THE WEDGE OF GOLD.
The voyagers were glad enough to stand once more on the solid earth. It
had been twenty-one days since they had left London.
Quickly as they could they made arrangements for a journey inland. They
chartered conveyances to go to the end of the road and sent forward to
the capital to charter a train of riding and pack animals, with a full
corps of attendants, to meet them where they had to take the trail. They
employed, moreover, a civil engineer and a half-dozen frontiersmen, Boers
and Kaffirs, who knew the country well.
Studying their maps and the description supplied them by the former owner
of the mine, they calculated the mine was distant some 250 miles, and
that it would require some thirty-five days to make the examination and
return to D'Umber, the town on Port Natal Roadstead.
Sedgwick had written daily to his bride, sending the letters from every
port called at.
Now he wrote her that it would probably be forty days before he could
forward her another letter.
When everything was ready they started on their trip. The men were all
Boers and Kaffirs, except the engineer; all strong, good-natured men, but
the least bit suspicious of their employers. They had come in an English
ship, wore English clothing, and if their English accent was not quite up
to the standard the natives could not make the distinction.
They examined Jordan's saddle with a great deal of curiosity, as it was,
with the rest of the luggage, put upon the wagon. One of them, in broken
English, asked about it; where in England he found it.
He laughingly answered that they could not make any such saddle in
England; that it was a Mexican saddle. Then the Boer wanted to know if he
were a Mexican.
"Not by a blamed sight," said Jordan. "Do I look like er greaser?"
The Boer looked at him helplessly.
"Did you never har of ther United States?" asked Jordan.
The Boer shook his head. "Never har of America and Americans?" Jordan
asked.
The Boer smiled. He had heard of Americans, and asked eagerly if Jordan
and his friend came from America.
"Yo' may bet yo'r everlastin' broken Dutch diaphram that we did," said
Jordan, at which the Boer hurried to tell his companions that the two
strangers were not English, notwithstanding their clothing.
The first eight days of the journey, the travelers found excellent roads,
and averaged twenty-seven miles a day. They did not go by the capital,
but turned off to the left.
The first day the road lay mostly over the coast mountains. Toward night
they entered upon the table-lands of Natal, which were generally level,
except where, here and there, a low mountain spur had to be crossed. It
was a grassy country, sparsely dotted with palms, with here and there
timber in sight up ravines that ran down from the hills, and occasionally
they ran upon clusters of heath-flowers. Indeed, the whole country was
covered with flowers of rare beauty, but mostly odorless. It was all new
and strange, and was noted with keen interest by the two Americans. It
was the rainy season, and the road was soft in places, and some of the
streams were pretty high. But they got along without serious trouble. One
had been in Nevada, the other in Arizona, and both in Texas.
The first night they camped by a little stream, ate their supper, and
spread their beds by some willows on the grass. It was a perfectly calm
night, and in that clear air the stars shone magnificently.
As they were smoking their pipes after supper Sedgwick pointed out to
Jordan the constellation of the Southern Cross as a sight which their
friends in the North-land could never see unless they crossed the
equator.
Jordan looked at the stars some time in silence, and then said: "Them
stars is been shinin' thar allus, and yit, Jim, they wuz outer sight o'
us. To see 'em we had ter cross ther line. Who can tell, Jim, what new
stars'll shine on us when thet other line, thet men call death, shall be
crossed, and our eyes shall be given ther new light beyond?"
He paused a moment, and then went on: "I'z been prospered. When I war a
boy I went to ther wah. I war in many a fight. Men as loved life mightily
wuz killed all 'round me; many another brave feller tuk sick and died.
Not a scratch cum ter me.
"I made er stake easy-like in ther mines. I've dun well 'nuff; and yit,
Jim, if thar should cum ther summons ter-night, and I knowd I'd got ter
go, I wouldn't hev a sorrer 'cept thet we haven't passed on ther mine
yit."
Then Sedgwick realized that in the selfishness of his own loneliness at
leaving his bride, he had forgotten his friend, and that he had all the
time been concealing a deeper grief and trying to cheer him.
"Dear old Tom," he said humbly. "I have been absorbed and selfish since
we left England. I did not realize my own selfishness. We have found new
stars in the sky. Let us trust that no sorrows will come to us that will
not be cheered by stars behind them, and let us nurse the hope that this
journey is but a discord in our lives that will make the music of them
sweeter when it shall be passed."
