_ CHAPTER LXII. THE FLOUR SPECULATION.--MR. CRITCHET'S STORY
After I had written to Fred, and started the teams, I felt a little easier, although no change had taken place in the market. I knew that dealers had sent to Sydney for a supply of flour, and I feared that their orders would be filled, but in this I was agreeably mistaken. Flour at Sydney was ten shillings per barrel higher than at Melbourne, with an upward tendency; while not a sack could be obtained of the few farmers who raised wheat, short of eighty pounds per ton,--just double what I had paid.
Two days after my bargain, and still no ships were signalized. I felt a little more confidence in myself, and in the bold scheme that I was attempting to carry out. A dozen teams were in the city, for the purpose of carrying provisions to Ballarat and other mines, but they were delayed, owing to their inability to get flour. I heard the price of the article quoted at fifty pounds per ton, and I debated whether I should hold on longer, or sell.
Twice, during the day, a rumor was started that a large American ship was signalized, and that she was loaded to her scuppers with grain; but I quickly proved the falsity of the report, and then made my appearance in the store of the largest grain dealers in Melbourne, Messrs. Hennetit & Co., since failed, and didn't pay their English creditors but sixpence on the pound, and I strongly suspect that American firms suffered worse, even, than that.
"My dear sir," said Mr. Hennetit, coming forward and shaking my hand with great cordiality, "I have so desired to see you!"
"May I ask on what account?" I replied, with the utmost _sang froid_, although I was almost bursting with anxiety.
"Why, to tell you the truth--and I am almost ashamed to confess it--we sold you more flour than we intended, having several orders to fill, and I thought that if it made no difference to you, we would borrow one hundred barrels, and repay you in the course of a day or two at farthest. It is not of much importance, but I concluded that I would speak to you in regard to the subject."
Even while conversing, he led me to his neat and commodious private room, as though the sight of his wealth would soften my heart, and awe me to subjection to his will.
"You see, my dear sir, it is such a trifling matter, that I am almost ashamed to make the request. I am positively mortified to think that we made such a mistake as to dispose of our whole stock. However, a ship will be here in a few days, and then we can supply the country at greatly reduced rates."
I did not interrupt him, but sat patiently, while he was endeavoring to wheedle me out of my speculation. He displayed the anxiety that he felt, to carry his point, while speaking, and I knew that one of his restless eyes was on me, to read my thoughts, during the interview.
"I am sorry that I cannot accommodate you in this instance," I answered, "because I bought for the Ballarat market, and the people of that section of the country are in want. Flour at the mines is selling for sixty pounds per ton, a large advance upon what I paid."
"O, I don't mind allowing you a small margin for your trouble. You paid forty pounds per ton. I will give you forty-five for a hundred barrels."
"My dear Mr. Hennetit, it really grieves me to think that I must refuse your offer," I replied, "but I couldn't think of selling below the market rates. If you wish a hundred barrels at fifty-five pounds per ton, I shall be exceedingly happy to accommodate you."
"Pooh, pooh!" he muttered; "I can't consider such a thing. If you think to speculate in flour in this country, you will miss it, and lose your money."
"Perhaps I shall; but as flour has risen in price since I purchased, I don't see why I should not reap the benefit of it."
I bowed courteously to the merchant, replaced my veil, (for during the summer months, when the ground is dry, and the wind blows strong, it is necessary to wear a veil, to protect the eyes from the dust which rises in heavy clouds, and at times obscures the sun like a thunder squall,) and walked off, hoping that I should hear his voice calling me back, but in this I was disappointed. Mr. Hennetit thought that I would repent, and come to his terms, and so determined to stand the pressure one day more, at all hazards.
I walked directly to the river, and found that the wind was blowing off shore like great guns. This elated me, although I remembered the words of the tarry mariner, and wondered how it was out upon the broad ocean.
For two days I had not slept an hour's time, or eaten more than a crust of bread; but when I saw how the wind was blowing, I returned to my hotel, and supplied my nearly exhausted system with food.
No sooner had I finished dinner than I was told that a gentleman wished to speak to me in the bar room. I went there, and saw one of the merchants from whom I had purchased one hundred sacks of Chilian flour, and one hundred barrels of American brand.
