CHAPTER XXIV
THE DIAMOND MINES--MORE AND MORE ASTONISHING!
If Martin Rattler was amazed at the treatment he experienced at the handsof his new acquaintances on arriving, he had occasion to be very muchmore surprised at what occurred three hours after his incarceration.
It was getting dark when he was locked up, and for upwards of two hourshe was left in total darkness. Moreover, he began to feel very hungry,having eaten nothing since mid-day. He was deeply engaged in devisingplans for his escape when he was interrupted by the door being unlockedand a Negro slave entering with four magnificent candles, made ofbeeswax, which he placed upon the table. Then he returned to the door,where another slave handed him a tray containing dishes, knives andforks, and, in short, all the requisites for laying out a supper-table.Having spread a clean linen cloth on the board, he arranged covers fortwo, and going to the door placed his head to one side and regarded hisarrangements with much complacency and without paying the slightestattention to Martin, who pinched himself in order to make sure he wasnot dreaming.
In a few minutes the second Negro returned with an enormous tray, onwhich were dishes of all sizes, from under whose covers came the mostsavoury odours imaginable. Having placed these symmetrically on theboard, both slaves retired and relocked the door without saying a word.
At last it began to dawn on Martin's Imagination that the overseer mustbe an eccentric individual, who found pleasure in taking his visitors bysurprise. But although this seemed a possible solution of the difficulty,he did not feel satisfied with it. He could with difficulty resist thetemptation to attack the viands, however, and was beginning to think ofdoing this, regardless of all consequences, when the door again openedand the Baron Fagoni entered, relocked the door, put the key in hispocket, and, standing before his prisoner with folded arms, gazed at himintently from beneath his sombrero.
Martin could not stand this. "Sir," said he, starting up, "if this is ajoke you have carried it far enough; and if you really detain me here aprisoner, every feeling of honour ought to deter you from adding insultto injury."
To this sternly delivered speech the Baron made no reply, but, springingsuddenly upon Martin, he grasped him in his powerful arms and crushed himto his broad breast till he almost broke every bone in his body.
"Och! cushla, bliss yer young face! sure it's yersilf, an' no mistake!Kape still, Martin dear. Let me look at ye, darlint! Ah! then, isn't itmy heart that's been broken for months an' months past about ye?"
Reader, it would be utterly in vain for me to attempt to describe eitherthe words that flowed from the lips of Martin Rattler and BarneyO'Flannagan on this happy occasion, or the feelings that filled theirswelling hearts. The speechless amazement of Martin, the ejaculatoryexclamations of the Baron Fagoni, the rapid questions and brief replies,are all totally indescribable. Suffice it to say that for full quarter ofan hour they exclaimed, shouted, and danced round each other, withoutcoming to any satisfactory knowledge of how each had got to the sameplace, except that Barney at last discovered that Martin had travelledthere by chance, and he had reached the mines by "intuition." Havingsettled this point, they sobered down a little.
"Now, Martin darlint," cried the Irishman, throwing aside his hat for thefirst time, and displaying his well-known jolly visage, of which theforehead, eyes, and nose alone survived the general inundation of redhair, "ye'll be hungry, I've small doubt, so sit ye down, lad, to supper,and you'll tell me yer story as ye go along, and afther that I'll tell yemine, while I smoke my pipe,--the ould cutty, boy, that has cornedthrough fire and wather, sound as a bell and blacker than iver!"
The Baron held up the well-known instrument of fumigation, as he spoke,in triumph.
Supper was superb. There were venison steaks, armadillo cutlets, tapirhash, iguana pie, and an immense variety of fruits and vegetables, thatwould have served a dozen men, besides cakes and splendid coffee.
"You live well here, Barney--I beg pardon--Baron Fagoni," saidMartin, during a pause in their meal; "how in the world did you comeby that name?"
