Captain Bayley's Heir Part 33

"No one has been up here?" John Little asked.

"Two chaps came up and prospected about a bit, but they did not seem to hit on the right place; at any rate they went away again."

"All the better," John said. "Now let us stake out our claims at once, then we are all right, whoever comes."

The spot selected was at the head of the little valley; it ended here abruptly, and the stream came down forty feet precipitously into a hollow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOLD-WASHING--A GOOD DAY'S WORK.]

"This looks a likely spot, indeed," Abe said; "there must have been a thundering great waterfall here in the old days. I expect it wore a hole for itself in the rock, and if it is as rich as you say on the surface, there is no saying how rich it may be when we get down to the bed rock."

They had already settled that the two parties should work in partnership, and as, including the women and boys, they numbered fifteen, and could take up the five claims which, by mining law, the discoverer of a new place was ent.i.tled to, they had in all twenty claims, which gave them the whole of the little amphitheatre at the foot of the fall for a distance of fifty yards down.

The men all set to work with their axes, and by nightfall much had been done. Frank's party had their tent, and the two small tents of the other party were allotted to the married couples. A rough hut was got up for the rest of the men; this was to act as the kitchen and general room. A storehouse was erected of stout logs, with earth piled thickly over it to keep out the wet, and here their stores were securely housed. The tents and huts were on the slope, where the rocks widened out twenty yards below the bottom of their claim.

It was late in the second evening before the work was done. All were anxious to test the ground, but it was agreed not to touch it until they had housed themselves. At daybreak they were at work, and soon all were washing out pans of gravel at the stream; the results fully justified their expectations,--there being a residuum of glittering grains at the bottom of each pan varying in weight from a pennyweight to a quarter of an ounce.

"Now," Abe said, "I should suggest that we makes a big cradle, fifteen feet long by three feet wide, and hang it on cross poles so as to be able to rock it easily; then we will dam up the stream at the top of the fall, and lead it down straight through a shoot into the cradle; of course the shoot will have a sluice so as to let in just as much water as we want, and that way two men will do the work of eight or ten washing."

Abe's plan was agreed to, and all the men set to work to construct the dam, cradle, and shoot.

It took two days' hard labour before all was in readiness, and then the work began in earnest. Two men swayed the cradle, four others shovelled the gravel and dirt into it, three continually stirred the contents and swept off the large stones and pebbles from the top, while the other two carried them away beyond the boundaries of their claims.

At the lower end of the cradle was a sheet of iron perforated with holes, large at the top, but getting smaller lower down, and altogether closed four inches from the bottom; through these holes the sand and gravel flowed away. All day they worked vigorously and without intermission, and great was the excitement when, at the end of the day's work, they proceeded to clear-up by emptying the cradle and examining the bottom. A shout of satisfaction arose as the particles of gold were seen lying thickly in the gravel at the bottom of the cradle. Very carefully this was washed out, and it was found that there were over fifty ounces of gold dust.

"I believe," Abe said, "that we have hit upon the richest spot in Californy. Ef it's like this on the surface, what is it going to be like when we get down to the bed rock?"

The next morning two diggers arrived on the scene; they saw at once by the methodical manner in which the place was being worked that the party must have found gold in paying quant.i.ties.

"Is it rich, mates?" they asked eagerly.

"Ay," Abe replied, "rich enough for anything. There are the boundaries of our claims, lads, and ye are welcome to set to work below them."

The miners threw off their coats, and at once set to work, and a shout of exultation greeted the result of the first bucket of stuff they washed out.

"Another week," Abe said, "and every foot of ground in the gulch from here down to the Yuba will be taken up. The news will spread like wildfire."

His antic.i.p.ations were justified, and no one who came along a fortnight later would have recognised, in the scene of life and activity, the quiet wooded valley which Abe and his party had entered. The trees on the lower slopes were all felled; huts and tents stood along on the slopes from the head to the mouth of the valley, and several hundred men were hard at work.

For once every man was satisfied, and it was agreed that it was the richest place which had been discovered in California. But though all were doing well, their finds did not approach those of the party at the head of the valley. The spot on which these were at work was indeed a natural trap for gold. At the lower end of the claim the bed rock was found at the depth of three feet only; but it sloped rapidly down to the foot of the fall, and here an iron rod had been driven down and showed it to be forty feet below the surface.

The bed rock had indeed, in the course of ages, been pounded away by the fall of water, and by the boulders and rocks brought down in time of flood, and in the deep hole the gold had lodged, a comparatively small proportion being carried away over the lower lip of the basin. When the bed rock was found at the lower end of the claim, they set to work to clear away and wash the whole surface to that depth, as far as the foot of the rocks on either side of the little amphitheatre.

