 CHAPTER X. A Nugget. In a sacred corner, as soon as ever we could attend to anything, we hung up the leather and bag of tools, which had done much more towards saving the life of Uncle Sam than I did, for this had served as a kind of kedge, or drag upon his little craft, retarding it from the great roll of the billows, in which he must have been drowned outright. And even as it was he took some days before he was like himself again. Firm, who had been at the head of the valley repairing some broken hurdles, declared that a waterspout had burst in the bosom of the mountain gorge where the Blue River has its origin, and the whole of its power got ponded back by a dam, which the Sawyer himself had made, at about five furlongs above the mill. Ephraim, being further up the gulch and high above the roaring flood, did his utmost with the keen edge of his eyes to perceive into the mischief, but it rained so hard, and at the same time blew so violently around him, that he could see nothing of what went on but hoped for the best with uneasiness. Now, when the Sawyer came round so well as to have a clear mind of things, and learned that his mill was gone and his business lost, and himself, at this ripe time of life, almost driven to begin the world again, it was natural to expect that he ought to indulge in a great deal of grumbling. Many people came to comfort him, and to offer him deep condolence, and the truest of true sympathy, and everything that could be thought of, unless it were a loan of money. Of that they never thought, because it was such a trifling matter. And they all had confidence in his power to do anything but pay them. They told him that he was a young man still, and Providence watched over him. In a year or two he would be all the better for this said visitation. And he said yes to their excellent advice, and was very much obliged to them. At the same time it was clear to me, who watched him like a daughter, that he became heavy in his mind and sighed, as these kind friends, one after the other, enjoyed what he still could do for them, but rode away out of his gate with too much delicacy to draw purse strings. Not that he would have accepted a loan from the heartiest heart of all of them, only that he would have liked the offer to understand their meaning. And several of them were men, as firm, in his young indignation, told me, who had been altogether set up in life by the kindness of Samson Gundry. Once the Sawyer, after all his years, had no right to be vexed by this. But whether he was right or wrong I am sure that it prayed upon his mind, though he was too proud to speak of it. He knew that he was not ruined, although these friends assumed that he must be, and some of them were quite angry with him because they had vainly warned him. He could not remember these warnings, yet he contradicted none of them, and fully believing in the goodness of the world he became convinced that he must have been hard in the days of his prosperity. No sooner was he able to get about again than he went to San Francisco to raise money on his house and property for the rebuilding of the mill. Firm rode with him to escort him back, and so did Martin, the foreman, for although the times were not so bad as they used to be some ten years back, in the height of the gold fever, it was still a highly undesirable thing for a man who was known to have money about him to ride forth alone from San Francisco, or even Sacramento town. And having mentioned the foreman Martin, injustice to him I ought to say that although his entire loss from the disaster amounted only to a worn-out waistcoat of the value of about twenty cents, his vehemence in grumbling could only be equaled by his lofty persistence. By his great activity in running away and leaving his employer to meet the brunt, he had saved not only himself, but his wife and children and goods and chattels. This failed, however, to remove or even assuage his regret for the waistcoat, and he moaned and threatened to such good purpose that a speedy subscription was raised, which must have found him enclosed for the rest of his life, as well as a silver teapot with an inscription about his bravery. When the three were gone, after strict injunctions from Mr. Gundry and his grandson, too, that I was on no account to venture beyond calling distance from the house, for fear of being run away with, I found the place so sad and lonesome that I scarcely knew what to do. I had no fear of robbers, though there were plenty in the neighborhood, for we still had three or four men about who could be thoroughly trusted and who stayed with us on half wages rather than abandon the Sawyer in his trouble. Suanisco also was as brave as any man and could shoot well with a rifle. Moreover, the great dog Jowler was known and dreaded by all his enemies. He could pull down an Indian, or two half-castes, or three Mexicans, in about a second, and now he always went about with me, having formed a sacred friendship. Uncle Sam had kissed me very warmly when he said goodbye, and Firm had showed some disposition to follow his example. But much as I liked an admired Firm, I had my own ideas as to what was unbecoming, and now in my lonely little walks I began to think about it. My father's resting place had not been invaded by the imperious flood, although a line of driftage in a zigzag swath lay near the mound. This was my favorite spot for thinking when I felt perplexed and downcast in my young, unaided mind. For although I had not spoken of my musings very copiously, anyone would do me wrong who fancied that I was indifferent. Through the great kindness