CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
KINDNESS TO STRANGERS IN DISTRESS--REMARKS IN REFERENCE TO EARLYRISING--DIGGINGS WAX UNPRODUCTIVE--NED TAKES A RAMBLE, AND HAS A SMALLADVENTURE--PLANS FORMED AND PARTLY DEVELOPED--REMARKABLE HUMAN CREATURESDISCOVERED, AND STILL MORE REMARKABLE CONVERSE HELD WITH THEM.
"I'll throuble ye for two pounds of flour," cried Larry O'Neil, dashinginto one of the stores, which was thronged with purchasers, whom hethrust aside rather unceremoniously.
"You'll have to take your turn, stranger, I calculate," answered thestore-keeper, somewhat sharply.
"Ah thin, avic, plaze do attind to me at wance; for sure I've run fourmiles to git stuff for a dyin' family--won't ye now?"
The earnest manner in which Larry made this appeal was received with alaugh by the bystanders, and a recommendation to the store-keeper togive him what he wanted.
"What's the price?" inquired Larry, as the man measured it out.
"Two dollars a pound," answered the man.
"Musha! I've seed it chaiper."
"I guess so have I; but provisions are gittin' up, for nothin' has comefrom Sacramento for a fortnight."
"Tay an' sugar'll be as bad, no doubt!"
"Wuss, they are; for there's next to none at all, I opine, in this herelocation."
"Faix, I'll have a pound o' both, av they wos two dollars thehalf-ounce. Have ye got raisins an' sago?"
"Yes."
"Give me a pound o' that, aich."
These articles having been delivered and paid for, Larry continued--
"Ye'll have brandy, av coorse?"
"I guess I have; plenty at twenty dollars a bottle."
"Och, morther, it'll brake the bank intirely; but it's little I care.Hand me wan bottle, plaze."
The bottle of brandy was added to his store, and then the Irishman,shouldering his bundle of good things, left the shop, and directed hissteps once more towards the ravine in which dwelt Kate Morgan and herbrother Pat.
It was late when the Irishman returned from his mission of kindness, andhe found the fire nearly out, the tent closed, and all his comradessound asleep, so, gently lifting the curtain that covered the entrance,he crept quietly in, lay down beside Bill Jones, whose nasal organ wasperforming a trombone solo, and in five minutes was sound asleep.
It seemed to him as if he had barely closed his eyes, when he was rousedby his comrades making preparations to resume work; nevertheless, he hadrested several hours, and the grey hue of early day that streamed inthrough the opening of the tent warned him that he must recommence theeffort to realise his golden dreams. The pursuit of gold, howeverengrossing it may be, does not prevent men from desiring to lie still inthe morning, or abate one jot of the misery of their condition when theyare rudely roused by _early_ comrades, and told that "it's time to getup." Larry O'Neil, Tom Collins, and Maxton groaned, on receiving thisinformation from Ned, turned, and made as if they meant to go to sleep.But they meant nothing of the sort; it was merely a silent testimony tothe fact of their thorough independence--an expressive way of shewingthat they scorned to rise at the bidding of any man, and that they wouldnot get up till it pleased themselves to do so. That this was the casebecame evident from their groaning again, two minutes afterwards, andturning round on their backs. Then they stretched themselves, and,sitting up, stared at each other like owls. A moment after, Maxtonyawned vociferously, and fell back again quite flat, an act which wasinstantly imitated by the other two. Such is the force of bad example.
By this time the captain and Jones had left the tent, and Ned Sinton wasbuckling on his belt.
"Now, then, get up, and don't be lazy," cried the latter, as he steppedout, dragging all the blankets off the trio as he took his departure, anact which disclosed the fact that trousers and flannel shirts were thesleeping garments of Maxton and Tom, and that Larry had gone to bed inhis boots.
The three sprang up immediately, and, after performing their toilets,sallied forth to the banks of the stream, where the whole population ofthe place was already hard at work.
Having worked out their claims, which proved to be pretty good, theycommenced new diggings close beside the old ones, but these turned outcomplete failures, excepting that selected by Captain Bunting, which wasas rich as the first. The gold deposits were in many places veryirregular in their distribution, and it frequently happened that one mantook out thirty or forty dollars a day from his claim, while anotherman, working within a few yards of him, was, to use a mining phrase,unable "to raise the colour;" that is, to find gold enough to repay hislabour.
This uncertainty disgusted many of the impatient gold-hunters, and not afew returned home, saying that the finding of gold in California was amere lottery, who, if they had exercised a little patience andobservation, would soon have come to know the localities in which goldwas most likely to be found. There is no doubt whatever, that the wholecountry is impregnated more or less with the precious material. Thequartz veins in the mountains are full of it; and although the largestquantities are usually obtained in the beds of streams and on theirbanks, gold is to be found, in smaller quantities, even on the tops ofthe hills.
