_ CHAPTER LXI. THE RESULT OF GROWING RICH TOO RAPIDLY
My officious friend lifted the nugget from the bucket and laid it before me, and for a few minutes I gloated over and passed my hand over its unequal surface, and weighed it in my imagination until I was roused from my reverie by those in the shaft.
"Send down the bucket, so that we can get up," shouted Fred; "we don't want to stop here all night!"
I hurried to relieve my friend, and by the time that he was safe out of the shaft, and the bucket had re-descended for Mike, I was comparatively calm.
Fred and myself shook hands over our prize, and then lifted it, and sought to form some idea of its weight, in which we were aided by the official of the law.
"It will weigh forty pounds," cried Fred, after a moment's handling.
"More than that, sirs," answered the policeman, with a dogmatical air that was charming to us, because every additional ounce made us richer.
"I've seen a few nuggets since I've been stationed here, and I had oughter know about such things," he continued, turning our prize over and over, and scrutinizing it with the air of a connoisseur. "Do you see, there's not an ounce of quartz stuck to the whole piece, and gold is awful heavy when it comes in the lump style."
We assented to his remarks without a word of opposition. We could have listened to him for hours, it seemed so good to have him extol, instead of depreciate, the nugget.
"How much, then, do you think that it will weigh?" I demanded.
"Well," replied the officer, after a moment's pause, and another lifting operation, "I should say about fifty pounds, if my opinion was asked.
"If my advice was asked," the officer continued, in a patronizing manner, "I should say, take that nugget to the government reception office without delay, and after it is weighed, get a certificate of deposit. That is my advice, but my opinion may not be worth much, one way or the other."
We agreed that his advice was good, and that it would be wisdom on our part to accept of it without delay, for it was rather dangerous having so much gold in a store, when the town was swarming with thieves.
There was one person, however, who did not seem to like the proposition, and that was Mike. He had a faint suspicion that the project was intended to defraud him of his rightful claim to one quarter of the nugget, and his face showed the feelings of his heart, while we were talking of the matter.
"Is it moving ye intend to do?" he demanded, eyeing the gold as though it had been guilty of a treacherous act.
"We are going to remove it to the government office for safety," I replied.
"For safety?" repeated Mike. "Where could it be more safe than under me eye, or under me head while I slept. Ough! don't bother, but let me carry it to the store, where we can cut it up, and I can get me quarter."
"You wouldn't spoil such a nugget as that by cutting it up, would you?" cried the policeman; "it is the finest specimen of gold that I ever saw, and should be preserved."
"Faith, if that is the case," muttered Mike, "it might just as well have remained in the pit, for I don't see what good it will do us."
We succeeded in explaining to the capricious gentleman what we intended to do, and pacified him by promising that he should have his share in ready money before night, if he desired it; and I will do Mike the justice of saying that he did, most emphatically, and other men would have acted in the same way.
By the time that we had concluded to deposit our treasure at the government office, considerable of a crowd had collected in the vicinity of our claim, and was admiring the nugget, and wishing, with all their hearts, that it belonged to them, and that they could be so fortunate. We even began to receive proposals for our claim, and prices were offered that we never dreamed of asking.
"Now is the time to sell," whispered our tempter, in the shape of the policeman.
"Don't dispose of the mine for any consideration," cried Mike; "I'm sartin that I know where another nugget is hid, and I'll have him out, by the blessing of St. Patrick."
"Sell while the excitement lasts," continued the tempter; "I never knew of two nuggets being found close together."
"It's our fortunes we'll make out of the mine," Mike exclaimed. "I'll go back to Ireland, buy land, and be called 'the squire,' and drink buttermilk twice a day, and ate paraties every meal. I'll have a still of me own, and make the real poteen whiskey, and drink punch, instead of water, and smoke 'bacca, instead of cabbage leaves. Won't I keep open house, and none shall be more welcome than an Australian miner!"
"Will you have a pig?" asked some one in the crowd.
"A pig!" repeated Mike, with intense scorn; "I'll have a dozen of them, and each one shall be fatter than ye."
A roar of laughter followed Mike's sally, and the questioner, who thought that he could ridicule the honest Hibernian, instantly subsided, and was seen no more.
We intended to send to the store for the purpose of getting a stout bucket, into which we could put our nugget and carry it to the office; but Mike would not listen to the suggestion for a moment. He shouldered the precious lump of gold, and marched through the streets, as proud of his charge as though the whole of it belonged to him, and he knew where he could get another just like it.
A crowd of miners followed at our heels, and such a mixture of tongues was never heard, except at the construction of the tower of Babal.
Followed by this motley crew, we passed along the streets, amidst shouts and congratulations, until we gained the government reception office.
