The Golden Dream: Adventures in the Far West

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  AH-WOW SAVED FROM AN UNTIMELY FATE--LYNCH LAW ENFORCED--NED SINTONRESOLVES TO RENOUNCE GOLD-DIGGING FOR A TIME, AND TOM COLLINS SECONDSHIM.

  Ah-wow sat on the stump of an oak-tree, looking, to use a familiar,though incorrect expression, very blue indeed. And no wonder, forAh-wow was going to be hanged. Perhaps, courteous reader, you think weare joking, but we assure you we are not. Ah-wow had just been foundguilty, or pronounced guilty--which, at the diggings, meant the samething--of stealing two thousand dollars' worth of gold-dust, and wasabout to expiate his crime on the branch of a tree.

  There could be no doubt of his guilt; so said the enlightened jury whotried him; so said the half-tipsy judge who condemned him; and so saidthe amiable populace which had assembled to witness his execution. Itcannot be denied that appearances went very much against Ah-wow--so muchso, that Maxton, and even Captain Bunting, entertained suspicions as tohis innocence, though they pleaded hard for his pardon. The gold hadbeen discovered hid near the Chinaman's tent, and the bag containing itwas recognised and sworn to by at least a dozen of the diggers as thatbelonging to the man from whom the gold had been stolen. The only pointthat puzzled the jury was the strong assertions of Captain Bunting,Maxton, and Collins, that, to their certain belief, the poor Celestialhad dug beside them each day, and slept beside them each night for threeweeks past, at a distance of three miles from the spot where the robberytook place. But the jury were determined to hang somebody, so they shuttheir ears to all and sundry, save and except to those who cried out,"String the riptile up--sarves him right!"

  Ko-sing also sat on the tree-stump, endeavouring to comfort Ah-wow bystroking his pig-tail and howling occasionally in an undertone. Itseemed indeed that the poor man's career was drawing to a close, for twomen advanced, and, seizing his pinioned arms, led him under the fatallimb; but a short respite occurred in consequence of a commotion in theoutskirts of the crowd, where two men were seen forcing a passagetowards the centre. Ned Sinton and Larry O'Neil had been away in themountains prospecting at the time when Ah-wow was captured and led tothe settlement, near the first residence of our adventurers, to standhis trial. The others accompanied the condemned man, in order, ifpossible, to save him, leaving Jones behind to guard their property, andacquaint Ned with the state of affairs on his return. Our hero knew toowell the rapid course of Lynch law to hesitate. He started at once withLarry down the stream, to save, if possible, the life of his servant,for whom he felt a curious sort of patronising affection, and who he wassure must be innocent. He arrived just in time.

  "Howld on, boys," cried Larry, flourishing his felt hat as they pushedthrough the crowd.

  "Stay, friends," cried Ned, gaining the centre of the circle at last;"don't act hastily. This man is my servant."

  "_That_ don't make him an honest man, I guess," said a cynicalbystander.

  "Perhaps not," retorted Ned; "but it binds me in honour to clear him, ifI can."

  "Hear, hear," said several voices; "get up on the stump an' fire away,stranger."

  Ned obeyed.

  "Gentlemen," he began, "I can swear, in the first place, that theChinaman has not been a quarter of a mile from my tent for three weekspast, so that he could not have stolen the gold--"

  "How then came it beside his tent?" inquired a voice.

  "I'll tell you, if you will listen. This morning early I started on aprospecting ramble up the stream, and not long after I set out I caughta glance of that villain Black Jim, who, you know, has been supposed forsome time back to have been lurking in the neighbourhood. He ran offthe moment he caught sight of me, and although I followed him at fullspeed for a considerable distance, he succeeded in escaping. However, Inoticed the print of his footsteps, in a muddy place over which hepassed, and observed that his right boot had no heel. On returning homethis afternoon, and hearing what had happened, I went to the spot wherethe bag of gold had been discovered, and there, sure enough, I foundfootprints, one of which shewed that the wearer's right boot had _noheel_. Now, gentlemen, it don't need much speaking to make so clear amatter clearer, I leave you to judge whether this robbery has beencommitted by the Chinaman or not."

  Ned's speech was received with various cries; some of which shewed thatthe diggers were not satisfied with his explanation, and Ah-wow's fatestill trembled in the balance, when the owner of the bag of gold steppedforward and admitted that he had observed similar foot-marks in theneighbourhood of his tent just after the robbery was committed, and saidthat he believed the Chinaman was innocent. This set the matter atrest. Ah-wow was cast loose and congratulated by several of thebystanders on his escape, but there seemed a pretty general feelingamongst many of the others that they had been unjustly deprived of theirprey, and there is no saying what might have happened had not anotherculprit appeared on the scene to divert their attention.

  The man who was led forward had all the marks of a thorough desperadoabout him. From his language it was impossible to judge what countryhad the honour of giving him birth, but it was suspected that his lastresidence had been Botany Bay. Had this man's innocence been ever soclearly proved he could not have escaped from such judges in their thendisappointed state of mind; but his guilt was unquestionable. He hadbeen caught in the act of stealing from a monte table. The sum was notvery large, however, so it was thought a little too severe to hang him;but he was condemned to have his head shaved, his ears cut off, and toreceive a hundred lashes.

