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diff --git a/old/66628-0.txt b/old/66628-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6c54231..0000000 --- a/old/66628-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4418 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Golden Chimney, by Elizabeth Gerberding - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Golden Chimney - A Boy's Mine - -Author: Elizabeth Gerberding - -Release Date: October 29, 2021 [eBook #66628] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN CHIMNEY *** - -THE GOLDEN CHIMNEY - -A BOY’S MINE - - -[Illustration: “_The Golden Chimney._”] - - - - -THE GOLDEN CHIMNEY - -A BOY’S MINE - -BY -ELIZABETH GERBERDING - -[Illustration: Decoration] - -A. M. ROBERTSON -SAN FRANCISCO -1902 - - - - -COPYRIGHT 1901 - -BY - -A. M. ROBERTSON - - -_The Murdock Press_ - -_San Francisco_ - - - - -_TO MY BOYS_ - - - - -CONTENTS - -Chapter Page - I. DISCOVERY OF THE MINE 9 - - II. THE PURCHASE 31 - - III. THE SMUGGLERS’ CACHE IS FOUND 52 - - IV. FUNDS FOR THE ENTERPRISE 64 - - V. BEN’S PARTNER PROVES A TRUMP 72 - - VI. THE MULE AUCTION 78 - - VII. BUILDING THE ARASTRA 93 - -VIII. GOLD IN THE “JIGGER” 111 - - IX. THE MYSTERIOUS CHINESE 123 - - X. WORK STOPPED 136 - - XI. A MIDNIGHT FIGHT 156 - - XII. IN THE SICKROOM 166 - -XIII. THE OPIUM RAID 180 - - XIV. A CRIME DISCOVERED 190 - - XV. BEN CHOOSES A PROFESSION 200 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - -“The Golden Chimney” _Frontispiece_ - - Facing Page -“Our Boy Miner” 136 - -“As Ben approached he saw Ng Quong -leaning against the iron balustrade” 182 - -“‘Rockin’ on the beach of San Francisco -and makin’ our two and three hundred -a day,’ said Mundon” 206 - - - - -THE GOLDEN CHIMNEY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -DISCOVERY OF THE MINE - - -Ben Ralston and his cousin Beth were sitting on the northern slope of -Russian Hill, one of the many hills of San Francisco. At the foot of -the elevation the black buildings and smokeless chimney of an abandoned -smelting-works rose from the beach which skirted the hill. Beyond, the -blue bay sparkled in the sunlight, except where fleeting cloud-shadows -raced across its surface. - -“I was born just about forty years too late,” the boy remarked with -emphasis. - -“But the city’s a big place, and it’s getting bigger and bigger,--I -heard a man say so to-day.” - -“I know all that, Beth; and the reason is, there are more people coming -all the time. Every one who comes lessens my chances to get on. Forty -years ago there weren’t many folks here, but there were a heap of -chances.” - -“I had a feeling when I came up here to-day that you weren’t going to -take that place in Stratton’s store.” - -“What made you think so?” - -“O, I just guessed so from the way you talked. You always talk that way -when you’re blue.” She buried one of her hands in the shining sand on -which it rested. - -“Think,”--he pointed to the huge chimney at the foot of the -hill,--“think of the gold the fire of that chimney has melted! And then -expect me to be an errand boy at three dollars a week, with a chance of -a raise to four in six months! I tell you, Beth, I can’t do it. I’m not -that kind. I’d get so wild thinking of it all. If it were something -more to do, or something where I could get ahead quicker, I wouldn’t be -so dead set against it.” - -“Syd would like the place, I think, if you’re positive you’ll not take -it.” - -“Well, he’s welcome to it. Perhaps he’s the plodding kind,--though I -never thought he was; but I’ve got two hundred dollars, and it’s got to -help me to something better.” - -“I thought you said it was three hundred?” - -“So it was; but some more bills turned up and had to be paid, so it’s -dwindled. I’ve got it in the savings bank.” - -The girl looked at the massive pillar which reared itself before them. - -“I should think some of the gold would have stuck to the chimney,” she -remarked. - -Her companion suddenly grasped her wrist. - -“Beth!” he exclaimed. His eyes glowed with excitement, and he sprang -to his feet and whirled his hat around his head as he gave a cheer. -Then he stood quite still and gazed at the chimney. - -The girl looked at him in wonder. “What is it?” she asked. - -“I don’t know myself--exactly. Maybe, it’s nothing, and maybe,--you’ve -found my fortune.” - -“I?” - -“Yes, you.” - -“What do you mean?” - -“Why, goosey, don’t you see it yet? To buy the right to mine the soot -for gold, the gold of the early days. Somehow, I’ve always felt that -that would be the stuff to put me on my feet,--and here it is. Maybe, -I’ve been mistaken,--maybe, I wasn’t born too late, after all.” - -“Mine the soot! How can you?” - -“Why not? I’ve heard of its having been done.” His face shone with -hope. “No one’s ever thought of this!” he exclaimed. “Don’t you see -it’s a big thing?” he questioned, as she did not speak. - -“If you can only do it. Will old Madge give you leave?” - -“He will if I pay him for it. He’d give me the right, too, to tear down -the old sheds; and of course there’s gold under the crazy ramshackle -things. They had so much of it in the early days that they weren’t any -too careful.” - -“Mr. Madge would be foolish to give you the right, if the gold is -there.” - -“He is sort of fool-crazy over his mines. He’s always telling every one -all about them, how rich they are and all that. The biggest vein ever -seen is always just ahead. He wouldn’t come down to mining soot.” - -“But wouldn’t it be his gold if you found it on his land?” - -“No, ’twouldn’t. Not any more his than mine. The Works were just a -mill to crush everybody’s ore; and what’s left is for the sweeper. -Besides, the land is only leased, anyway, and if I go open-handed and -buy the right to sweep, what I find’s mine.” - -“I should think that some of it would be his, too.” - -“I don’t see it that way. A girl’s always got such cranky ideas of -business.” - -“Well, we won’t quarrel about it until you get it. Shall you put in all -your money?” - -“Every cent, if I have to. I’d like mighty well to have some left, -though, for the expense of working the thing.” - -“O, Ben, suppose you shouldn’t find any gold?” - -“That’s the chance I’ve got to take. But you shall have anything you -want, Beth.” - -Her face flushed as she saw him glance at her shabby shoes and frock, -and she tried to cover her feet with the hem of her dress. - -“These are trifles,” she bravely said, pointing to them; “but what I -should like would be more schooling.” - -“You shall go to school, and before I get any gold either. I know a way -to fix it.” - -“Don’t anger Mr. Hodges, will you, Ben?” She turned an anxious face -toward him. - -“I won’t. I didn’t tell you that I found a note of his for ninety -dollars among father’s papers.” - -“No. You don’t expect to get it?” - -“Of course not; but I can hold it over his head for nearly two years -yet.” - -Her face brightened. “And make him let me go to school! That isn’t a -bad scheme.” - -“We’re doing great things in schemes to-day. Let’s go through the old -Works!” He seized her hand and they tore down the hillside, until they -stood, out of breath, before the nailed gates. - -Grim and gaunt the building faced them. Boards were nailed over the -broken windows, and there were gaping sags in the roof. - -Ben found an aperture in the fence, and they squeezed themselves -through it into the yard. - -“Here,” he cried, “is where they dumped the ore! Beth, millions have -lain were we are standing!” - -She did not appear to be greatly impressed by this dramatic statement, -and nervously glanced about. - -“I should think tramps would sleep here.” - -“No fear of that,” he replied; “it’s too cold. Come inside!” - -She followed him timorously, feeling the mystery of a vacant house, the -unseen presence of former occupants. - -“See!” Ben eagerly exclaimed, “there is where the boilers stood. And -there,”--he pointed to where some twisted and rusty pipes loosely hung -against the wall, like petrified serpents,--“is where the tanks stood -in which they washed the gold. They washed it before melting it into -bricks. Father has told me how the men used to stand knee-deep in it in -the tanks and shovel it out, just as if they were shoveling coal.” - -“They must have lost a lot.” - -“It couldn’t be helped. And no one’s ever worked it over!” - -“What was that!” - -“Nothing but a loose shingle in the roof. Why, Beth, I didn’t know you -were such a coward.” - -“I’m not a coward; but I don’t like spooky places.” She looked -apprehensively toward a dark corner. - -“Spooky! Well, I hope some old miner’s ghost will kindly show me -where to dig, that’s all. See how wide the cracks are in the floor of -this shed,” he said, as he looked through an opening which led to an -adjoining building. “There are thousands of dollars in the dirt under -it--probably.” - -They peered into the black cracks and could almost fancy they saw the -glitter of the precious metal. The boy threw back his head and gazed at -the massive brickwork of the chimney. - -“It’s a chance, of course, but I’m going to take it. It’s funny to -think of mining for gold in the heart of San Francisco in 1901!” He -laughed and gave a low whistle. - -“I’m so afraid you’ll lose all you’ve got,” she said. Then she suddenly -made up her mind to side with him. “But, after all, there’s a risk -in everything. I’d do it, if I were you, Ben,” she stoutly affirmed. -“There’s lots of risks I’d take if I were a man.” - -“That’s got some grit to it,” Ben approvingly replied. His -seventeen-year-old vanity was flattered by being called a man. - -“You see,” he continued, “if I’d been taught a trade it would be -different; or if father had had any business to leave me. But he was -just like old Madge,--wouldn’t do anything but trade in mines. He -always had a big fortune just in sight, but it never came near enough -to catch.” - -“That’s a hard way to live.” - -“Yes. It wore mother out; never to know from month to month whether we -were going to stay or move on, or what our income would be. I believe -all old miners are alike. Once a miner, always a miner. The gold fever -of early times bewitched them for all the rest of their lives.” - -“Take care you’re not bewitched, too.” - -“It’s entirely different with me,” he began. - -“No, it isn’t,” she interrupted. “But I’m with you, Ben. O, what a -crazy scheme it is!” She laughed at his troubled face. “What was that? -It is something in the house!” - -“It’s some one in the yard,” Ben replied, looking out. - -A man’s figure appeared in the doorway. - -“Good-afternoon, Mr. Madge,” Ben said. “We are viewing your property. -With a floor, this would make a first-rate skating-rink.” - -The man came toward them. Of medium stature, with a halting gait, as -though his joints were rusty, he helped himself along by the aid of a -stout hooked cane. A sparse gray beard covered the lower part of his -face, which was flushed from liquor. He looked uncomfortably warm, and -he took off his shabby broad-brimmed hat and ran his fingers through -his hair until it stood erect in tufts. - -“A skating-rink! Like as not ’twould come down about your heads. Run -home, girl,” he said to Beth; “this is no place for you.” - -“We were just going when you came in,” Ben replied, before she could -answer. “Good-night.” - -“Didn’t you want to talk to him about the scheme?” she asked, when they -were out of hearing. - -“Not when he’s in that condition. I wouldn’t take advantage of him. Run -home, now, before Mrs. Hodges has a chance to scold.” - -“She’ll scold, anyway,” the girl replied. Then she shrugged her -shoulders as if to dismiss an unpleasant subject, and her face -brightened. “Race you to the Point, Ben!” she cried, placing one foot -forward for the start. - -He did not respond, but gazed at her with a preoccupied air. - -“One, two!” Still he made no answer. Her expectant attitude changed -and her arms fell to her sides, while a look of disappointment spread -over her face. “I think it’s just horrid if you’re going to be poky and -grown-up! I don’t see why people can’t work and play too; but it seems -they never do. Just because you’re three years older than me, you think -you’re grown up!” - -“Why, Beth, what’s come over you?” - -“You’re a man all at once; that’s all. I s’pose now we can’t have any -more fun with stilts and tar-barrels. Nor fly kites, nor run races, -nor--nor do anything we used to do! I hate the scheme,--I do!” - -Ben laughed. “Come on,” he said; “I’ll race you.” - -Off they went, flying along the beach until they came up, breathless, -against the wooded slopes of Black Point. They climbed up the bank -until they reached the ramparts. - -“That was fine!” Beth said, seating herself on the grassy slope. “Now, -you can tell me some more about your plan. I don’t hate it any more.” - -Spread before them was the bay, dotted with craft. Across the channel -the Marin County hills rose abruptly from the water’s edge. At Fort -Point, which jutted out beyond the promontory on which they were -sitting, some experiments in a new explosive were being made. They -watched the flash and report and the little cloud of dust the charge -made when it struck the opposite shore. Above them, on a higher -embankment, a sentry paced to and fro, his bayonet glistening in the -sunlight. - -“So, Dame Trot scolds a good deal, does she?” Ben remarked, ignoring -the invitation to expatiate on the scheme. “I must stop calling her -that. Her name’s Mrs. Hodges.” - -“Yes, she does. I don’t think she means to, though,” she added. “I -think she’s been disappointed in so many things that it’s made her -cross with everything. If it wasn’t for poor little Sue I couldn’t -stand it.” - -“Sue would miss you--if you should go away.” - -“I know she would--terribly.” - -“You’ve thought of going, then?” - -“O, sometimes I think of it; but when Sue turns her poor little face -and looks at me, I can’t bear to think any more about it.” - -“Doesn’t she look so at her mother, too?” - -“Yes; but her mother always seems to want to get her out of her sight. -She wouldn’t hurt her, of course; but it seems as if she held a grudge -against God and Sue for her being so deformed. Somehow, she acts as if -she held both of them responsible for the child’s misery.” - -“Most mothers would be more tender to such a child.” - -“I know it,--just cuddle it up in their arms, away from all the rest -of the world! But she doesn’t. I guess it’s because she’s so selfish. -She wants everything of hers to be the best. Of course it isn’t, and so -she’s always complaining.” - -“I know. And I say, Beth, do you know that ill-humor’s catching? I -don’t like to hear you say that you ‘hate’ things.” - -“You know I don’t mean it.” - -“Then, don’t say it. But how are the boys? Are they good to Sue?” - -“O, yes; how could they help it? Even Hodges is different to her.” - -“How’s Syd? Somehow, I’ve got sort of turned against him lately.” - -“He’s just the same old Syd. You say you’ve turned against him lately; -but you know, Ben Ralston, that you never liked him.” - -Ben laughed. “I can’t fool you, can I, Beth? I think I was trying to -fool myself the most. Tell me about him.” - -“His mother favors him always, and that spoils him. He’s envious and -suspicious, always imagining that some one’s going to slight him; and -she makes this silly feeling worse by encouraging him in it.” - -“I know he always looks sidewise at me, as though he thought I meant -to trip him up, or eat his share of the treat, or get the best of him -somehow.” - -“Perhaps you’d rather I wouldn’t tell him about that place?” - -“Tell him, if you want to; but I don’t believe you’ll get any thanks -for it. He’ll think it’s some sort of a trap we’ve set for him.” - -“How do you suppose he ever got into such a habit?” - -“Partly disposition, partly habit. It’s a habit that grows, till after -a while he will not trust any one. But don’t let’s talk of him when we -can talk about the scheme. Beth, if it pans out, I’ll always think you -were my fairy godmother.” - -“I? Why, I haven’t done anything at all!” - -“Yes, you have. You’ve shown me the way, just like the fairy godmother -who pointed out the ring in the tree-trunk to Aladdin and told him to -pull and a door would open that would lead down to the treasure-house.” - -“That wasn’t a fairy godmother; it was a magician, an old Chinaman; so -I don’t feel complimented.” - -Ben did not reply. He was busily planning how to reach his treasure. - -“I’ll have to have machinery and things; and at least one man to help -me, I suppose,” he said. “I don’t know, exactly, what I’d better do -first. But I can find out,” he added, with a rather blank look. - -A few minutes before he had exulted in the fact that he was his own -master, to negotiate the business and carry it on unaided; but already -he found himself wishing for some friend of experience with whom he -could consult. A few of the difficulties to be surmounted had dawned -upon him. - -“Why not ask Hodges about it?” - -“I don’t want to do that if I can help it. I know just how he’d sneer -and throw cold water on it all.” - -“Couldn’t you find a partner?” - -“I’m not sure that I want to. If I let others into it I’d be afraid -they’d freeze me out. Men with more money than he had did that to -father lots of times.” - -“O, I hope you won’t get cheated, Ben!” She clasped her hands and -looked so distressed that he laughed. - -“I’ll be too many for them. I’d better paddle my own canoe, though, and -then there won’t be any danger.” - -“I don’t see why there need be any such thing as cheating in the world.” - -“It’s a queer old world. Mother used to say that sometimes she thought -it was the lunatic asylum of the universe.” - -“I should think, for instance, that in case you work over the old Works -and get out the gold, everybody would be glad that you’d succeeded, -and would go on with their own work and earn their own money, without -wanting to cheat you out of yours.” - -“I know, Beth, that’s the fair way to look at it; but all men don’t -feel that way. Those that don’t are the ones I’ve got to look out for.” - -“When men are so selfish, it makes life just a big fight.” - -“Yes,” Ben replied. “And ’most every man is fierce to down every other -one. It’s just like a big school. You despise the bullies and sneaks, -of course, but you’ve got to look out for them. I don’t mean to leave a -crack for a rascal to get the better of me in this business. I’d rather -make forty blunders myself than to have some one jam me in the door.” - -“Don’t you wish you knew whether you could get it or not?” - -“Yes. First ‘catch your hare.’ Thunder! I wish I didn’t have to wait -till to-morrow. Waiting’s the hardest thing in the world!” - -The cousins slowly walked back on the beach where they had raced a -half-hour before. - -“I’ll let you know just as soon as I can,” Ben said at parting. “You -gave me the idea, and who knows what’ll come of it?” - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE PURCHASE - - -“I’d like to speak to you on a matter of business.” - -Ben’s face flushed in spite of the effort he made to look unconcerned, -and it vexed him that his voice trembled. - -The old man addressed surveyed the boyish figure before him. - -“Business?” he questioned. - -“Yes. It’s about the Works.” - -“Well, what about ’em?” - -“I should think there’d be a good deal of lumber in the frame and -bricks in the chimney.” - -“Yes, I s’pose there is; but what’s that to you?” - -“I want to know what you’ll take for the whole concern as it stands? I -suppose the lease you’ve got won’t run forever.” - -“No, I guess it won’t.” Mr. Madge meditated for a moment. He needed -money badly, to finish a pet tunnel in his “Bonanza Princess” mine. The -sum that Ben could give would be a small one, he knew, but it would be -better than nothing. As for the lease--“The leas’ said about that the -better,” he said to himself, with a chuckle at his own wit. He sat down -on a pile of boards and motioned to Ben to take a seat beside him. Then -he hung his hooked cane on his left arm. - -“How much’d you have left after your father’s affairs was settled up? -Must’ve been quite a tidy little sum, I reckon.” - -Ben had resolved not to furnish any information in regard to his -finances, unless obliged to do so. - -“There wasn’t much left, after the debts were paid,” he replied. - -“Didn’t he give you all he had ’fore he died?” - -“Yes. There wasn’t any one else to leave it to, except my cousin, Beth -Morton; and my father knew that if he left her anything, Mr. Hodges -would take it.” - -“And you don’t mean to tell me ’t you paid his debts outen it, when you -wasn’t obliged to!” - -“Every last one of them!” the boy said with emphasis. - -“Well, Ben Ralston, you are an odd stick!” He regarded his cane with a -speculative air, as though he were comparing it with Ben. “Guess I must -be gittin’ along hom’ards, now,” he added, as he slowly rose. - -Ben was busily speculating upon his intentions. “The old sharper -means to find out exactly how much money I’ve got, and then make a -stand to get it all,” he thought. He instantly decided to furnish the -information himself. - -“I’ve got just two hundred dollars,--not a cent more,--and my board’s -paid to the first of the month. So you see I’ve got to get to work at -once,” he said. - -Mr. Madge resumed his seat. “Make me an offer,” he replied, with a -shrewd glance at Ben from his watery eyes. - -“That’s my offer: all I’ve got.” - -“U-m-m! It’s little enough for the stuff.” - -As he paused, Ben nerved himself for the hardest part of all--the -disclosure of his object in buying the Works. The temptation not to -unfold his plan was very strong, but he resisted it. - -“Lumber’s tol’rable high now,” the old man continued, “and it’s bound -to go higher ’fore the year’s out.” A remembrance of the lease urged -him to close the bargain at once. “But, if you’re smart enough to sell -at a profit--” - -“Before we come to a settlement, Mr. Madge,” Ben interrupted, “I want -to tell you of one reason I have in buying your property. I mean to -work over the bricks and soot of the chimney and the ground for gold.” - -The old man was visibly astonished. - -“So? For gold! Well, that’s another thing altogether!” he remarked, -as the instinct to get the better of a bargain demanded precedence -over all others. Then a gleam of avarice shone in his eyes. “Tell you -what, boy, if you’re anxious to mine, I kin show you some splendid -properties!” He waved his cane in his excitement. “The place to look -for gold is in a virgin mine, not in forty-year-old soot!” - -“I don’t want any mine that can be bought for two hundred dollars,” -Ben said with decision. “And I must invest in something right off. I -can’t leave my offer open either,” he added as he saw the other make a -move to go. “If I don’t buy your ruin, I’ll have to get into something -else.” - -“You are in a hurry, ain’t you? I wish ’t I could persude you to go -into a mine. ’Tain’t no use, eh?” he added as Ben shook his head. -“Well,” he rose stiffly, “I’ll see you to-morrow ’bout it.” - -“To-morrow will do. I’ll meet you at the Works at ten o’clock. I’ve got -something on hand for the afternoon,” Ben answered. - -When he was alone the boy tried to formulate a plan of operation, -should he succeed in buying the property. His most difficult task was -to control his impatience. - -“I suppose I’ll have to do some more waiting,” he said to himself. “How -I wish to-morrow were here!” - -He knew as well as if Mr. Madge had told him so, that his statement in -regard to his funds would not be believed without verification. - -“He couldn’t take my word for it,” Ben reflected; “but all his digging -can’t bring up anything more than the truth. It’s just two hundred -dollars,--not a cent more.” - - -Shortly before ten o’clock on the following morning, Ben approached -the Works. He crossed the lumpy, uneven ground of the yard and entered -the building. As he gazed at the black walls of the structure and -through the many holes in the roof where the blue sky looked down, he -wished that they might speak and foretell the success or failure of his -venture. - -The side of the building next to the water was built upon piles driven -into the beach, and through an opening in the wall he could see the -waves running back and forth, until they almost touched the building. - -He was very much excited, and involuntarily he kept his hand over the -pocket which held his money. The responsibility of the step he was -about to take weighed heavily upon him. Never before had he felt so -utterly alone in the world. His visionary father had been the one -heretofore to whom he had naturally turned for advice, even when he -felt grave doubts as to his judgment. Now he was about to risk his all -in a speculation which might yield no return. He was buoyant with hope; -yet the doubt which always accompanies a first trial steadied him. - -A rope hung from one of the joists of the flooring, and he idly watched -the waves wash it backward and forward. At another time he would have -questioned the presence of a deep furrow and some footprints in the -sand which the incoming tide was rapidly obliterating; but now he was -too preoccupied to notice them. He turned and saw Mr. Madge entering -the building. - -“So, you got here ’fore me,” the old man began. “It’s a good thing to -be prompt. I don’t know of any one thing I like more in a young man -than punctooality. Allers practice it and you’ll never be sorry for -it.” He deliberately seated himself. “I recollec’ once, way back in -the early ’50’s, how punctooality paid me in one of the pootiest mines -that mortal man ever see. Clear white quartz, with lumps of yellow gold -peppered all through it! ’Twas this here way,” he continued as he hung -his cane on his arm--“the mine b’longed to a man who’d gone back East, -and hadn’t touched a pick to it for ’most a year; so another man and me -was both a-watchin’ for the day when the year’d be up, so’s we could -take up the claim.” - -Ben fidgeted during this recital, but the other did not appear to -notice his impatience. - -“The other feller,” continued Mr. Madge, “he got up at dawn,--’twas -summer time, ’bout three o’clock,--but when he clim’ up the hill -to the mine, there I was a-settin’, havin’ planted my claim two -hours before. I’d been there sence midnight!” He laughed at his -story, regardless of Ben’s inattention. “’Nother time, up in the -Comstocks,--this time I was just a-tellin’ you ’bout was in Nevada -County of this State,--I recollec’ how bein’ prompt saved a good mine -and kept a hull concern from goin’ to rack and ruin. ’Twas a silver -mine--as beautiful green ore as ever you see--” - -“But I’d like to know, first,--before I hear about it, Mr. -Madge,--whether you’re going to accept my offer or not,” Ben -interrupted, for he could no longer control his impatience. - -“Well, I’ve ben thinkin’ over your offer, Ben, and I’ve ’bout made up -my mind that it ain’t no price for the property, considerin’ the gold -that’s lyin’ hid on it. No price at all; in fact--” - -“But it’s a chance whether I find any gold or not,” Ben impatiently -exclaimed. “When you buy a mine do you pay as much for it as you expect -to get out of it?” His heart sank with fear that his offer might not be -accepted. He felt that he must meet the old man on his own ground, and -he was on his mettle. - -“It ain’t much of a price for the buildin’ material that’s in it, -let alone the gold,” Mr. Madge continued, as if he had not heard the -question. “I ain’t willin’ to let it go at your figure; but I’ll tell -you what I’ll do: I’ll go shares with you, if you’ll pay me the two -hundred, and put up the coin for the machinery. I s’pose a ’rastra will -do for the crushin’.” - -“I don’t care to take a partner,” Ben firmly replied. His heart was -growing heavier with every second that failure seemed more certain. - -He nerved himself for a final effort. “If you don’t care to accept -my offer, Mr. Madge, there’s no use wasting any more words over the -matter,” he said, and turned to go. - -A vindictive gleam shot from the old man’s eyes. He did not reply for a -moment, but stopped Ben as he was going out of the door. - -“I need the money,” he briefly said; “so I’ll take your offer; but I’m -just a-givin’ it to you.” - -Ben dived in his pocket with alacrity and produced a bill of sale for -the lumber and bricks and also an agreement permitting him to work over -the ground until the expiration of the lease. The dates of the latter -he had omitted, as he did not know them. - -He had opened his purse to pay over the money before he recalled the -omission. It flashed upon him, too, that the paper should be signed in -the presence of witnesses. He put his purse back in his pocket. - -“Come to Hodges’ shop,--we must have witnesses,” Ben said. - -Mr. Hodges was a locksmith, and owned a small shop in the old part of -the city known as North Beach. He was Beth’s stepfather; and as she was -Ben’s cousin, the boy naturally turned to him as a friend. - -He looked up in surprise when his visitors entered, and gave them a -gruff welcome. - -Mr. Madge was in great haste to sign the papers and get possession of -the money. - -“The dates of the lease must be put in first,” said Ben. “What are -they?” - -“Well, let me see,” said Mr. Madge. “’Twas thirty-five years ago, and -we got it ’cause ’twasn’t needed by the owners. Afterwards, ’twas made -over to me by the company.” - -“That would make it 1866,” said Ben. He lifted the pen. “What was the -month?” - -“Let me see,” the other replied, as if striving to remember. “We begun -in November, I think,--yes, we drove the first pile for the foundation -on the fifteenth day of November, 1866.” He brought his cane down with -a thump, to emphasize the statement. “I remember the time partic’larly, -’cause ’twas in that same month that I made a fortune up in Tuolumne -County. I owned the pootiest mine on the Mother Lode ’t ever you see!” - -“I think you’ve told me about that before, Mr. Madge,” Ben replied as -he filled in the dates. “Now, this paper gives me the sole right to -work over the ground, bricks, and rubbish of the Smelting Works, until -the expiration of the lease. And that will be until--” Ben waited for -Mr. Madge to supply the rest of the sentence. - -“Certainly it does,” the latter said. “You talk like a regular lawyer, -Ben.” - -“Business is business. Now, as I understand it, the lease will expire -on the fifteenth of November,--that’s three months off. The Works are -mine till then.” - -“They’re yours until the lease expires,” replied Mr. Madge, with -considerable impatience. “I’m ready to sign if you are. Let’s get -through with it.” - -Ben passed the papers toward him and he affixed his signature. Ben -followed with his, and then he turned to Hodges. - -“Will you sign here, Mr. Hodges?” he said. - -“Yes, I’ll sign the tomfoolery to oblige you,” replied the locksmith. -But before he put his name to the paper he relieved his mind by making -several sneering remarks. - -“Talk about di’monds and coal being the same! Why, that won’t be in -it, when it comes to findin’ gold in soot and bricks!” he said. “Ben, -you’ll be a regular what-do-you-call-it--chemist?” - -“An alchemist? I hope so,” Ben replied with flushed cheeks. “We ought -to have another witness,” he added. - -A man who was examining some keys in the back part of the shop came -forward. - -“I’ll sign, if you want me to,” he said. “I heard the whole -business,--couldn’t help it.” - -They agreed and he wrote his name, “Andrew Mundon,” in a good bold hand. - -Ben then paid Mr. Madge the coveted twenties and the party separated. - -Ben was eager to make his escape. He shrank from the coarse sarcasm -which he knew would be his share if he remained in the vicinity of the -shop, and he wanted to be alone to think over the matter. - -“Whew! I’m in for it now!” he exclaimed as he strode along the street, -with a hand in each empty pocket. He threw back his head and stepped -briskly along. “And I want to tell you one thing right here,” he -addressed himself,--“there’s to be no looking backward!” - -He whistled a lively air and quickened his steps as exciting thoughts -crowded fast upon him. Turning a corner suddenly, he collided with a -boy of his own age. - -“Hello, Syd!” - -The boy addressed, gave a grunt in reply. - -“How do you like the place?” Ben continued. - -“O, it’s well enough for a while. I’ve got another one at forty dollars -a month, in view.” - -“Indeed! How soon do expect to make the change?” Ben inquired. - -“O, I ain’t going to work for this money long,” Syd aggressively -replied, as though his employer were doing him an injury. “I’ve had -two offers--one’ll pay ten dollars more; but there’s more work and -longer hours. I haven’t made up my mind yet which one I’ll take.” - -Doubt was plainly written in Ben’s face. Syd always had some such -rose-colored yarn as this to tell about himself. - -“You’re lucky to have two such good chances,” Ben remarked. “You’ll -have to look out and take the right one.” He turned to go, but the -other stopped him. - -“What are you doing nowadays? Beth said something about your having a -tiptop place.” - -“I don’t think she could have said that, Syd.” - -“Yes, she did, too, or words to that effect. You don’t mean to doubt my -word, do you?” he defiantly added. - -“I’d rather not,” Ben quietly replied. “We’ve fought all our lives on -the slightest cause, and we’re too old for that sort of thing, now.” - -“I don’t want to quarrel,--but that’s what she said.” - -“I don’t see how that is possible, when I haven’t any place at all.” - -“Haven’t any? Ain’t you working?” - -“Yes, I’m going to work,--but for myself. It isn’t a secret any longer; -so you may as well know it, since you are so interested in my affairs. -I’ve bought the old Smelting Works, to work them for gold.” - -Ben thoroughly enjoyed making this announcement. Between Syd and -himself there had always been a rivalry; and after Syd’s foolish -bragging about something that both knew to be false, it was a -satisfaction to Ben to impart his news. - -“For gold!” Syd repeated in surprise. - -“Yes, for gold; and I expect to find a pile.” - -“Well, I hope you won’t be disappointed. Just give me a lump to have -set in a scarf-pin, will you?” He laughed in derision. - -“All right,--a small nugget will do, I suppose. I must be going now; -good morning.” - -Syd gave a grunt in reply and slouched away. Tall and awkward, he -thrust his head forward when he walked and kept his eyes fixed on the -ground. - -Ben turned and watched him for a moment. “How he would rejoice in my -failure!” he said to himself. “It’s odd that some people find their -pleasure in just such things. Well, I hope he’ll not have that joy at -my expense, that’s all.” - -He regretted that he had yielded to the impulse to tell Syd. - -“I wish I’d waited until I could have shown him the color of my gold,” -he reflected. “Perhaps I sha’n’t find a pinch of it.” - -Glancing up he saw that he had nearly reached Market Street, and, -obeying a sudden impulse, he crossed that great artery and turned his -steps toward the foundries. - -He was glad to have something to divert his thoughts from his interview -with Syd, and he spent the rest of the day in looking at machinery, -more especially that used in mining. - -The clash and clamor of the busy hives brought the difficulties of his -undertaking glaringly before him. His own ignorance seemed appalling. -How could he hope to compete with this skilled labor and wonderful -machinery! - -“I am not competing,” he told himself. “I am doing something which no -one else has thought of. The idea is original,--here, at any rate,--and -ideas can be made to pay.” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE SMUGGLERS’ CACHE IS FOUND - - -“S’pose you’re goin’ to put in a ’rastra?” - -Ben turned and saw the man who had signed as a witness to the agreement. - -“How do you do, Mr. Mundon?” he replied. “Yes, I think it will need an -arastra to crush the bricks.” His grave face showed that already the -cares of the undertaking were preying upon him. - -“Don’t you mind the sneers and laughs of anybody,” the man said, with -a sturdy independence that Ben liked. “You’ve got a good proposition. -I’ve seen it done in Australia and a big pile cleaned up. They do it in -this country, too; and if this old chap you bought it from didn’t have -the mining fever so bad, he’d have done it years ago.” - -“Evidently, it hasn’t occurred to him--or anybody,” said Ben. - -“No; he’s too high to be a gleaner; wants real mines with drifts and -tunnels and mills to make his money melt. Now’f I was goin’ to do this -job, I’d put in a rough ’rastra--just a round bed of bricks, with a -two-foot wall ’round it.” - -Ben did not reply, but he tried to look wise. - -“That’s about your plan, I reckon?” - -“Yes,” the boy said, “I’ve been thinking that an arastra, such as you -describe, would be the best thing.” - -“Then you know all about one, of course?” - -“No, I don’t; not by a long sight. I’ve seen one at work, but I didn’t -pay much attention to it--I was so young at the time.” - -“O, in that case p’raps you’d like to have me describe one to you?” - -“I would, indeed,” Ben fervently replied. - -“Well, it’s just a round bed of bricks, with a two-foot wall ’round it. -I’d build that the first thing, if I was you, and put in the rubbish, -a little at a time. You want to put in some quicksilver with it. Then -I’d get a horse or a mule ter drag ’round a weight till the bricks and -mortar was well crushed.” - -“Would you put the stuff in wet or dry?” - -“Wet; and you want consid’able water, too. I tell you, it’s pretty to -see how the quicksilver’ll pick up ’most every mite of gold and hug to -the bottom with it!” - -Ben’s eyes shone. “It must be!” he said. “And afterwards--what do you -do next? I’ve heard, but I’ve kind of forgotten just what comes next.” - -“You throw off your coarse stuff from the top and strain the -quicksilver through buckskin.” - -“Will it go through?” - -“Will it? Well, you just ought ter see it come through the buckskin -till there’s little looking-glass tears all over it.” - -“And after that?” - -“Well, you finish it all off in a retort with a long tube. Build a fire -under it, and your quicksilver that’s left will ’vaporate, leavin’ the -gold behind.” - -“I should think you’d lose a lot.” - -“Of quicksilver, you mean? No, you don’t; ’cause you got ter keep the -tube cold and have the end of it sunk in water. Then the quicksilver’ll -condense again--so you won’t lose much of it. My! how them lumps of -gold will shine to you, eh?” - -The boy’s eyes sparkled with delight, but he only nodded. He was -thinking very hard. Here, evidently, was just the man he needed. He -had seen an arastra at work in one of his father’s mines, but he knew -nothing about the practical details necessary to the construction -of one. Should he offer to employ this man, or should he offer him -a percentage of the profits? The latter proposition seemed the more -feasible; for, although it might cost him more in the end, he had no -ready money to pay out in wages. His mind was quickly made up. - -“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Mr. Mundon. If you’ll help me with the -scheme,--I don’t mean just by talking, but with day’s work,--I’ll give -you one third of the net proceeds.” - -“That’s a square offer,--seein’ as how I aint got nothin’ to put -in,--and I’ll take it. I’m out of a job just now, through waitin’ fur -a friend from Australia. I expect he’ll be here in a month more,--or -mebbe ’twill be several,--and then we’ll try Colorado together. I’d -reely like this work to fill up the time. There’s something sort of -venturesome ’bout it, that ’peals to me.” - -“And I’m very glad to get you to help me,” Ben replied; “I’ve been -worrying a good deal since I bought it.” - -“I’d thought of it a little, myself; and I come out here to-day ’cause -I kinder thought I’d find you a-hangin’ ’round somewheres near this -place.” - -“Let’s go in and look over the ground,” said Ben. - -They entered the inclosure and Mundon selected the most suitable place -for the arastra. - -“The next question is, where am I to get the money for the things we -need?” Ben remarked. “I could get them on credit, I think, from an old -mining friend of my father’s; but I hate to go in debt, especially -on an uncertainty. I’ve been thinking about offering him a small -percentage in exchange for the materials. Then, it would be his own -risk