CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
POWERFUL EFFECTS OF GOLD ON THE ASPECT OF THINGS IN GENERAL--THE DOINGSAT LITTLE CREEK DIGGINGS--LARRY BECOMES SPECULATIVE, AND DIGS A HOLEWHICH NEARLY PROVES THE GRAVE OF MANY MINERS--CAPTAIN BUNTING TAKES AFEARFUL DIVE--AH-WOW IS SMITTEN TO THE EARTH--A MYSTERIOUS LETTER, AND ASPLENDID DISH.
We must now beg our reader to turn with us to another scene.
The appearance of Little Creek diggings altered considerably, and forthe worse, after Ned Sinton and Tom Collins left. A rush of miners hadtaken place in consequence of the reports of the successful adventurerswho returned to Sacramento for supplies, and, in the course of a fewweeks, the whole valley was swarming with eager gold-hunters. Theconsequence of this was that laws of a somewhat stringent nature had tobe made. The ground was measured off into lots of about ten feetsquare, and apportioned to the miners. Of course, in so large and rougha community, there was a good deal of crime, so that Judge Lynch'sservices were frequently called in; but upon the whole, considering thecircumstances of the colony, there was much less than might have beenexpected.
At the time of which we write, namely, several weeks after the eventsnarrated in our last chapter, the whole colony was thrown into a stateof excitement, in consequence of large quantities of gold having beendiscovered on the banks of the stream, in the ground on which thelog-huts and tents were erected. The result of this discovery was, thatthe whole place was speedily riddled with pits and their concomitantmud-heaps, and, to walk about after night-fall, was a difficult as wellas a dangerous amusement. Many of the miners pulled down their tents,and began to work upon the spots on which they previously stood. Othersbegan to dig all round their wooden huts, until these rude domicilesthreatened to become insular, and a few pulled their dwellings down inorder to get at the gold beneath them.
One man, as he sat on his door-step smoking his pipe after dinner,amused himself by poking the handle of an axe into the ground, and,unexpectedly, turned up a small nugget of gold worth several dollars.In ten minutes there was a pit before his door big enough to hold asheep, and, before night, he realised about fifty dollars. Another, inthe course of two days, dug out one hundred dollars behind his tent, andall were more or less fortunate.
At this particular time, it happened that Captain Bunting had beenseized with one of his irresistible and romantic wandering fits, and hadgone off with the blunderbuss, to hunt in the mountains. Maxton, havingheard of better diggings elsewhere, and not caring for the society ofour adventurers when Ned and Tom were absent, had bid them good-bye, andgone off with his pick and shovel on his shoulder, and hisprospecting-pan in his hand, no one knew whither. Bill Jones was downat Sacramento purchasing provisions, as the prices at the diggings wereruinous; and Ko-sing had removed with one of the other Chinamen toanother part of the Creek.
Thus it came to pass that Larry O'Neil and Ah-wow, the Chinaman, wereleft alone to work out the claims of the party.
One fine day, Larry and his comrade were seated in the sunshine,concluding their mid-day meal, when a Yankee passed, and told them ofthe discoveries that had been made further down the settlement.
"Good luck to ye!" said Larry, nodding facetiously to the man, as he puta tin mug to his lips, and drained its contents to the bottom. "Ha!it's the potheen I'm fond of; not but that I've seen better; faix I'veseldom tasted worse, but there's a vartue in goold-diggin' that wouldmake akifortis go down like milk--it would. Will ye try a drop?"
Larry filled the pannikin as he spoke, and handed it to the Yankee, who,nothing loth, drained it, and returned it empty, with thanks.
"They're diggin' goold out o' the cabin floors, are they?" said Larry,wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.
"They air," answered the man. "One feller dug up three hundred dollarsyesterday, from the very spot where he's bin snorin' on the last sixmonths."
"Ah! thin that's a purty little sum," said Larry, with a leer thatshewed he didn't believe a word of it. "Does he expect more to-morrow,think ye?"
"Don't know," said the man, half offended at the doubt thus cast on hisveracity; "ye better go an' ax him. Good day, stranger;" and the Yankeestrode away rapidly.
Larry scratched his head; then he rubbed his nose, and then his chin,without, apparently, deriving any particular benefit from these actions.After that, he looked up at Ah-wow, who was seated cross-legged on theground opposite to him, smoking, and asked him what was _his_ opinion.