of Mr. Gundry and other good friends around me, I had no bitter sense as yet of my own dependence and poverty. But the vile thing I had heard about my father, the horrible slander and wicked falsehood, for such I was certain it must be. This was continually in my thoughts, and quite destroyed my cheerfulness. And the worst of it was that I never could get my host to enter into it. Whenever I began, his face would change, and his manner grow constrained, and his chief desire always seemed to lead me to some other subject. But one day, when the heat of the summer came forth, and the peaches began to blush toward it, and bronze-ribbed figs grew damask gray with a gobul of syrup in their eyes, and melons and pumpkins already had curved their fluted stalks with heaviness. And the dust of the plains was beginning to fly, and the bright spring flowers were dead more swiftly even than they first were born. I sat with Suan Isco at my father's cross, and told her to make me cry was some of all the many-sad things she knew. She knew a wondrous number of things insatiably sad and wild, and the quiet way in which she told them, not only without any horror, but as if they were rightly to be expected, also the deep and rather guttural tone of voice, and the stillness of the form made it impossible to help believing verily every word she said. That there should be in the world such things so dark, unjust, and full of woe, was enough to puzzle a child brought up among the noblest philosophers, whereas I had simply been educated by good, unpretentious women who had partly retired from the world, but not to such depth as to drown all thought of what was left behind them. These were ready at any time to return upon good opportunity, and some of them had done so with many tears when they came into property. Pleased to tell me no more now, I said at last to Suan. My eyes are so sore, they will be quite red, and perhaps Uncle Sam will come home tonight. I'm afraid he has found some trouble with the money, or he ought to have been home before. Don't you think so, Suan? Yes, yes, trouble with the money. Always with the white man's that. Very well, I shall go and look for some money. I had a most wonderful dream last night. Only I must go quite alone. You have better go and look to the larder, Suan. If they come they are sure to be hungry. Yes, yes, the white man's always hungry, except when thirsty. The Indian woman, who had in her heart a general contempt for the white race, save those of our own household, drew her bright-coloured shaw around her and set off with her peculiar walk. Her walk was not ungraceful, because it was so purely natural, but it differed almost as much as the step of a quadruped, from what we are taught. I, with heavy thoughts but careless steps, set off on my wanderings. I wanted to try to have no set purpose, course or consideration, but to go wherever chance should leave me, without choice, as in my dream. And after many vague turns and even closings of rebellious eyes, I found myself, perhaps by the force of habit, in the ruins of the mill. I seemed to recognize some resemblance, which is as much as one can expect, to the scene which had been in my sleep before me. But sleeping I had seen roaring torrents, waking I beheld a quiet stream. The little river, as blue as ever, and shrinking from all thoughts of wrath, showed nothing in its pure gaze now but a gladness to refresh and cool. In many nicely sheltered corners it was full of soft reflection as to the good it had to do, and then, in silver and gold runnels, on it went to do it, and the happy voice of many sweet flashing little glances told that it knew of the lovely lives beside it, created and comforted by itself. But I looked at the dark ruin it had wrought, and like a child I was angry with it for the sake of Uncle Sam. Only the foundations and the big heavy stones of the mill were left, and the clear bright water purled around or made little eddies among them. All were touched with silvery sound and soft caressing dimples. But I looked at the passionate mountains first, to be sure of no more violence, for if a burned child dreads the fire, one half drowned may be excused for little faith in water. The mountains in the sunshine looked as if nothing could move their grandeur, and so I stepped from stone to stone in the bed of the placid brightness. Presently I came to a place where one of the great black piles, driven in by order of the Sawyer, to serve as a backstay for his walls, had been swept by the flood from its vertical sinking, but had not been swept away. The square, tarred post of mountain pine reclined downstream, and gently nodded to the current's impact. But overthrown as it was it could not make its exit and float away, as all its brethren had done. At this I had wondered before, and now I went to see what the reason was. By throwing a short piece of plank from one of the shattered foundations into a nick in the shoulder of the reclining pine, I managed to get there and sit upon it, and search for its obstruction. The water was flowing smoothly toward me, as clear as crystal, being scarcely more than a foot in depth. And there, on the upper verge of the hole, raised by the leverage of the butt from the granite sand of the riverbed, I saw a great bowlder of rich yellow light. I was so much amazed that I cried out at once. Oh, what a beautiful great yellow fish! And I shouted to Jowler, who had found where I was and followed me as usual. The great dog was famous for his love of fishing, and had often brought a fine salmon forth. Jowler was always a zealous fellow, and he answered