of ten or twelve called imperiously for brandy
smashes, and staked their all on the turn of a card, or the rolling
of a ball with hideous nonchalance; while the next moment oaths as
big as cannon balls rolled from their hard lips to testify their
impish malice or exultation. The simple novice from some New England
village, who has never before been farther from home than the nearest
town, proud of his first beard, and champing the ends of his moustache
between his lips, sidles timidly up to the bar, and calls in a low
voice for a glass of lemonade.
"Yes," cries his Mephistopheles, with a patronizing laugh, "and put a
stick in it."
"Well," he replies, laughing in his turn, but more feebly than the
other, "I guess I will have a stick in it."
Delighted with the puzzling novelty of the phrase, that, without
seeming to mean anything, means so much, he soon repeats the
experiment, partly to show he is not afraid, and partly from an
indescribable, often unconscious pleasure of doing what he would
hardly have dared even to think of at home. He thinks of his mother
and sisters and aunt Mary, and wonders what they would say, if they
saw him in such company and drinking brandy, at a bar! and in a
gambling house besides!! The idea of their horror and incredulous
wonder is rather pleasing to his selfish vanity; one is very apt to be
vain of such loving tender pity. He has learned to put a stick in it;
well for him if he does not ere long put in his whole foot.
After several hours thus spent in wandering from one centre of
attraction to another, we returned to the ship, weary of excitement,
and hoping to find there at least one place free from the general
infection. On reaching the deck, however, a hubbub of voices assailed
our ears in which every other word seemed to be diggins, holes, lumps,
pockets, &c., &c. Other parties had been like ours wandering through
the city; each had brought on board its own budget of news, and now
poured them out before us in bewildering confusion.
One had a long story to tell of a lump found in the southern mines.
The man who told him knew the man who saw the lucky fellow that found
it. Most of these stories were in this respect, too much like the
final clause of the story of the house that Jack built.
Others were more interested in the price current of different
articles. Saleratus was eight dollars a pound, and everybody wondered
he had not brought a few barrels; it would have been the easiest thing
in the world, and would have made his fortune at once. Salt, on the
other hand, which we had all taken care to bring with us, was worth
nothing. On hearing this, Charley Bainbridge hastily descended into
the cabin, and presently returning with a bag containing some twenty
or thirty pounds, plunged his knife into its belly, and triumphantly
emptied the salt into the sea.
"What are you doing there?" cried Busby, who had just come aboard.
"Only throwing overboard some salt," returned Charley, with a chuckle,
as if he had been performing some very brilliant action.
"Why," replied Busby, staring very hard as if he did not exactly see
the humour of the thing; "you might have given it away if you didn't
know what else to do with it."
"Oh," said Charley, "'taint worth anything."
"Ain't worth anything!" retorted the other indignantly; "it's worth
twenty-five cents a pound, and I call that something."
This turned out to be the fact; and Charley never heard the last of
this adventure, though he said he didn't care, the fun was worth the
money any day.
Every one vented his delirium in his own fashion. Dan Carpenter, who
was one of the worst affected, clasped his hands on the top of his
head as if afraid it should fly away like a balloon; but in spite of
this precaution he was raised bodily from the deck, and danced up and
down for the space of half an hour, striking his heels three times
against each other at every spring; when thoroughly exhausted he was
dropt with such violence into a campstool, that it gave way, and let
him treacherously down on to his back; whereupon Captain Bill advised
him to keep steady, and haul in his jib-sheets; and every one gave him
a word of counsel and exhortation.
Such being the food of our waking imagination, it is easy to see what
stuff our dreams were made of. All day long we talked and thought of
nothing but gold,
And then, in dreaming,
The clouds, we thought, would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon us; that when we waked,
We cried to dream again.
The mines were now all before us where to choose; but there was no
visible Providence for our guide; and among so many conflicting
reports, it was difficult to arrive at any fixed conclusion. The
southern mines abounded more in lumps and rich deposits, but the
gold was distributed more equally in the northern, and the labourer
was accordingly more certain of his reward. In each of these grand
divisions there was an endless variety of creeks and rivers, every
one of which had its advocates, who set forth its advantages to
the best of their ability, till the new comer, weary of weighing
these opposing probabilities, often rested his decision upon the
most trifling coincidence. Twenty dollars a day was said to be the
average earned by the miners, but each man's hope told him a far more
flattering tale.
Under these circumstances it may seem unaccountable that we should
have waited nearly two weeks at San Francisco for our provisions to
be unloaded, when, if our calculations were well grounded, we lost so
much by the delay. The hope that every day would be the last, and the
difficulty of unlearning all at once, that system of pennywise economy
in which we had been educated, are the only explanation of this
anything but a masterly inactivity.
In the mean time, through the agency of Captain Bill, whose good luck
was signally manifest on this occasion, we made the acquaintance
of a Mr. Primrose, said by some to be the most scientific miner in
California. To a digger of any experience, the word scientific would
have indicated nothing but the most besotted ignorance; but, to our
Old-World notions, it sounded grand and imposing.
This scientific miner had a machine,--a scientific machine,--a machine
such as is used in the gold mines of Virginia, and must of course be
equally well adapted to this new territory. The machines had not yet
arrived; but the scientific miner assured us that the vessel in which
they had been shipped had sailed months before, and was now expected
every day. In the meantime he would be happy to show us a drawing,
from which we could form a tolerable idea of the mode of operation.