Barney winked expressively. "Ah, boy, I wish I may niver have a worse. Yesee, when I first corned here, about four months ago, I found that themine was owned by an Irish gintleman; an', like all the race, he's atrump. He took to me at wance when he hear'd my voice, and then he tookmore to me when he corned to know me character; and says he to me wanday, 'Barney,' says he, 'I'm gittin' tired o' this kind o' life now, andif ye'll agree to stop here as overseer, and sind me the proceeds o' themine to Rio Janeiro, a great city on the sea-coast, an' the capital o'Brazil, I'll give ye a good share o' the profits. But,' says he, 'ye'llneed to pretind ye're a Roosian, or a Pole, or somethin' o' that kind;for the fellows in thim parts are great rascals, and there's a fewEnglishmen among them who would soon find out that ye're only a jack-tarbefore the mast, and would chate ye at no allowance; but if ye couldspake no language under the sun but the gibberish pecooliar to theunbeknown provinces o' Siberia, ye could escape detection as far as yervoice is consarned; and by lettin' yer beard grow as long as possible,and dressin' yersilf properly, ye might pass, and be as dignified as thegreat Mogul.'
"'Musha!' said I, 'but if I don't spake me own tongue I'll have to bedumb altogither.'
"'No fear,' says he; 'I'll tache ye enough Portuguese in a month or twoto begin with, an' ye'll pick it up aisy after that.' And sure enough Ibegan, tooth and nail, and, by hard workin', got on faster than Iexpected; for I can spake as much o' the lingo now as tides me overneedcessities, and I understand most o' what's said to me. Anyhow, Iginerally see what they're drivin' at."
"So, then, you're actually in charge of the mine?" said Martin, insurprise.
"Jist so, boy; but I'm tired of it already; it's by no means so pleasantas I expected it would be; so I'm thinkin' o' lavin' it, and takin' tothe say again. I'm longin' dreadful to see the salt wather wance more."
"But what will the owner say, Barney: won't he have cause to complain ofyour breaking your engagement?"
"Niver a bit, boy. He tould me, before we parted, that if I wanted toquit I was to hand over the consarn to the interpreter, who is anhonest fellow, I belave; so I'm jist goin' to pocket a di'mond or two,and ask lave to take them home wid me. I'll be off in a week, if allgoes well. An' now, Martin, fill yer glass; ye'll find the wine is notbad, after wan or two glasses; an' I'll tell ye about my adventuressince I saw ye last."
"But you have not explained about your name," said Martin.
"Och! the fact is, that when I corned here I fortunately fell in with theowner first, and we spoke almost intirely in Irish, so nobody understoodwhere I corned from; and the interpreter hear'd the master call me by myname; so he wint off and said to the people that a great Barono Flanagonihad come, and was up at the house wid the master. But we corrected himafterward, and gave him to understand that I was the Baron Fagoni. I hadsome trouble with the people at first, after the owner left; but Ipounded wan or two o' the biggest o' them, to such a extint that theirown friends hardly knew them; an' iver since they've been mighty civil."
Having carefully filled the black pipe, and involved himself in his ownfavourite atmosphere, the Baron Fagoni then proceeded to relate hisadventures, and dilated upon them to such an extent that five or sixpipes were filled and finished ere the story came to a close. Martin alsorelated his adventures; to which his companion listened with suchbreathless attention and earnestness that his pipe was constantlygoing-out; and the two friends did not retire to rest till near daybreak.
The substance of the Baron's narrative was as follows:--
At the time that he had been so suddenly separated from his friend,Barney had overcome many of his opponents, but at length he wasoverpowered by numbers, and his arms were firmly bound; after which hewas roughly driven before them through the woods for several days, andwas at length taken to their village among the mountains. Here heremained a close prisoner for three weeks, shut up in a small hut andbound by a strong rope to a post. Food was taken to him by an ol
d Indianwoman, who paid no attention at first to what he said to her, for thegood reason that she did not understand a word of English. The persuasiveeloquence of her prisoner's tones, however, or perhaps his brogue, seemedin the course of a few days to have made an impression on her; for shecondescended to smile at the unintelligible compliments which Barneylavished upon her in the hope of securing her good-will.
