The Golden Dream: Adventures in the Far West Part 13

"Are we far-distant from the other miners in this creek?" inquired Ned.

"No; you are quite close. You will come upon the colony after pa.s.sing that bluff of trees ahead of you," answered the Scotchman; "but come, I will shew you the way; it is not far from nooning-time, when I usually cease work for a couple of hours."

So saying, the miner threw his pick-axe and shovel into the hole, and led the way towards the colony of Little Creek.

"Ain't you afraid some of the bad-looking scoundrels in these parts may take a fancy to your pick and shovel?" inquired the captain, as they rode along at a foot pace.

"Not in the least. Time was when I would have feared to leave them; for at one time neither life nor property was safe here, where so many ruffians congregated from all parts of the world; but the evil wrought its own cure at last. Murders and robberies became so numerous, that the miners took to Lynch law for mutual protection. Murderers and thieves were hanged, or whipped almost to death, with such prompt.i.tude, that it struck terror into the hearts of evil-doers; and the consequence is, that we of this valley are now living in a state of perfect peace and security, while in other districts, where the laws of Judge Lynch are not so well administered, murders and thefts are occasionally heard of. Here, if a man takes a fancy to go prospecting for a time, he has only to throw his pick and shovel into his claim, or upon his heap of dirt, [see note 1] and he will be sure to find them there untouched on his return, even though he should be absent several weeks. Our tents, too, are left unwatched, and our doors unfastened, with perfect safety, though it is well-known that hundreds and thousands of dollars in gold-dust lie within. I do not mean to a.s.sert that we have attained to absolute perfection--a murder and a theft do occasionally occur, but such are the exceptions, security is the rule."

"Truly," said Ned Sinton, "you seem to live in a golden age in all respects."

"Not in all," answered the Scot; "the terrors of the law deter from open violence, but they do not enforce morality, as the language and deportment of miners generally too plainly shew. But here we are at the colony of Little Creek."

They rounded the projecting spur of one of the hills as he spoke, and the whole extent of the little valley opened up to view. It was indeed a romantic and curious sight. The vale, as we have said, was narrow, but by no means gloomy. The noontide sun shed a flood of light over the glistening rocks and verdant foliage of the hills on the left, and cast the short, rounded shadows of those on the right upon the plain.

Through the centre of this the Little Creek warbled on its course; now circling round some wooded knoll, until it almost formed an island; anon dropping, in a quiet cascade, over the edge of a flat rock; in some places sweeping close under the base of a perpendicular cliff; in others shooting out into a lake-like expanse of shallow water across a bright-green meadow, as it murmured on over its golden bed towards the Sacramento.

Higher up the valley the cliffs were more abrupt. Dark pines and cedars, in groups or singly, hung on their sides, and gave point to the landscape, in the background of which the rivulet glittered like a silver thread where the mountains rose in peaks towards the sky.

Along the whole course of this rivulet, as far as the eye could trace it, searchers for gold were at work on both banks, while their white tents, and rude wooden shanties, were scattered, singly or in cl.u.s.ters of various extent, upon the wooded slopes, in every pleasant and suitable position. From the distance at which our party first beheld the scene, it appeared as if the miners were not men, but little animals grubbing in the earth. Little or no sound reached their ears; there was no bustle, no walking to and fro, as if the hundreds there a.s.sembled had various and diverse occupations. All were intently engaged in one and the same work. Pick-axe and shovel rose and fell with steady regularity as each individual wrought with ceaseless activity within the narrow limits of his own particular claim, or rocked his cradle beside it.

Dig, dig, dig; rock, rock, rock; shovel, shovel, shovel, was the order of the day, as long as day lasted; and then the gold-hunters rested until recruited strength and dawning light enabled them again to go down into the mud and dig, and rock, and shovel as before.