"There," cried Mike, throwing down his load upon the counter of the office, much to the astonishment of the clerks; "plase weigh that, and see how much it comes to, for I want me quarterings."
The clerks did not comprehend his words, although they did understand the meaning of his action; and while a couple of police officers, who were stationed at the building, drove from the room all those not interested in the matter, we watched the large scales that were to tell us to a farthing how much the nugget was worth.
"Well," cried Mike, "can't ye spake, and let us know how much me quarterings come to?"
The clerk, who was figuring, looked at the speaker with silent contempt, and did not even condescend to reply, much less hasten his movements.
"Your nugget," said the clerk, at length, addressing Fred and myself, "weighs just fifty-one pounds two ounces, and if there is no quartz in the interior of the lump--and I think that there is not--at the present price of gold it is worth, in round numbers, about two thousand five hundred pounds sterling. A pretty good day's work, sirs."
"Say it again," cried Mike, all ready for another Irish break-down.
The clerk repeated the amount with much amiability. He had just learned that Mike had an interest in the nugget, and his respect for the man increased in proportion to his wealth.
"Two thousand five hundred pounds sterling," repeated Mike, in amazement. "Who would have thought that there was so much money in the world? I'll ate nothing but paraties, and drink nothing stronger than buttermilk and whiskey hereafter. Two thousand pounds and five hundred of 'em to make the figures look a little odd. Ough! murder, won't the old woman and the childers be plased to see me riding home in an illegant coach and four, dressed like a lord!"
The subject was one of so much importance that Mike, in defiance of the dignified-looking clerk, indulged in a hornpipe, and was only brought to his senses when told that he would be locked up by the policemen as a lunatic, unless he was more quiet.
"I'll be like a lamb," he replied; and then, after a moment's quiet, he leaned over and whispered to the clerk, in a confidential manner,--"If the nugget is worth two thousand five hundred pounds sterling, pray, what is me quarterings worth? Answer me that, if ye can."
We did not give the clerk time to make the calculation, but offered Mike, on a venture, a sum equivalent to two thousand seven hundred dollars for his quarterings, while we concluded to run the risk of the interior of the nugget being filled with quartz. Mike accepted the proposition without delay, and merely taking a certificate of deposit, we returned to the store, counted out in sovereigns the amount that was due Mike, made him put his cross, in the presence of Mr. Critchet, to a paper certifying that he had been paid in full, and with the gold in his pocket, off he started for his nearest countrymen, for the purpose of treating every Irishman that he met, and getting rid of his sudden wealth as soon as possible.
I urged him for half an hour to let the larger portion of his funds remain in our hands, but he was obstinate, and feared trickery. I then endeavored to persuade him to deposit all but a hundred sovereign in the government office, but strange to say, he was more fearful of the government concern than he was of our firm. At length I got out of all patience, for I saw that, instead of devoting his fortune to his relatives, he was determined to have a spree, and I let him go without another word of remonstrance.
He conducted himself precisely as I anticipated. For one week two thirds of his countrymen suspended work, and drank cheap whiskey at Mike's expense. His gold vanished like snow on the top of Mount Alexander at midday, and although many of the better class of Irish visited our store every day, and begged that we would interfere and help save a portion of his wealth, we declined to do so; and even Mr. Brown, who was appealed to, shrugged his shoulders, and made an oft-quoted remark that "a fool and his money were soon parted." The most that we would do was to promise that Mike should not buy a single sixpence worth of liquor at our store, and we kept our word, for which we got most heartily abused by our late employee's friends; and one day we were obliged to have two or three arrested, owing to a display of pugilism which they made.
All things must have an ending, and to follow out Mike's fortunes, I may as well state that he soon lost all of his money, was deserted by those who called themselves his friends, and that he was left without the means of buying a loaf of broad, or a glass of whiskey to keep off the _delirium tremens_. He applied to us for employment, and we gave him something to do; but the thoughts of his folly weighed heavily on his mind, and one morning we found Mike hanging by his neck, in the rear of the store where we stabled our horses.
Had he but adhered to his first resolve, of returning to Ireland, and living in peace for the remainder of his days, his gold would have been of some use, not only to him, but to the community; but as matters transpired, the finding of the nugget was his greatest misfortune.
But to return to the day when our wealth was increased by a lucky stroke of the pickaxe, and when we began to think seriously of mining claims as means of making fortunes. In this connection we were advised by Mr. Critchet, who, although not of a sanguine temperament, had made considerable money in speculation as well as in digging, and was enthusiastic when he learned that we had been amply repaid for all funds which we had advanced.