During all this time the Irishman's heart was torn with conflictingfeelings, and although, from the mere force of habit, he could jest withthe old woman when she paid her daily visits, there was no feeling of funin his bosom, but, on the contrary, a deep and overwhelming sorrow, whichshowed itself very evidently on his expressive face. He groaned aloudwhen he thought of Martin, whom he never expected again to see; and hedreaded every hour the approach of his savage captors, who, he fullyexpected, retained him in order to put him to death.
One day, while he was sitting in a very disconsolate mood, the Indianwoman entered with his usual dinner--a plate of thick soup and a coarsecake. Barney smiled upon her as usual, and then letting his eyes fall onthe ground, sighed deeply,--for his heart was heavier than usual thatday. As the woman was about to go, he looked earnestly and gravely in herface, and putting his large hand gently on her head, patted her greyhairs. This tender action seemed to affect the old woman more than usual.She laid her hand on Barney's arm, and looked as if she wished to speak.Then turning suddenly from him, she drew a small knife from her girdleand dropped it on the ground, as if accidentally, while she left the hutand re-fastened the door. Barney's heart leaped. He seized the knife andconcealed it hastily in his bosom, and then ate his dinner with more thanordinary zest; for now he possessed the means of cutting the strong ropethat bound him.
He waited with much impatience until night closed over the Indianvillage, and then cutting his bonds, he tore down the rude and ratherfeeble fastenings of the door. In another instant he was dashing along atfull speed through the forest, without hat or coat, and with the knifeclutched in his right hand! Presently he heard cries behind him, andredoubled his speed; for now he knew that the savages had discovered hisescape and were in pursuit. But, although a good runner, Barney was nomatch for the lithe and naked Indians. They rapidly gained on him, and hewas about to turn at bay and fight for his life, when he observed watergleaming through the foliage on his left. Dashing down a glade he came tothe edge of a broad river with a rapid current. Into this he sprangrecklessly, intending to swim with the stream; but ere he lost hisfooting he heard the low deep thunder of a cataract a short distancebelow! Drawing back in terror, he regained the bank, and waded up aconsiderable distance in the shallow water, so as to leave no trace ofhis footsteps. Then he leaped upon a rock, and, catching hold of thelower branches of a large tree, drew himself up among the dense foliage,just as the yelling savages rushed with wild tumult to the water's edge.Here they paused, as if baffled. They spoke in rapid, vehement tones fora few seconds, and then one party hastened down the banks of the streamtowards the fall, while another band searched the banks above.
Barney's heart fell as he sat panting in the tree, for he knew that theywould soon discover him. But he soon resolved on a bold expedient.Slipping down from the tree, he ran deliberately back towards thevillage; and, as he drew near, he followed the regular beaten track thatled towards it. On the way he encountered one or two savages hasteningafter the pursuing party; but he leaped lightly into the bushes, and laystill till they were past. Then he ran on, skirted round the village, andpushed into the woods in an entirely opposite direction from the one inwhich he had first set out. Keeping by one of the numerous tracks thatradiated from the village into the forest, he held on at top speed, untilhis progress was suddenly arrested by a stream about twenty yards broad.It was very deep, and he was about to plunge in, in order to swim across,when he observed a small montaria, or canoe, lying on the bank. This helaunched quickly, and observing that the river took a bend a littlefurther down, and appeared to proceed in the direction he wished topursue,--namely, away from the Indian village,--he paddled down the rapidstream as fast as he could. The current was very strong, so that hislittle bark flew down it like an arrow, and on more than one occasionnarrowly missed being dashed to pieces on the rocks which here and thererose above the stream.
In about two hours Barney came to a place where the stream took anotherbend to the left, and soon after the canoe swept out upon the broad riverinto which he had at first so nearly plunged. He was a long way below thefall now, for its sound was inaudible; but it was no time to abate hisexertions. The Indians might be still in pursuit; so he continued topaddle all that night, and did not take rest until daybreak. Then heslept for two hours, ate a few wild fruits, and continued his journey.