  The sentence was executed promptly, notwithstanding the earnestremonstrances of a few of the better-disposed among the crowd: and Ned,seeing that he could do nothing to mitigate the punishment of the poorwretch, left the spot with his comrades and the rescued Chinaman.

  That night, as they all sat round their camp-fire, eating supper with adegree of zest known only to those who labour at severe and out-of-dooroccupation all day, Ned Sinton astonished his companions not a little,by stating his intention to leave them for the purpose of making a tourthrough the country.

  "Make a tour!" exclaimed Maxton, in surprise.

  "An' lave all the goold!" cried Larry O'Neil, pausing in his masticationof a tough lump of bear-steak.

  "Why, boy," said Captain Bunting, laying down his knife, and looking atNed in amazement, "what's put that in your head, eh?"

  "Being somewhat tired of grubbing in the mud has put it into my head,"replied Ned, smiling. "The fact is, comrades, that I feel disposed fora ramble, and I _don't_ feel bent on making a fortune. You may,perhaps, be surprised to hear such a statement, but--"

  "Not at all--by no means," interrupted Bill Jones; "I'm surprised atnothin' in this here country. If I seed a first-rate man-o'-war comin'up the valley at fifteen knots, with stun'-sails alow and aloft, stemon, against the wind, an' carryin' all before it, like nothin', Iwouldn't be surprised, not a bit, so I wouldn't!"

  "Well, perhaps not," resumed Ned; "but, surprised or not, my statementis true. I don't care about making my `pile' in a hurry. Life was notgiven to us to spend it in making or digging gold; and, being quitesatisfied, in the meantime, with the five or six hundred pounds ofprofits that fall to my share, I am resolved to make over my unfinishedclaim to the firm, and set out on my travels through the country. Ishall buckle on my bowie-knife and revolver, and go where fancy leadsme, as long as my funds last; when they are exhausted, I will return,and set to work again. Now, who will go with me?"

  "Are you in earnest?" asked Tom Collins.

  "In earnest! ay, that am I; never was more so in my life. Why, I feelquite ashamed of myself. Here have I been living for weeks in one ofthe most romantic and beautiful parts of this world, without taking morenotice of it, almost, than if it did not exist. Do you think that withyouth and health, and a desire to see everything that is beautiful increation, I'm going to stand all day and every day up to the knees indirty water, scraping up little particles of gold? Not I! I mean totravel as long as I have a dollar in my pocket; when that is empty, I'llwork."

  Ne
d spoke in a half-jesting tone, but there is no doubt that he gaveutterance to the real feelings of his heart. He felt none of that eagerthirst for gold which burned, like a fever, in the souls of hundreds andthousands of the men who poured at that time in a continuous andever-increasing stream into California. Gold he valued merely as ameans of accomplishing present ends; he had no idea of laying it up forthe future; married men, he thought, might, perhaps, with propriety,amass money for the benefit of their families, but _he_ wasn't a marriedman, and didn't mean to be one, so he felt in duty bound to spend allthe gold he dug out of the earth.

  We do not pretend to enter into a disquisition as to the correctness orincorrectness of Ned's opinions; we merely state them, leaving ourreader to exercise his own reasoning powers on the subject, if sodisposed.

  For a few seconds after Ned's last speech, no sound escaped the lips ofhis comrades, save those resulting from the process of mastication. Atlast, Tom Collins threw down his knife, and slapped his thighenergetically, as he exclaimed, "I'll go with you, Ned! I've made up mymind. I'm tired of digging, too; and I'm game for a ramble into theheart of the Rocky Mountains, if you like."

  "Bravo! Tom," cried Captain Bunting, slapping his companion on theshoulder--"well and bravely spoken; but you're a goose for all that, andso, saving his presence, is Commodore Ned Sinton. Why, you'll justwaste two months or so in profitless wandering, and return beggars tothe Little Creek to begin the work all over again. Take my advice,lads--the advice of an old salt, who knows a thing or two--and remainwhere you are till we have worked out all the gold hereabouts. Afterthat you may talk of shifting."

  "You're a very sour old salt to endeavour to damp our spirits in thatway at the outset, but it won't do; my mind is made up, and I'm glad tofind that there is at least one of the party who is strong enough tobreak these golden chains."

  "Faix I comed here for goold, an' I stop here for the same raison,"remarked Larry, scraping the last morsels from the bottom of the kettlewith an iron spoon; "I've thravelled more nor enough in me day, so I canaffoord to stop at home now."

  "Get out, you renegade! do you call this home?" cried Ned.

  "'Tis all that's of it at present, anyhow."

  "When shall we start?" inquired Tom Collins.

  "To-morrow. We have few preparations to make, and the sooner we go thebetter; for when the rainy season sets in, our journeying will bestopped perforce. I have a plan in my mind which I shall detail to youafter we retire to rest. Meanwhile I'll go and improve my bed, whichhas been so uncomfortable for some nights past that my very bones areaching."

  Ned rose, took up an axe, and, going into the bush in rear of the tent,cut down a young pine-tree, the tender shoots and branches of which hestripped off, and strewed thickly on the ground on which he was wont tosleep; over these he spread two thick blankets, and on this simple butspringy and comfortable couch he and Tom Coffins lay down side by sideto talk over their future plans, while their comrades snored aroundthem.

  Daylight found them still talking; so, pausing by mutual consent, theysnatched an hour's repose before commencing the needful preparations fortheir contemplated journey.