Hitherto the miners at Little Creek had found the diggings on the banksof the stream sufficiently remunerative; but the discovery of severallumps of gold in its bed, induced many of them to search for it in theshallow water, and they were successful. One old sea-captain was met byBill Jones with a nugget the size of a goose-egg in each hand, andanother man found a single lump of almost pure gold that weighedfourteen pounds. These discoveries induced Ned Sinton to think ofadopting a plan which had been in his thoughts for some time past; soone day he took up his rifle, intending to wander up the valley, for thedouble purpose of thinking out his ideas, and seeing how the diggershigher up got on.
As he sauntered slowly along, he came to a solitary place where nominers were at work, in consequence of the rugged nature of the banks ofthe stream rendering the labour severe. Here, on a projecting cliff;which overhung a deep, dark pool or eddy, he observed the tall form of anaked man, whose brown skin bespoke him the native of a southern clime.While Ned looked at him, wondering what he could be about, the mansuddenly bent forward, clasped his hands above his head, and dived intothe pool. Ned ran to the margin immediately, and stood for nearly aminute observing the dark indistinct form of the savage as he gropedalong the bottom. Suddenly he rose, and made for the shore with anugget of gold in his hand.
He seemed a little disconcerted on observing Ned, who addressed him inEnglish, French, and Spanish, but without eliciting any reply, save agrunt. This, however, did not surprise our hero, who recognised the manto be a Sandwich Islander whom he had met before in the village, andwhose powers of diving were well-known to the miners. He ascertained bysigns, however, that there was much gold at the bottom of the stream,which, doubtless, the diver could not detach from the rocks during theshort period of his immersion, so he hastened back to the tent,determined to promulgate his plan to his comrades. It was noon when hearrived, and the miners were straggling from all parts of the diggingsto the huts, tents, and restaurants.
"Ha! Maxton, glad I've found you alone," cried Ned, seating himself onan empty box before the fire, over which the former was engaged inculinary operations. "I have been thinking over a plan for turning thecourse of the stream, and so getting at a portion of its bed."
"Now that's odd," observed Maxton, "I have been thinking of the verysame thing all morning."
"Indeed! wits jump, they say. I fancied that I had the honour of firsthitting on the plan."
"_First_ hitting on it!" rejoined Maxton, smiling. "My dear fellow, ithas not only been hit upon, but hit off, many months ago, withconsiderable success in some parts of the diggings. The only thing thatprevents it being generally practised is, that men require to work incompanies, for the preliminary labour is severe, and miners seem toprefer working singly, or in twos and threes, as long as there is good`pay-dirt' on the banks."
"Well, then, the difficul
ty does not affect us, because we are already apretty strong company, although our vaquero has left us, and I have seena place this morning which, I think, will do admirably to begin upon; itis a deep pool, a few miles up the stream, under--"
"I know it," interrupted Maxton, putting a large slice of pork into thefrying-pan, which hissed delightfully in the ears of hungry men. "Iknow the place well, but there is a much better spot not a quarter of amile higher up, where a Chinaman, named Ah-wow, lives; it will be moresuitable, you'll find, when I shew it you."
"We'll go and have a look at it after dinner," observed Ned; "meanwhile,here are our comrades, let us hear what they have to say about theproposal."
As he spoke, Collins, Jones, Larry, and the captain advanced in singlefile, and with disconsolate looks, that told of hard toil and littlereward.
"Well, what have you got, comrades?"
"Nothin'," answered Bill Jones, drawing forth his comforter. Bill'scomforter was black and short, and had a bowl, and was at all timesredolent of tobacco.
"Niver a speck," cried Larry O'Neil, setting to with energy to assist inpreparing dinner.
"Well, friends, I've a plan to propose to you, so let us take the edgeoff our appetites, and I'll explain."
Ned sat down tailor-fashion on the ground with his companions round him,and, while they devoted themselves ravenously and silently to tea,flour-cake, salt-pork, and beans, he explained to them the details ofhis plan, which explanation, (if it was not the dinner), had the effectof raising their spirits greatly. Instead, therefore, of repairing totheir profitless claims after dinner, they went in a body up the streamto visit the Chinaman's diggings. Captain Bunting alone remainedbehind, as his claim was turning out a first-rate one.
"Sure, there's a human!" cried Larry, as they turned a projecting point,about an hour and a half later, and came in sight of Ah-wow's"lo-cation," as the Yankees termed it.
"It may be a human," remarked Ned, laughing, "but it's the most inhumanone I ever saw. I think yonder fellow must be performing a surgicaloperation on the Chinaman's head."
Ah-wow was seated on a stone in front of his own log-hut, with his armsresting on his knees, and an expression of supreme felicity on hisyellow face, while a countryman, in what appeared a night-gown, and animmense straw hat, dressed his tail for him.