"Well!" he exclaimed, shaking hands with some warmth, "you have _dished_ us, and no mistake! Who, in the devil's name, would have supposed that those two ships could have made such long passages--did you?" and then, without waiting for me to answer, he marched up to the bar and called for drinks, and I must confess that I gratified him, and pleased myself, in taking a very good glass of wine and water at his expense.
"Come, now to business," my acquaintance said, wiping his lips on a richly embroidered handkerchief, imported from Manilla.
"Very well, to business it is," said I.
"You have got all the flour in the market in your hands," he began.
"I know it," I answered.
"Yes, I suppose that you do," he said, dryly; "now, I want the flour that I sold you, and which still remains in my store. What is the figure, sir?"
Here was a man that I could trade with, and not resort to art. He was never schooled in diplomacy, and his blunt nature rejected all subterfuge. I saw that he was willing to allow me to make all that I could, knowing that he would have done the same, had he been situated as I was.
"Fifty-five pounds per ton," I answered.
"I'll take it at that figure," he replied, promptly; "come with me to the store, and I will settle the amount immediately."
I did not require to be invited a second time; and after I had received my money, I calculated how many more tons I should have to dispose of before I could call my funds whole.
In the midst of my calculation, I was disturbed by a message from Messrs. Hennetit & Co. They desired to see me immediately, and requested to know when it would suit my convenience to call on them. I replied, in half an hour; and when I was leaving the store to keep my appointment, my blunt friend stopped me.
"Hennetit & Co.," he said, "have received a number of orders for flour, and they must fill them. Don't sell for less than what I paid you; perhaps you can get more."
I thanked my acquaintance for his hint, and acted on it. When Mr. Hennetit talked about purchasing a few barrels, I put him off by replying that it was hardly worth while to retail them, and that I had received proposals for all that I held, and that I probably should accept.
This information rather startled the cautious gentleman, and the question was put to me without equivocation,--
"How much advance did I demand for the flour which they held for for me?"
"Fifty-six pounds per ton," I replied, promptly and firmly.
"Would I not take fifty pounds?"
"No"
"Would I sell all that I held in the city to the firm of Hennetit & Co. for that price?"
I replied that I would, provided the transaction was cashed that afternoon.
There was a short discussion among the members of the firm; and I saw the junior partner go out in great haste. He returned in a few minutes, and reported, I knew what he went after. He desired to learn the direction of the wind before completing the bargain. Fortune favored me. It was blowing a gale directly off shore.
"Will you take a check on the bank, or do you desire gold dust?" was Mr. Hennetit's polite interrogation.
I replied that I preferred the dust, if it was clean, and had been received from the government office. It was warranted free of sand; and while the weighing commenced, I drew up orders for the delivery of flour held by the several firms in the city. By the time that I had concluded, the dust was put into bags, marked with my name, the amount in each bag, and I found myself thy possessor of ten thousand pounds in hard cash, or nearly fifty thousand dollars.
In less than an hour the money was safely locked up in the vaults of the bank; and then I began to feel as though I had passed through an ordeal that had left me, at least, ten years older than I really was; and I almost made a solemn vow never to attempt another speculation; but I am glad that I hesitated, because before I left Australia I indulged in many; and while some were unfortunate, others, I am happy to state, turned out well, and enable me to live at the present time, a life of such comparative idleness, that I almost repent being a bachelor, and sometimes think that the sea of matrimony would relieve my life of _ennui_.
I owe an apology to the reader, perhaps, for thus taking so much space to relate a transaction that made some noise in Melbourne, owing to the boldness of my strike, and the success that attended it. It was a lottery, with the chances in my favor, and had I not improved it there were others who would.
The vessels expected did not arrive for three days after I sold out; yet the Messrs. Hennetits & Co. made money out of the operation, and whenever I met them, after our business relations were ended, always joked me about selling to them for so low a price, while they were prepared to give me at least five pounds more per ton.
But I will retrace my steps, and return to our store at Ballarat, from which place I took flight on the very day that we found our nugget.
"I think," said Mr. Critchet, as we sat smoking our pipes after tea, the store being closed for the night, "that I shall be well enough in a few days to go to work myself. I feel the spirit in me, but the flesh is yet weak."
"You will not be fit for a day's work in the mines for a month yet," returned Fred.
"I can't remain idle for that length of time," Mr. Critchet said; "I have already trespassed on your hospitality, and am laboring under a debt for kind attention, that I shall have hard work to repay. I am not rich, but if the few thousand pounds which I have accumulated, and which are on deposit at the government office, can recompense you, they are yours."