We accordingly examined the drawing with great attention; we turned
it upside down,--we looked at it straightforward and obliquely,--we
looked at it with both eyes, and squinted at it after the most
approved fashion with only one,--and finally came to the conclusion
that it resembled nothing so much as a patent beehive, and of course
must be a very scientific machine indeed.
"But will it work?" we asked the scientific miner.
The scientific miner, who was by the way a tall and rather comely
personage, in a white neck-cloth, something between a clergyman and
a broker, made no immediate reply, but taking from a table several
hemispherical cakes of gold, looking like so many cakes of beeswax,
and thereby confirming our notion of the patent beehive, placed them
in our hands with a bland smile, and asked if that would do.
"Certainly," we replied, "that would do very well, if we could do it
often enough."
"What do you say to once a week?" inquired the scientific miner.
Captain Bill looked at me, and I looked at Captain Bill, with a smile,
half of satisfaction, half of incredulity, but made no answer.
The scientific miner noticed this telegraphic communication, and went
on with mathematical gravity and precision.
"This gold," said he, "was washed out in a single week by one of these
machines now in operation at Mormon Island; and that, too, from earth
that had already been through the common rocker. With one of these
machines you can make a thousand dollars a week from almost any earth
in California, and ten thousand under favourable circumstances."
Having paused a moment, as if to enable us to digest these assertions,
the scientific miner went on in a pleasant and confidential manner
that was very encouraging.
"You know how it is," said he; "most that come to this country are
ignorant mechanics and labourers, that are not fit to be trusted with
such things; but with such energy and intelligence as you possess, you
cannot help being successful."
At this, we both looked as intelligent as we possibly could; and
Captain Bill, gazing respectfully, almost fearfully, at the drawing,
asked the scientific miner how many men were required to work the
machine; to which he replied that four could work it when everything
was handy, but five or even six might sometimes be necessary. The
price was one thousand dollars, on which a short credit would be
allowed; but as only three hundred machines were expected in the first
vessel, it would be necessary to decide without any great delay. Most
of these were already engaged, but he thought he could manage to
reserve one for us.
As soon as we got into the open air our enthusiasm, which we had
prudently restrained in presence of the scientific miner, at once
burst forth.
"Keep cool, boys, keep cool," cried Captain Bill, slapping his thigh,
as his manner was, his broad, good-humoured face shining like a pewter
platter, "steady your helm and haul in your jib-sheets."
"Look here, Bill!" I began, with a look intended to repress all such
unseasonable mirth, "I'll tell you what we'll do. A thousand dollars
is a good deal, I know, to give for a machine; but what of that? we
can pay for it in a week, and all we make after that will be clear
profit."
"Si," said Captain Bill.
"Well, then, if we find it work, you know, we'll just send down and
order three more, one for each of us; and then, all we'll have to
do will be to oversee the workmen, and attend to the amalgamating
process."
"Si,--si,--si," said Captain Bill, once to each of the three rockers,
but slowly, and at long intervals, as the magnificence of the idea
gradually insinuated itself into his mind, like a boa-constrictor
gorging a buffalo; and he already saw himself sitting lordly on a
stone, engaged in the agreeable occupation of reckoning his gains, and
keeping a sharp lookout on the poor fellows that were toiling for him
at their miserable pittance of eight dollars a day, simply because
they hadn't a scientific machine too; "but I say; this is one of the
machines you read of, isn't it."
"Taking the very lowest calculation," I continued, striving to
quench his fervour by my cool, business-like manner, "that 'ill be
a thousand dollars apiece a week; or we may as well make it twelve
hundred while we are about it, so as to cover all expenses; and, at
that rate, I think I could be content to stay in the mines a year."
"Yes, yes," cried the Captain, now at last driven to the use of his
own vernacular, "so could I."
"But," said I, with inexorable coolness, "we must be cautious--very
cautious. It won't do to be in too much of a hurry. We'll wait and see
the machine at Mormon Island, and then we shall know what we know."
"Mr. Primrose seems a very clever sort of a man," returned Bill, "but,
after all, it's the lumps that does the business."
Number Four had already been to see the scientific miner, but neither
he nor Tertium were aware of the extent of their good fortune; and
now Captain Bill taking them, as was his wont, mysteriously aside,
undertook to enlighten them. He led them along softly, step by step,
touching briefly on the machine, the chief merit of which was that we
knew so little about it,--descanting at some length on the honesty
and uprightness of the scientific miner, of which we knew still
less,--coming down with ever-increasing emphasis on the lumps,--and
finally, seeing them now prepared to receive it, winding up with a
grand flourish on the twelve hundred a week.
The others listened attentively, but Tertium, who was always a
horrible fellow for doubting, was still incredulous.
"Take him to see the lumps," I suggested, somewhat indignantly, for I
must confess I felt hurt at his want of scientific ardour, "for, as
you say, it is the lumps that does the business."
And indeed there was no getting over the lumps,--they were most
weighty arguments, stubborn facts, addressing themselves to sight and
touch with a silent eloquence no words could equal. Tertium saw them,
and hesitated; he lifted them, and was convinced. Still, we determined
to proceed with the utmost caution; and, for my part, I believe I
derived almost as much satisfaction from the contemplation of my
own superior wisdom, as from gloating over the fifty thousand that
only waited my arrival to fall into my hands. We were careful to say
nothing of our discovery to our less fortunate companions, for fear
they should go at once and buy up every one of the thousand machines,
leaving us, when too late, to lament our foolish procrastination.