In the course of the next day, to his great joy, he overtook a tradingcanoe, which had been up another tributary of this river, and wasdescending with part of a cargo of India-rubber shoes. None of the men,of whom there were four, could speak English; but they easily saw fromthe Irishman's condition that he had escaped from enemies and was indistress; so they took him on board, and were glad to avail themselves ofhis services: for, as we have before mentioned, men are not easilyprocured for voyaging in those parts of Brazil. Three weeks after thisthey arrived at a small town, where the natives were busily engaged inthe manufacture of shoes, bottles, and other articles of India-rubber;and here Barney found employment for a short time.
The seringa, or India-rubber-tree, grows plentifully in some parts ofBrazil, and many hundreds of the inhabitants are employed in themanufacture of shoes. The India-rubber is the juice of the tree, andflows from it when an incision is made. This juice is poured into mouldsand left to harden. It is of a yellowish colour naturally, and isblackened in the course of preparation. Barney did not stay long here.Shoe-making, he declared, was not his calling by any means; so he seizedthe first opportunity he had of joining a party of traders going into theinterior, in the direction of the diamond districts. The journey was longand varied. Sometimes by canoe and sometimes on the backs of mules andhorses, and many extraordinary adventures did he go through ere hereached the diamond mines. And when at length he did so, great was hisdisappointment. Instead of the glittering caves which his vividimagination had pictured, he found that there were no caves at all; thatthe diamonds were found by washing in the muddy soil; and worst of all,that when found they were dim and unpolished, so that they seemed nobetter than any other stone. However, he resolved to continue there for ashort time, in order to make a little money; but now that Martin hadarrived he thought that they could not do better than make their way tothe coast as fast as possible, and go to sea.
"The only thing I have to regret," he said, at the conclusion of hisnarrative, "is that I left Grampus behind me. But arrah! I came offfrom the savages in such a hurry that I had no time at all to tell himI was goin'!"
Having sat till daybreak, the two friends went to bed to dream of eachother and of home.
Next morning Barney took Martin to visit the diamond mines. On the waythey passed a band of Negro slaves who encircled a large fire, theweather being very cold. It was at that time about the end of July, whichis one of the coldest months in the year. In this part of Brazil summerand winter are reversed,--the coldest months being May, June, and July;the hottest, November, December, January, and February.
Minas Geraes, the diamond district, is one of the richest provinces ofBrazil. The inhabitants are almost entirely occupied in mining or insupplying the miners with the necessaries of life. Diggers andshopkeepers are the two principal classes, and of these the latter arebest off; for their trade is steady and lucrative, while the success ofthe miners is very uncertain. Frequently a large sum of money and muchtime are expended in mining without any adequate result; but themerchants always find a ready sale for their merchandise, and, as theytake diamonds and gold-dust in exchange, they generally realize largeprofits and soon become rich. The poor miner is like the gambler. Hedigs on in hope; sometimes finding barely enough to supply hiswants,
--at other times making a fortune suddenly; but never giving upin despair, because he knows that at every handful of earth he turns uphe may perhaps find a diamond worth hundreds, or, it may be, thousandsof pounds.
Cidade Diamantina,--the City of Diamonds,--is the capital of theprovince. It is a large city, with many fine churches and buildings; andthe whole population, consisting of more than 6000 souls, are engaged,directly or indirectly, in mining. Every one who owns a few slavesemploys them in washing the earth for gold and diamonds.
The mine of which Barney had so unexpectedly become overseer, was a smallone, in a remote part of the district, situated among the mountains, andfar distant from the City of Diamonds. There were only a few huts, rudelybuilt and roofed with palm leaves, besides a larger building, or cottage,in which the Baron Fagoni resided.
"Tis a strange life they lead here," said Barney, as he led Martin down agorge of the mountains towards a small spot of level ground on which theslaves were at work; "a strange life, and by no means a pleasant wan; forthe feedin' is none o' the best and the work very sevare."