eagerly to my call by dashing at once into the water and following the guidance of my hand. But when he saw what I pointed at, he was bitterly disappointed and gave me to understand as much by looking at me foolishly. Now, don't be a stupid dog, I said. Do what I tell you immediately, whatever it is, bring it out, sir." Jowler knew that I would be obeyed whenever I called him sir. So he ducked his great head under the water and tugged with his teeth at the object. His back corded up, and his tail grew rigid with the intensity of his labour. But the task was quite beyond him. He could not even stir the mighty mass at which he struggled. But he bit off a little projecting corner and came to me with it in his mouth. Then he laid his dripping jaws on my lap, and his ears fell back and his tail hung down with utter sense of failure. I patted his broad, intelligent forehead and wiped his black eyes with his ears, and took from his lips what he offered to me. Then I saw that his grinders were framed with gold, as if he had been to a dentist regardless of expense, and into my hand he dropped a lump of solid, glittering, virgin ore. He had not the smallest idea of having done anything worthy of human applause, and he put out his long red tongue and licked his teeth to get rid of unedible dross, and gave me a quiet nudge to ask what more I wanted of him. End of CHAPTER X Read by Marianne Spiegel on July 18, 2009. CHAPTER XI of IREMA This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Dodge. IREMA by R. D. Blackmore. CHAPTER XI ROVERS From Jaller I wanted nothing more. Such matters were too grand for him. He had beaten the dog of Hercules, who had only brought the purple dye, a thing requiring skill and art and taste to give it value. But gold does well without all these, and better in their absence. From handling many little nuggets, and harkening to Suan's Isco's tales of treachery, theft and murder done by white men for the sake of this, I knew that here I had found enough to cost the lives of fifty men. At present, however, I was not possessed with dread so much as I was with joy, and even a secret exultation at the power placed in my hands. For I was too young to moralize or attempt philosophy. Here I had a knowledge which the wisest of mankind might envy, much as they despise it when they have no chance of getting it. I looked at my father's grave, in the shadow of the quiet peach trees, and I could not help crying as I thought that this was come too late for him. Then I called off Jaller, who wished, like a man, to have another tug at it, and home I ran to tell my news. But failing of breath had time to think. It was lucky enough that this was so, for there might have been the greatest mischief. And sadly excited as I was, the trouble I had seen so much of came back to my beating heart and told me to be careful. But surely there would be no harm in trusting Suan's Isco. However, I looked at her several times and was not quite so sure about it. She was wonderfully true and faithful, and scarcely seemed to concede to gold its paramount rank and influence. But that might only have been because she had never known the want of it, or had never seen a lump worth stealing, which I was sure that this must be, and the unregenerate state of all who had never been baptized, had been impressed on me continually. How could I mistrust a Christian and place confidence in an Indian? Therefore, I tried to sleep without telling anyone what was unable. But as it happened, my good discovery did not keep me so very long awake. For on the following day, our troop of horsemen returned from San Francisco. Of course, I have done very foolish things once and again throughout my life. But perhaps I never did anything more absurd than during the whole of that day. To begin with, I was up before the sun, down at the mill and along the plank, which I had removed overnight, but now replaced as my bridge to the pinewood pile. Then I gazed with eager desire and fear, which was the stronger I scarcely knew, for the yellow undergleaned to show the safety of my treasure. There it lay, as safe as could be, massive, grand and beautiful, with tones of varying richness as the ripples varied over it. The pale light of the morning breathed a dewy luster down the banks. The sun, although unrisen yet, drew furrows through the mountain gaps. The birds from every hanging tree addressed the day with melody. The crystal water, purer than religion's brightest dream, went by. And here among them lay, unmoved, unthought of, and inanimate, the thing which to a human being is worth all the rest put together. This contemplation had upon me an effect so noble that here I resolved to spend my time for fear of any robbery. I was afraid to gaze more than could be helped at this grand site. Lest other eyes should spy what was going on and long to share it. And after hurrying home to breakfast and returning in like haste, I got a scare, such as I well deserved for being so extremely foolish. The carpentry of the mill wheel had proved so very staunch and steadfast that even in that raging deluge the hole had held together. It had been bodily torn from its hold and swept away down the valley. But somewhere it grounded as the flood edged out and a strong team had tugged it back again. And the sawyer had vowed that, come what would, his mill should work with the self-same wheel which he with younger hands had wrought. Now this wheel, to prevent any warp and save the dry timber from the sun, was laid in a little shady cut where water trickled under it. And here I had taken up my abode to watch my monster nugget. I had