whether he got his money or not.” - -“Pshaw! You don’t want to give away any more percentages. A man’s got -to go in debt--more or less--in ’most every business. Besides, your -money’s right in sight, as it were.” - -“No, it isn’t,” Ben stoutly replied. “That’s just the trouble; I think -it is, but I don’t know it. What right have I to promise to pay a man -out of my thinking?” - -“There ain’t any other way. You’ve just got to do it; or borrow the -money from some one else, which amounts to the same thing.” He paused -for a reply, but as he noticed Ben’s hesitation he hastened to divert -him from his weighing of right and wrong. “I recollec’ a chimney on one -of Senator Fair’s mills up in Nevada, that yielded a pile of gold and -silver when ’twas broke up. Why, they found one solid lump of silver -half as big as my fist, in a crack in the masonry. You see, the gold -what stays in the furnaces, works right into the mortar and bricks in -a dust so fine you can’t see it. That’s why you need a ’rastra. But, -sometimes, fine particles of precip’tated silver’ll get blown into a -crack, until there’s a big lump formed.” - -They peered up the gaping black mouth of the chimney. The furnaces had -been roughly torn out and large openings marked where they had joined -the chimney. - -“Tell you what, Ben,” exclaimed Mundon, “s’pose I skin up and see what -I kin see?” - -“No, let me go!” the boy eagerly replied. - -He was a trifle ashamed of the jealousy he had already begun to feel -of this man’s wider experience. If there were lumps of gold and silver -glittering in his chimney, he wanted to be the first to see them. - -“It’s a dirty job; but I’ve got on old clothes,” he said as he began to -climb up the black funnel. - -Somehow, it was not nearly so sooty as he had expected to find it, -and the projecting corners of the bricks that afforded him a slight -foothold were quite light-colored. - -He had climbed about ten feet when he saw a curious cavity in the side -of the chimney. A glitter in the dim light made his heart beat very -fast. Striking a taper match he was surprised to see a pile of small -tin boxes nearly filling a cavity in the side of the chimney. Looking -upward, he saw several similar breaks in the brickwork. He took one of -the boxes and climbed down. - -“What have you got?” cried Mundon, with more surprise in his voice than -gave great credit to the tale he had just recounted. - -They bent over the box, which emitted a sickishly sweet odor. - -“Opium!” Mundon exclaimed. - -For a moment they looked at each other in silent astonishment. Then -Ben grasped Mundon’s arm and dragged him to the gap in the side of the -building next the water. - -“It’s been smuggled!” he cried. “And here’s where they’ve landed the -boats!” He pointed to the beach at their feet. The waves were still -playing with the dangling rope’s end. - -“Was there any more?” questioned Mundon. - -“Whole stacks of it.” - -“Then you’ve got all the money you’re in need of, many times over. -Right in sight this time, sure!” - -“How so?” - -“Why, don’t you know ’t the law gives an informer thirty-three per -cent. of the value of the find? ’Course it does. All you’ve got to do -is to notify the Custom House men of the find ’n’ they’ll do the rest.” - -“You think it’s been landed here, don’t you?” asked Ben. - -“Sure. It’s ben landed from the China steamers, sure’s you’re born! -There couldn’t have ben a better place for ’em, if it had ben made on -purpose. Prob’ly they muffled their oars ’fore they landed.” - -“It isn’t ten minutes’ row from the steamers,” said Ben. - -“No. Like as not the butcher, or some one like that, after the ship’s -trade, is one of the gang. You’ve seen the flock of small boats that -follow like gulls after a big ocean steamer?” - -Ben nodded. He was stupefied with surprise. His good fortune seemed too -good to be true. - -“Tell you what, Ben, like as not those Custom House fellers’ll want to -leave the stuff here and set a watch ter ketch the gang.” - -“I don’t care what they do--if I can get the money.” - -“You can’t b’lieve it yet, eh? I tell you, you’re jest as sure of that -there money, as if you had it in your pocket this minute.” - -“It’s like magic!” - -“So ’tis, so ’tis--’tis the bag at the foot of a rainbow, sure enough.” -He pointed at the massive shaft of the chimney. - -“Fairy gold!” Ben waved the little box at Mundon. - -“That’s all right. You’ll find out that the gold you get for that’s -as good as twenty-dollar pieces are made of. Want me ter go down and -inform, or prefer ter do it yourself?” - -“I’ll go.” - -“Jest as you say. You’re boss here. You found it on your property, and -it’s proper you should go. I’ll stay and keep watch.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -FUNDS FOR THE ENTERPRISE - - -Ben’s first impulse was to go home and change his clothes, which showed -the contact of dust and soot; but it was past three o’clock and he was -afraid if he did not make haste he would not see the proper authorities. - -He stopped at Hodges’ shop to wash his face and hands. - -Mr. Hodges was fitting a key to a metal box. - -“Hello!” he remarked as Ben hurried past him to the rear of the shop. -“You look as if you’d found your fortune already.” - -“Maybe I have,” Ben replied. “I’ll let you know when I’ve verified the -find.” - -Mr. Hodge stared. He had a lurking suspicion that he was being made -game of. - -“A young feller always knows it all,” he commented. “He’s always so -cocksure.” - -“Wonder if I am that way,” thought Ben, as he pursued his way down -the street. “Anyway, I’d rather fail than never have been through it. -There’s something doing, and I’m in it!” - -He was so preoccupied as he hurried along that once he narrowly escaped -being run down by a whizzing electric car. - -The prospect opening before him fairly made him dizzy with delight. He -felt that he had suddenly become a man, and dimly wondered how it was -possible that a month before he had played “shinny” and “pee-wee” with -the other boys, as if there were nothing else to live for. And now--he -had gone into business! He would succeed--he must succeed! - -Mingled with his delight at his sudden good luck, there was a feeling -of relief that he had resisted the temptation to go into debt. - -At length he came in sight of the Custom House, a dilapidated brick -building, the first floor of which was used as the main post-office. -Ben slowly climbed the winding stone stairs. He suddenly wanted more -time than the elevator would allow to think of how he should tell his -story. - -After a short delay he was ushered into the presence of the Collector -of the Port. Ben explained his plan and his accidental discovery of the -opium. - -He fancied that the official and a gentleman who was sitting in the -room seemed to be much more interested in his scheme to work over the -bricks and rubbish of the old Smelting Works for gold, than they were -in the discovery of the opium. - -He noted that the visitor was addressed as “Mr. Hale,” and he wondered -if he were the well-known lawyer of whom he had heard. This gentleman -asked Ben several questions in relation to his plan; and although his -eyes and voice were kind, the boy’s sensitive spirit shrank under the -tone of the questioner. The amusement in his eyes seemed to foretell -the failure of the venture. - -The attention of the chief being called to other matters, he sent for -a deputy to whom he referred Ben’s case. This official, also, appeared -to be much interested in Ben’s private affairs, and plied him with -questions, some of which were, apparently, irrelevant. - -Nettled, he knew not why, by the man’s manner and questions, Ben -finally asserted himself. - -“I bought the property to work over for what I could get out of it,” he -said. “By accident I found a lot of opium hidden on the premises, and -I expect to get the thirty-three per cent. which the law allows.” The -look which accompanied this speech said plainer than words, “Now, what -are you going to do about it?” - -Mr. Cutter meditatively regarded the speaker. “We’ll set a watch there -to-night and catch some of the gang if we can,” he finally remarked. -“You’re a pretty smart boy,”--he brought his hand down on Ben’s -shoulder,--“can you keep a secret?” - -Ben nodded. - -“See that you do, then. And caution the friend who was with you to tell -no one,--absolutely no one. Such news goes like wildfire.” - -“We wouldn’t be apt to tell and run the risk of losing the reward.” - -“Umph! Some folks couldn’t keep a secret if their lives depended upon -it. That’s all,” he curtly added. “When I want you I’ll send for you.” - -Without knowing why, Ben mistrusted this man. “Cutter is your name, and -I sha’n’t forget you,” he said to himself, as he retraced his steps to -North Beach. - -Mundon was anxiously awaiting his return. - -“Did they snub you? Did you see the head?” he asked. - -Ben related his experience. - -“You were in luck to see the Collector,” commented Mundon. - -“My belief is that the chief’s all right in such cases,--a big man -who won’t stoop to no dirty business and who’ll listen to a feller’s -story and treat him fair. He’s got a sense of what he’s ben put in -office for, by the people, to serve the people. But a smarty clerk who -takes delight in snubbing the people who really give him his bread and -butter--deliver me from him! He’s gen’rally a failure, a ne’er-do-well, -who’s got his place through his second cousin’s husband havin’ a pull, -and because he couldn’t support himself and had to be taken care of by -his family,--and he just thinks he runs this whole government.” - -“They’ll be here about dark, I suppose,” Ben remarked. “I’m going to -watch, too.” - -“Well, I think I’ll be excused,” Mundon remarked. “In my opinion, there -ain’t one chance in a hundred of their catchin’ ’em.” - -“Why shouldn’t they catch them if they come back here for the opium?” -Ben innocently inquired. - -“Why, boy, there’s more plaguey ramifications to a gang like that. -From what you’ve told me, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that this -man Cutter’s in it himself. Most likely every move you’ve made has -ben known to ’em; and they’d hev taken the stuff away if they’d got a -chance.” - -All that night the Custom House men kept a watch at the Works. - -Ben watched with them, looking off on the waters of the bay and -listening for the dip of muffled oars. More than once he fancied he -heard the smugglers approaching, and his heart beat fast as he waited -to be sure before calling the men. - -He felt a great distaste for his position, and correctly attributed -Mundon’s refusal to join in the watch to the same reason. When morning -dawned he experienced a distinct relief that nothing had occurred -during the night to place him in the position of an informer. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -BEN’S PARTNER PROVES A TRUMP - - -The watch was continued for several nights, but in vain. As none came -to claim the opium, it was taken away and a valuation of two thousand -dollars was placed upon it, of which Ben’s share amounted to nearly -seven hundred dollars. - -It did not seem possible that those little boxes, filled with a sticky -substance which looked like very black and thick molasses, could be -worth so much. The readiness with which a broker advanced Ben the money -due on his claim, however, was tangible evidence, and he found no fault -with the exorbitant rate of interest exacted. - -There was one phase of the affair that was most unpleasant to Ben,--the -suspicion with which the Government officials regarded Mundon and -himself. - -“Some one blabbed,” one of them pointedly said to him, “or else the -parties who stowed that stuff away would have come back for it.” - -Another time he overheard one man remark to another, “I don’t agree -with you. I think the boy’s honest enough; but that fellow with him -looks like a slippery one.” - -“But the boy’s the one who gets the reward.” - -“I know. But that fellow’ll get it out of him before he’s through with -him.” - -A thought that this might be true came into Ben’s mind, but he -dismissed it at once as unworthy. Yet it is hard to get rid of a -vicious weed, and this doubt presented itself to him from time to time. - -Mundon proved more useful to Ben as time went on and his own ignorance -and inexperience became more marked. He congratulated himself many -times upon the good luck which had sent this man across his path. - -“Gee-willikens, Mundon! How are we ever going to get this chimney -down?” Ben looked up at the massive pillar of brick which reared itself -above him. “It looks about a mile high, when you stand close to it. -Why,” he added with a blank look, “it’ll take us months to level it.” - -“You was a-calculatin’ to level it?” Mundon laconically asked. - -“Of course. How else can we work over the bricks that are in it?” - -“Um! How’d you think you’d git it down?” - -“Well--that’s what’s worrying me. I had a sort of plan to scrape down -the soot. But the bricks--how are we going to get at them?” - -“Your idee is good--as fur as it goes; but I think I can give you a -better one than scrapin’ the chimney of soot.” - -“Let’s have it.” - -“I’d rig a cross-piece--shaped just like a cross--to work inside the -chimney, from a rope over the top, like an elevator.” - -Ben caught his breath. “How would you ever get a rope over the top?” he -asked. - -“O, that’s easy. I haven’t ben a sailor fur nothin’. Then, I’d chip off -the whole inside of the chimney.” - -“We’d work just the inside?” - -“That’s all we want, ain’t it? It’s the golden linin’ we’re after. We -don’t want the rest.” - -“No; and it will save time and strength to leave the rest alone.” - -“We’ll leave the balance of the bricks for those that come after us. -’Twon’t hurt the chimney a mite, neither.” - -“Mundon, you’re a brick!” exclaimed Ben. - -Mundon waited a moment before replying. He liked the frank admiration -that shone in Ben’s eyes. - -“There ain’t nothin’ sure in this world, Ben, and it’s mighty oncertain -sometimes to draw conclusions from things you’ve ben told. What’s more, -you can’t b’lieve all you hear.” - -“You’re preparing me to be disappointed, Mundon,” said Ben. “But I’m -bracing myself for that, too. I know it’s a chance.” - -“Most everythin’ is--’cept runnin’ a peanut-stand near a monkey’s cage.” - -Ben laughed. “How you’re ever going to get a rope over that top?” He -looked up and shook his head in despair. - -“No fear--I’ll manage that. Just let me get some stuff for a -scaffoldin’ and I’ll show you the trick in a jiffy.” - -“You’re a wonder,” Ben replied. - -The question as to what he should have done without Mundon’s help -occurred to him again, but he did not express it. - -“I heard when I was up town this mornin’ that there was goin’ to be a -sale of mules to-morrow.” - -“You think we’ll need one to work the arastra?” - -“Couldn’t hev nothin’ better. This sale’s goin’ to be at a horse-market -out near the Potrero. S’pose you see if you kin get one cheap.” - -“Yes; I’ll go to the sale.” Ben paused. “I say, Mundon, what is -cheap--for a mule?” - -“’Bout fifteen dollars ought to git one good enough, at an auction.” - -“That was about the figure I had in mind. Of course, I don’t ask your -opinion, Mundon, so much to get advice as I do to compare notes. I like -to see if your judgment and mine agree.” - -Mundon did not look up, but went steadily on with his work. “I -understand--of course,” he replied. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE MULE AUCTION - - -“A mule is very much like a horse, isn’t it?” Ben questioned, on the -following morning. - -“Yes; they are somewhat similar,” Mundon replied, going on with the -task of untangling some old harness. - -“Yet they’re different, too.” - -“That’s so; they are.” - -Ben did not like to admit his ignorance, but he very much desired some -further information on the subject of mules before he entered the arena -of the auction. He had a guilty consciousness that he had made Mundon -feel that he resented his superior wisdom in many things connected with -their undertaking, and that he was unreasonably jealous of his worldly -knowledge. He regretted and was ashamed of his ingratitude toward this -man who had proved invaluable to him, and he hoped that the other would -overlook it. - -“If you were going to buy a horse, Mundon, what particular points would -you look for in the animal?” - -“Well, I’d see that he had a broad forehead, good straight, clean legs, -round hoofs, small ears, clear eyes, and, most of all, a wide chest. -But, of course, these don’t hold good in a mule.” - -“No; I suppose not.” - -“Then, he oughter be in good perportion. I’ve seen horses with a -fine-lookin’ front and a back all shrunk up. And I’ve seen some with -a fine back and a front that had a stunted look. An animal like that -ain’t apt to have much strength or wearin’ qualities. Then, there’s -exceptions. I remember one of the best horses for pullin’ I ever saw -had a sort of stunted front. But, of course, none of these things hold -good in a mule.” - -“No; nothing seems to apply to a mule.” Ben picked up a strap which -dangled from the harness and began untangling it. “Haven’t the teeth -something to do with it?” - -“Sure! They’re the most important point, ’cause that’s the way you kin -tell a horse’s age--by his teeth. If they’re long, he’s old. You want -to see that they ain’t ben filed, too.” - -“Do you think the point about the teeth would apply to a mule?” Ben -asked. - -“There ain’t nothin’ that applies to a mule except--patience. You’ve -got to have everlastin’ patience when you come near a mule. But, -they’re knowin’. Lordy! I’ve had ’em teamin’ up in the mountains when -they knew a sight more’n most men. I’d talk to ’em just like they was -humans. ‘Sal,’ I’d say, ‘don’t you know better’n to hug so close to -that bank?’ And before the words was out of my mouth, Sal would be -a-standin’ way off from the bank. And all I had to do to git one of -’em over the chain,--there’s a chain runs between ’em in place of a -pole, you know, and mebbe I’d have sixteen or twenty strung along in -pairs,--and if I wanted to git one of ’em over it I’d jest call out the -name, and that mule would jump the chain quick as lightnin’. A horse -has got a heap of sense, but, in my opinion, a mule kin discount him -every time.” - -“We’re safer, then, in buying a mule than a horse?” - -“Law, yes! For the work you want done, you are.” - -“Well, I’ll be going along, I guess,” remarked Ben. “I want to look -over the field before the sale begins.” - -“That’d be a good idee.” - -Ben boarded an electric car which crossed the city. He was dubious as -to his ability for the task he had undertaken, and regretted that he -had not asked Mundon to go in his place. He ran over the directions -for buying a horse. - -“Round-hoofed, small-eared, broad-headed, clear-eyed, short-teethed, -clean-legged, wide-chested, and good-proportioned,” he enumerated. “I’m -primed for a horse-sale, if I ever need to go to one; but I’m all at -sea about a mule.” - -Mundon had seemed to be singularly averse to offering to make the -purchase, Ben reflected, although he had been given ample opportunity -to do so, and he was so well qualified to select exactly the animal -needed. - -He had appeared anxious to get Ben out of the way. Could it be possible -that he meant to make the attempt to get the rope over the top of -the chimney during his absence? How would he manage it? It seemed a -colossal, impossible task. - -The car clanged its bell along Kearny Street, whizzed across Market -and swung into Third Street, on its way to the Potrero. A wild idea -occurred to Ben. “If there’s a mule in the inclosure that points his -ears at me, I’ll buy him,” he decided. - -Association with his father had implanted superstition in the boy’s -character. Ben had seen it sway his father many times, as indeed it -exerted an influence more or less potent upon all miners. - -A recollection of the sum he had resolved to expend reminded Ben that -the occult must be confined within the limits of fifteen dollars. - -“I don’t know the first thing about it, anyway, and I might as well be -guided by chance as anything else,” he reflected. - -He was a trifle ashamed of this decision, and half hoped that the mules -themselves would render its execution impossible, by all laying back or -all pointing their ears in unison. - -When he entered the gate of the vacant lot where the sale was to be -held, a rough-haired, forlorn-looking specimen of a mule raised two -weather-beaten ears and disconsolately surveyed him. - -“That settles it,” said Ben to himself. “After all it’s something to -have the matter decided for one.” - -The man in charge was anxious to show Ben the superior animals within -the inclosure; but he manifested so little interest in them that their -owner began to have doubts as to his being a _bona fide_ purchaser. - -“Like as not the rest will all go above my price,” thought Ben; “but I -think I can get ‘Despair’--” for so he had designated the mule he had -settled upon--“for fifteen.” - -It was a long wait, and Ben was anxious to return to the Works; but the -owner seemed to be in no hurry to begin, and, evidently, was waiting -for a larger audience. - -When a dozen or more men had arrived, the sale was opened. It was -confusing, the way in which the auctioneer rattled on, discovering -invisible buyers in corners and on the outskirts of the crowd. - -Ben wondered how he should be able to keep his head when his time -should come; and he realized that this thought made his heart beat -rapidly. - -He witnessed some close buying that was bewildering to the -inexperienced, and he saw one man badly kicked by the glossiest, -plumpest mule in the lot. - -“Another mark in favor of ‘Despair,’” Ben noted. “You can’t tell -anything by looks; but I don’t believe he’d do that.” - -It was late in the afternoon before the mule which Ben had -selected--or, rather, the mule which had selected Ben--was offered. - -“We’ll start him at-- What’ll we start him at, gentlemen?” - -“Five dollars,” said a voice. - -“Five dollars!” The auctioneer scornfully repeated. “Somebody here -expects to get a good workin’ animal for nothing just because his -coat’s a little rough. Five dollars would be just a-givin’ him away. -Why, all he needs to be a playmate for the children is a clippin’ and a -red ribbon tied round his tail. What am I bid, bid, bid--what am I bid? -Ten dollars, young man, did you say?” He pointed to Ben, and the latter -nodded. - -“Here’s a young gentleman who knows a good animal for the saddle when -he sees one.” - -This sally brought a laugh from the crowd and added to Ben’s -discomfiture. - -“Ten dollars! Who’ll raise the bid? Twelve?” He pointed to a man on the -edge of the group. “Who’ll give me twelve dollars for this reliable -mule? Twelve dollars?” - -“Fifteen,” said Ben. - -A smile rippled over the faces of the crowd, and Ben became painfully -conscious that he had made an error. He could feel his face growing -uncomfortably warm. - -“Fifteen dollars!” called the auctioneer. “Will no one raise it? Is -there no one here wants this mule more than this young gentleman? -Fifteen once--fifteen twice--fifteen three times, and sold to--”--he -turned expectantly toward Ben,--“Mr.--” - -“Ralston,” said Ben. - -The money was paid, and Ben started for the Works with his purchase. - -“You must hev wanted that mule powerful bad, young feller,” a bystander -remarked, as the pair issued from the gate. - -“Think so?” the boy replied, anxious to make his escape. - -“Yes--it rather looks as though you did. To wait till the last and -worst-lookin’ mule in the bunch was offered,” the man continued, “and -then to raise your own bid _twice_.” There was a laugh from the crowd. -“You could hev got him for twelve dollars, sure, and you might hev got -him for ten.” - -“Well, that’s my affair,” Ben retorted. - -He led the mule along a street in the direction of the city, not -without a misgiving, however, as to the docility of the animal. A fear -that he might balk or suddenly whirl and kick, to the amusement of -the spectators, made Ben eager to increase the distance between the -mule-market and himself. - -It was a long distance from the Potrero to North Beach, for they marked -opposite boundaries of the city, and Ben had ample opportunity for -reflection. He made a detour and skirted the sea-wall, in order to -avoid the more crowded streets. As he trudged along, the mule seemed -docile and easily led; but Ben bought some carrots from a passing -vegetable-wagon, to make assurance doubly sure. - -He regretted that he had yielded to the impulse of trusting to chance. -He was conscious that the act was unworthy and degrading, that he had -taken a step backward. - -“If I’m going to act in that fool way,” he said to himself, “there’s -no telling where I’ll land. It’s as bad as the things Tom Sawyer -did,--worse, because he didn’t trust an important piece of business to -black art. It’s just the kind of thing that the lowest order of a negro -would be capable of. But no one knows it,” he added with emphasis, “nor -ever shall. ‘Despair’ and I can keep the secret. That name won’t do--it -might hoodoo the scheme.” He turned and reflectively surveyed the mule. - -“You’ve got to have a name that’s a winner. A cheerful, humming, -booming sort of a name,” he said. - -As if in reply, the animal raised his long ears and pointed them at his -interlocutor. - -When they reached Montgomery Avenue, where Mr. Hodges’ shop was -situated, Ben pulled his hat over his eyes. He endeavored to hasten the -pace of the mule. In this he was unsuccessful, but, fortunately, there -was no one in sight whom he knew. - -“If I were sure of success I wouldn’t mind the whole town’s seeing -every move I make,” the boy reflected. “But it makes a heap of -difference in people’s opinions whether you succeed or not. If you -don’t, then, you’re looked upon as a fool, and everything you’ve -done is fool-business; but if you do, then, you’re called wise, and -everything you’ve done is smart as lightning.” - -They reached the slight rise and began to descend toward the bay. -Outlined against the vista of the blue water washing the base of the -Sausalito hills, rose the massive pillar of the chimney. - -Ben paused an instant in amazement. Mundon had been true to his word; -for reaching from the top to the bottom was a cable that looked the -thickness of a thread against the solid round bulk of the chimney. - -Ben could hardly believe his eyes. How had it been accomplished? - -He was obliged to control his impatience until the mule’s deliberate -gait brought them at length to the Works. - -“Mundon, where are you!” Ben called as he dashed into the building. - -“Ahoy there!” A voice replied from the flue. - -Peering up the mouth, Ben saw Mundon on a cross-piece which was -fastened by two lines to the main rope, after the manner of a trapeze. - -“I’ll do the chippin’,” Mundon remarked from his perch, about twenty -feet from the ground. “Take your head away a minute and we’ll drive the -first blow.” - -Ben retreated and Mundon struck the chisel he held a blow that sent -down a shower of soot, broken brick, and mortar. - -“We’ll soon know now,” Ben said to himself, and his heart beat rapidly, -when he thought of all it meant to him. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -BUILDING THE ARASTRA - - -“We’ve got to find a place to keep the mule. It’s too cold to leave him -outside,” said Ben. - -“That’s easy,” Mundon replied. “One of the sheds’ll do first-rate. -He’ll have a box-stall,--same as a racer.” - -“I’ll fix it up for him right now. He looks sort of forlorn, tied out -there in the fog,” said Ben. - -“There’s two other animals we ought to find quarters for, too.” - -“Two others? O, you mean ourselves.” - -“Yes. With all this room goin’ to waste, why shouldn’t we get our room -rent free?” - -“That’s a good idea, Mundon. We’ll have to do it, or hire a watchman, -as soon as we begin to work the stuff. We might as well get used to it -first as last.” - -“I’ll build the room for us. Over there against that east wall will be -a good place for it.” - -“Perhaps there won’t be anything to need watching,” Ben said, with a -grim smile; “but we’ll soon know now.” - -“There’s got to be somethin’. It ain’t in reason that there ain’t no -gold left over in all this mess,” emphatically replied the other. - -“Well, we’ll hope so, till we know to the contrary. We’ll have to have -some furniture, I suppose.” - -“Furniture?” - -“Why, a couple of beds, anyway.” - -“O, I’ll knock up a couple of bunks that’ll do for the time we’ll -be here. I can make first-rate arm-chairs, too,--reg’lar sleepy -hollers,--out of those barrels.” - -“That’ll be fine! I suppose we’d better use the boards out of that -first shed?” - -“No; I’d put the mule in that one. Then he’d be farther away from our -quarters. I’d knock down the second shed, the one where the roof is -half gone. Found a name yet fur your mule?” - -“I’ve named him ‘Alchemist.’” - -“‘Alchymist’? Don’t that mean turnin’ no ’count things inter gold?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, that’s ’propriate; ’cause he’ll work the ’rastra. Then, we kin -call him ‘Alchy’ till we know the result; and if we don’t get anythin’ -worth mentionin’ out of it we kin call him ‘Missed.’ That’ll be -’propriate, too.” - -“‘Alchy’ goes, then. And here’s to be his home. I think I’ll leave one -window for his professorship. We’ll separate his apartments from ours.” -He struck the dilapidated shed a blow as he spoke. - -“’Twill be more ’ristocratic,” observed Mundon. “S’pose I start the -’rastra while you’re doin’ that?” - -“Wish you would. Everything seems unimportant--where we sleep or where -the mule sleeps--compared to the real business.” - -“A man’s got to be comfortable, or he can’t do good work. This here’s -the best place for the ’rastra.” He took several long steps across a -spot in the center of the floor. “I’ll level this off a little, so to -have the floor of it even.” - -“You’re going to use those bricks?” Ben pointed to some bricks which -marked the location of the furnaces. - -“I was calculatin’ to. But first we’ve got to remember that we’ve got -to have a furnace, too.” - -“We have? What for?” - -“Why, we’ve got to melt our gold--after we git it.” - -“O! Well, why not leave that part of the old furnace that’s standing -there?” - -“I was a-thinkin’ of doin’ that. We’ll build a rough chimney on the -outside.” - -“Then we’ll have to have a crucible.” - -“Yes; that’s another thing I was goin’ to mention. Ever seen it -done--gold melted in one?” - -“Yes; I’ve been watching them do it in Smith’s assay office.” - -“O, you have, have you?” - -“Yes. And the other day I went to the Mint and saw a lot. Mr. Hale, -the gentleman I met at the Custom House, gave me a card. It’s funny, -Mundon, how different everything there looked to me from the last time -I was there. Every schoolboy in this town goes, and of course I went; -but it didn’t seem to me that I could be the same boy who’d been there. -Everything interested me so much more this time.” - -Mundon had been marking a circle in the center of the floor. - -“Now, Ben,” he said, “we’re ready for the corner-stone, and you’re the -proper person to lay it. You just git one of those bricks and put it -here.” He struck the center of the circle a blow with his spade. - -“I didn’t know you could corner a circle,” said Ben, as he placed a -brick upon the spot indicated. - -“You kin corner anythin’, if you only find out how to do it. There,” -he added, with satisfaction, “the first brick’s laid. Now, she’ll go -a-hummin’!” - -“Let me help you,” said Ben. “It’s more interesting than building the -mule-shed. I can fix that by-and-by.” - -“All right.” - -Mundon watched Ben lay the bricks. - -“How clumsy I am!” the latter exclaimed when the bricks refused to lie -evenly. “I’ve often watched bricklayers at work. It looks as easy as -breathing; but it isn’t,--not by a long sight!” - -“It’s a trade,” Mundon laconically remarked. - -“Then you must be Jack of them all,” said Ben, “for there’s nothing you -can’t do.” - -“I’ve ben in most of ’em. It’s mean to try to do things when you don’t -know how. Sometimes, a job I wasn’t used to would take a powerful -long time; though in the first stages, I thought I was workin’ mighty -fast--a reg’lar lightnin’-striker.” - -“Of course, anything that isn’t regular work takes longer.” - -“Exactly. The more you work at a thing, the more skillful you git. -Sometimes, when I’d git through with a new worrisome job, I’d wonder -what I’d better tackle next. And ’t would always remind me of a story -my mother used to tell ’bout a tailor who was a powerful slow worker, -but thought he was lightnin’. He took a whole week to make a vest, and -then said, ‘What’ll I fly at next?’” - -During the following two weeks the partners were very busy. The arastra -was finished and the furnace in readiness for the precious metals. -Lastly, a pile of soot, brickdust, and mortar, representing a part of -the lining of the chimney, and a retort and some quicksilver awaited -the trial. - -A fairly good sleeping-room, with a tiny galley adjoining, made the -place comfortable. - -Mundon proved to be a good cook, and Ben was fond of watching him at -his culinary labors. The kitchen was constructed like the galley of a -ship, and, when the cook was seated, everything was within his reach. - -“I’ve been camping out in vacations,” Ben remarked; “but this beats -that all to pieces.” - -“It’s ’cause this combines business with pleasure,” Mundon replied, -as he neatly cut long fingers of potato, preparatory to frying them. -“There’s twice as much fun to be had in doin’ the work you really like -to do than there is in anythin’ that’s called ‘fun.’” - -“So I’ve found out.” - -“Fun’s like society. When it hunts you,--comes of its own accord, -natural like,--it’s fine. But when you hunt it, it don’t amount to -shucks.” - -“I guess you’re about right. I know I’ve never enjoyed anything in my -life as I have this.” - -“’Cause why? ’Cause it’s work you like. That’s the reason. But it takes -some folks a lifetime to find that out; and even then they don’t see -it.” - -Ben was looking at the pile of rubble as if fascinated. - -“How much longer before we know?” - -“It won’t be long now, I reckon.” - -“O, Mundon, how can I ever wait!” - -On the following morning Mundon went down-town to make some necessary -purchases. - -“I heard something to-day,” he said, when he returned, “that I wish I’d -known in the beginnin’.” - -“What’s that?” inquired Ben. - -“Why, you see, when I was inquirin’ ’bout the price of quicksilver I -run up against a man as knew all about this sort of thing--or said he -did. ’Course, I didn’t tell him our plan; but what he says is needed -fur it is a jigger.” - -“A what?” - -“A jigger machine. I got him to describe it, and I think I’ve got -enough idee as to how it’s made to make one myself. He’d used one, up -in Nevada, he said.” - -Mundon extracted a piece of chalk from his pocket, and on the board -wall he drew a plan of the machine. - -“Your jigger is a box made of wood,” he said. “Well, really, it’s -a tank--six foot long by four high. You fill it with water. At one -end you have a tray filled with dirt and hung from a pole which is -balanced by a weight at the end. T’ other end of the pole works up and -down, like the handle of a bellus. The tray is dipped into the tank -and all the loose dirt is washed out and the gold sinks to the bottom. -That’s the coarse gold; you’ve got to ketch the fine gold on a table -in the tank, under the tray. The waste dirt works inter the fur part -of the tank. This man says--and he seems ter know what he’s talkin’ -about--that you can’t git the val’able particles nohow, without a -jigger.” - -“What luck you were in to meet him!” - -“Wasn’t I, though! I believe I’ll git the lumber,--it oughter be made -out of new lumber,--and knock the thing together this afternoon,” -Mundon replied, as he walked to the rear wall of the building. “Say, -Ben,” he remarked, picking up a little of the earth from the floor and -letting it sift through his fingers, “I think we oughter locate our -find a little before we begin operations.” - -“What do you mean?” - -“Why, this here place is like a ruin deserted by the folks who used to -live here. For instance,” he pointed to some grass-covered excavations, -“these were the furnaces.” - -“Well,” said Ben thoughtfully, “then, if they followed the process used -in all smelting-works, the bullion was melted in crucibles and cast -into bars.” - -“Exactly. Then, jest use your natural sense and think out how they got -the bars ter the bullion-room? Why, they piled ’em on hand-cars and -run ’em on a track.” He suddenly knelt down and ran his hand along the -ground in front of the excavations. “Here’s the groove where the track -was laid,--sure’s you’re born!” - -Ben dropped beside him. “There is a groove!” he cried. “We’re regular -detectives, Mundon!” - -“It couldn’t run anywhere else,” the other said, as if to himself. - -“Than to the bullion-room? Of course, it couldn’t, and it didn’t. It -ran over there, didn’t it?” Ben pointed to the opposite wall. - -“Yes,” said Mundon, “it must. My! They were careless in those days, if -this was like any smeltin’-works ever I see, and I s’pose it was. They -jest slung the stuff ’round like it was mud. They always counted on -losin’ lots of it in splashin’.” - -“I should think so. With no flooring in the furnace-rooms and all this -dust being trampled into the earth floor year after year, I should -think they’d have lost a fortune!” - -“Mebbe they did.” - -“We hope so; for they made enough as it was.” - -“You see, sometimes a furnace would get ter leakin’. Well, mebbe -’twould be quite a while before anybody found it out. Then, p’raps -they’d run tons of base bullion inter a trench, thinkin’ they’d go over -the ground when they got time. Um-- Well, sometimes they never got the -time, they was so busy makin’ money. We must look ’round, some time, -fur traces of a trench of that sort.” - -“I’ve got an idea,” said Ben, “that it would be a good plan to wash the -soil here and there with an ordinary gold-pan. We could tell something, -I should think, about where the richest dirt lay then.” - -“’Twouldn’t do no harm. But the richest dirt is bound ter be near the -furnaces and in the bullion-room. We’ll finish with the chimney first, -’cause if there are any nuggets they’ll be there.” - -“Wouldn’t any tin pan do?” - -“O, you better have the real thing. I see one a-hangin’ up outside of a -junk-shop on Stockton Street that I’ll git when I go to git the lumber. -Mebbe it might be a relic of ’49, and give you some of the spirit of -those days. Not that you ain’t got the true minin’ spirit already,” he -added, with a glance at Ben’s eager face. - -On the following day the pan was purchased, and Ben was initiated, and -became for the first time a real miner. He scooped some dirt from what -was thought to be a favorable spot, put it in the pan, and poured some -water upon it. - -Mundon showed him how to shake the pan from side to side, allowing a -little water to flow constantly from the top, until a small amount of -very ordinary-looking dirt remained in the bottom. It was exhilarating -to think of what it might contain. - -“It looks exactly like the mud pies my mother’s boy used to make,” said -Ben with an anxious air. - -“There’s a little color there, or I’m mistaken,” Mundon wisely -remarked, as he scanned the sediment. - -“Yellow’s the color I’m looking for.” - -“Well, there’s some yellow in that. Hold it up to the light. Now, it -does shine! I’ll be hanged if it don’t!” - -“Goodness knows, I want to see it as much as any one!” said Ben; “but -I’m afraid this is too much like imagination. It reminds me of the time -people thought they saw flying-machines in the sky.” - -Mundon shook his head. “I ain’t that kind,” he remarked, as he returned -to his work of constructing the “jigger.” “After all,” he continued, -“you can’t tell much about it till you make the ’speriment in the -proper way. This machine’ll settle it one way or the other.” - -He worked rapidly and skillfully, and by the following night the -“jigger” was completed. - -“My!” he exclaimed as he drove the last nails. “It was luck, blind -luck, my meetin’ that feller and his tellin’ me jest exactly what I -wanted to know!” - -“One thing will be very funny,” said Ben. “I was just thinking that -we’ll have to ship our bullion--when we get it--up to the Searby -Smelting Works at Vallejo to be resmelted and cast into bars. They were -the original owners of it.” - -“Funny enough for us,” Mundon replied. “But I don’t count on shippin’ -’em any.” - -“How’ll we get it into bars?” - -“I’ll git it into bars, myself. You didn’t know that I was an assayer, -too, did you?” - -“No,” Ben thoughtfully replied. “I think I’ve found my trade at last. -Mundon, if I’ve got brains enough I’ll be an assayer.” - -“Why not a mining engineer? Might as well aim fur the highest while -you’re about it.” - -“That’s so. But that takes more money. If I get enough out of this, -I’ll try for it.