"Why, Barney, if I may judge from last night's supper, the feeding seemsto be excellent."
"Thrue, boy, the Baron Fagoni feeds well, bekase he's the cock o' theroost; but the poor Naygurs are not overly well fed, and the critters areup to their knees in wather all day, washing di'monds; so they suffermuch from rheumatiz and colds. Och, but it's murther entirely; an' I'vemore than wance felt inclined to fill their pockets with di'monds and setthem all free! Jist look, now, there they are, hard at it."
As he spoke they arrived at the mine. The ground in the vicinity was allcut up and dug out to a considerable depth, and a dozen Negroes werestanding under a shed washing the earth, while others were engaged in theholes excavating the material. While Martin watched them his friendexplained the process.
The different kinds of soil through which it is necessary to cut beforereaching the diamond deposit are, first, about twenty feet of reddishsandy soil; then about eight feet of a tough yellowish clay; beneath thislies a layer of coarse reddish sand, below which is the peculiar soil inwhich diamonds are found. It is called by the miners the _cascalho_, andconsists of loose gravel, the pebbles of which are rounded and polished,having at some previous era been subject to the action of running water.The bed varies in thickness from one to four feet, and the pebbles are ofvarious kinds; but when there are many of a species called_Esmerilopreto_, the cascalho is considered to be rich in diamonds.
Taking Martin round to the back of the shed, Barney showed him a row oftroughs, about three feet square, close to the edge of a pond of water.These troughs are called _bacos_. In front of each stood a Negro slave upto his knees in water. Each had a wooden plate, with which he dashedwater upon the rough cascalho as it was thrown into the trough by anotherslave. By this means, and by stirring it with a small hoe, the earth andsand are washed away. Two overseers were closely watching the process;for it is during this part of the operation that the largest diamonds arefound. These overseers were seated on elevated seats, each being armedwith a long leathern whip, to keep a sharp look out, for the slaves areexpert thieves.
After the cascalho had been thus purified it was carefully removed to theshed to be finally washed.
Here seven slaves were seated on the side of a small canal, about fourfeet broad, with their legs in the water nearly up to their knees. Thecanal is called the _lavadeira_. Each man had a small wooden platter,into which another slave, who stood behind him, put a shovelful ofpurified cascalho. The _bateia_, or platter, was then filled with waterand washed with the utmost care several times, being closely examinedafter each washing, and the diamonds picked out. Sometimes many platefulswere examined but nothing found; at other times several diamonds werefound in one plate. While Martin was looking on with much curiosity andinterest, one of the slaves uttered an exclamation and held up a minutestone between his finger and thumb.
"Ah! good luck to ye, lad!" said Barney, advancing and taking the diamondwhich had been discovered. "See here, Martin; there's the thing, lad,that sparkles on the brow o' beauty, and gives the Naygurs rheumatiz--"
"Not to mention their usefulness in providing the great Baron Fagoni witha livelihood," added Martin, with a smile.
Barney laughed, and going up to the place where the two overseers wereseated, dropped the precious gem into a plate of water placed betweenthem for the purpose of receiving the diamonds as they were found.
"They git fifteen or twinty a day sometimes," said Barney, as theyretraced their steps to the cottage; "and I've hear'd o' them gettingstones worth many thousands o' pounds; but the biggest they iver foundsince I corned here was not worth more than four hundred."
"And what do you do with them, Barney, when they are found?"inquired Martin.
"Sind them to Rio Janeiro, lad, where my employer sells them. I don'tknow how much he makes a year by it; but the thing must pay, for he'svery liberal with his cash, and niver forgits to pay wages. There'salways a lot o' gould-dust found in the bottom o' the bateia after eachwashing, and that is carefully collected and sold. But, arrah! I wouldn'tgive wan snifter o' the say-breezes for all the di'monds in Brazil!"