pulled my shoes and stockings off and was paddling in the runnel, sheltered by the deep rim of the wheel and enjoying the water. Little fish darted by me and lovely spotted lizards played about. And I was almost beginning to even to forget my rock of gold. In self-defense it is right to say that for the gold on my own account I cared as much as I might have done for a fig worm eaten. It was for Uncle Sam and all his dear love that I watched the gold, hoping in his sad disaster to restore his fortunes. But suddenly over the rim of the wheel laid flat by the tributary brook I described across the main river a moving company of horsemen. These men could have nothing to do with Uncle Sam and his party, for they were coming from the mountainside while he would return by the track across the plains. And they were already so near that I could see their dress quite plainly and knew them to be Mexican rovers mixed with loose Americans. There are few worse men on the face of the earth than these. When in the humor and unluckily they seem almost always to be in that humor. Therefore, when I saw their battered sun hats and baggy slouching boots, I feared that little Ruth or truth or mercy dwelt between them. On this account I shrank behind the shelter of the mill wheel and held my head in one trembling hand and with the other drew my wind-tossed hair into small compass. For my blood ran cold at the many dreadful things that came into my mind. I was sure that they had not spied me yet and my overwhelming desire was to decline all introduction. I counted fourteen gentlemen. For so they always styled themselves and would pistol any man who expressed a contrary opinion. Fourteen of them rode to the brink of the quiet Blue River on the other side and there they let their horses drink and some dismounted and filled canteens and some of longer reach stooped from the saddle and did likewise. But one who seemed to be the captain wanted no water for his rum. Cut it short boys, I heard him say, with a fine South Californian twang, which as well as his free swearing I will freely omit. If we mean to have fair play with the gal, now or never is the time for it. Old Sam may come home almost any time. What miserable cowards. There there were so many of them, they really had no heart to face an old man known for courage. Frightened as I was, perhaps good indignation helped me to flutter no more and not faint away, but watch those miscreants steadily. The horses put down their sandy lips over and over again to drink, scarcely knowing when they ought to stop and seemed to get thicker before my eyes. The dribbling of the water from their mouths prepared them to begin again till the riders struck the savage unround spur into their refreshment. At this they jerked their noses up and looked at one another to say that they expected it. And then they lifted their weary legs and began to plash through the river. It is a pretty thing to see a skilful horse plod through the stream, proging with his eyes the depth and stretching his head before his feet. And at every step he whisks his tail to tell himself that he is right. In my agony of observation, all these things I heeded, but only knew that I had done so when I thought long afterwards. At the moment I was in such a fright that my eyes worked better than my mind. However, even so, I thought of my golden millstone and was aware that they crossed below and could not see it. They gained the bank upon our side within 50 yards of where I crouched. And it was not presence of mine but abject fear which kept me crouching. I counted them again as they leaped the bank and seemed to look at me. I could see the dark array of eyes and could scarcely keep from shrieking but my throat was dry and made no sound. And a frightened bird set up a scream which drew off their attention. In perils of later days I often thought of this fear and almost felt that the hand of heaven had been stretched forth on purpose to help my helplessness. For the moment, however, I lay as close as if under the hand of the evil one and the snorting of the horses passed me and the wicked laughter of the men. One was telling a horrible tale and the rest rejoicing in it. And the bright sun glowing on their withered skin discovered perhaps no vile or thing in all the world to shine upon. One of them even pointed at the mill wheel with a witty jib. At least perhaps it was wit to him about the Sawyer's misfortune. But the sun was then in his eyes and my dress was just of the color of the timber. So on they rode and the pleasant turf having lately received some rain softly answered to the kneading of their hooves as they galloped away to surround the house. I was just at the very point of rising and running up into the dark of the valley when a stroke of arithmetic stopped me. 14 men and 14 horses I had counted on the other side. On this side, I could not make any more than 13 of them. I might have made a mistake but still I thought I would stop just a moment to see. And in that minute I saw the other men walking slowly on the opposite bank. He had tethered his horse and was left as outpost to watch and give warning of poor Sam's return. At the thought of this my fright and courage in some extraordinary way came back. I had played an ignoble part thus far as almost any girl might have done. But now I resolved that whatever might happen my dear friend and guardian should not be entrapped and lose his life through my cowardice. We had been expecting him all the day and if he should come and fall into an ambush I only might survive to tell the tale. I ought to have hurried and warned the