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -GOLD IN THE “JIGGER” - - -“It’s nearly time for us to know ’bout where we stand,” remarked -Mundon, as he flung several shovelfuls of mortar, brickdust, and soot -into the “jigger.” He then added some quicksilver to the mass. “There, -I guess that’ll do fur this time. Now, we’ll churn the cream and see if -we kin git any butter.” - -“Perhaps it isn’t cream,” Ben suggested, more to hear Mundon reassure -him than anything else. - -“No; p’raps it ain’t,--p’raps it’s only skim milk. Well, in that case -we won’t git any butter. But I’m a-bettin’ on it’s bein’ cream.” - -When Mundon took some of the amalgam from the dirty water and washed it -clean, Ben knew that the time of reckoning had arrived. - -“Ain’t feelin’ faint, are you, Ben?” Mundon facetiously inquired. “I -orter brought some smellin’-salts along. Well, I’ve got a ticklish sort -of feelin’ myself.” - -He placed the amalgam in a piece of buckskin. This he squeezed until -the larger part of the quicksilver had been pressed through the skin. - -He did not tell Ben, but he knew from long experience that the result -was satisfactory. Ben read his thoughts in his face. - -“Tell me it’s all right, Mundon! I can see by your face that it is, but -I’d like to hear you say it! Tell me!” - -“There’s gold in this ball--or I’m not alive,” the other replied. - -“Wo-o-w!” Ben flung his cap among the rafters, and, seizing the ball of -amalgam, he sent it after the cap. - -“Here, young feller, don’t you go plumb crazy! That’s heavy! Want ter -kill us? Give me that ball--I ain’t through with it yet.” - -Ben returned the ball. “I had to let off steam or bust!” he said. - -“Now, we’ll see what we’ll see,” said Mundon, as he repeated the -process he had followed with the first handful of amalgam, until he had -three good-sized lumps. - -“The gold’s inside of them?” Ben asked. - -“Course it is,--that is, we’ve reason to s’pose so.” - -“How ever are we going to get it out! I say, Mundon, I’d have made a -pretty fizzle of this business without you.” - -“You’d have had to found somebody else, that’s all,” Mundon modestly -replied. - -“Next, I take the retort,--see that it’s cold,--and chalk it well. -Watch me, Ben,--most anybody can set an egg on end after they’ve seen -it done. Next, I wrap these here baseballs--base is good!--in paper and -put ’em in the retort,--so. Then I jam the cover down tight. Now, give -me a lift, Ben. This here’s pretty heavy, I reckon.” - -The retort did not seem heavy to Ben as they lifted it to the furnace; -and he concluded that Mundon had asked him to help him, in order that -he might feel that he was more than a spectator. - -“He’s got the finest feelings,” Ben said to himself. “He’s always -trying to make a fellow feel comfortable.” - -They built a roaring fire in the furnace. - -“Now, you kin tend that fire fur two hours, Ben,” said Mundon, “while -I go down-town and see ’bout gittin’ some more coal and a few little -things we need. I’ll be right back. Don’t forget--you got to keep that -there retort red-hot the whole time.” - -“Yes, yes. And then what do we do?” - -“Well, you got to keep the retort red-hot for two hours, as I told -you, just a dull red-hot; but at the last you pile on the coal till -it’s a reel cherry-red.” - -“And after that?” - -“O, I’ll be here to show you what to do afterwards.” - -During the following two hours Ben watched the furnace and plied it -with coal. A rap on the doors attracted his attention, and he admitted -Beth and little Sue. - -“Mother asked us to tell her when you got the first gold from your -Golconda. Have you got any yet?” Sue asked. “I know what that means, -too, for Beth told me the story.” - -“Not yet, Sue,” Ben replied. “Maybe you’re just in time to see some, -though. We’re nearly ready to open the retort.” He flung in a shovelful -of coal. “I’m glad you came down, Beth, to see it; for if we get any -it’ll be the result of your idea.” - -“Nonsense, Ben! O, Sue,” she exclaimed as she looked up the long funnel -of the chimney to where it pierced the blue sky, “think of any one’s -sitting on those little sticks and being hoisted up that frightful -distance! It makes me dizzy to think of it. How did you ever get the -rope over the top?” she inquired of Ben. - -“Mundon did it,” Ben explained, “one day, when he sent me off to buy -the mule.” - -“Did he climb up on the outside?” - -“No, goosey; of course not. He built a rough scaffolding inside, -somehow, as he went along, until he could throw a rope over the top. -The rest was easy.” - -“And is he going to chip off the whole inside? O-o-h! How can he bear -to sit on that thing and let you haul him to the top?” - -“O, he doesn’t mind it; he’s been a sailor. He says it’s safer than -lots of high places he’s been in, because there’s no wind.” - -So interested had all three been in peering up the chimney that -they had not noticed the entrance of several men who were curiously -inspecting the interior. - -Sydney Chalmers was one of them; and while Ben was annoyed by his -presence at this particular time, he did not like to ask him to leave. - -Syd walked about with a supercilious stare which so irritated Ben -that he relieved his feelings by flinging shovelfuls of coal into the -furnace. - -The two hours were nearly up, and Mundon must soon return. - -One of the self-invited visitors proved to be a reporter who walked -about, notebook in hand, scanning the surroundings. - -When Mundon returned, Ben suggested that the strangers be asked to -leave; but Mundon did not approve of this. - -“It never did anybody any harm to be on the good side of the -newspapers, and it gen’rally does a body heaps of harm to be on the bad -side of ’em,” he sagely remarked. “Let him get his scoop. That’s a real -cherry-red,” he added as he looked at the retort. “Give us a hand, Ben.” - -They lifted the retort from the furnace. - -“It’s got to chill now,” said Mundon, and he turned his attention to -the reporter, whom he regaled with such Munchausen tales that that -experienced gentleman had hard work to separate fiction from fact. - -“S’pose you think your fortune’s in sight?” Syd contemptuously looked -at the retort. - -“I hope so, Syd; and I know all my friends do, too,” Ben replied. - -“Hoping’s cheap.” - -Ben turned away. “Isn’t it cool enough yet?” he called to Mundon. - -“Reckon it is,” said Mundon. “Now, when I knock off the cover, we got -to jump back quick as lightnin’. The fumes of quicksilver’s deadly, you -know.” - -“All right. Knock her off!” Ben responded. - -“You folks better stand well back,” Mundon said to the others. - -He struck the cover a few hard blows, and as it flew off they sprang -back to a place of safety. - -“Whew! This is being an alchemist with a vengeance! Fancy our turning -that old rubble into gold!” Ben said to Mundon, who was holding him by -the arm. “O, I say, isn’t it time to see, now?” - -“I guess so. Come along.” - -Visitors and workmen eagerly crowded around the retort. A little sponge -of gold was all that remained in it. - -Mundon took it out and weighed it while the others curiously watched -him. - -Ben was visibly horribly disappointed. He had a sickening conviction -that the whole thing was a failure. He could read the triumph in Syd’s -face, and it cost him an effort to put on a bold front and see them all -through the gates. - -“It’s no go, I’m afraid,” he whispered to Beth. For answer she pressed -his hand. He closed the gates and turned to Mundon. - -“Well,--it’s a failure. You needn’t tell me--I know it.” - -“Failure? No, ’tain’t a failure.” - -“Are you saying that to let me down easy?” - -“Before God, I ain’t! Why, boy, what you got tears in your eyes fur? -Brace up and be a man!” - -“I’m trying to, Mundon.” Ben’s voice shook. - -“I dunno what’s this all about? Did you expect that there crucible’d be -half-full of gold? Mebbe you thought ’twould be plumb full.” There was -no reply. “Why, on a rough calculation, I reckon this undertakin’ ’s -goin’ to come out all right.” - -“You mean that it’s going to pay?” - -“’Course I do. What ails you?” - -“It seems such a small quantity,” Ben faltered. - -“It’ll seem smaller yet, when it’s cast in a bar. I’ve got to melt -this again to git it into shape. Besides, I reckon ’bout half of it’s -silver.” - -“Silver! And silver’s worth only fifty cents an ounce!” Ben sat down on -some lumber and gloomily watched Mundon melt the gold in a crucible. - -“Yes, so ’tis; but gold’s worth twenty dollars an ounce. Didn’t expect -’twould be all gold, did you? I’m a-figurin’ roughly on the tons of -stuff you’ve got in sight and the amount of gold you’ve got out of one -jiggerful, and--you’ve got a good thing all right, Ben. But you’re -just like all kids,--beggin’ pardon,--onreasonable.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE MYSTERIOUS CHINESE - - -On the night following the first clean-up, Ben was awakened about -midnight. He had been sleeping so heavily that for some minutes after -awakening he did not realize where he was. Then the outlines of the -rough walls of the room and the regular breathing of Mundon recalled -him to his surroundings. He was too wide-awake to sleep again, and he -reviewed the events of the day, and then fell to speculating upon the -plans for the morrow. - -Suddenly he sat bolt upright, every faculty alert. There was a sound of -stealthy footsteps in the outer room. - -Ben knew now the cause of his sudden awakening. Some one had entered -the building, and was creeping about searching for--what? “The gold!” -he instantly replied to the question. - -Ben knew that Mundon had placed the gold in a box underneath his bunk. -There was so little of it as yet that this had been thought to be a -sufficiently safe place. - -Should he awaken Mundon? It hardly seemed necessary. He crept from his -bed and crossed the room to the door. The stealthy footsteps could be -heard at intervals, as though the person constantly paused to listen. -The noise appeared to come from the corner of the building in which the -“jigger” was situated; and Ben concluded that the man was searching -there for the gold. Feeling that he could keep quiet no longer, Ben -grasped Mundon’s arm. - -“Hush!” he whispered. “Don’t speak! Some one’s out there--looking for -the gold!” - -Mundon was thoroughly awake in an instant. Together they crept to the -door. The noise suddenly ceased, and there followed a long interval of -silence. - -“I’m afraid we’ve frightened him off,” whispered Mundon. - -Just then a slight sound told them that the burglar was still there. A -flash of light through the cracks of the door told them that he carried -a dark lantern. - -“Be ready!” Mundon directed. “I’ll unlock the door and we’ll rush for -the gates!” - -He unlocked the door and the partners tore across the rough floor to -the gates. They were somewhat surprised to find them locked. - -“Who’s there? Stop, or I’ll fire!” cried Ben. - -They listened, trying to locate the intruder in the darkness; but the -silence following this challenge remained unbroken. - -“He must hev run up the beach to climb the bulkhead,” said Mundon. -“I’ll go out and head him off. You stay here and watch. If he’s hidin’ -here, and makes a sound, you call me.” - -Left alone in the darkness, Ben fancied several times that he heard -the burglar moving in the black shadows of the interior. But a careful -investigation, with the aid of a lantern when Mundon returned, proved -that the place was empty. - -“I don’t see how he could hev got over that bulkhead so quick,” Mundon -remarked, as he related his unsuccessful attempt to capture the man. -“Must hev ben mighty lively, and an acrobat in the bargain, to git out -of sight in that time. Let’s see what mischief he’s ben up to.” - -The “jigger” was undisturbed, but they found footprints in the moist -ground near the furnace. - -“Mebbe he came in a boat,” Mundon suddenly suggested. “Mebbe he wasn’t -after our gold at all.” - -Ben stared in surprise. “Not after the gold!” he exclaimed. “Then what -in thunder was he after?” - -“Can’t you guess?” - -“No.” - -“Well, I was thinkin’ that mebbe there’s more opium hidden away here -that we ain’t found.” - -“Opium!” - -“Well, we found one lot here. Why shouldn’t we find some more. Who’s to -say that we found all there was stowed here?” - -“They would have taken it away before this.” - -“How could they? They didn’t dare come back while there was a chance of -them Custom House fellers bein’ ’round. And lately we haven’t let this -place out our sight.” - -“That’s so,” replied Ben. “You think there’s more opium hidden -somewhere round this furnace?” - -“That’s it.” - -“Well, I’ll take out those loose bricks in the morning--those on the -side next the water, that we didn’t touch.” - -In the morning a thorough search was made, but no opium was found. -No satisfactory explanation of the presence of the midnight visitor -offered itself, but matters of greater importance soon occupied the -thoughts of the partners. - - -News of the venture spread. The scoop was read by thousands, and many -of the curiously inclined were attracted to the spot. - -On the second day the crowd was so large that Ben was compelled -to close the gates. There were several reporters, who took notes, -photographed Ben and the interior of the building, and interviewed the -partners as to their enterprise. - -Although Ben was feeling better, he was not entirely at ease. The whole -thing seemed so theatrical. It was like working on the stage of a -theater. Besides, he was not yet assured of success. - -While the presence of spectators was flattering, it was rather -embarrassing to the workmen. They would have preferred to have made -their clean-up without an audience. Skepticism, along with curiosity, -was written on the faces of all. And, like all sensation-seekers, they -withheld any decided opinion until the result should be known. - -In imagination Ben could already hear the jeering laughter of the crowd -over his failure, and this added to his nervousness. His cheeks were -flushed with excitement, and he stole over to where Beth and little Sue -were standing and said in an anxious whisper, “It’s just awful not to -know how it’s going to pan out!” - -When at length the crucial moment arrived, and he saw Mundon scoop up -some particles of yellow metal with one hand while with the other he -waved his hat, everything seemed to swim before Ben’s eyes. - -The crowd gave a hearty cheer, in which he joined as if in a dream. - -It was pleasant to be congratulated; and it must be confessed that the -boy miner enjoyed being looked upon as a marvel of enterprise. - -Old Madge appeared to be wonderfully interested in the proceedings; and -Ben did not quite like the expression of his countenance when he looked -upon the gold. Neither did he like a look of envy which could be seen -upon the faces of some others. - -“Can’t please everybody,” Ben said to himself, with a shrug. “Some -people never like to see any one else succeed.” - -The rest of it was pleasant enough. There was a sort of Fourth-of-July -excitement about it that was most exhilarating. - -After the last hanger-on had gone and the gates were shut for the -night, Mundon remarked that he would go down-town to get a new fitting -that was needed. - -“We got twice as much gold to-day as we did yesterday,” he said as he -turned to go. “Mebbe we’ll get twice as much as this to-morrer--it’s -bound to vary. But, anyway, we’re all right. Well, so long! I’ll be -back inside of an hour.” - -“So long!” Ben replied. - -Left alone on the scene of his triumph, Ben surveyed the mass of -rubbish and endeavored to estimate how much it would yield. - -He had supposed himself to be alone, and was surprised to see a -Chinaman standing in the opening above the little strip of beach. - -“What do you want here?” Ben demanded. - -“I come to see you on business,” the man replied in excellent English. - -“How’d you get here?” - -“O, I come in when other people come; and I wait till your partner go, -because I want to see you alone.” - -With a quick motion of his arm the man threw back one of his voluminous -sleeves and pointed with his claw-like fingers to the roof and walls. -Ben noted that his dress marked him as a member of the ordinary -merchant class of Chinese. - -“You work with the bricks and dirt,” he said, pointing to the piles of -rubbish. “What you intend to do with building?” - -Ben’s suspicions were aroused. “He wants to drive some bargain with me -about that opium business,” he thought. - -“O, I’ll sell it for lumber to some builder, I guess,” he indifferently -replied. - -“Not worth very much.” - -“No; not very much.” - -“I notice you have plenty of room here; so I think perhaps you like -to rent this place to me to store my goods.” He darted one of his -capacious sleeves inside his blouse and drew forth a card, which he -handed to Ben. - -“I give you my card.” - -Ben glanced at the card. “_Ng Quong Lee, Fruitpacker; Factory, 792 -Jackson Street_,” it read. - -“I shall be here for only a short time,” Ben said. “The lease of this -building expires in a few months. Besides, you couldn’t store anything -here; there are too many holes in the walls and roofs.” - -“O, that wouldn’t matter,--my goods are canned. My factory too crowded -at this time of year. Fruit season now, you know. For a few months I -like to rent another place.” - -“I’m sorry I can’t accommodate you,” Ben said, turning away, “but I -need all the place myself.” - -“I give you thirty dollars a month,” the Chinese said, with a shrewd -glance. - -This offer increased Ben’s suspicion, and he flatly refused to consider -it. - -“You make too much money,” the other said in conclusion. “You too rich, -I think. Well, I leave my card. Perhaps some time you come to see me. -Some time,” he looked Ben squarely in the face, “if Mr. Fish make you -trouble, you come to see me.” With which enigmatical remark he politely -bowed and took his departure. - -“I wonder what he was after and what he meant by that last?” Ben -reflected, when he had fastened the gates after his strange visitor. -“There’s something wrong about it, or he wouldn’t offer me thirty -dollars a month for a part of this crazy old shed. He’ll wait a long -time, I’m thinking, before he receives a call from me.” - -After thinking the matter over, Ben concluded not to mention it to -Mundon. He was afraid he might urge him to accept it, and this he did -not wish to do. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -WORK STOPPED - - -The next morning Ben saw a picture of himself above the title “Our Boy -Miner,” in one of the daily papers. He felt the sensationalism of it, -but he could not deny that it pleased him. - -“Publicity was the penalty one had to pay for being prominent,” he told -himself. And the thought pulled him very erect, like a balloon tugging -at his neckband. - -He was elated with success. All doubts which he had previously felt -about speculation being a hazardous way of making money vanished like -mists before the sun. The warnings he had heard all his life from the -wiseacres about the slow way being the sure way he now felt to be all -nonsense. Indeed, so egotistical is success, that he even wondered -that he could ever have felt any doubts. - -[Illustration: - -Photo by Arnold Genthe. - -“_Our Boy Miner._”] - -“After I’ve made my fortune, I’ll be old-fogyish and save the cents,” -he reflected. “This mining venture is quite as sure a way of making -money as clerking in a store--and much more rapid.” His attention was -attracted by something Mundon was saying to a reporter who was making a -“story” of their experience. - -“O, ’taint no trouble to show you our operations,” Mundon remarked; -“no trouble at all. If ’twas a real mine underground that’d be another -thing. Folks was so curious ’bout a mine I once had up in Placer County -that I trained a dog I had to show ’em ’round. I’d fasten a candle to -a strap that went ’round his forehead and he’d take ’em all over that -mine. Got so knowin’ at last that when he’d pass any rich ore he’d -stop and bark. Sure!” He added, as the hearer’s smile proclaimed his -incredulity, “You kin put that in your paper, and I’ll vouch for it.” - -“I wish Mundon wouldn’t yarn it so,” Ben said to himself. “And I wish -all these folks would go home before we make the clean-up.” He drew -Mundon aside. “Can’t you get rid of them before we melt the stuff?” - -“Don’t know. They ’pear to be powerful interested in what we’re doin’,” -the other replied. - -“That’s just it; they’re too much interested. We’ve got gold on both -days; but there’s no knowing how long that luck will last. Suppose we -opened the crucible some night and didn’t get anything?” - -“Well, ’twouldn’t kill us if we didn’t--just once.” - -“Just think what they’d say!” - -Mundon smiled. “What do we care what they say?” he sturdily asserted. -“I tell you, Ben, I wouldn’t be a bit sorry if it got noised ’round -that we weren’t makin’ such a bloomin’ lot.” - -“Why?” - -“Well, it’d keep folks from gettin’ envious, for one thing.” - -The result of the day’s work did not greatly vary from those of the -other two. About the same small quantity of gold-sponge remained in the -crucible, and the crowd seemed slightly disappointed. - -“That little bit wouldn’t make anybody very envious,” remarked Ben. “In -fact, I doubt if most people would work as hard as we have for it.” - -“You think it wouldn’t; but you don’t know much ’bout envy, and you -don’t know men. This is the stuff,” Mundon said, as he carefully took -the gold from the crucible, “be it much or little of it, that makes -wild beasts of men. ’Most all the sins that make a man into a beast can -be laid to this pretty shinin’ dirt.” - -On the afternoon of the fourth day Ben and Mundon were working like -beavers. - -“’Bout five minutes now, and we’ll take out the amalgam,” Mundon -remarked. “I b’lieve it’ll carry more than twice as much as -yesterday’s. Somehow, the stuff shined more when we broke it up. I -reckon I’ve got ’bout a quarter of the chimney chipped.” - -“That’s slick,” said Ben. “When do you think we’d better tackle the -ground?” - -“O, that’ll keep till we’re through with the chimney. You see, a good -deal works through the cracks now, and we kin make a thorough clean-up -afterwards. I b’lieve there’s lots of copper as well as gold and silver -in that slag under the old wharf.” - -“You do?” - -“I’m ’most as certain of it as I am of the chimney. If we make as much -as the opium brought, I s’pose you’ll be satisfied?” - -“That would be good enough.” - -“Queer them smuggler fellers never showed up, ain’t it? The more I -think of it the more certain I am that that was what the burglar was -after.” - -“But we couldn’t find any traces of the drug.” - -“Mebbe he got it before we run out. Well, most likely some one of those -Government chaps warned ’em not to come here while the watch was bein’ -kept up. There’s gen’rally some one gits wind of such a plan in time -to make fools of the rest. I s’pose the temptation to be tricky is too -much for ’em.” - -“Yes. And I suppose there are many temptations to a man in such a -position.” - -“Bless you! I guess there is! There’s lots of men who’d be square -enough, if they was let alone; but put ’em in a place where there’s a -chance to cheat and some one to show ’em the way, and they don’t need -no coaxin’. Did you suspicion any of ’em in partic’lar?” - -“Well,” Ben hesitated, “it’s an awful mean thing to say about a man -when you’ve got no proof,”--he dropped his voice,--“but you know I -didn’t like the man who was put in charge of the case.” - -“What’s his name?” - -“Cutter. I couldn’t help feeling that he wasn’t straight. He didn’t -seem sincere.” - -“He wasn’t ’round here at all, was he?” - -“No. But there wasn’t any need of his coming. He just stays in the -office and directs others. How easily he could warn the men who stowed -away the stuff here not to come after it!” - -“They made me mad with their suspicions!” Mundon exclaimed. “I -should think that ’sperience would have taught ’em to suspect one -of theirselves sooner than us. ’Twas only one man as showed any -suspicions outright, and like as not he was one of the rogues himself. -I was half a mind to tell him so once, but I knowed ’twouldn’t do no -good.” - -“Not a bit,” Ben agreed; “and it might do harm.” - -“Mining’s a curious business. It’s the only business on earth, though, -where you ain’t cuttin’ the ground away from under some other man’s -feet. You’re just a-gettin’ somethin’ that everybody wants and needs, -and, consequently, everybody’s glad you’re gettin’ it. It’s a gamble, -and that’s why it’s so thunderin’ fascinatin’. There’s one drawback, -though; it makes a man distrustful of his kind,--I s’pose ’cause it’s -so mighty easy to get fooled. An old miner doesn’t b’lieve in any one -but just himself--from principle. It’s astonishin’, how completely he -kin pin his faith to rocks, and how he balks when it comes to tryin’ -it on human nature.” - -“Father wasn’t much so,” remarked Ben; “but he was an exception, I -suppose.” - -“He wasn’t rich, was he?” - -“No; although he often thought he was. His riches never came near -enough to capture.” - -“That’s it, you see. But you take an old miner who’s made his fortunes, -and lost ’em through havin’ salted mines worked off on him,--if he -ain’t the scariest bird ever seen! Talk about saltin’ a bird’s tail! -Why, he wouldn’t trust his own twin brother!” - -“Well, there’s no danger of ours being salted.” - -“No; ’cause ’twasn’t thought to be a mine. I’ve seen some queer tricks -played in that line. Once I knew a man who went to look at a mine. He -saw the samples taken from all over the mine, put ’em in canvas bags -himself, and never took his eyes off these bags till they was sealed -up with his private seal. Just as the rest of the party was gettin’ -into the stage to leave, the man who was a-thinkin’ of buyin’ the mine -had a kind of a feelin’ that he’d ben fooled. He couldn’t explain it -nohow, but he just had that feelin’. So, he wouldn’t get on that stage, -but he went all over the mine a second time and took another set of -samples. Well, the assays told the story. The first set went more’n a -hundred dollars to the ton, and the last set went less ’n a dollar.” - -“How did they break the seals?” - -“They didn’t break ’em. They salted the bags after he sealed ’em by -squeezin’ a quill toothpick through the canvas and blowin’ gold-dust -into ’em. I don’t wonder that----” - -Mundon was interrupted by a pounding on the gates. - -“I’ll go,” said Ben. - -When he had unfastened the gates, two men walked into the yard. The -first handed Ben a paper. - -“What does this mean?” Ben wonderingly asked. He did not at first -comprehend the meaning of the proceeding, but his eye caught the word -“injunction,” and he knew that meant “stop.” - -“It’s an injunction served upon you,” the man replied. - -“Are you an officer?” - -“I am.” - -“What ground--” Ben stopped, for he felt his voice tremble. - -“It’s to compel you to stop working another man’s property.” - -“But I bought the right to work it--from the owner!” Ben cried. - -“That he did,” Mundon spoke up stoutly, “and I signed as a witness.” - -“Where is the owner? Where is old Madge? I’ve got his signature to the -paper! He can’t go back on that!” the boy exclaimed. “He’s done this -from spite, because I refused to take him into partnership!” - -“Don’t get excited,” the officer said. “Mr. Madge has nothing to do -with this.” - -There was an angry light in Ben’s eyes. - -“Well, who has, then?” he defiantly inquired. - -“I have,” the other man replied. - -He had not spoken before, and he seemed to enjoy the boy’s distress. -He was a small man, shabbily dressed, and there was nothing about his -appearance to indicate that he could be possessed of wealth. - -He paused after those two words and appeared to relish prolonging the -suspense. - -Ben turned upon him. “What have you got to do with it?” he asked. - -“I happen to be the owner of the land--and improvements.” - -“But you leased it, and the lease does not expire until next November. -The improvements belong to the man who leased the land and put them on -it.” - -“The lease expired a month ago.” - -“That is false!” Ben’s indignation was so great that he could hardly -speak. - -“Mr. Madge told us that the lease ran for thirty-five years, and -commenced in November, 1866!” - -“That was the date on which the building was commenced; the lease dated -from four months earlier.” - -Ben turned to Mundon sick at heart. “Can’t you remember what he said -when I filled in the dates?” - -“He said the first pile for the buildin’ was drove in November, 1866; -but he meant fur us to think that were the date of the lease, too. -’Pears like we’ve ben taken in, Ben.” - -“The building belongs to me and the rubbish that’s here. I’ve paid for -it fairly and squarely, and it’s only right that I should be allowed -to work here until November. I bought the right to do it.” - -“We’re not talking about any rights now, young man, except those the -law allows,” the owner remarked with a dryness that was irritating. -“You can’t trespass on another man’s property to work anything.” He -turned to Mundon, who was bending over the “jigger.” “Stop that! That’s -mine!” he cried. - -Mundon straightened himself. In his hand he held a wide-mouthed bottle -partly filled with amalgam. - -“No, it ain’t,” he replied. “It b’longs to this young man. He’d just -about finished with his day’s work when you came in,--and it b’longs to -him.” - -“I’ve got the law on my side. He can’t take anything off this -property--my property--_now_.” - -“Well then,” responded Mundon, setting the bottle on the floor of the -“jigger,” “neither kin you. If you touch this stuff before this thing’s -settled, I’ll have the law on you.” - -The two men looked at each other for a moment. - -Then Mundon drew Ben aside. “’Tain’t no use talkin’ to him. I -know him--his name’s Fish and he’s a reg’lar old shark. Rich as -anythin’--owns piles of tenements and grinds his tenants down ter their -marrer bones. I saw him nosin’ ’round here on the day we made our first -clean-up. The question is, What are you goin’ to do?” - -“O, I don’t know!” Ben cried in despair. - -The two strangers were leisurely surveying the arastra and its contents. - -“Know any lawyer?” Mundon asked. - -“No.” - -A recollection of Mr. Hale, who had been in the Collector’s office on -the day of his visit, flashed before him. He believed him to be the -great lawyer of whom he had heard. He had appeared interested in the -venture, if skeptical; and since then the scheme had proved a success. -Ben was thinking very hard. - -“’Cause if you do,” Mundon continued, “he might find some hole fur us -to crawl out of.” - -This view of the situation was humiliating, but Ben was forced to -accept it. - -“Stay here and watch things, while I go down town and see what can be -done,” he answered. He was angrier than he had ever been in his life. -The injustice of being made a victim of fraud seemed to sear his spirit -like hot iron. To be tricked, cheated, and have no redress was such a -monstrous wrong! - -“To think,” he said to himself on his way down-town, “how I resisted -the temptation not to tell old Madge my whole plan! This is the reward -I get for being too conscientious. I ought not to have told a soul!” - -Bitter thoughts crowded fast upon him as he hurried along. He -recalled a conversation he had once heard between two young men. -One had said that there was not a rich man living who had acquired -his wealth--unless it had been inherited--honestly and with a clear -conscience. Ben had been impressed with this statement and had repeated -it to his father, who had denounced it as false. “There are plenty of -knaves among rich men, but there are honest men, too,” his father had -said. “It must have been a poor man, envious of the wealth of others -who said that thing.” - -Still, Ben reflected that his father had been a poor man, credulous, -trusting in all men, to his own disadvantage sometimes. - -“In order to get on in the world was it necessary to deceive and -cheat?” the boy questioned. “No, it isn’t true!” he exclaimed aloud, -causing the passers-by to regard him curiously. “I’d rather be in -my place and know that I’ve done the square thing than be in his! I -wouldn’t stain my immortal soul for gold!” - -Sustained by this thought, he found courage to make his appeal. - -Mr. Hale was in his office, and in a few words Ben told him what had -happened. - -“So, you’ve come to grief already, my boy,” the lawyer said. “Well, -let’s see what can be done.” - -He asked Ben a few questions and dispatched a messenger to the City -Hall to search for the recording of the lease. - -“Now, go home and wait,” he said in conclusion. “And don’t worry about -it any more than you can help.” - -“Thank you. About paying you, Mr. Hale,--” Ben began, but the other -interrupted him. - -“Never mind about that. I don’t expect any pay. I sometimes do things -for pure love of humanity. Queer way to do business, isn’t it? But I -made my own way in the world, boy, and I know what it is. Why, when I -first went in for law, it was like climbing a greased pole backwards.” - -Ben left the office with a lighter heart; as, indeed, did most people. -Like them, too, he had a conviction that the lawyer would find a way -out of the dilemma. - -Mr. Hale had told Ben that he had no right to occupy or work the -property while the injunction was pending; so he hastened back to -consult with Mundon as to the best course to be pursued. - -He found the latter disconsolately sitting upon the fence. The mule was -tied to a post alongside, and the pair presented a sorry appearance. - -The men had departed, Mundon said, after nailing up the gates. - -The partners agreed to take turns in keeping guard over the premises -until the result of Mr. Hale’s search was known; and it was decided -that Ben should take the first night. - -“It’s exasperating not to know how much there is in the amalgam. In all -justice, it’s mine!” said Ben, with flashing eyes. “And I intend to -watch it,--and fight for it too, if need be.” - -“You’ve got to fight such mean sneaks with one weapon--and only -one--and that’s the law,” remarked Mundon, carefully whittling a stick -he held. “There ain’t no other way you kin git the best of ’em.” He -pointed up the hillside. “There’s your cousin now. She’s ben down here -askin’ after you.” - -“Come out on the Point for a while, Ben,” said Beth. “It will rest you.” - -With a grave face he joined her, and they slowly walked along the beach. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -A MIDNIGHT FIGHT - - -“I’ve met one square man, and that’s Mr. Hale,” Ben said with emphasis, -after he had told her about his trouble. - -“Then, you don’t think Mundon’s square?” - -Ben stopped and faced her. “What have you heard?” he asked. - -“They say that he was in with the smugglers and led you to discover -their opium so that you’d get the reward,--and then he’d cheat you out -of it.” - -“What nonsense! How could he?” - -“O, I don’t know,--somehow.” - -“I suppose Mr. Hodges and his wife started that. What more did they -say?” He stooped and picked up a smooth bit of driftwood which he flung -far out into the water. “I don’t care that for their opinion!” - -“They say that you’ll never get your money back; that Mr. Fish is the -meanest man in town; that he won’t give you any show at all, and won’t -let you take another cent out of the Works.” - -“Then, they’ve heard about it already?” he asked. She nodded. “Quick -work! And that it serves me right. I dare say that’s another thing they -say?” - -The girl’s face flushed. “Yes, they did. Mrs. Hodges was the worst. She -said that Mundon was a sharper and that you were a greeny.” - -“Well, it isn’t over yet.” - -They walked on for a few moments in silence. Although Ben spoke up -stoutly, he was very despondent. - -“Tell you what I wish you’d do, Beth?” he suddenly said. “I’m going to -watch to-night at the Works; and if you should hear me blow a whistle, -do you blow Hodges’ as loud as you can. Three times, you know. Does he -still keep one at the house?” - -“Yes. Ever since he had that trouble about the land it has hung behind -the kitchen door. I can easily take it up to my room.” - -“All right. Your house is so near that you’d be sure to hear me. The -gates are nailed up, but I can’t help feeling a little nervous. Keep -what I’ve told you to yourself.” - -“Do you think you will lose it all, Ben?” - -“I can’t tell. I’m going to make a fight for it.” - -“You’re awfully worried. I can tell by your face.” - -“Well, what if I am? Most men are--most of the time. It’s life.” Beth -sighed. “We’re rushed along, just as if we were on a river, and all we -can do is to do the best we can. If we do that, it’s enough.” - -He stopped and ground the heel of his shoe in the damp sand. “I heard a -man describe it oddly once. He likened life to a dog-pit. He called it -an ‘arena,’ but he meant a dog-pit. And he said a man had to take hold -with a bulldog’s grip to succeed. I thought it was horrible then, but -somehow it comes back to me now.” - -“I never saw you in fighting mood before.” - -“Haven’t I had enough to make me so? To have that rich old miser take -what belongs to me! It’s mine, and he knows it, and so does everybody -else! And if he sneaks through this hole he’s found in the lease and -takes my gold, he’s just as much a thief as if he’d broken into my -house and stolen what didn’t belong to him! I don’t care if the law -does back him up,--it’s dishonest trickery!” - -“Maybe you won’t be a millionaire, after all.” The girl’s face wore -a blank expression. Then she suddenly brightened. “But millionaires -always go through this sort of thing, don’t they? Mr. Palmer landed in -San Francisco with only fifty cents in his pocket and chopped wood to -earn his dinner. I’ve heard him tell about it lots of times. I think -he’d rather talk about it than anything else in the world. Perhaps,” -she glanced at Ben, “you’re too well dressed, Ben, to turn out a -millionaire. Perhaps you ought to go barefooted, or, at least, wear -ragged shoes first.” - -Her companion smiled. “Girls are always thinking of appearances,” -he said. “But I think you had better give up the hope of my being a -millionaire; that’s a fairy tale. If I make a few thousand out of -this,--provided I can beat this old devil-fish,--I’ll be satisfied.” - -“I’d set my heart on a million,” she replied; “but if you’re satisfied, -I ought to be. You think girls are funny to be always thinking of -looks. How can we help it? We’re never really _in_ anything; we have -to stand one side and see the boys do things.” - -“Fighting, for instance,” Ben remarked. - -They had retraced their steps, and were again at the entrance of the -Works. Mundon still sat on the fence, thoughtfully gazing at the nailed -gates. The mule was wistfully looking at them, too, with an injured -air; as indeed was quite fitting in a tenant who had been evicted. - -“Good-night,” said Ben. “Don’t forget.” - -“I won’t,” Beth replied. Then she added in an undertone, “Don’t tell -him,”--she indicated Mundon,--“that I’m going to listen.” She turned -quickly away, before Ben had time to reply. - - -Through the long hours of the night, as Ben sat in the shadow of -a wall across the street from the Works, he had plenty of time -for reflection. Although he had indignantly refused to believe the -imputation against Mundon’s honesty, still it kept persistently -recurring to him. - -“Can it be possible that he was in with that smuggling gang, and that -fear of personal safety made him use me as a catspaw to inform on -them?” he asked himself, but dismissed this as being highly improbable. -Mundon’s surprise when the opium was discovered had been too genuine to -be doubted. - -Besides, had he been a party to the smuggling, by exposing it he -would have put an end to the business in the future, as far as he was -concerned. The Custom House authorities had held a theory that he had -been one of the ring, from the fact that no one came to remove the -opium. As an offset to this Mundon maintained that one or more of the -Government employees must have been in with the smugglers and warned -them. It was a block-puzzle, the pieces of which Ben placed in many -different positions as the night wore on. - -How long that night seemed to him! His brain was too excited to permit -sleep to trouble him, and his position harassed him. - -About two o’clock in the morning he saw a figure stealing along in the -shadow of the building. The moon was shining and Ben could see that -the man stopped and looked around, as if to make sure that he was not -observed. - -“He’s going to climb up and drop through that hole in the roof!” Ben -said to himself. “That’s the way he got in before. I’ve got the burglar -at last!” - -The figure paused as if to listen, and then cautiously climbed up the -rough side of the building and disappeared through the hole in the roof. - -Ben decided to go around the building and enter through the opening -on the water side. He was obliged to climb the high bulkhead which -ran out into the bay, and then he swiftly ran along the beach. Peering -within, he saw the man stooping over the “jigger” and searching for its -contents by the aid of a bull’s-eye lantern. He was of slight physique, -and there was something about the figure that was strangely familiar. -Just then the man raised his head in a listening attitude, and Ben -recognized him. - -“Syd!” he exclaimed. “I always knew he was a mean sneak, but I never -thought he’d be a thief!” - -Ben sprang toward him and grasped his arm. “That’s mine! You are -stealing my gold!” he cried. - -The other tried to shake off his accuser. “Let go!” he screamed. - -But Ben did not relax his hold. “Not till you give me what you’ve -stolen!” - -“I won’t! I’ve as much right to what I find as you have,” Syd doggedly -replied; “and I’m goin’ to keep what I’ve got. Let go, I say!” - -For answer Ben flung himself upon him. - -They were about equally matched and both fought desperately. A misstep -on the ground sent them sprawling among the broken bricks and rubbish. - -Ben was uppermost, and soon would have vanquished his adversary, when -something flashed before his eyes and he felt the thrust of a knife in -his breast. - -With his remaining strength he blew a blast on his police-whistle, and -then a faintness overpowered him and he knew nothing more. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -IN THE SICKROOM - - -The house in which Beth lived was a dreary structure perched on the -northern slope of the steep hill above the Works. A dispute, common -in the settlement of property boundaries in California, had arisen in -regard to the land on which the house stood, and in consequence it had -never been painted nor the ground around it inclosed by a fence. - -From the interior, however, one overlooked these deficiencies, because -of the gorgeous panorama of bay, mountain, and sky that was framed by -every window. - -Dame Trot, as Ben called her, was the wife of Beth’s stepfather; for -the girl’s own mother had died shortly after her second marriage. The -home was not congenial to the young girl; but as Mr. Hodges had used -all the money which her mother had left, she was compelled to remain -under his roof. - -Sydney Chalmers was the son of the present Mrs. Hodges by a former -marriage. - -It was in Mr. Hodges’ house that Ben regained consciousness on the -morning of the encounter at the Works. - -He was conscious of a severe pain in his head and a feeling of great -weakness. Some one was talking, and gradually a dim realization came to -Ben that he was the subject of the conversation. - -He recognized the voice of Mr. Hodges. - -“He’s been trying to mine the inside of the old Smelting Works, and -Fish the owner served an injunction on him yesterday, just as he was -going to get the clean-up for his day’s work.” - -“That’s a strange enterprise,” some one replied. Ben recognized the -doctor’s voice. - -“Yes; I’m thinking he’s throwing his money away. ’Course he got a -little gold, but in my opinion there ain’t enough in the whole shebang -to pay for the mule he’s bought.” - -“Then, he put money into the scheme?” - -“Every cent he had in the world went into it. Crazy! Might just as -well stand on the sea-wall and fling his dollars into the bay. Mine -chimneys! Don’t you suppose if there was any gold in that chimney, old -Madge, who leased the property, would have got it out years ago? He’s -got Ben’s two hundred dollars, though; that’s what suits him better -than mining soot.” He laughed at his poor witticism. - -“Don’t talk about it now,” the doctor said. “He’ll come to, presently.” - -Ben opened his eyes to see the doctor bending over him. - -“It’s all right, my boy,” he said. “Don’t be frightened.” - -Ben dimly wondered where he was. The wound in his breast was painful -and he felt very weak. - -He noticed that Mr. Hodges was standing at the foot of the bed and he -surmised that he must have been carried to his house. He closed his -eyes and tried to think over the events of the previous night. - -“It wasn’t much of a knife,” the doctor said, “or it would have done -more damage. When you feel able to talk,” he kindly said to Ben, “you -can tell us all about it.” - -The patient nodded and closed his eyes again. Everything seemed -slipping from him. - -“Guess there ain’t much to tell,” Hodges said gruffly. “It’s pretty -certain who done it.” - -Ben’s senses faintly rallied at this remark. - -“Could it be possible,” he thought, “that they did not know who his -assailant was?” He instantly surmised that Hodges suspected Mundon. -“Syd must have made good his escape before they found me,” he mentally -concluded. “What a coward!” - -He lay with his eyes closed a great deal of the time and reviewed the -situation. Should he expose Syd? It was hard to keep from doing so when -he thought of all he had suffered at his hands. He had been such a -brazen thief, too, so shameless in his villainy. - -Still, by the ramifications of marriage, he occupied the relation of a -brother to Beth; at least she treated him as one, and he lived under -the same roof with her. Besides, his family had received Ben in his -helpless state and were caring for him. - -A sudden generosity pleaded with him not to expose the culprit. It -was such a noble impulse, so far above the standards to which he -was accustomed that he was almost ashamed to follow it, and tried -to belittle it by placing a value upon it. He said to himself -half-contemptuously: “There wasn’t more than thirty or forty dollars -in the amalgam, anyway, and that’s a low price for a reputation. When -he finds out that I haven’t told on him he can return the gold. At any -rate, I’m going to give him a chance.” He resolved upon this course, -although it annoyed him that Mundon should be suspected, and he felt -that he must exonerate the latter. - -“You said just now, Mr. Hodges, that you were pretty certain who--who -did this to me.” - -“Yes, I did; and I am,” emphatically replied Mr. Hodges. “It’s that man -Mundon you’ve been taken in by who’s done it.” - -“You’re all wrong,” Ben answered. “He had nothing to do with it.” - -“Where was he then? Where is he now?” - -“He had to find a place for the mule; then he went down-town to sleep. -Of course, he couldn’t sleep in the room we built, because the place -doesn’t belong to us, they say.” - -Mr. Hodges looked the doubt he felt. - -“Let him give an account of himself first, Ben, before you’re too sure -of his innocence.” - -“He’ll come around just as soon as he hears of this.” Ben closed his -eyes wearily, but suddenly opened them again. “There he is now. I can -hear his voice!” he cried, as Mundon appeared. - -“Well, Ben my boy, how’d this happen?” Mundon’s distress was too -genuine to be doubted. - -“I saw a man taking the amalgam, and I tried to stop him. We got into a -fight over it and he scratched me a little; that’s all.” - -“All! Isn’t it enough?” Mundon indignantly cried. “How white you are, -Ben! Why, you’re almost faintin’ away now.” - -“No; I’m all right,” Ben hastened to say. - -“You don’t look it. What sort of a lookin’ man was he?” - -Ben closed his eyes. “I don’t know. It was dark, you know.” - -“’Twas bright moonlight,--and there’s a lot shines through the holes in -the roof on a clear night. Ain’t you got no idee what he looked like?” - -Ben shook his head. - -Mundon reflected a moment. “That’s queer, Ben. You don’t tell us enough -about the man for us to git hold of anything,” he said. “I’d like to -git at him. You had a tussle with him, yet you don’t say whether he was -fat or thin, or tall or short. We ain’t got nothin’ ter go by.” - -Ben smiled faintly. “What’s the use of going? We couldn’t afford to -hire a detective; it would cost more than the clean-up amounted to. -Besides, the fellow’s got away by this time.” - -“You ’pear to take it mighty easy like. Might have killed you. I’d like -ter give him a good drubbing on my own account,” said Mundon. - -Hodges cast a lowering look from one to the other. He was too stubborn -to relinquish at once his theory that Mundon was guilty; yet the man’s -bearing and conversation were puzzling. - -“He’s the boldest chap that ever lived, and Ben’s the greatest fool, -or else I’m on the wrong tack,” he reflected. “I b’lieve I’ll find out -whether he turned up at his hotel at three o’clock in the morning or -not.” - -As soon as he heard the front door close upon Mundon, Ben called out to -little Jim, who hung around the bed in mute sympathy, “Where’s Syd?” - -“He didn’t sleep at home last night,” the boy replied. - -Mr. Hodges looked surprised, and there was an awkward pause, during -which Ben thought best to close his eyes again. - -“He said last night that he was goin’ to stay all night with Tom Miles, -’cause they was goin’ clammin’ early this mornin’,” Jim added. - -“Then, why didn’t you say so in the first place?” his father said, as -he strode from the room. - -Ben’s pale cheeks had grown quite pink. - -“Jim,” he said in a low voice, “will you do something for me!” - -“Sure!” - -“Well, I wish you’d find out where Syd is and tell him I want to see -him. You can tell him how I got hurt, and that nobody knows who did it. -Tell him that the doctor says I’ll be all right in a few days.” - -“Is there anything else you’d like, Ben? ’Cause if there is, I’ve got -a dollar and fifty-five cents what I’m a-savin’ up to buy a ‘safety’ -with, and I’d jest as soon take some of it as not.” - -“No, thank you. Just do that one favor for me, and it’s all I’ll ask.” - -Jim departed, and in an hour or so reported that Sydney could not be -found. Tom Miles had expected to dig for clams, but as Sydney had -failed to put in an appearance he had given it up. Inquiry at the store -where Sydney was employed developed the fact that he had not been seen -there since the evening before. - -Shortly afterwards Beth and little Sue paid Ben a visit. By a few -adroit questions Ben saw that they had no suspicion of Syd’s part in -the night’s work. - -“If you’d only made the thief give up the gold it would have been some -satisfaction,” Beth said. - -“Yes, that’s so. But this is only a scratch, anyway.” - -“You’ll have to be careful, the doctor says.” - -“I mean to be; but it frets me so to stay in bed that it does more harm -than good. I want to see Mr. Hale.” - -“Yes; and you want to find the robber.” - -“Of course, if I can,” Ben wearily agreed. “But I sha’n’t waste much -time on him.” - -Ben had plenty of time for reflection during his enforced stay in bed. -Ever since the day of the injunction, when Mundon had mentioned the -name of the owner of the land, he had been haunted by the thought that -he had known or heard something of the man before, but it was not until -the second day after the robbery that it suddenly flashed upon him that -he was the man of whom the mysterious Chinaman had spoken. - -“Fish!” he exclaimed, and little Jim, who was hovering about his bed, -was for getting him some at once. - -“I was only thinking aloud,” Ben explained. “I don’t want any fish,” -and added with a grim smile, “I’ve had enough of that article already.” -At which Jim looked thoroughly puzzled. - -“What possible connection could there have been between a band of -Chinese smugglers and Mr. Fish, the wealthy miser?” Ben asked himself. -“He was there on that first day, so Mundon said, and the Chinaman may -have overheard something of his plans. I’ll fight him--see if I don’t, -when I get out of this!” - -His impatience to be able to investigate the affair increased hourly. -He must see the Chinese and find out what he had meant by his strange -warning. - -As he had not told Mundon about the Chinaman’s offer, he decided -not to tell him of his resolve to visit him. Aside from his former -suspicions, a love of adventure made him anxious to undertake the thing -alone. - -He was forced to wait a week before he was well enough to leave the -house. During this time Sydney had not been heard from. His mother -would not permit a public announcement to be made of his disappearance, -claiming that it was probable that he had met a cousin from San Jose -and had gone to that city for a visit. Whether she had any suspicion of -the truth or not, Ben could not determine; but she put an end to all -open speculation on the part of the family as to the whereabouts of the -absent one, by emphatically declaring, “Syd’s old enough to take care -of himself. He’s my flesh and blood, and so long as I don’t fret about -him I don’t see as any one else needs to.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE OPIUM RAID - - -Although Ben had been eager to go in search of his strange informer, -yet when he set forth he almost regretted not having brought a -companion. He knew that the address given must be in the heart of the -Chinese quarter, and, like most San Francisco boys, he knew something -of that dangerous locality. He had heard of the mysterious murders -which at times were of almost daily occurrence; of the sick thrust -into the street to die; and of the opium dens, where white people were -hidden. He had heard, too, of the fierce dogs which were kept on the -roofs of the houses; of secret passages leading from house to house, -until the place was a vast honeycomb of runways, through which the -Chinese slipped like rats in their holes. - -Chinatown may present a peaceful appearance in the daytime, but at -night, with the weird effects caused by the many-colored lanterns, the -inky recesses of the doorways, the depths of underground burrows trod -by velvet-footed shadows, it is transformed into a region to strike -terror to the bravest. - -Perhaps a thought of these dangers induced Ben to choose broad daylight -for his quest. He found the address easily enough--a house of several -stories that in some earlier period of the city had been an imposing -residence, but was now used by the Chinese for a fruit-canning factory. -The casing of the door was plastered with gaudy bills covered with -Chinese characters, and through the broken window-panes could be seen -countless piles of cans. - -A short flight of steps led downward from the sidewalk to a basement -entrance, and as Ben approached he saw a Chinese leaning against the -iron balustrade. He recognized Ng Quong, with a feeling of relief that -he should not be obliged to enter the house. - -[Illustration: - -Photo by Arnold Genthe. - -“_As Ben approached he saw Ng Quong leaning against the iron -balustrade._”] - -In this he was mistaken, for the man would not talk upon the public -street, where the very gutters might have ears. - -He conducted Ben through several corridors and stairways to an upper -room where a number of Chinese were seated at a repast of rice and -tea. Ben did not like to broach the object of his visit before such an -audience, and waited until the meal was finished and the others had -departed. - -“You wish to rent part of your house?” his host blandly inquired. - -“I haven’t any house to rent at present,” Ben replied. “I want to find -out what you mean when you say Mr. Fish make me plenty trouble--you -sabe?” The language used by the man was a rebuke. - -“Ah, that man make you trouble already?” - -“Yes, trouble enough. Come, tell me what you know about him?” - -“For what object should I tell you? Perhaps, it might make me trouble.” - -“You say when I have trouble come and see you. I have trouble,--I come. -You tell me what you know,--I give you ten dollars.” - -The Chinese regarded him with a sphinx-like stare. “O, ten dollars is -not much money to me,” he remarked, indifferently. “I like to rent from -you; that’s all. On that day I speak to you I go with the crowd to see -what you do. I hear Mr. Fish talk to old man.” - -“Old man with a big gray hat and a cane?” Ben eagerly inquired. - -“Yes. I suppose those men think I not understand much English, for they -not pay much attention to me. Mr. Fish say to old man that it too bad -to lose so much money. They mean your gold--they watch it. Then they -talk about a lease; and old man say it not good any more. Mr. Fish say -he will fix book at City Hall, then stop you and work for gold himself. -He say he will give the old man some.” - -“I can’t understand,” said Ben, “why, if the lease has expired, he -should need to fix the record? Did he say anything else?” - -“No; that’s all I hear.” - -“Well, that’s helped me some, perhaps. Here’s your ten dollars.” - -Ben paid him the money with some regret. It seemed a good deal for the -information; still it might be a clue to ravel the tangle. - -Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door, followed by a noisy -pounding. Ben had not noticed that the door had been locked after him, -and he turned to Ng Quong in surprise. - -The Chinese did not respond to the summons, but hurried with an ashen -face through the inner door, which he closed and locked behind him. Ben -heard some heavy bolts shot into place and realized that he was in a -very unpleasant position. - -The pounding increased, and he saw that the door could not withstand -the assault much longer. Alone in a locked room, into which the police -were forcing an entrance! Suddenly, it flashed into his head that his -visit to the house might have been noticed; that his connection with -the opium found at the Works might have strengthened the suspicions of -the police and caused the raid. If this were the case, he knew it was -better for him to have remained where he was than to have followed the -Chinaman, even if he had been given the opportunity. In a few moments -the door gave way with a crash and two policemen and several Customs -officials burst into the room. Ben recognized one of the men who had -been stationed to watch the Works. - -“O, it’s you, is it?” the man triumphantly exclaimed. “They thought you -were too innocent-looking to be in with the gang; but I knew better all -the time! We’ve caught you now.” - -“Caught me!” Ben indignantly repeated. “At what, I’d like to know! -I came here to get some information from the proprietor of this -fruit-canning factory.” - -“Information! Fruit factory!” the man sneered. “That’s a likely story! -This place has been under suspicion for some time as being one of the -biggest opium-dens and smuggler’s storehouses in town.” - -During this conversation the other men had turned everything in the -room topsy-turvy. They found nothing to reward their search in the -front room, and turned their attention to the door which led to the -inner room. It took some little time to demolish this, and when at -length they gained entrance not a Chinese was to be found. One inmate -they dragged forth from one of the rooms; but as there was no evidence -against him, no charge could be preferred. - -Ben took him by the arm. “Come home, Syd,” he said. “It’s all right,--I -haven’t told a soul.” - -They pushed their way through the curious crowd which had invaded the -house. When they were quite away from the neighborhood, Sydney broke -down. - -“You’re mighty good to me, Ben,--I don’t deserve it!” - -“It’s nothing at all,” Ben replied. “Isn’t your good name worth a -little forbearance from one who’s known you all your life? How’d you -come to be in that place?” he sharply questioned. - -“I didn’t know where else to hide. I was afraid I’d killed you and I -got Ng Quong to let me stay there and make out some bills and accounts -for him.” - -“Then, you’ve earned your keep--honestly?” - -Syd looked him squarely in the face. “Yes,” he said. - -Ben gave a sigh of relief. “It might have made a fuss,” he remarked. - -“Why,--did they try to find me?” - -“No; because your mother said she felt sure you had gone to San Jose.” - -“To San Jose?” Syd repeated in surprise. After a pause he added, -“Mothers are queer--sometimes.” - -Ben did not reply, for he knew that Syd thought that his mother -suspected the truth. - -“I meant to venture out to-night, to try to find out how you were and -give you your gold,” Syd continued. “Here it is.” He held out the vial. -“I hope I’ll never pass such a week of torture again!” - -“It has been a mean experience for us both,” Ben replied as he took -the vial, “but maybe it’s done us both good. I’ll keep a nugget or a -lump out of this,” he held up the vial containing the amalgam, “for the -scarf-pin I promised you once.” - -“No, thank you, Ben; I’d rather not take it,” Syd replied. - -“Just as you say,” Ben put out his hand, for they had reached the foot -of the hill. Syd took the proffered hand with such a hearty grasp that -Ben felt that the experience had made them better friends than they had -ever been. - -“That’s over, I’m thankful to say,” said Ben to himself, as he rapidly -walked down the street. “And now for Mr. Hale.