As Barney said this he entered his cottage and flung down his hat withthe air of a man who was resolved to stand it no longer.
"But why don't you wash on your own account?" cried Martin. "Whatsay you; shall we begin together? We may make our fortune the firstweek, perhaps!"
Barney shook his head. "No, no, boy; I've no faith in my luck with thedi'monds or gould. Nevertheless I have hear'd o' men makin' an awfulheap o' money that way; partiklarly wan man that made his fortin withwan stone."
"Who was that lucky dog?" asked Martin.
"Well, ye see, it happened this way: There's a custom hereaway thatslaves are allowed to work on Sundays and holidays on their own account;but when the mines was a government consarn this was not allowed, and theslaves were the most awful thieves livin', and often made off with someo' the largest diamonds. Well, there was a man named Juiz de Paz, whoowned a small shop, and used to go down now and then to Rio de Janeiro tobuy goods. Wan evenin' he returned from wan o' his long journeys, and,being rather tired, wint to bed. He was jist goin' off into a comfortabledoze when there came a terrible bumpin' at the door.
"'Hallo!' cried Juiz, growlin' angrily in the Portugee tongue; 'whatd'ye want?'
"There was no answer but another bumpin' at the door. So up he jumps,and, takin' down a big blunderbuss that hung over his bed, opened thedoor, an' seized a Naygur be the hair o' the head!
"'Oh, massa! oh, massa! let him go! Got di'mond for to sell!'
"On hearin' this, Juiz let go, and found that the slave had come tooffer for sale a large di'mond, which weighed about two penny-weightsand a third.
"'What d'ye ask for it?' said Juiz, with sparklin' eyes.
"'Six hundred mil-reis,' answered the Naygur.
"This was about equal to ?180 Stirling. Without more words about it, hepaid down the money; and the slave went away. Juiz lost his sleep thatnight. He went and tould the neighbours he had forgot a piece ofimportant business in Rio and must go back at wance. So back he went, andstayed some time in the city, tryin' to git his di'mond safely sold; forit was such a big wan that he feared the government fellows might hearo't; in which case he would have got tin years transportation to Angolaon the coast of Africa. At last, however, he got rid of it for 20,000mil-reis, which is about ?6000. It was all paid to him in hard dollars;and he nearly went out o' his wits for joy. But he was brought down a pegnixt day, when he found that the same di'mond was sold for nearly twiceas much as he had got for it. Howiver, he had made a pretty considerablefortin; an' he's now the richest di'mond and gould merchant in thedistrict."
"A lucky fellow certainly," said Martin. "But I must say I have no tastefor such chance work; so I'm quite ready to start for the sea-coastwhenever it suits the Baron Fagoni's convenience."
While they were speaking they were attracted by voices outside th
ecottage, which sounded as if in altercation. In another minute the doorburst open, and a man entered hurriedly, followed by the interpreter.
"Your overseer is impertinent!" exclaimed the man, who was a tall swarthyBrazilian. "I wish to buy a horse or a good mule, and he won't let mehave one. I am not a beggar; I offer to pay."
The man spoke in Portuguese, and Barney replied in the same language.
"You can have a horse _if you pay for it_."
The Brazilian replied by throwing a heavy bag of dollars on the table.
"All right," said Barney, turning to his interpreter and conversing withhim in an under-tone. "Give him what he requires." So saying he bowed theBrazilian out of the room, and returned to the enjoyment of his blackpipe, which had been interrupted by the incident.
"That man seems in a hurry," said Martin.
"So he is. My interpreter tells me that he is quite like one o' theblackguards that sometimes go about the mines doin' mischief, and he's inhot haste to be away. I should not wonder if the spalpeen has beenstealin' gould or di'monds and wants to escape. But of course I'venothin' to do with that, unless I was sure of it; and I've a horse or twoto sell, and he has money to pay for it; so he's welcome. He says he ismakin' straight for the say-coast; and with your lave, Martin, my boy,you and I will be doin' that same in a week after this, and say good-byeto the di'mond mines."