CHAPTER IV.
SMILES AND TEARS.
While riding through Nevada, Browning, after a long look from the carwindow, said:
"By Jove, Jim, but is not this a desolate region? It is as though whenthe rocky foundation had been laid, there was no more material to furnishthis part of the world with, and the work stopped."
"Yes, Jack," was Sedgwick's answer. "I knew an old man once. He was veryaged and most decrepit. His face was but a mass of wrinkles; his back wasbent; he always wore a frown on his face, and every relative he hadwished that he was dead. But his bank account was a mighty one; he hadgiven grand homes and plenty of money to each of his six children; hestill possessed a fortune so large that his neighbors could not estimateit. I never look out upon the face of Nevada that I do not think of thatold man.
"The fairest structures in San Francisco were built of the treasurestaken from Nevada hills; clear across the continent, in every great cityare beautiful blocks which are but Nevada gold and silver converted intostone and iron and glass; in every State are fair homes which were boughtor redeemed with the money obtained here in the desert. Beyond that, themoney already supplied from Nevada mines has changed the calculations ofcommerce, and made itself a ruling factor in prices; it has given ournation a new standing among the nations of the world; because of it, thelands are worth more money even in the Miami Valley where I was born;because of it, better wages are paid to laborers throughout our republic;it has been a factor of good, a blessing to civilization; and yet Easternpeople revile Nevada and look upon it as did the relatives of the old manI was telling you of, because it is wrinkled and sere and always wears afrowning face."
As Sedgwick and Browning neared Chicago, the former began to growrestless, and finally said:
"Jack, old friend, you must go home with me. It is something I dread morethan riding mustangs or fighting cowboys. It is more than five yearssince I went away, and it will be just worse than a fire in a mine toface."
Browning agreed that a few days more or less would not count. "Because,"he said, "if Rose Jenvie is still Rose Jenvie, it will not much matter;if Rose Jenvie is not Rose Jenvie, then, by Jove, every minute of delayin knowing that fact is good. Besides, you know, I want to see thatthree-hundred-acre farm of old Jasper's on the hill which you are tobuy."
They remained a few hours only in Chicago, and took the evening train forthe valley of the Miami. The next morning, about seven o'clock, they leftthe cars at a little village station, and started on foot for the oldhome of Sedgwick, a mile away.
"Browning," said Sedgwick, "it was mighty kind of you to come with me.I ran bare-footed over this road every summer day of my boyhood. In thatold school-house I could show you notches which I cut in the tables andbenches, and it seems now as though I was choking." They came to the oldchurchyard. "Hold, Jack," said Sedgwick, "let us go in here and look tosee if any more graves have been added since I went away."
They climbed the fence, and Sedgwick led the way to a plot of groundwhere there were three headstones. "Thank God, there are no new graves,"he said. "This was my sister; this, my baby brother, and this, mymother," pointing to the names on the headstones. "Had my mother beenalive, I would long ago have come back."
Then, with more calmness, he turned his steps back to the road, but hewas shaking in every limb when he opened the old gate and walked uptoward the house. The path was lined with lilacs in full bloom, and arobin in a tree near by was calling her mate. "The same old lilacs, thesame old redbreast, Browning," he said, with white lips.
He did not stop to knock, but pushed the door suddenly open and strodewithin. Walking up to an old man, who was reading his Bible, he said,"Father, I am sorry that I fought the mulatto, if it grieved you, but theblack rascal deserved it, all the same."
The old man surveyed him wildly for a moment, then broke completely down,and, wringing the young man's hands, could only sob:
"Thank God, my son, whom I thought was lost, is back again. Thank God!"
Then the brothers and their wives and children came in, and there wassuch a scene that Browning slipped out, seated himself on the piazza, andmopping his brow with his kerchief, said, "Bless my soul; I believe Iwill never go home. There is more real enjoyment at a miner's funeral inVirginia City; there is, by Jove."
But they found him after a little, and Sedgwick presented him to hiskinfolk as his close companion, and he was welcomed in a way whichtouched him deeply, and made him conclude that the world was filled withgood people.
Soon the news spread, and the neighbors began to pour in, and what a dayit was! What old memories were awakened and rehearsed; what every one haddone; who had died; who had married; all the history of the little placefor all the years.