"Dun no," said the Chinaman, without moving a muscle of his stolidcountenance.
"Oh! ye're an entertainin' cratur, ye are; I'll just make a hole herewhere I sit, an' see what comes of it. Sure it's better nor doin'nothin'."
Saying this, Larry refilled his empty pipe, stretched himself at fulllength on his side, rested his head on his left hand, and smokedcomplacently for three minutes; after which he took up the longsheath-knife, with which he had just cut up his supper, and begancarelessly to turn over the sod.
"Sure, there _is_ goold," he said, on observing several specks of theshining metal. As he dug deeper down, he struck upon a hard substance,which, on being turned up, proved to be a piece of quartz, the size of ahen's egg, in which rich lumps and veins of gold were embedded.
"May I niver!" shouted the Irishman, starting up, and throwing away hispipe in his excitement, "av it isn't a nugget. Hooray! where's thepick!"
Larry overturned the Chinaman, who sat in his way, darted into the tentfor his pick and shovel, and in five minutes was a foot down into theearth.
He came upon a solid rock, however, much to his chagrin, a few inchesfurther down.
"Faix I'll tell ye what I'll do," he said, as a new idea struck him,"I'll dig inside o' the tint. It 'll kape the sun an' the rain off."
This remark was made half to himself and half to Ah-wow, who, havinggathered himself up, and resumed his pipe, was regarding him with asmuch interest as he ever regarded anything. As Ah-wow made noobjection, and did not appear inclined to volunteer an opinion, Larryentered the tent, cleared all the things away into one corner, and beganto dig in the centre of it.
It was fortunate that he adopted this plan: first, because the rainyseason having now set in, the tent afforded him shelter; and secondly,because the soil under the tent turned out to be exceedingly rich--somuch so, that in the course of the next few days he and the Chinaman dugout upwards of a thousand dollars.
But the rains, which for some time past had given indubitable hints thatthey meant to pay a long visit to the settlement, at last came down likea waterspout, and flooded Larry and his comrade out of the hole. Theycut a deep trench round the tent, however, to carry off the water, andcontinued their profitable labour unremittingly.
The inside of the once comfortable tent now presented a very remarkableappearance. All the property of the party was thrust into the smallestpossible corner, and Larry's bed was spread out above it; the remainderof the space was a yawning hole six feet deep, and a mound of earthabout four feet high. This earth formed a sort of breast-work, overwhich Larry had to clamber night and morning in leaving and returning tohis couch. The Chinaman slept in his own little tent hard by.
There was another inconvenience attending this style of mining whichLarry had not foreseen when he adopted it, and which caused the tent ofour adventurers to become a sort of public nuisance. Larry hadfrequently to go down the stream for provisions, and Ah-wow being givento sleep when no one watched him, took advantage of those opportunitiesto retire to his own tent; the consequence was, that strangers whochanced to look in, in passing, frequently fell headlong into the holeere they were aware of its existence, and on more than one occasionLarry returned and found a miner in the bottom of it with his neckwell-nigh broken.
To guard against this he hit upon the plan of putting up a cautionaryticket. He purchased a flat board and a pot of black paint, with whichhe wrote the words:
"MIND YER FEET THARS A BIG HOL," and fixed it up over the entrance. Thedevice answered very well in as far as those who could
read wereconcerned, but as there were many who could not read at all, and whomistook the ticket for the sign of a shop or store, the accidents becamerather more frequent than before.
The Irishman at last grew desperate, and, taking Ah-wow by the pig-tail,vowed that if he deserted his post again, "he'd blow out all the brainshe had--if he had any at all--an' if that wouldn't do, he'd cut him upinto mince-meat, so he would."
The Chinaman evidently thought him in earnest, for he fell on his knees,and promised, with tears in his eyes, that he would never do it again--or words to that effect.
One day Larry and Ah-wow were down in the hole labouring for gold as ifit were life. It was a terribly rainy day--so bad, that it was almostimpossible to keep the water out. Larry had clambered out of the hole,and was seated on the top of the mud-heap, resting himself and gazingdown upon his companion, who slowly, but with the steady regularity ofmachinery, dug out the clay, and threw it on the heap, when a voicecalled from without--
"Is this Mr Edward Sinton's tent?"