"Shore enuff," was Jordan's answer. "I war once down at the bottom of
ther Colorado Cañon. It war terrible. I never seen a place so desolate
and wild; but, Jim, I looked up along the walls hundreds of feet
overhead, and thar in ther daylight, away off in ther infinite sky,
some stars war shinin'."
So there, in the starlight, on that lonely table-land in South Africa,
the two true men clasped hands in silence, and their hearts drew nearer
to each other than they had ever been drawn before.
The second day, the road in places skirted a forest in which the yellow
tree and the great beech were the most prominent trees, creepers grew
around them, and vines trailed over their branches; marvelously tinted
flowers mingled with them, and the scene was enchanting.
More than once a band of antelope was seen scudding away in the distance;
here and there a zebra fled from before them, and once a pair of giraffes
were discerned afar off over the plain. Though it was the beginning of
winter, the tsetse fly bothered their stock a good deal, but the Boers
cut branches from the trees and covered the animals with them when the
sun was hottest and the insects most troublesome.
After the fourth day the road began to ascend, and at last the point was
reached where the vehicles had to be given up, and the saddle and pack
animals from the capital had to be brought into use. The real hills had
been reached. The trail ran over a succession of sharp mountain ridges,
and narrow valleys. It was not a well-made trail on the ridges, and the
flanks of the ridges were so abrupt and rocky that progress was very
slow; moreover, it was clear that to build a road on the line of the
trail, over which heavy loads could be hauled, would be a most expensive,
almost impossible, undertaking.
It required three days to make the trip of forty miles.
Finally, though, the last summit was crossed, and after a heavy descent,
there spread out another valley, and on a ridge beyond, from the mountain
side, could be seen something like a dump, with rock piled upon it. The
two friends recognized the spot at the same moment and stopped their
animals in the trail to take in the surroundings. They estimated that the
mountains must be a spur of the Drakenberg Range, that they were within
the basin drained by the head waters of the Vaal River, and that they
were in the Southwestern Transvaal. The mountains of that point had a
general course northeast and southwest, and it was clear that the mine
was practically over the range in approaching from the direction of Port
Natal.
"It's all right," said Jordan, "'cept it seems to me like we orter uv cum
down on ther other side of Africa, and cum in from ther West. From this
way it would need a pack train of bald eagles ter bring in supplies,
while ter get a mill in--Good Lord!"
"I fear you are right, as usual, Tom," said Sedgwick, "but if, as I
suspect, the mine is of no account, it will not matter much."
"'Zactly," said Jordan. "Thar's no use tryin' ter put up collateral on
which ter borrer trouble 'fore we know anythin' 'bout ther mine."
So they pressed on and made their camp that night near a great spring
that the miners had lived by while opening the mine. Next morning both
Americans were up early, and, the breakfast disposed of, they went to the
mine with buckets of water and hammers.
They kept their natives pounding rock all day, while they washed the
samples. They took the ore from every part of the dump. The result was
most satisfactory. "It will assay more than $30," said Jordan. "I believe
it will work up to $30 by mill process, for it's perfectly free gold ore
and not too fine."
The next day the inclines were all explored, and samples taken, step by
step--taken and marked, as they proceeded. The ore body where practically
exposed was carefully measured, and where any change was discernible it
was noted and special samples taken. The floor of the lowest level
reached was not only sampled, but a hole a couple of feet below the
lowest excavation was dug, and the samples were saved.
The vein was a contact between slate and granite, and was very regular in
size, and apparently in quality. The vein was exposed for probably 600
feet, and thence up the hill it was covered with debris. It was almost
night when the camp was reached, and the men were very tired.
Next morning the samples taken the previous day were crushed and
carefully washed.
When all was finished, Jordan said: "Jim, it's a honest mine. Ther only
drawback is ther place. I've no idee what er road would cost, but it
would take a power o' money, sho."
It was decided to try to explore the slope of the range they were on, up
and down, to see if a break in it could not somewhere be found. They
tried it to the north, and soon found themselves in a mighty gorge, with
great mountains closing them in from every direction except the one from
which they had come. They returned to camp, and one more day was gone.
The next morning they started early to the south, and toiled until eleven
o'clock, to find themselves once more ambuscaded by the precipitous
hills. Again they made their way back to camp, without comfort, except
that they had passed through a great forest of beech and yellow wood
sufficient for fuel and mine timbers for years.