house as my bitter conscious told me but now it was much too late for that. The only admins that I could make was try and warn our travelers. Stooping as low as I could and watching my time to cross the more open places when the sentry was looking away from me I passed up the winding of the little water course and sheltered in the swampy thicket which concealed its origin. Hence I could see for miles over the plain broad reaches of corn land already turning pale Maisy river fringed with reed hamlets scattered among the clustering trees and that which I chiefly cared to see the dusty track from Sacramento. Whether from ignorance of the country or of Mr. Gundry's plans the sentinel had been posted badly. His beat commanded well enough the course from San Francisco but that from Sacramento was not equally clear before him. For a jut of pine forest ran down the mountains and cut off a part of his view of it. I had not the sense or the presence of mind to perceive this great advantage but having a plain quick path before me forth I set upon it. Of course, if the watchman had seen me he would have leaped on his horse and soon caught me but of that I scarcely even thought I was in such confusion. When I had run perhaps a mile being at that time very slight in a back to figure I saw a cloud of dust about two miles off rising through the bright blue haze. It was rich yellow dust of the fertile soil which never seems to cake or clot. Sometimes you may walk for miles without the smallest fear of sinking. The earth is so elastic and yet with a slight exertion you may push a walking stick down through it until the handle stops it. My heart gave a jump. That cloud of dust was a sign of men on horseback and who could it be but Uncle Sam and Firm and the four men Martin. As soon as it began to show itself it proved to be these very three. Carelessly lounging on their horses backs overcome with heat and dust and thirst. But when they saw me there all alone under the fury of the sun they knew that something must have gone amiss and were all wide awake in a moment. Well now said the Sawyer when I had told my tale as well as short breath aloud put this thing over your head my dear or you may gain a sunstroke. I call it too bad of them skunks to drive you in California noon like this. Oh Uncle Sam never think of me. Think of your house and your goods and Swan and all at those bad men's mercy. The old house ain't a fire yet he answered looking calmly under his hand in that direction and as for Swan no fear at all she knows how to deal with such galluses and they will keep her to cook their dinner. Firm my lad let's go down and embrace them. They wouldn't have made much bones of shooting us down if we hadn't known of it and if they had got miss afford the saddle but if they don't give bail as soon as they see me right up to my door my name's not Samson Gundry. Only you keep out of the way Miss Remy you go to sleep a bit that's a dear in the gray witch spinny yonder and wait till you hear firm sound the horn and then come you in to dinner time for the Lord is always over you. I hasten to the place which he pointed out a beautiful covert of birch trees but to sleep was out of the question worn out though I was with hasten heat and worst of all with horror. In a soft mossy nest where a breeze from the mountains played with the in and out ways of the wood and the murmurous dream of genial insects now was beginning to drowse upon the air and the heat of the sun could almost be seen thrilling through the alleys like a cacayla's drum. Here in the middle of the languid piece I waited for the terror of the rifle crack for though Uncle Sam had spoken softly and made so little of the peril he would meet I had seen in his eyes some token of the deep wrath and strong indignation which had kept all his household and premises safe and it seemed like a most ominous sign that firm had never said a word but grasped his gun and slowly got in front of his grandfather. End of chapter 11, chapter 12 of a rama. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Dodge. The rama by R. D. Blackmore. Chapter 12, Gold and Grief. It may have been an hour but it seemed an age ere the sound of the horn in firm strong blast released me from my hiding place. I had heard no report of firearms nor perceived any sign of conflict and certainly the house was not on fire or else I must have seen the smoke. For being still in great alarm I had kept a very sharp lookout. Ephraim Gundry came to meet me which was very kind of him. He carried his bugle in his belt that he might sound again for me if needful but I was already running toward the house having made up my mind to be resolute. Nevertheless, I was highly pleased to have his company and hear what had been done. Please to let me help you, he said with a smile. Why miss, you are trembling dreadfully. I assure you there is no cause for that but you might have been killed and Uncle Sam and Martin and everybody. Oh, those men didn't look so horrible. Yes, and they always do till you come to know them but bigger cowards were never born. If they can take people by surprise and shoot them without any danger it is a splendid treat to them but if anyone like grandfather meets them face to face in the daylight their respect for law and life returns. It is not the first visit they have paid us. Grandfather kept his temper well. It was lucky for them that he did. Remembering that the rovers must have numbered nearly three to one. Even if all our men were staunch I thought it lucky for ourselves that there had been no outbreak but firm seemed rather sorry that they had