"It is that same," cried Larry, rising; "don't come in, or it'll beworse for ye."
"Here's a letter for him, then, and twenty dollars to pay."
"Musha! but it's chape postage," said Larry, lifting the curtain, andstepping out; "couldn't ye say thirty, now?"
"Come, down with the cash, and none o' yer jaw," said the man, who was asurly fellow, and did not seem disposed to stand joking.
"Oh! be all manes, yer honour," retorted Larry, with mock servility, ashe counted out the money. "Av it wouldn't displase yer lordship, may Itake the presumption to ax how the seal come to be broken?"
"I know nothin' about it," answered the man, as he pocketed the money;"I found it on the road between this an' Sacramento, and, as I waspassin' this way anyhow, I brought it on."
"Ah, thin, it was a great kindness, intirely, to go so far out o' yerway, an' that for a stranger, too, an' for nothin'--or nixt thing toit!" said Larry, looking after the man as he walked away.
"Well, now," he continued, re-entering the tent, and seating himselfagain on the top of the mud-heap, while he held the letter in his handat arm's length, "this bates all! An' whot am I to do with it? Sureit's not right to break the seal o' another man's letter; but then it'sbroke a'ready, an' there can be no sin in raidin' it. Maybe," hecontinued, with a look of anxiety, "the poor lad's ill, or dead, an'he's wrote to say so. Sure, I would like to raid it--av I only know'dhow; but me edication's bin forgot, bad luck to the schoolmasters; I canonly make out big print--wan letter at a time."
The poor man looked wistfully at the letter, feeling that it mightpossibly contain information of importance to all of them, and thatdelay in taking action might cause irreparable misfortune. While hemeditated what had best be done, and scanned the letter in alldirections, a footstep was heard outside, and the hearty voice ofCaptain Bunting shouted:
"Ship ahoy! who's within, boys!"
"Hooroo! capting," shouted Larry, jumping up with delight; "mind yerfut, capting, dear; don't come in."
"Why not?" inquired the captain, as he lifted the curtain.
"Sure, it's no use tellin' ye _now_!" said Larry, as Captain Buntingfell head-foremost into Ah-wow's arms, and drove that worthy creature--as he himself would have said--"stern-foremost" into the mud and waterat the bottom. The captain happened to have a haunch of venison on hisshoulder, and the blunderbuss under his arm, so that the crash and thesplash, as they all floundered in the mud, were too much for Larry, whosat down again on the mud-heap and roared with laughter.
It is needless to go further into the details of this misadventure.Captain Bunting and the Chinaman were soon restored to the upper world,happily, unhurt; so, having changed their garments, they went intoAh-wow's tent to discuss the letter.
"Let me see it, Larry," said the captain, sitting down on an empty porkcask.
Larry handed him the missive, and he read as follows:--
"San Francisco.
"Edward Sinton, Esquire, Little Creek Diggings.
"My Dear Sir,--I have just time before the post closes, to say that Ionly learned a few days ago that you were at Little Creek, otherwise Ishould have written sooner, to say that--"
Here the captain seemed puzzled. "Now, ain't that aggravatin'?" hesaid; "the seal has torn away the most important bit o' the letter. Iwish I had the villains by the nose that opened it! Look here, Larry,can you guess what it was?"
Larry took the letter, and, after scrutinising it with intense gravityand earnestness, returned it, with the remark, that it was "beyant himentirely."
"That--that--" said the captain, again attempting to read, "that--somethin'--great success; so you and Captain Bunting had better comedown at once.
"Believe me, my dear Sir, Yours faithfully, John Thomson."
"Now," remarked the captain, with a look of chagrin, as he laid down theletter, folded his hands together, and gazed into Larry's grave visage,"nothin' half so tantalisin' as that has happened to me since the timewhen my good ship, the _Roving Bess_, was cast ashore at San Francisco."
"It's purvokin'," replied Larry, "an' preplexin'."
"It's most unfortunate, too," continued the captain, knitting up hisvisage, "that Sinton should be away just at this time, without rudder,chart, or compass, an' bound for no port that any one knows of. Why,the fellow may be deep in the heart o' the Rocky Mountains, for all Ican tell. I might start off at once without him, but maybe that wouldbe of no use. What can it be that old Thompson's so anxious about? Whydidn't the old figur'-head use his pen more freely--his tongue goes fastenough to drive the engines of a seventy-four. What _is_ to be done?"