Frank and two of the men went down to Sacramento with horses to bring up pumps, for below the level of the lip of the hole it was, of course, full of water. The stream was carried in a shoot beyond this point, and when the pumps arrived they were soon set to work.

Every foot that they descended they found, as they expected, the gravel to be richer and richer; and many nuggets, some of them weighing upwards of a pound, were found.

At the end of each week four of the miners, armed to the teeth, carried down the gold and deposited it at the Bank of Sacramento. An escort was needed, for many attacks were made on gold convoys by parties of desperadoes; four men would indeed have been an insufficient guard, but at the same time other diggers in the valley sent down their find, and the escort was always made up to eight men from the general body.

Frank, from the first, generally formed one of the escort; he himself was perfectly ready to take his share in the more laborious work of digging, but where Frank went Turk went, and Turk formed so valuable a member of the escort that the rest of the party begged his master always to go with the treasure. Every week had added to the weight and power of the animal, and he was now a most formidable-looking beast. He was extremely quiet and good-tempered at ordinary times, except that he would not allow any stranger to touch him; but when at all excited, his hair bristled from his neck to his tail, and his low, formidable growl, gave a warning which few men would have been inclined to despise,--indeed, of the many rough characters in the camp, there was not one who would not rather have faced a man with a revolver in his hand than have ventured upon a conflict with Turk.

The dog appeared to know that the escort duty was one which demanded especial vigilance. On the road a low growl always gave notice of the approach of strangers; and at night, when they stopped, and the heavy valises were carried from the pack animals into the wayside resting-places, Turk always lay down with his head upon them. He seemed so thoroughly to understand that this was in his special charge, that although at no other time would he leave Frank's side for a moment, he was, when thus on guard, content to lie quiet even should Frank take a stroll after reaching the hotel.

This guardianship greatly relieved the cares of the escort, as once placed under Turk's charge they felt no further anxiety about the treasure, for it would have been as much as any stranger's life was worth to have entered the room where Turk lay on guard. Once, indeed, the attempt was made. While the escort were taking their meals, a man went round to the window of the room, and, opening it, threw a large piece of poisoned meat to Turk. The dog placed one paw upon it, but remained, with his great head on the treasure, watching the man outside holding another piece in his hand, and speaking in soothing tones. The man, seeing that he did not move, began to climb in through the window.

Suddenly, as if shot from a spring, Turk hurled himself from his rec.u.mbent position upon him.

The movement was so rapid and unexpected, that before the man could spring back from the window Turk had seized him by the shoulder. A shriek, followed by a heavy fall, brought the party rushing into the room. It was empty, but there was the sound of a scuffle outside; they ran to the window, but their interference was too late. Turk had shifted his hold, and, grasping the man by the throat, was shaking him as a terrier would a rat; and when, in obedience to Frank's voice, he loosened his hold, life was extinct. Not only was there a terrible wound in the throat of the robber, but his neck was broken by the shaking.

This was the only attempt which was ever made upon the treasure; for Turk gained such a reputation by the deed, that it was questionable whether, had he accompanied the pack-mules as their sole escort to Sacramento, the bravest stage-robbers in the district would have ventured to interfere with them.

After a time the lower valley became worked out, and numbers drifted away to other diggings; but it was four months before the party at the waterfall completely worked out their claims. The value of the ground in the last few feet, at the lower end of the hole, was immense; for in this, for ages, the gold from above had settled, and for the last fortnight the clear-up each day was worth a thousand pounds. When the last spadeful had been cleared up, and the last consignment sent down to the bank, they made up their total, and found that in four months they had taken from the hole upwards of sixty thousand pounds.

It had been agreed before beginning that the two women and the boys were each to have a half-share, and that the two women who had looked after the families below were to have the same. There were then in all six half-shares, and eleven shares, and each share was therefore worth over four thousand pounds. There were many instances in California in which parties of two or three men had made larger sums than this in the same time, but there were few in which a company had taken out so large a quant.i.ty from one hole.

At the meeting that night the partnership was dissolved, it being agreed that they should all go down to Sacramento together, and there each receive his share. One or two of the party said that they would go down to San Francisco for a spree, and then return and try their luck again.

Four of the western farmers said that they should buy farms in the State and settle down there. Abe, and two other hunters, said they should return east.

"And what are you going to do, Frank?"

"I don't know," Frank said. "I don't want to return to Europe, and have no particular object in view. I think that I shall let my money remain in the bank for a bit, at any rate, and go in for freighting on a large scale. I shall buy a couple of dozen mules, and hire some Mexicans to drive them. I like the life among these mountains, and there is a good thing to be made out of carrying. But I have had enough of digging; it's tremendously hard work, and I couldn't expect to meet with such a slice of luck as this again if I worked for fifty years."

