AH-WOW SAVED FROM AN UNTIMELY FATE--LYNCH LAW ENFORCED--NED SINTON
RESOLVES TO RENOUNCE GOLD-DIGGING FOR A TIME, AND TOM COLLINS SECONDS
HIM.
Ah-wow sat on the stump of an oak-tree, looking, to use a familiar,
though incorrect expression, very blue indeed. And no wonder, for
Ah-wow was going to be hanged. Perhaps, courteous reader, you think we
are joking, but we assure you we are not. Ah-wow had just been found
guilty, or pronounced guilty--which, at the diggings, meant the same
thing--of stealing two thousand dollars' worth of gold-dust, and was
about to expiate his crime on the branch of a tree.
There could be no doubt of his guilt; so said the enlightened jury who
tried him; so said the half-tipsy judge who condemned him; and so said
the amiable populace which had assembled to witness his execution. It
cannot be denied that appearances went very much against Ah-wow--so much
so, that Maxton, and even Captain Bunting, entertained suspicions as to
his innocence, though they pleaded hard for his pardon. The gold had
been discovered hid near the Chinaman's tent, and the bag containing it
was recognised and sworn to by at least a dozen of the diggers as that
belonging to the man from whom the gold had been stolen. The only point
that puzzled the jury was the strong assertions of Captain Bunting,
Maxton, and Collins, that, to their certain belief, the poor Celestial
had dug beside them each day, and slept beside them each night for three
weeks past, at a distance of three miles from the spot where the robbery
took place. But the jury were determined to hang somebody, so they shut
their ears to all and sundry, save and except to those who cried out,
"String the riptile up--sarves him right!"
Ko-sing also sat on the tree-stump, endeavouring to comfort Ah-wow by
stroking his pig-tail and howling occasionally in an undertone. It
seemed indeed that the poor man's career was drawing to a close, for two
men advanced, and, seizing his pinioned arms, led him under the fatal
limb; but a short respite occurred in consequence of a commotion in the
outskirts of the crowd, where two men were seen forcing a passage
towards the centre. Ned Sinton and Larry O'Neil had been away in the
mountains prospecting at the time when Ah-wow was captured and led to
the settlement, near the first residence of our adventurers, to stand
his trial. The others accompanied the condemned man, in order, if
possible, to save him, leaving Jones behind to guard their property, and
acquaint Ned with the state of affairs on his return. Our hero knew too
well the rapid course of Lynch law to hesitate. He started at once with
Larry down the stream, to save, if possible, the life of his servant,
for whom he felt a curious sort of patronising affection, and who he was
sure must be innocent. He arrived just in time.
"Howld on, boys," cried Larry, flourishing his felt hat as they pushed
through the crowd.
"Stay, friends," cried Ned, gaining the centre of the circle at last;
"don't act hastily. This man is my servant."
"_That_ don't make him an honest man, I guess," said a cynical
bystander.
"Perhaps not," retorted Ned; "but it binds me in honour to clear him, if
I can."
"Hear, hear," said several voices; "get up on the stump an' fire away,
stranger."
Ned obeyed.
"Gentlemen," he began, "I can swear, in the first place, that the
Chinaman has not been a quarter of a mile from my tent for three weeks
past, so that he could not have stolen the gold--"
"How then came it beside his tent?" inquired a voice.
"I'll tell you, if you will listen. This morning early I started on a
prospecting ramble up the stream, and not long after I set out I caught
a glance of that villain Black Jim, who, you know, has been supposed for
some time back to have been lurking in the neighbourhood. He ran off
the moment he caught sight of me, and although I followed him at full
speed for a considerable distance, he succeeded in escaping. However, I
noticed the print of his footsteps, in a muddy place over which he
passed, and observed that his right boot had no heel. On returning home
this afternoon, and hearing what had happened, I went to the spot where
the bag of gold had been discovered, and there, sure enough, I found
footprints, one of which shewed that the wearer's right boot had _no
heel_. Now, gentlemen, it don't need much speaking to make so clear a
matter clearer, I leave you to judge whether this robbery has been
committed by the Chinaman or not."
Ned's speech was received with various cries; some of which shewed that
the diggers were not satisfied with his explanation, and Ah-wow's fate
still trembled in the balance, when the owner of the bag of gold stepped
forward and admitted that he had observed similar foot-marks in the
neighbourhood of his tent just after the robbery was committed, and said
that he believed the Chinaman was innocent. This set the matter at
rest. Ah-wow was cast loose and congratulated by several of the
bystanders on his escape, but there seemed a pretty general feeling
amongst many of the others that they had been unjustly deprived of their
prey, and there is no saying what might have happened had not another
culprit appeared on the scene to divert their attention.
The man who was led forward had all the marks of a thorough desperado
about him. From his language it was impossible to judge what country
had the honour of giving him birth, but it was suspected that his last
residence had been Botany Bay. Had this man's innocence been ever so
clearly proved he could not have escaped from such judges in their then
disappointed state of mind; but his guilt was unquestionable. He had
been caught in the act of stealing from a monte table. The sum was not
very large, however, so it was thought a little too severe to hang him;
but he was condemned to have his head shaved, his ears cut off, and to
receive a hundred lashes.