Although Captain Bunting asked the question with thorough earnestnessand much energy, looking first at Larry and then at Ah-wow, he receivedno reply. The former shook his head, and the latter stared at him witha steady, dead intensity, as if he wished to stare him through.
After a few minutes' pause, Larry suddenly asked the captain if he washungry, to which the latter replied that he was; whereupon the formersuggested that it was worth while "cookin' the haunch o' ven'son," andoffered to do it in a peculiar manner, that had been taught to him notlong ago by a hunter, who had passed that way, and fallen into the holein the tent and sprained his ankle, so that he, (Larry), was obliged to"kape him for a week, an' trate him to the best all the time." Theproposal was agreed to, and Larry, seizing the haunch, which was stillcovered with the mud contracted in "the hole," proceeded to exhibit hispowers as a cook.
The rain, which had been coming down as if a second flood were about todeluge the earth, had ceased at this time, and the sun succeeded, for afew hours, in struggling through the murky clouds and pouring a flood oflight and heat over hill and plain; the result of which was, that, alongthe whole length of Little Creek, there was an eruption of blankets, andshirts, and inexpressibles, and other garments, which stood much in needof being dried, and which, as they fluttered and flapped theirmany-coloured folds in the light breeze, gave the settlement theappearance--as Captain Bunting expressed it--of being "dressed from stemto stern." The steam that arose from these habiliments, and from thesoaking earth, and from the drenched forest, covered the face of naturewith a sort of luminous mist that was quite cheering, by contrast withthe leaden gloom that had preceded it, and filled with a romantic glowthe bosoms of such miners as had any romance left in their natures.
Larry O'Neil was one of these, and he went about his work whistlingviolently. We will not take upon us to say how much of his romance wasdue to the haunch of venison. We would not, if called on to do it,undertake to say how much of the romance and enjoyment of a pic-nicparty would evaporate, if it were suddenly announced that "the hamper"had been forgotten, or that it had fallen and the contents been smashedand mixed. We turn from such ungenerous and gross contemplations to thecooking of that haunch of venison, which, as it was done after a fashionnever known to Soyer, and may be useful in after-years to readers ofthis chronicle, whose lot it may be, perchance, to stand in n
eed of suchknowledge, we shall carefully describe.
It is not necessary to enlarge upon the preliminaries. We need hardlysay that Larry washed off the mud, and that he passed flattering remarksupon his own abilities and prowess, and, in very irreverent tones andterms, addressed Ah-wow, who smoked his pipe and looked at him. Allthat, and a great deal more, we leave to our reader's well-known andvivid imagination. Suffice it that the venison was duly washed, and ahuge fire, with much difficulty, kindled, and a number of large stonesput into it to heat. This done, Larry cut off a lump of meat from thehaunch--a good deal larger than his own head, which wasn't small--theskin with the hair on being cut off along with the meat. A considerablemargin of flesh was then pared off from the lump, so as to leave anedging of hide all round, which might overlap the remainder, and encloseit, as it were, in a natural bag.
At this stage of the process Larry paused, looked admiringly at hiswork, winked over the edge of it at Ah-wow, and went hastily into thetent, whence he issued with two little tin canisters,--one containingpepper, the other salt.
"Why, you beat the French all to nothing!" remarked the captain, who saton an upturned tea-box, smoking and watching the proceedings.
"Ah! thin, don't spake, capting; it'll spile yer appetite," said Larry,sprinkling the seasoning into the bag and closing it up by means of apiece of cord. He then drew the red-hot stones and ashes from the fire,and, making a hot-bed thereof, placed the venison-dumpling--if we may beallowed the term--on the centre of it. Before the green hide was quiteburned through, the dish was "cooked," as Yankees express it, "to acuriosity," and the tasting thereof would have evoked from an alderman alook, (he would have been past speaking!) of ecstasy, while a lady mighthave exclaimed, "Delicious!" or a schoolboy have said, "Hlpluhplp," [seenote 1], or some such term which ought only to be used in reference tointellectual treats, and should never be applied to such low matters asmeat and drink.
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Note 1. Hlpluhplp. As the reader may have some difficulty inpronouncing the above word, we beg to inform him, (or her), that it iseasily done, by simply drawing in the breath, and, at the same time,waggling the tongue between the lips.