"Now is the time to sell," he said, when he heard half a dozen applicants make inquiries regarding the terms for our now famous claim. "Don't hold back, and say that you don't believe that the mine contains another nugget. That won't do in Ballarat. Speak up with confidence, and tell about the richness of the mine, and your disinclination to sell. That will only make people more eager, and you will get better terms." "But we don't believe that the claim will ever pay another dollar," I replied.
"What is that to you?" he retorted. "Didn't you buy without expectations, and haven't you ever purchased a lottery ticket and drawn a blank? A claim is a lottery, and one of the most treacherous kind. Sell while you can, and try another site."
We remembered of a purchase that we had made in California, when a shrewd fellow sold us his worked-out claim for two hundred dollars, and we were laughed at for our greenness. We felt a desire to retaliate, but we had been taught in New England schools that two wrongs did not make one right, and we banished the plan from our minds of urging people to buy our mine on the plea that it was rich beyond comparison. If it was desired, we determined that it should be bought without extolling claptrap of any kind.
While we were in this frame of mind, a stranger entered our store, and expressed a desire to see the nugget which had turned half the heads in Ballarat.
He manifested no disappointment when told that it was at the government office, and after asking a few questions, boldly made an offer for our claim that was greatly in advance of what we had anticipated.
There was a moment's hesitation on our part, and we were strongly tempted to close the bargain; but better thoughts came to our aid, and we declined the offer, on the ground that he offered more money than the mine was really worth, and more than he could possibly get back.
"That," replied the would-be purchaser, "is my lookout. I know the condition of the mine, and what has been taken from it. If my offer is accepted I am willing to pay the price that I mention, and whether it repays me or not is none of your affair."
It would have been cruel to disappoint the man, and as money was our object, and he was so anxious to do us a service, we, with great magnanimity, accepted of one thousand dollars in gold dust, and gave the purchaser a deed of the claim.
"A good day's work!" cried Fred, rubbing his hands, as soon as the stranger's back was turned. "A dozen or twenty more such, and then, hey for home!"
We had made, as Fred said, a good day's work for the firm, for, of course, Smith's interest was equal to our own, and he shared in any speculation that we might enter into; but while I am on the subject, I may as well tell of a money-making operation that entirely eclipsed the above transaction, even including the finding of the nugget.
I was in Melbourne, one time, having run down from the mines for the purpose of buying a few articles which we wanted forwarded by express, and while I was dodging from one store to another, I saw that the stock of flour was rather low, and that, unless fresh arrivals soon augmented the small quantity on hand, the price must go up. I made a few cautious inquiries, and found that the dealers at Sydney were not much better off than those at Melbourne, and it occurred to me that soon a speculation movement would begin, and that we might as well have a hand in it as to let others make all the money.
As I said before, I made careful inquiries, and discovered that two ships were daily expected, one from Chili, and the other from New York, and both were loaded with flour. No vessel was expected from England with grain on board, although it was not known for certainty.
Upon this intelligence I pondered for an hour or two, and then resolved to try my luck in the way of speculation. Flour was selling at fair prices, I think, although, owing to the non-publication of a price current, and to the absence of an exchange, no two merchants sold alike.
After I had made up my mind what I intended to do, I went to the bank where we had five thousand pounds lying to our credit, drew out the money, and then began my purchases. In each case I stipulated that the flour should remain in store one week, until I could get teams to cart it to Ballarat. To this a ready assent was given, and the merchants expressed themselves pleased to transact business with me. In some instances I paid cash, especially where the quantity bought was very slight, not amounting to more than fifty barrels, or one hundred sacks; but where I bought two or even three hundred barrels, I claimed the privilege of one month's credit, after paying twenty per cent. of the amount down.
In two hours I had engaged nearly every barrel and sack of flour in Melbourne, and then, and not till then, did I begin to tremble for the result of my speculation. A dozen times during the night did I wander through the streets of the city, and down to the water's edge, for the purpose of seeing how the wind blew, and each time did I find that it was favorable for vessels entering the harbor. I consulted an aged mariner, with tar plentifully sprinkled upon the seat of his trousers, and the son of Neptune told me, with many grave shakes of his head, that,--
"You can't always tell about these things; sometimes the wind blows one way here in this bloody hole, and sometimes it blows different on the ocean."
The next day I despatched two large teams to Ballarat loaded heavily with flour, and sent a letter by the mail, telling Fred what I had done, and advising him to put the price up, but to first, frighten the merchants by bantering them with offers for their stock. I knew that that course would startle them into asking at least one third more than they had been demanding, and that a dozen of the most prominent ones would start for Melbourne without a moment's delay for the purpose of seeing what the movement meant. _