Lest uninformed readers should suppose that Ah-wow belonged to themonkey-tribe, we may mention that the Chinaman's head was shaved quitebald all round, with the exception of a _tail_ of hair, about two feetlong, and upwards of an inch thick, which jutted from the top of his_caput_, and hung down his back. This tail he was in the act of gettingdressed when our party of miners broke in upon the privacy of hisdressing-room.
Ah-wow had a nose which was very flat and remarkably broad, with thenostrils pointing straight to the front. He also had a mouth which wasextremely large, frightfully thick-lipped, and quite the reverse ofpretty. He had two eyes, also, not placed, like the eyes of ordinarymen, _across_ his face, on either side of his nose, but set in anangular manner on his visage, so that the outer corners pointed a gooddeal upwards, and the inner corners pointed a good deal downwards--towards the point of his nose, or, rather, towards that vacant space infront of his nostrils which would have been the point of his nose ifthat member had had a point at all. Ah-wow also had cheek bones whichwere uncommonly high, and a forehead which was preposterously low, and abody which was rather squat, and a _tout ensemble_ which was desperatelyugly. Like his hairdresser, he wore a coat somewhat resembling anight-shirt, with a belt round it, and his feet were thrust into yellowslippers. These last, when he went to dig for gold, he exchanged forheavy boots.
When Ned and his friends walked up and stood in a grinning row beforehim, Ah-wow opened his little eyes to the uttermost, (which wasn'tmuch), and said, "How!"
If he had affixed "d'ye do" to it, the sentence would have been completeand intelligible. His companion attempted to vary the style of addressby exclaiming, "Ho!"
"Can you speak English?" inquired Ned, advancing.
A shake of the head, and a consequent waggle of the tail was the reply.
"Or French?"
(Shake and waggle.)
"Maybe ye can do Irish?" suggested Larry.
The shake and waggle were more vigorous than before but Ah-wow rose,and, drawing on his boots, made signs to his visitors to follow him,which they did, through the bushes, round the base of a steep precipice.A short walk brought them to an open space quite close to the banks ofthe stream, which at that place was broken by sundry miniaturewaterfalls and cascades, whose puny turmoil fell like woodland music onthe ear. Here was another log-hut of minute dimensions and ruinousaspect, in front of which sat another Chinaman, eating his dinner. HimAh-wow addressed as Ko-sing. After a brief conversation, Ko-sing turnedto the strangers, and said--
"Ho! Kin speek English, me can. What you want?"
"We want to look at your diggings," answered Ned.
"We are going to turn the river here, if we can; and if you and yourcompanions choose to join us, we will give you good wages."
"Kin speek, but not fery well kin on'erstan'. Work, work you say, an'pay we?"
"Yes, that's it; you work for us, and we'll pay you."
"How moche?" inquired the cautious Celestial.
"Five dollars a day," replied Ned.
The Chinaman put on a broad grin, and offered to shake hands, whichoffer was accepted, not only by Ned, but by the whole party; and thecontract was thus settled on the spot, to the satisfaction of allparties.
After this they spent some time in examining the bed of the stream, andhaving fixed upon a spot on which to commence operations, they prepared,about sunset, to return for their tent and mining tools, intending tomake a moonlight flitting in order to avoid being questioned byover-curious neighbours. All their horses and mules, except Ned'scharger, having been sold a few days before to a Yankee who wasreturning to Sacramento, they expected to get off without much noise,with their goods and chattels on their backs.
Before starting on their return, while the rest of the party werecrowding round and questioning Ko-sing, Bill Jones--whose mind since hearrived in California seemed to be capable of only one sensation, thatof surprise--went up to Ah-wow, and glancing round, in order to makesure that he was not observed, laid his hand on his shoulder, and lookedinquiringly into the Chinaman's face. The Chinaman returned thecompliment with interest, throwing into his sallow countenance anexpression of, if possible, blanker astonishment.
"O-wow!" said Bill, with solemn gravity, and pausing, as if to give himtime to prepare for what was coming. "O-wow! wot do you dress yourpig-tail with?"
"Ho!" replied the Chinaman.
"Ho!" echoed Bill; "now, that's curious. I thought as how you did itwith grease, for it looks like it. Tell me now, how long did it takeafore it growed that long?" He lifted the end of the tail as he spoke.
"How!" ejaculated the Chinaman.
"Ay, _how_ long?" repeated Bill.
We regret that we cannot give Ah-wow's answer to this question, seeingthat it was never given, in consequence of Bill being suddenly calledaway by Ned Sinton, as he and his friends turned to go.
"Come, Bill, let's be off."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Bill, turning from the Chinaman and followinghis comrades with solemn stolidity, or, if you prefer the expression,with stolid solemnity.
"Don't linger, Larry," shouted Tom Collins.
"Ah! thin, it's cruel to tear me away. Good-night to ye, Bow-wow, we'llbe back before mornin', ye purty creature." With this affectionatefarewell, Larry ran after his friends and followed them down the banksof the tumbling stream towards the `R'yal Bank o' Calyforny,' which wasdestined that night, for a time at least, to close its doors.