He was in great pain most part of the night. The distress of my mind at
the poor fellow's sufferings, determined me to seek "Red Ned" the next
morning; and, as Stormy would have said, "teach him manners."
When the day broke, the wounded man was in less pain, and able to
converse--though not without some difficulty.
"Rowley," said he, "we must attend to business, before it be too late.
I know I shan't live through another night, and must make up my
reckoning to-day. I've got about one hundred and eighty ounces; and
it's all yours, my boy. I don't know that I have a relation in the
world; and there is no one to whom I care to leave anything but
yourself. I can die happy now, because I know that the little I leave
will belong to you. Had this happened before our meeting in Sonora, my
greatest sorrow at going aloft would have been, to think some stranger
would spend what I have worked hard to make, while my little Rowley
might be rolling hungry round the world."
At Stormy's request, the landlord of the lodging was called in; and
commanded to produce the bag of gold which the sailor had placed in his
keeping.
At this the man, apparently an honest fellow, went out of the room; and
soon returned with the treasure, which, in the presence of the landlord
and a miner who had come in, its owner formally presented to me. It was
a bequest rather than a present--the act of a dying man.
"Take it, Rowley," said he, "and put it with your own. It was got in an
honest manner, and let it be spent in a sensible one. Go to Liverpool,
marry the girl you told me of; and have a home and family in your old
age. I fancy, after all, that must be the way to be happy: for being
without home and friends I know isn't. Ah! it was that as made me live
the wretched roaming life, I've done."
The exertion of talking had made Stormy worse. I saw that he began to
breathe with difficulty; and seemed to suffer a great deal of pain. So
great was his agony, that it was almost equal agony for me to stand by
his side; and I stole out, leaving him with the surgeon--who had
meanwhile arrived--and the miner before mentioned.