"Well, Frank, I shall not try to dissuade you," Abe said. "If I was going on hunting, I should say 'Come along with me to the plains'; but me and my mate is going east, as each of us has got some one waiting for us thar, and I expect we shall marry and settle down. I will write to you at Sacramento when I get fixed, and I needn't tell you how glad the sight of your face will make me if you are ever travelling my way."

A few days afterwards the party separated at Sacramento, Frank only remaining two days in that town. The wild scenes of dissipation and recklessness disgusted him; he looked with loathing upon the saloons where gambling went on from morning till night, broken only by an occasional fierce quarrel, followed in most cases by the sharp crack of a revolver, or by desperate encounters with bowie knives. Bad as things were, however, they were improving somewhat, for a Vigilance Committee had just been started, comprising all the prominent citizens of the town. Parties of armed men had seized upon some of the most notorious desperadoes of the place, and had hung them on the lamp-posts, while others had been warned that a like fate awaited them if they were found three hours later within the limits of the town.

Similar scenes took place in San Francisco, for the force of the law was wholly insufficient to restrain the reckless and desperate men who congregated in the towns, and who thought no more of taking life than eating a meal. To put a stop to the frightful state of things prevailing, the more peaceful of the San Francisco citizens had also been obliged to organise a Vigilance Committee to carry out what was called Lynch law, a rough and ready method of justice subject to grave abuses under other circ.u.mstances, but admirably suited to such a condition of things as at that time prevailed in California.

For some time Frank worked between Sacramento and the diggings. He enjoyed the life, riding in the pure mountain air, under the shade of the forests, at the head of the team. Sometimes he wondered vaguely how long this was to last; if he was always to remain a rover, or whether he would ever return to England. Sometimes he resolved that he would go home and make an effort to clear himself of this stain which rested upon his name; but he could see no method whatever of doing so, as he had nothing but his own unsupported a.s.sertion of his innocence to adduce against the circ.u.mstantial evidence against him, and there was no reason why his word should be taken now more than it was before.

In many of the camps life had now become more civilised. In cases where the bed of gold-bearing gravel was large, and where, consequently, work would be continued for a long time, wooden towns had sprung up, with hotels, stores, drinking and gambling saloons. Work was here carried on methodically; water was, in some cases, brought many miles in little ca.n.a.ls from mountain lakes down to the diggings, and operations were carried on on a large scale. Companies were being formed for buying up and working numbers of claims together.

The valleys were honeycombed with shafts driven down, sometimes through a hundred feet of gravel, to the bed rock, as it was found much more profitable working this way than in surface-washing. Stage-coaches and teams of waggons were running regularly now along well-made roads.

Frank's earnings were therefore smaller than they had been at first, but they still paid his expenses, and added a few pounds each trip to his account at the bank.

He took shares in many of the companies formed for bringing down water from the lakes, and these were soon found to be an exceedingly valuable property, paying in many cases a return each month equal to the capital.

The life of a teamster was not without danger: bears in considerable numbers were found among the mountains, and these, when pressed by hunger, did not hesitate to attack pa.s.sing teams. In times of rain the rivers rose rapidly, and the valleys were full of fierce torrents, sometimes preventing horses from crossing for many hours, and being still more dangerous if the rise commenced when the track to be followed wound along in the foot of the valley. Several times Frank narrowly escaped with his life when thus surprised; but in each case he managed to reach some spot where his horses could climb the sides before the water took them off their feet.

The greatest danger, however, of the roads, arose from the lawless men that frequented them. Coaches were frequently stopped and plundered, and even the gold escorts were attacked with success. Strong parties of the miners sometimes went out in pursuit of the highwaymen, but it was very seldom that success attended them, for the great forests extended so vast a distance over the hills, that anything like a thorough search was impossible.

Frank, however, treated this danger lightly; he never carried money with him save what he received on arrival at camp for the carriage of his goods, while the flour, bacon, and other stores which he carried up offered no temptation to the robbers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ATTACK ON THE GOLD ESCORT.]

One evening, however, having been detained some hours before he could cross a river swollen by a thunderstorm, he was travelling along the road much later than usual; the moon was shining brightly, and as the long team of mules descended a hill he meditated camping for the night at its foot.

Suddenly he heard a pistol-shot ahead, followed by five or six others.

Ordering his men to follow slowly, he put spurs to his horse, and, drawing his revolver, galloped on. The firing had ceased just as he caught sight of a coach standing at the bottom of a hill; three bodies were lying in the road, and the pa.s.sengers were in the act of alighting under the pistols of four mounted men who stood beside them. Frank rode up at full speed, Turk bounding beside him.