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -A CRIME DISCOVERED - - -Mr. Hale was in his office, when Ben reached there; but the latter -concluded that he would hear the result of the lawyer’s investigation -first, reserving his bit of information until afterwards. - -“Well, my boy,” said Mr. Hale, whirling around in his chair, “I’m sorry -not to have better news for you.” A kind light shone in his eyes. -“We’ve got a hard old customer to deal with, I’m afraid. I’ve had the -records searched and the entries of the lease were found to have been -duly and properly made.” He tilted back in his revolving chair and put -the tips of his fingers together. “I don’t see what we’re going to do -about it. We’ve run up against a stone wall, without, apparently, -a cranny in it. I say _apparently_, because one never knows what -developments may turn up. It’s a case of manifest injustice, but such -cases are of daily occurrence.” - -“Something has turned up,” Ben said, when Mr. Hale had finished. - -“Ah, so you’ve got some news. Let’s have it.” - -Ben related his conversation with the Chinese. - -Mr. Hale was astonished. “I can scarcely believe that that old miser -would meddle with the records,” he exclaimed. “It looks very like it. -Yes--if what Ng Quong says is true, Fish is a grasping old shark; -but--what object could he have?” he mused. - -“I’ll tell you!” exclaimed Ben. “The lease is just as he says it is. -But there must have been some mistake in placing the dates on the -record, and that mistake was in our favor.” - -“It may be so. And the old fellow was so angered in being baffled -after he’d made sure that the law was on his side,--he was so angered -that he went to the length of changing the figures.” - -“That sounds like the truth, Mr. Hale.” - -“I think you’ve struck it, Ben; but it’s such an amazing thing that it -seems incredible. He’s shrewd, but he’s overreached this time. Yes. For -a man of his means to tamper with the records for the sake of the money -you expect to make! To what length will not money-grasping take a man!” - -“What are you going to do about it, Mr. Hale?” Ben could not resist -asking the question. - -“I’m going to have a microscopic examination made of the records, and -if what we think is so, he shall pay dearly”--he brought his fist down -on the desk in front of him--“for his bad work. I’ve got several old -scores to his account that I’d like to settle.” - -“How long will it take?” - -“To make the examination? About five minutes.” - -“What a weapon it will be!” - -“Exactly. But you must cultivate patience when you have anything to do -with the law.” - -“Do you think he’s alone in the matter? I mean do you think he did it -himself?” - -“No. Undoubtedly he hired some one to do it. We must find his tool.” -Mr. Hale was as eager as a sportsman when he has caught sight of his -game. “We can get the Grand Jury after him--if it’s true,” he gleefully -added. - -Ben rose. - -“Then there is nothing to do at present but--” - -“Wait,” supplied Mr. Hale, smiling. “Come in to-morrow at this time. I -may have some news.” - -Ben resolved not to tell Mundon of the new developments in the case -until he knew the result of Mr. Hale’s investigation. It was hard -work keeping the new hope to himself. Mundon was so depressed that Ben -longed to brighten him with the story of the day’s events. - -On the afternoon of the following day Ben found himself impatiently -awaiting Mr. Hale’s return from court. - -When he caught sight of the latter’s beaming face he knew that the -result was favorable. - -“It’s all right, my boy,” the lawyer exclaimed. “It’s just as we -thought. I’ll have you mining again, before you’re many days older.” - -“The dates had been changed?” Ben’s voice was a little uncertain. - -“Yes--and a bad, bungling job they made of it, too. I’m surprised my -clerk didn’t notice it in the first place. But, of course, he wasn’t -looking for such sharp work as that. By the way, I told a reporter on -the _Gazette_--you know they keep a man around the City Hall on the -lookout for news--who came to see what my expert was about.” - -“Then it’ll be in the papers.” - -“Well, I told him all he wanted to know. You’re not afraid of the -papers, are you?” - -“No,--I’ve done nothing that I’m ashamed of.” - -“Exactly. To-morrow morning Mr. Fish’s large circle of enemies will -read with pleasure that he has been caught at last.” - -“There’s another reason why I’m glad the whole story’s going into -print.” - -“About that opium business?” - -“Yes. I think it will clear me from any suspicion of being connected -with the ring. I’d like the real reason to be known for my being in Ng -Quong’s house.” - -“Well, ’twill be now.” - -Ben went straight from the lawyer’s office to Mundon. The latter was -looking more disconsolate than ever. Even the mule seemed to have -caught his state of abject misery. - -“I’ve just ben thinkin’ how I could get out of this old town,” Mundon -said. “If I could manage to get to Cripple Creek, I’d be able to get on -my feet again.” - -Ben did not reply, and Mundon glanced at his face. - -“Why, Ben, you look as you’d heard some good news.” - -“So I have, partner, mighty good news. Wo-o-w!” He flung his cap above -their heads. “We’re going to beat that muckery pair, Fish and Madge, -sure’s you’re born!” - -“Either you’ve gone plumb crazy, Ben, or else-- Tell me ’bout it, boy! -How’d you down ’em?” - -During the recital of the story, Mundon gave Ben a keen glance when he -came to the part relating to Ng Quong. - -It was an awkward moment for both; and Ben regretted his silence at -the time the incident occurred. - -“You forgot to mention the Chinaman’s visit at the time,” Mundon -remarked. “But time’ll tell, Ben, and I ain’t never ben afraid of time.” - - -On the day following the investigation, the _Gazette_ published the -story of the “Smelting Works Claim.” - -Ben read the account aloud to Mundon, sitting on the fence outside -the Works. Of course, in the tale, Ben was made a hero and Mr. Fish a -double-dyed villain. - -“They haven’t got him black enough to suit me,” said Mundon, fiercely -whittling the stick he held. “I hope they’ll paint him blacker and -blacker every day for a year.” - -There were two items of news in the article, however, that Ben had not -foreseen,--the simultaneous disappearance of Mr. Fish and one of the -clerks in the City Hall. - -“Now that there’s no one here to stop us, I’d like to smash open those -gates and finish our work.” - -Mundon shook his fist at the gates, which glowered back at him. “I’ve -ben turnin’ over in my mind all that there slag that’s under the old -wharf. I b’lieve there’s heaps of copper and lead buried there.” - -“No wonder you’ve been depressed--with all that on your mind,” -commented Ben. “I’m to know to-day just how long it will be before the -injunction can be raised. Mr. Hale says this hard-luck story of ours -will hurry things--it’s going to create sympathy for our case.” - -“Well, it oughter. Say, Ben, just let me drop through that hole in the -roof and do a little work on the quiet?” Ben shook his head. “’Twon’t -do no harm. You kin set here and watch.” - -“No, Mundon, not for a million!” - -“How easy it is to talk about refusin’ a million--when you’re young!” - -“This thing’s going to be square on my part. I’ve made up my mind to -stick to that,” Ben answered. “Hello! That boy looks like Mr. Hale’s -office boy.” - -He sprang down from the fence and tore open the envelope which the boy -gave him. - -“Hurrah! Mundon--we’ve won!” Ben cried. “It’s ours, and you can smash -those gates as soon as you please!” - -Mundon slid down from his perch and, seizing a piece of scantling, -struck the old gates a mighty blow that started the nails from the wood. - -“There!” he said. “That does me good! I’ve wanted to smash ’em ever -since those smarties came and nailed ’em up.” - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -BEN CHOOSES A PROFESSION - - -Within the Works they found everything, with the exception of the -amalgam which Syd had taken, exactly as they had left it. Mundon was -particularly pleased to find the “jigger” undisturbed. - -“Here’s the slag I mean, Ben. I’ve dreamt about that there identical -lump fur three nights runnin’.” Mundon pointed to the rugged top of a -lava-like bowlder, which reared itself from a corner of the earthen -floor. - -“I guess you’re right about the metals there are in it,” said Ben; “but -it might be an aerolite for all I know.” - -“What’s that? Say it again.” - -“An aerolite? It’s the lump of metal they find when a meteor falls and -it’s unlike anything found on this earth.” - -“O, a fallin’ star. I knew a man who wrote some poetry about one -that fell in Australia. He called it ‘stardust,’ but I s’pose a -hard-as-nails professor would call it--by the name that you do.” While -speaking, Mundon was surveying the ground. - -“I’ve got a scheme, Ben, to grade all this stuff ’cordin’ to its value.” - -“How do mean?” - -“Why we’ve had ’sperience enough to see that’d be the best way to -economize our time and labor. We’ll assay it and grade it till we know -’bout where we stand.” - -“It’ll be an awful lot of work to do it.” - -“Yes, it’ll be tejus, but it’ll pay better in the end. We’ll--if you -say so, Ben, ’course it’s your own business; but I’m jest tellin’ you -how I’d do if ’twere mine--we’ll sep’rate the stuff ’cordin’ to size -first, and then ’cordin’ to value.” - -“It’s a good plan. Don’t defer to me any more--you idiot! It makes me -feel so mean when you do it. You know as well as I do that I don’t know -the first thing about this business.” - -“You’re the boss, Ben,” Mundon laconically replied. - -“I don’t doubt that the slag and muck and all the rest of it are -valuable,” said Ben; “but the chimney--our golden chimney--is the thing -we’re sure of now. Maybe the day’s cleanup ’ll be more, or maybe it’ll -be less, but we know it’ll be gold!” - -“You’re right--we’ve tested that and we’re sure of it. But we mustn’t -despise the rest, on that account. Now, here’s where the roaster -stood--it must hev stood here, ’cause it couldn’t hev stood any place -else. Well, I’m goin’ to sink a shaft here.” Mundon stooped as he -spoke, and with his pocket-knife he dug a small hole, from which he -unearthed several small lumps of metal. - -“Just as I thought,” he said as he weighed them in his hand,--“lead ore -that’ll assay heavy in silver.” - -“Then, there are those dumps,--made when the furnaces were put in, you -thought. We haven’t touched those yet.” - -“You mean outside, where the old fence stood?” - -“Yes. Why, just look here.” Ben drew Mundon outside the gates to where -some mounds rose from the beach. “It’s my opinion that this board -that’s nailed on the fence here, opposite these heaps, was put here to -mark them.” - -“They’re heaps of waste, most likely. Somethin’ ’s ben scratched into -the wood. Let’s see what it is.” - -They carefully examined the board, and Ben deciphered the inscription, -“_Waste Bullion_.” - -“Just think!” he cried, “that old Madge has let this pile of stuff -that’s one third solid silver, maybe, stay here all these years! And -Mr. Fish, close as he is, too,” he added. “It’s awfully funny!” - -“It ain’t funny that Fish didn’t do nothin’ with it, ’cause he’s the -kind that just collects rents and forecloses mortgages. He wouldn’t put -up a cent in any venture like this; he’d call it oncertain. But old -Madge is a born miner. Well, it is funny. He’ll be wild.” - -“There used to be a shed inside the old fence, in a sort of an outside -yard,” Ben remarked, “but they both fell down years ago.” - -“That so?” Mundon replied, as he stooped and carefully examined the -ground. “Yes, here’s the posts the shed rested on. We’ll excavate five -or six feet deep here, on the site of the old shed. It’s bound to pay -us fur our trouble.” - -“After it’s been all these years on the open beach?” - -“What’s that got to do with it? Nobody’s ever mined here. It stands to -reason that they’d hev stored more val’able stuff in the shed than they -would in the open. And there’s the signboard, a-tellin’ us that these -dumps are waste bullion.” - - -During the weeks that followed their return to their claim the partners -worked industriously. They sifted the result of their labors in three -dumps, graded according to value. The first was coarse base bullion, -which assayed at two hundred dollars a ton. One piece, the largest, -weighed about twenty pounds; the smallest pieces were the size of peas. -The second pile consisted of fine bullion, its component particles -ranging in size from a pea to a pinhead. This assayed at one hundred -and fifty dollars a ton. A third pile averaged from seventy-five -dollars to one hundred dollars a ton. The total product of this, -representing a week’s work, they estimated to be about seventeen -hundred dollars. - -The site of the old shed was excavated, and water was brought to the -spot in a flume; for Mundon thought best to wash the ground in a rocker -before putting it through the “jigger.” - -The result amply repaid them for their trouble. - -“This beats me! Rockin’ on the beach of San Francisco and makin’ our -two and three hundred dollars a day,” said Mundon, one day as they were -digging several feet below the surface. - -[Illustration: “_‘Rockin’ on the beach of San Francisco and makin’ our -two and three hundred a day,’ said Mundon._”] - -“It beats anything I ever heard of,” Ben replied; “but I’m willing it -should.” - -Ben worked so hard during the day that he was too tired when night came -to do anything but go to bed as quickly as possible. - -One Sunday afternoon he paid a visit to Beth. He had not seen her for -some time, and was anxious to know what progress she was making at -school. She saw him coming and came running to meet him. - -“Will you walk out to the Point, Ben?” - -“Yes. We don’t do any work on Sunday.” - -“Well, it’s come true, Beth,” he said when they were well away from the -house; “most of it has, at any rate.” - -“O, I’m so glad!” - -“We’re far enough along now to form a pretty correct figure of what -there is in sight, and we’ve got four weeks more to work in.” - -“How much will you make?” - -“Well, how much do you guess?” - -“O, I don’t know,” the girl earnestly replied. “You say it’s come true, -and you must mean your fortune we used to talk about; so I guess you’re -not disappointed. Everybody’s so curious to know what you’re making.” - -“They can keep on being curious. I had enough of people’s curiosity -before,” he grimly added. “The work on the beach we have to do outside, -but we don’t allow a soul inside the gates now.” - -“I know you don’t; and they say the reason is that you’re not cleaning -up anything and don’t want any one to know it.” - -Ben gave a dry laugh. “Or else we don’t want any one to know how much -we’re making. Why wouldn’t it work that way?” - -“It would,” said Beth. “Do tell me, Ben; I’m just dying to know! How -much will it be?” - -“From ten to twelve thousand dollars.” - -“What! You don’t really mean it?” - -“Indeed I do. But you mustn’t tell yet a while.” - -When they reached the house on their return, Mrs. Hodges awaited them -in the doorway. - -“Found any nuggets, Ben?” she facetiously remarked. - -“No,” he laughed. “That yarn about finding them in chimneys was a fairy -tale, I think. But we’ve found the stuff to make them out of, which -answers our purpose quite as well.” - -Her husband looked over her shoulder. - -“If the lease was never recorded, or was done wrong, Ben, couldn’t Fish -oust you if he wanted to?” - -“I suppose he could, strictly speaking,” Ben replied. “But, you see, he -overreached. He played a mean, dishonest trick in having a false entry -made in the record, and now he doesn’t dare to come back for fear of -being arrested.” - -“But he’ll come back some time when the thing’s blown over.” - -“Well, I’ll be through with the Works by that time,” Ben remarked as he -bade them good-night. - - -When the last day came it was with considerable regret that the -partners made preparations to leave the Works forever. - -“I don’t want to stay one day longer than the time I’m entitled to,” -said Ben. “It’s paid us well for our work, but I wouldn’t care to go -through it all again.” - -“It has been sort of a worrisome job,” Mundon replied. “Still it’s big -pay. Seven thousand dollars for a boy like you to make in three months! -Besides, there’s worry in all sorts of business, and a man’s jest got -to make the best out of it,” he philosophically added. “Do you know, -Ben,--now that it’s all over, I kin tell you,--I know there was a time -when you mistrusted me; not exactly mistrusted, either, but you had -the thoughts out of which mistrust is made. O, you needn’t say you -didn’t,” he exclaimed as Ben made a gesture of dissent. “I knew jest as -well as if you’d told me so that you did. I ain’t a-holdin’ it up agin -you, neither. I know how many there was to put sech things into your -head agin a stranger, like I was.” - -“Well, I didn’t let them stay there, Mundon. I trusted you all through.” - -They heartily shook hands. - -“I b’lieve you did, boy; I b’lieve you did. It’s ben a tough job, -though, in places. What with the smugglin’ business, and your gettin’ -cut, and the injunction, too. But takin’ it all through, jest lumpin’ -it, you don’t regret it, do you?” - -“No,” Ben replied. “We got through by the skin of our teeth, in -places,” he continued. “It was a chance, though, that I didn’t lose -every cent I had in the world. It was just the merest accident that -that Chinaman overheard those two rascals and put us on their track. -Besides, we weren’t dead sure--we couldn’t be--that there was any gold -in the old ramshackle Works when I bought them. It’s too much like -gambling to suit me. I’m not saying a word against your going into -whatever you want to, but, for myself, I’m going to choose something -that’s slower and surer.” - -“Made up your mind, yet, what it’ll be?” - -“Yes,--I’m going to Berkeley,--to college--to fit myself to be a mining -engineer.” - -“That’s the very best thing you can do.” - -“I’m glad that you approve. You see, I’ve got money enough to carry me -through; and if I’ve got brains enough, too, I’m all right.” - -“Goin’ to stick to minin’--I see.” - -“Yes, Mundon, but with this difference, I’m going to equip myself to -mine for others--I needn’t mine for myself unless I choose to.” - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN CHIMNEY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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