"I suppose," said Fred, re-filling his pipe, lighting it, and then puffing away vigorously, "that you imagine that it is best to surrender all your property in the most gracious manner possible. If that is your opinion, you misjudge us."
"My dear young friend!" cried Mr. Critchet, "I certainly did not entertain any such opinion. I have been treated as kindly and carefully as though you were my own sons; and through your exertions and attentions my life has been saved. I feel as though I cannot repay you with empty thanks, for I have caused an expenditure of much time and money. Let me feel as though I had endeavored to requite your kindness."
"So you can," returned Fred, composedly.
Mr. Critchet brightened up. I looked at my friend anxiously, and feared that he had forgotten our agreement on the subject under discussion.
"The fact is," said Fred, knocking the ashes from his pipe, "if you wish to deserve our friendship, never speak again in reference to the subject of a recompense."
"But--" exclaimed the old man.
"No buts about it. You sought our house as a refuge for safety, and if you found it, none can be more satisfied than ourselves. The first night I saw your gray hairs I thought of my dead father, and I determined to do all that I could for the honor of his name. God bless his memory--he was a good man, and I am certain that if his spirit is allowed to visit this earth, it would approve of my conduct."
"Then all recompense is refused?" demanded our guest, after a moment's silence.
"Decidedly so."
"Then let me make a proposition to this effect: My claim is lying idle, and is probably half full of water. I feel that I am not strong enough to work it, and will tend the store until well, and one or both of you can take my mine and carry it on, and, if you choose, divide the profits between us three. By such a process you will be spared from being under pecuniary obligations to me, and I shall feel as though I was in some measure, however slight, repaying the expense of my board and lodging."
How carefully the old gentleman concealed the fact, that the mine which he owned, and had partially worked, was one of the most valuable, in Ballarat, and that it we consented to the arrangement we should, in all probability, make two or three thousand pounds with but a trifling amount of labor!
"If you will do as I wish," Mr. Critchet continued, "I shall feel as though I was not intruding upon your privacy, or upon your generosity. If my offer is not accepted, then to-morrow I return to my tent, and trouble you no more."
"But consider," I said, "you have no knowledge of storekeeping, and will make but a poor clerk for attending upon these rough miners."
"My dear boy," our guest exclaimed, "before you were born, as a British merchant, I sold thousands of pounds worth of West India goods; and should now, if I had my rights, be in possession of a princely fortune. Do not think that I am speaking boastingly, for I am humble. All pride, excepting the love of honesty, and a desire to see my family once more in comfortable circumstances, has left me; and now I labor for love of my children, at whatever business I can make the most money."
"You have a family, then?" I asked.
The old gentleman nodded; and through the tobacco smoke I saw that his eyes grow moist at the question. We sat silent for a few minutes, for we did not wish to interrogate him in relation to his family affairs, although I must confess that I felt something of a Yankee's curiosity in regard to his position in life.
"I have no desire to keep from you my story," Mr. Critchet said, "although it may not interest you, and is but a repetition of trust and wrong--of confidence and betrayal. Such as it is, however, I will confide to you, and hope that it may prevent you from being shipwrecked on the same sea."
The old gentleman moistened his lips with a drink of cold tea, and began:--
"My father was a merchant before me, and dealt largely in West India and India goods; and, when I was of sufficient age, I occupied a stool in his counting room, and learned the mysteries of buying low and selling high, for the purpose of taking his place when he felt rich enough to retire.
"When he did, which was at a ripe old age, I was left in possession of two thirds of his property, it being shared by my sister and myself; and when my sister married, which she did without my consent, and almost before I knew her husband by reputation, I paid over to her every penny that belonged to her, and wished her God speed on her journey through life. We were nearly strangers to each other, owing to the death of our mother during her infancy, when an aunt had volunteered to assume the control of her education, and that was one reason why, perhaps, my advice was not listened to in regard to the choice of a husband.
"Well, time passed on, and at length I too married, and was blessed with a daughter, and then I renewed my exertions for wealth for my child's sake; for then I was a silly and ambitious man, and hoped that I could connect myself by marriage with some peer or lord, or even a baronet. That was eighteen years ago, my friends, and since that period I have grown wiser, and, as you see, older. If I can live to see my daughter wedded to an honest man my ambition will be satisfied."