Many, alas! rocked themselves into a fatal sleep, and dug and shovelled their own graves among these golden hills. Many, too, who, although they dug and toiled for the precious metal, had neither made it their G.o.d nor their chief good, were struck down in the midst of their heavy toils, and retired staggering to their tents, and there, still clad in their damp garments, laid their fevered heads on their saddles--not unfrequently on their bags of gold-dust--to dream of the distant homes and the loved faces they were doomed to see no more; and thus, dreaming in solitude, or watched, mayhap, by a rough though warm-hearted mate, breathed out their spirits to Him who gave them, and were laid in their last resting-place with wealth untold beneath them, and earth impregnated with gold-dust for their winding-sheet. Happy, thrice happy, the few who in that hour could truly say to Jesus, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is _none upon earth_ that I desire beside Thee."

Just as our travellers approached the nearest and largest cl.u.s.ter of huts and tents, a sudden change came over the scene. The hour of noon had arrived, and, as if with one consent, the miners threw down their tools, and swarmed, like the skirmishers of an invading host, up from the stream towards the huts--a few of the more jovial among them singing at the full pitch of their lungs, but most of them too wearied to care for aught save food and repose.

Noon is the universal dinner-hour throughout the gold-mines, an hour which might be adopted with profit in every way, we venture to suggest, by those who dig for gold in commercial and legal ledgers and cash-books in more civilised lands. When the new-comers reached a moderately-sized log-cabin, which was the chief hotel of the colony, they found it in all the bustle of preparation for an immediate and simple, though substantial, meal.

"Can we have dinner!" inquired Ned, entering this house of entertainment, while his companions were unsaddling and picketing their horses and mules.

"To be sure ye can, my hearty," answered the smiling landlord, "if ye pay for it."

"That's just the reason I asked the question," answered Ned, seating himself on a cask--all available chairs, stool; and benches having been already appropriated by mud-bespattered miners, "because, you must know, I _can't_ pay for it."

"Ho!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed mine host, with a grin, "hard-up, eh! got cleaned out with the trip up, an' trust to diggin' for the future? Well, I'll give ye credit; come on, and stick in. It's every man for himself here, an'

no favour."

Thus invited, Ned and his friends squeezed themselves into seats beside the long _table d'hote_--which boasted a canvas table-cloth, and had casks for legs--and made a hearty meal, in the course of which they obtained a great deal of useful information from their friend McLeod the Scotchman.

After dinner, which was eaten hurriedly, most of the miners returned to their work, and Ned with his friend; under the guidance of McLeod, went down to the river to be initiated into the mysteries of gold-digging and was.h.i.+ng. As they approached several of the claims which their owners were busy working, a Yankee swaggered up to them with a cigar in his mouth, an impudent expression on his face, and a pick-axe on his shoulder.

"Guess you've just come to locate in them diggin's, strangers," he said, addressing the party at large, but looking at Ned, whose superior height and commanding cast of countenance proved him unmistakeably to be a leader.

"We have," replied Ned, who disliked the look of the man.

"Thought so. I'm jest goin' to quit an' make tracks for the coast.

'Bliged to cut stick on business that won't wait, I calc'late. It's plaguey unlucky, too, for my claim's turnin' out no end o' dollars, but I must sell it slick off so I don't mind to let ye have it cheap."

"Is your claim better than the others in the neighbourhood?" inquired Ned.

"Wall, I jest opine it is. Look here," cried the Yankee, jumping into his claim, which was a pit of about eight feet square and three deep, and delving the shovel into the earth, while Ned and his friends, besides several of the other miners, drew near to witness the result.

Maxton and Tom Collins, however, winked knowingly at each other, and, with the Scotchman, drew back to the rear of the group.

The first shovelful of earth thrown up was absolutely full of glittering particles of gold, and the second was even more richly impregnated with the precious metal.

Ned and the captain stood aghast with amazement, and Bill Jones opened mouth and eyes to their utmost extent.