Going home after a long absence is a little like what one might imagineof a resurrection from the dead. There is exceeding joy, but mingled withit is much of the damp and chill of the tomb. Indeed, going home after along absence "causes all the burial places of memory to give up theirdead," and through all the joy there is an undertone of sorrow, for allthe reminders are of the fact that the calmest lives are speedilysweeping on; that there is no halting in the swift transit between birthand death.
Three days passed, and notwithstanding the enjoyment, Sedgwick found thatthere was a good deal of trouble worrying the family. The old mortgage of$5,000 was not paid; rather, it had been doubled to make a first paymenton a 200-acre farm adjoining, and with fitting up and stocking the oldplace, and with bad crops, the debts amounted altogether to more than$20,000. He did not tell any one of his good fortune. He was dressed in aplain business suit, without a single ornament. The watch he carried forconvenience was merely a cheap silver watch.
On the fourth day, Browning said to his friend: "Jim, old pard, I mustbe off to-morrow. You have had a good visit. Come over to England with mefor a month, and help me through with--Rose and the old man."
"Agreed, Jack," said Sedgwick. "I want to fix up some little things here,and I do not want to be around when the fixing shall be understood. Itwill be a good excuse to get away."
Then going to a desk, he wrote a few words, took a bill of exchangefor $100,000 from his pocketbook, endorsed it, making it payable to hisfather, folded the bill inside the letter, sealed it and directed it tohis father; then putting the letter in his pocket, said, "That will makeit all right."
At supper that evening he informed the family that he was going on theearly train with his friend and might be gone a month or six weeks, afterwhich he believed he would return, settle down and become steady. Alltried to dissuade him, but Browning helped him, telling the family heneeded his friend's help on serious business; and so that night thekindling was put in the kitchen stove, the dough for biscuits forbreakfast was set, the tea-kettle filled, the chickens fixed for frying,and the coffee ground.
It was but a little after daylight next morning when, the breakfast over,they were ready to start. They shook hands all round, and when it came tosaying good-bye to his father, Sedgwick drew out the letter, and givingit to the old man, said: "Father, when you hear the train pull out of thevillage, open that letter. It contains a little keepsake for you which Ipicked up by a scratch in Nevada." And they were off.
When that letter was opened, and the astounding figures on the bill wereread and comprehended, what a time there was at that house, and how theneighbors came again to see the wonderful paper, and how it was figuredhow many farms it would buy, what houses it would build and furnish, andhow the boy who had been expelled from school for fighting had done itall! What a smashing of old theories it made, and how every wild boy inthe neighborhood to whom the evil example of the bad Sedgwick boy hadbeen held up as an illustration of total depravity and as proof thatnothing of good ever came to a youth that would fight and get expelledfrom school, rejoiced! To these, what a day of exultation that bill ofexchange brought!
But it was only a day, before there began to circulate rumors that thewhole thing was but a joke; that the bill would be repudiated w
henpresented for payment, or at most that it was only for $1,000.
Sedgwick, _pere_, with his sons, lost no time in testing the matter.Sedgwick had written in the letter that though the bill was drawn on NewYork, any bank in Cincinnati would cash it. So they repaired to the city,and calling on their lawyer, asked him to go with them and identify themat some bank, as they desired to get a little check cashed. He complied.
The cashier looked at the bill and asked in what kind of money thepayment was wanted.
The old man thought he would give his neighbors an object lesson, andreplied that he would take it in gold.
The cashier smiled and asked him how he would take it away.
The old man said, "I do not understand you."
"It will, in gold, weigh about 400 pounds," said the cashier.
At this the lawyer became interested in a moment and said: "Four hundredpounds of gold! What kind of a check have you?"
"It is a bill of exchange on New York for $100,000," said the cashier.
"One hundred thousand dollars!" said the lawyer; "Great heavens! have youfound an oil well on your farm, robbed a bank, or what?"
"No," said the elder Sedgwick, "but my wild boy has come from Nevada, andI guess this is a part of the great bonanza."
Finally $25,000 was drawn in paper, enough to clear up all the homeindebtedness, and the rest left on deposit until the son and brothershould return; for, as they talked it all over, they concluded that hehad left with them all his fortune, except traveling expenses.
The Wedge of Gold Page 4