I began to reflect and ponder over those words. How did I know but that I might suit her fancy! I looked at Fred, and would have sworn that he was debating the same subject. I already began to feel jealous; for an English girl, at the age of nineteen, is not to be passed by without a kind consideration. I wondered if she was handsome, but supposed that she must be, judging from the appearance of her father.
"I rarely saw my sister," Mr. Critchet continued, "after her marriage, but I heard from her frequently; and seldom looked at the Morning Post without seeing her name announced as having been present at a party the night before. I did not envy her her life of dissipation, for I preferred to secure happiness in a different course; but still I could not help wondering how her husband managed to support such extravagance. Too soon did I learn the secret; for one day he sought me out, and with a gloomy brow, announced that his purpose in visiting me was to obtain money to meet notes which were maturing.
"I did not feel surprised, and neither did I question him in regard to his circumstances. I listened patiently to his expressions of regard, gave him a check on my bankers for two thousand pounds, and after he left my counting room I busied myself with my accounts, and tried to forget an unpleasant impression that his interview had left upon my mind. A few days after I received a note from my brother-in-law, Mr. Follet--"
"Follet?" I cried, in surprise; "then the young man who is still held by the commissioner is his son, and your nephew?"
Mr. Critchet gave a token of assent, and continued:--
"In which he requested a further loan to meet some pressing engagements. I complied with the den and, although I felt that I was wronging myself to do so. A few weeks passed, and I was unmolested; but one morning I received a hurriedly written letter from my brother, and I saw with grief that, it was dated Fleet Street Prison, and that he had been arrested the night, before for debt, and now called on me in piteous expressions to save his name from disgrace. I went to see him, and found that his wife was unacquainted with his situation, and that she was making preparations to have a grand party that night, at which she expected half the notables of London. He pleaded long and earnestly, and at length I paid the claim that was brought against him, although it took many thousand pounds to do so.
"Three days afterwards I was visited by my sister, in company with her boy, a young man with dark eyes and a sinister expression of countenance, that too nearly resembled his father's to be pleasing to me; although God knows I have tried to love the boy, and should have ultimately succeeded had he not behaved like a barbarian.
"My sister requested a private interview, which I readily granted; and then with tears, and groans, and lamentations, told me that her husband's fate rested in my hands, and that if I wished to kill her I could by pursuing a harsh course. I begged her to explain, but she threw herself upon her knees and vowed that she would never rise until I had promised to do as she wished. I declined to make a profession that I did not understand, and at length I drew from her that her husband, the man whom she had married in opposition to my wishes, had forged my name to bills amounting to nearly fifty thousand pounds, and that I was expected to save him from a public death, or transportation for life, to conceal the crime. I indignantly refused, but I did not know how hard a woman can plead. I was promised my sister's property that was settled on her at the death of my father, and she gave me an order to sell out her stock in the public funds, for the purpose of reimbursing me, although I found that I should suffer to the extent of twenty-five thousand pounds by the transaction; but sooner than witness her tears I consented, and, in consequence, was made almost a beggar."
The old man brushed away a tear that coursed down his rugged cheeks, and for a few minutes seemed lost in thought. At length he continued:--
"I assumed the forged notes and paid them as they matured, but the public discovered that I had made many sacrifices in my business to meet the spurious paper, and then came doubts and suspicions, and at last a run upon my house, and to save myself I called upon my sister for her fortune. God of heaven! how I felt when I discovered that the villain, her husband, had already used her name, drawn her money from the funds, and had left for some part of the world where we could not trace him.
"I sank beneath the blow, and when I rallied my business was swept away, and the firm of Critchet was known only by its debts. I struggled for a time against the stream, but I could not gain a foothold, and at last yielded and gave up all thoughts of resuming business. My family was supported by a small settlement of one hundred pounds which had been left to my wife by an aunt, and by music lessons which my daughter was enabled to give, and thus we struggled along, until at length my sister, who could not bear up under her disgrace, died and left me her child to provide for. Well, I undertook the task, and when I had failed to resuscitate my fortunes in England, I left for Australia and brought him with me."
"And you have never heard of his father since?" I asked.
"No."
"Hullo, house--grocers--let me in!" shouted a voice at the door; and a heavy kick was bestowed on the wall to attract our attention.
Mr. Critchet started from his seat, and then sank back to the floor with a groan. _