Next morning when they had finished breakfast, Sedgwick asked Jordan what
his idea was by that time as to the best course to proceed.
Jordan shook his head, and said: "I'm afeerd we must try to build ther
road or invent a berloon."
From the spring there ran a considerable stream off at right angles from
the mine, and in exactly the opposite direction from whence they had
come.
Sedgwick said: "Tom, that stream, unless it sinks, finds its way to the
sea after awhile. We are in for it; a day or two more will not count.
Suppose for awhile we follow that stream and see where it leads us."
"Agreed--a good idee," said Jordan. Taking with them two Boers, the
engineer, and a pack animal with food and some blankets, they bade the
rest keep the camp, as they might be absent two or three days. They
started down the stream. It flowed in a general course to the west. After
a mile or more from the camp, the banks widened out into a wooded valley,
several hundred yards across, but when six or seven miles had been
traveled the valley narrowed down again, and the mountains closing in,
made what, at a little distance, seemed a solid wall in front. "Headed
off once more, I fear," said Sedgwick.
"The stream keeps up a full head. It must git through ther hills
somewhar," said Jordan.
"True enough," said Sedgwick. They followed it to the very base of the
hill, to find that there it made a bend at right angles to the south and
flowed through a cleft of the mountain not much wider than the stream
itself. Into this they entered, and pursued their way for about 600
yards, when the stream again turned through another mighty fissure to the
west, and ran a quarter of a mile farther, when another large valley
opened out which was some five miles across. In this valley the stream
sank in the sands and was lost. The travelers skirted the valley, keeping
close to the hills where the ground was hard. Reaching the other side
they found a narrow opening through which the stream had once flowed.
They followed a winding way for two or three miles, the chasm bearing a
little west of south, emerging at last into an open country. A fringe of
willows was seen low on the southern horizon. The Boers said they knew
the stream, the course of which was marked by the willows; that it was a
big creek, along which their people had stock farms. They marked the
obscure opening through which they had traced their way out of the
mountains and started for the creek and possible ranches. The Boers said
that farmers' roads ran from these ranches out to the main road over the
range to the east, the road which they had come up on from Port Natal.
They pressed on another seven or eight miles, and a rude house, half
dug-out, came in view, distant a couple of miles.
They approached it, and from the people living there the Boers learned
that it was seventeen miles out to the main road, over a good farmers'
road all the way. They camped at the house, or near the house, all night.
One of the residents brought in a fine young antelope, which they bought
and cooked, and they suppered royally on antelope, hard tack and coffee.
Next morning they returned to the mine, reaching there early in the
afternoon. They had been out from Port Natal seventeen days, had found
and sampled the mine, and explored a natural pass for a road.
How to proceed was the next question. Sedgwick's idea was that both
should return to the seashore, proceed to England, and order a mill from
San Francisco, because they knew that there were no good patterns for
quartz mill machinery on the continent; and both agreed that should the
mill be built in England and shipped thence to South Africa, the fact
would be published and all their plans would be interfered with.
Jordan was silent for awhile; at last he said: "Jim, I ken understand
thet ther thot uv goin' back ter London ez mighty enchantin' ter yo'. But
thet's a game girl, thet thar young wife o' yourn; she listed fo' this
wah ez well ez yo,' er she'd never let yo' cum away. Yo' must go by ther
straightest track fer San Francisco and bring ther mill. I'll stay and
hev some rock ready for crushin' when ther mill cums."
"But, dear old friend," said Sedgwick, "it will take a year, perhaps, to
get a mill here from San Francisco. To leave you here--you would die of
the horrors with no company but these Boers."
"How d' yer know but I'd make a pretty good Boer or Kaffir my own self
with er little practice?" asked Jordan. "We'll stay over ter-morrer and
git some work goin'; then I'll go with yer ter the coast and get some men
and things I need. I'll cum back; you'll go ter Frisco, and everything'll
be lovely."
"No," said Sedgwick, "you go to San Francisco, and I will stay and work
the mine. It was I who proposed this thing; of right I should meet the
heaviest sacrifices." But Jordan was obstinate, declaring that he would
enjoy himself at the mine, and after a long discussion his programme was
agreed to. In the morning Jordan took the engineer and three natives
to the top of the hill, where the mine was covered with debris; walked
along to where the mountain, as it sloped to the west, was very abrupt,
and there set the Boers to making an open surface cut.