The sentence was executed promptly, notwithstanding the earnest
remonstrances of a few of the better-disposed among the crowd: and Ned,
seeing that he could do nothing to mitigate the punishment of the poor
wretch, left the spot with his comrades and the rescued Chinaman.
That night, as they all sat round their camp-fire, eating supper with a
degree of zest known only to those who labour at severe and out-of-door
occupation all day, Ned Sinton astonished his companions not a little,
by stating his intention to leave them for the purpose of making a tour
through the country.
"Make a tour!" exclaimed Maxton, in surprise.
"An' lave all the goold!" cried Larry O'Neil, pausing in his mastication
of a tough lump of bear-steak.
"Why, boy," said Captain Bunting, laying down his knife, and looking at
Ned in amazement, "what's put that in your head, eh?"
"Being somewhat tired of grubbing in the mud has put it into my head,"
replied Ned, smiling. "The fact is, comrades, that I feel disposed for
a ramble, and I _don't_ feel bent on making a fortune. You may,
perhaps, be surprised to hear such a statement, but--"
"Not at all--by no means," interrupted Bill Jones; "I'm surprised at
nothin' in this here country. If I seed a first-rate man-o'-war comin'
up the valley at fifteen knots, with stun'-sails alow and aloft, stem
on, against the wind, an' carryin' all before it, like nothin', I
wouldn't be surprised, not a bit, so I wouldn't!"
"Well, perhaps not," resumed Ned; "but, surprised or not, my statement
is true. I don't care about making my `pile' in a hurry. Life was not
given to us to spend it in making or digging gold; and, being quite
satisfied, in the meantime, with the five or six hundred pounds of
profits that fall to my share, I am resolved to make over my unfinished
claim to the firm, and set out on my travels through the country. I
shall buckle on my bowie-knife and revolver, and go where fancy leads
me, as long as my funds last; when they are exhausted, I will return,
and set to work again. Now, who will go with me?"
"Are you in earnest?" asked Tom Collins.
"In earnest! ay, that am I; never was more so in my life. Why, I feel
quite ashamed of myself. Here have I been living for weeks in one of
the most romantic and beautiful parts of this world, without taking more
notice of it, almost, than if it did not exist. Do you think that with
youth and health, and a desire to see everything that is beautiful in
creation, I'm going to stand all day and every day up to the knees in
dirty water, scraping up little particles of gold? Not I! I mean to
travel as long as I have a dollar in my pocket; when that is empty, I'll
work."
Ned spoke in a half-jesting tone, but there is no doubt that he gave
utterance to the real feelings of his heart. He felt none of that eager
thirst for gold which burned, like a fever, in the souls of hundreds and
thousands of the men who poured at that time in a continuous and
ever-increasing stream into California. Gold he valued merely as a
means of accomplishing present ends; he had no idea of laying it up for
the future; married men, he thought, might, perhaps, with propriety,
amass money for the benefit of their families, but _he_ wasn't a married
man, and didn't mean to be one, so he felt in duty bound to spend all
the gold he dug out of the earth.
We do not pretend to enter into a disquisition as to the correctness or
incorrectness of Ned's opinions; we merely state them, leaving our
reader to exercise his own reasoning powers on the subject, if so
disposed.
For a few seconds after Ned's last speech, no sound escaped the lips of
his comrades, save those resulting from the process of mastication. At
last, Tom Collins threw down his knife, and slapped his thigh
energetically, as he exclaimed, "I'll go with you, Ned! I've made up my
mind. I'm tired of digging, too; and I'm game for a ramble into the
heart of the Rocky Mountains, if you like."
"Bravo! Tom," cried Captain Bunting, slapping his companion on the
shoulder--"well and bravely spoken; but you're a goose for all that, and
so, saving his presence, is Commodore Ned Sinton. Why, you'll just
waste two months or so in profitless wandering, and return beggars to
the Little Creek to begin the work all over again. Take my advice,
lads--the advice of an old salt, who knows a thing or two--and remain
where you are till we have worked out all the gold hereabouts. After
that you may talk of shifting."
"You're a very sour old salt to endeavour to damp our spirits in that
way at the outset, but it won't do; my mind is made up, and I'm glad to
find that there is at least one of the party who is strong enough to
break these golden chains."
"Faix I comed here for goold, an' I stop here for the same raison,"
remarked Larry, scraping the last morsels from the bottom of the kettle
with an iron spoon; "I've thravelled more nor enough in me day, so I can
affoord to stop at home now."
"Get out, you renegade! do you call this home?" cried Ned.
"'Tis all that's of it at present, anyhow."
"When shall we start?" inquired Tom Collins.
"To-morrow. We have few preparations to make, and the sooner we go the
better; for when the rainy season sets in, our journeying will be
stopped perforce. I have a plan in my mind which I shall detail to you
after we retire to rest. Meanwhile I'll go and improve my bed, which
has been so uncomfortable for some nights past that my very bones are
aching."
Ned rose, took up an axe, and, going into the bush in rear of the tent,
cut down a young pine-tree, the tender shoots and branches of which he
stripped off, and strewed thickly on the ground on which he was wont to
sleep; over these he spread two thick blankets, and on this simple but
springy and comfortable couch he and Tom Coffins lay down side by side
to talk over their future plans, while their comrades snored around
them.
Daylight found them still talking; so, pausing by mutual consent, they
snatched an hour's repose before commencing the needful preparations for
their contemplated journey.