"Hooroo! och! goold galore! there it is at last!" shouted Larry O'Neil, tossing up his arms with delight. "Do buy it, Mr Ned, darlint."

"I needn't turn up more, I guess," said the Yankee, carelessly throwing down his shovel, and filling the earth into a tin bowl or pan; "I'll jest wash it out an' shew ye what it's like."

So saying he dipped the pan into the stream gently, and proceeded to wash out the gold. As this was done in the way usually practised by diggers, we shall describe it.

Setting down the tin pan of earth and water, the Yankee dipped both hands into it and stirred its contents about until it became liquid mud, removing the stones in the operation. It was then moved round quickly with a peculiar motion which caused some off the top to escape over the edge of the pan with each revolution; more water was added from time to time, and the process continued until all the earthy matter was washed away, and nothing but a kind of black sand, in which the gold is usually contained, remained at the bottom.

"There you are," cried the man, exultingly, lifting up a handful of the heavy and s.h.i.+ning mixture; "fifteen dollars at least in two shovelfuls.

I'll sell ye the claim, if ye like, for two hundred dollars."

"I would give it at once," said Ned, feeling at the moment deeply troubled on account of his poverty; "but, to say truth, I have not a farthing in the world."

A peculiar grin rested on the faces of the miners who looked on as he spoke, but before he could inquire the cause, Tom Collins stepped forward, and said:

"That's a first-rate claim of yours. What did ye say was your charge for it?"

"Three hundred dollars down."

"I'll tell ye what," rejoined Tom, "I'll give you _six_ hundred dollars for it, if you take out another shovelful of dirt like _that_!"

This remark was greeted by a general laugh from, the bystanders, which was joined in by the Yankee himself as he leaped out of the hole, and, shouldering his shovel, went off with his friends, leaving Ned and some others of his party staring at each other in astonishment.

"What _does_ it all mean?" he inquired, turning to Tom Coffins, whose laughing countenance shewed that he at least was not involved in mystery.

"It means simply that we were all taken for green-horns, which was quite a mistake, and that we were to have been thoroughly cheated--a catastrophe which has happily been prevented. Maxton and I determined to let the rascally fellow go as far as he could, and then step in and turn the laugh against him, as we have done."

"But explain yourself. I do not yet understand," repeated Ned, with a puzzled look.

"Why, the fact is, that when strangers arrive at the diggings, full of excitement and expectation, there are always a set of sharpers on the look-out, who offer to sell their claims, as they often say, `for a mere song,' and in order to prove their worth, dig out a little dirt, and wash it, as you have just seen done; taking care beforehand, however, to mingle with it a large quant.i.ty of gold-dust, which, of course, comes to light, and a bargain is generally struck on the spot, when the sharper goes off with the price, and boasts of having `done' a green-horn, for which he is applauded by his comrades. Should the fraud be detected before the completion of the bargain, as in our case, he laughs with the rest, and says, probably, he `warn't so 'cute as usual.'"

"Och, the scoundrels!" cried Larry; "an' is there no law for sich doin's?"

"None; at least in most diggings men are left to sharpen their own wits by experience. Sometimes, however, the biter is pretty well bitten.

There was a poor Chilian once who was deceived in this way, and paid four hundred dollars for a claim that was scarcely worth working. He looked rather put out on discovering the imposture, but was only laughed at by most of those who saw the transaction for his softness. Some there were who frowned on the sharper, and even spoke of lynching him, but they were a small minority, and had to hold their peace. However, the Chilian plucked up heart, and, leaping into his claim, worked away like a Trojan. After a day or two he hit upon a good layer of blue clay, and from that time he turned out forty dollars a day for two months."

"Ah! good luck to him," cried Larry.

"And did the sharper hear of it?" inquired the captain.

"That he did, and tried to bully the poor fellow, and get his claim back again; but there was a strong enough sense of justice among the miners to cause such an outcry that the scoundrel was fain to seek other diggings."