They went to work, and Jordan and the engineer went to measuring to see
where, down the hill, a tunnel would have to be started to tap the lode
500 feet deep. It was so sharp a hillside that the tunnel site would be
only 1,260 feet horizontally from a point 500 feet below the open cut.
Jordan engaged the engineer to remain with all the men who would stay,
and begin that work if the indications on the hill would justify, and
also to build a rude stone house at the spring, large enough to
accommodate a dozen people.
Then they climbed the hill again and found the croppings of the ledge
uncovered in the cut. Being tested, these croppings were found richer
than the ore on the dump lower down, where the vein had been opened.
Next morning, with two saddle animals, one pack animal and one Boer to
ride another horse and lead the pack horse, the two Americans started
back for Port Natal. They followed over the route they had traced out two
days before to the ranch, then took a road traveled by the stockmen, and
on the second night from the mine came to a house on the main road to
Port Natal, which was six or seven miles nearer their destination than
the point where they had left the road and taken the trail for the mine.
They hired a Boer to go up and bring back their wagons. They came next
morning. The best rig was selected, and the two friends started for the
seashore. In eight days they were back at Port Natal, having made the
round trip in twenty-eight or twenty-nine days. On arriving at the
seashore they found that no steamer was in port bound North, but there
was a fine steamer in the roadstead that was to sail next day for
Melbourne, Australia.
Sedgwick's plan had been to go back to London, take his wife and go
thence, via New York, to San Francisco. But no ship was awaiting him, and
the agent of the Northern Line did not know when a ship would sail. It
would have to come first, and might return soon, or might lie in port
fifteen or twenty days. So, talking the matter over with Jordan, both
concluded that the best thing was to try the voyage via Australia. Again
Sedgwick begged Jordan to go, yet he kindly, but firmly refused, saying,
"I must hev my way this time, Jim."
Accordingly, Sedgwick engaged passage to Melbourne, then wrote his wife
what they had found; that he had decided it was best to go by Australia
to San Francisco; that, if prosperous, he hoped to reach that port in
forty-eight or fifty days; that he would be detained there probably sixty
days, and would then return to Africa via England, hoping to be with her
in one hundred and twenty days, and to be able to remain with her for a
month.
Jordan found six English miners and engaged them to go with him, bought
as full an outfit as possible, through a trader ordered more, including a
portable saw-mill from England, made an arrangement with Sedgwick how to
send and receive news, and the two tired men lay down to take their last
night's rest together for, as they calculated, at least six or seven
months, perhaps a full year.
It was a memorable night to both, and the confidences they exchanged and
the sacred trusts they each assumed, they never forgot.
In the morning Jordan started back for the mountains and their solitudes;
Sedgwick boarded the steamer, which later in the day started on its
voyage, and the sea for Sedgwick was a counterpart of the solitude which
the mountains held for Jordan, except that at Port Natal he had received
from his Grace the greetings which her soul had given his soul through
the mornings and evenings of the first twenty days of her married life.
They were to be his balm through all the days of his imprisonment on
board ship, and he felt that they would be sufficient. But it grieved
him to think that poor, brave, sorrowing, but cheerful and clear-brained
Jordan had no such comforters.
"It is very lonely, my glorified one," she wrote; "the roar of the great
city seems to me an echo of the voice of the ocean, of the wilderness
that surrounds you; but I would not have it different, for I kept saying
to myself: 'He is doing his duty, and beyond the horizon that bounds our
eyes now, I know that higher joy awaits us which comes of a consciousness
of a great trust bravely executed.' Be of good cheer, my love; it will be
all right in the end, for the heavens themselves bend to be the stay of
steadfast souls when with a holy patience they struggle for the right, as
God gives them to see the right.
"I will wait for you, and in thinking what you have undertaken, and of
the persistence required to carry your work through, will try to catch
your own grand spirit, try to exalt myself by imitating your patience
and faith, and thus be more worthy of you when once more it is given me
to clasp your dear hands, and to gaze into your true eyes, which are my
light."
As Sedgwick read, his eyes became suffused until he could not see the
page before him because of his tears.
"See," he said to himself; "a man's love is selfish; it is a woman's life
and light, and yet my beautiful wife loses sight of herself, and all her
words are but an inspiration for me to go on and conquer if I can. Thank
God for the treasure that has been given me! And may God comfort her and
comfort brave and true Jordan!"