departed so easily and knowing that he never bragged I began to share his confidence. They must be shot sooner or later he said unless indeed they should be hanged. Their manner of going on is out of date in these days of settlement. It was all very well 10 years ago but now we are a civilized state and the hand of law is over us. I think we were wrong to let them go but of course I yield to the governor and I think he was afraid for your sake and to tell the truth I may have been the same. Here he gave my arm a little squeeze which appeared to me quite out of place. Therefore I withdrew and hurried on. Before he could catch me I entered the door and found the Sawyer sitting calmly with his own long pipe once more and watching Swan cooking. They rogues have had all the best of our victuals he said as soon as he had kissed me. Respectable visitors is my delight and welcome to all of the larder but at my time of life it goes again the grain to lease out my dinner to galley rakers. Swan you're burning the fat again. Swan Isco being an excellent cook although of quiet temper never paid heed to criticism but lifted her elbow and went on. Mr. Gundry knew that it was wise to offer no further meddling although it is well to keep them up to their work by a little grumbling. But when I came to see what broken bits were left for Swan to deal with I only wondered that he was not cross. Thank God for a better meal than I deserve he said when they all had finished. Swan you're a treasure as I tell you every day almost. Now if they have left us a bottle of wine let us have it up. We be all in the dumps but that will never do my lad. He padded firm on the shoulder as if he were the younger man of the two and his grandson went down to the wreck of the cellar while I who had tried to wait upon them in an eager clumsy way perceived that something was gonna miss. Something more serious and lasting than the mischief made by the robber troop. Was it that his long ride had failed and not a friend could be found to help him? When Martin and the rest were gone after a single glass of wine and Ephraim had made an excuse of something to be seen to the Sawyer leaned back in his chair and his cheerful face was troubled. I felt his pipe and lit it for him and waited for him to speak well knowing his simple and outspoken heart but he looked at me and thanked me kindly and seemed to be turning some grief in his mind. It ain't for the money, he said at last talking more to himself than to me. The money might have been all very well and useful in a sort of way but the feeling, the feeling is the thing I look at and it ought to have been more hearty, security, charge on my land indeed and I can run away but my land must stop behind. What security did I ask of them? Tis enough almost to make a rogue of me. Nothing could ever do that, Uncle Sam, I exclaimed as I came out and sat close to him while he looked at me bravely and began to smile. Why, what was little Missy thinking of? He asked. How solid she looks, why, I never seen the like. Then you ought to have seen it, Uncle Sam. You ought to have seen it 50 times with everybody who loves you and who can help loving you, Uncle Sam. Well, they say I charge too much for lumber, a cutting on the cross and the backstroke work and it may have been so when I took again a man but to bring up all that with the mill strewn down is a cowardly thing to my thinking and to make no count of the beating I threw in. Whenever it were a straightforward job and the tarpsy knots and the clogging of the teeth tis a bad bit to swallow when the mill is strewn but the mill shall not be strewn, Uncle Sam. The mill shall be built again and I will find the money. Mr. Gundry stared at me and shook his head. He could not bear to tell me how poor I was. Well, I thought myself I must made of money. $5,000 you have got put by before me, I continued with great importance. $5,000 in the sale and the insurance fund and $5,000 must be five and 20,000, Uncle Sam. And you shall have every farthing of it. And if that won't build the mill again, I've got my mother's diamonds. $5,000 cried the Sawyer in amazement opening his great gray eyes at me. And then he remembered the tale which he had told to make me seem independent. Oh, yes, to be sure, my dear, now I recollect. To be sure, to be sure, your own $5,000 but never will I touch one cent of your nice little fortune. No, not to save my life. After all, I am not so gone in years but what I can build the mill again myself. The Lord hath spared my hands and eyes and gifted me still with machinery. And firm is a very handy lad and can carry out a job pretty fairly with better brains to stand over him. Although it has not pleased the Lord to gift him with sense of machinery like me. But that is all for the best, no doubt. If they for him had too much of brains he might have contradicted me and that I could never abide. God knows from any green young jackenapes. Oh, Uncle Sam, let me tell you something, something very important. No, my dear, nothing more just now. It has done me good to have a little talk and scared the blue somethings out of me but just go and ask whatever has become a firm. He was riled with him, greasers. It was all I could do to keep the boy out of a difficulty with him and if they camp anywhere nigh it is like enough he may go hankering after him. The grand march of intellect haven't managed yet to march old heads upon young shoulders and firm might happen to go outside the law. The thought of this frightened me not a little for firm, though mild of speech was very hot of spirit. Any wrong as I knew from tales of Suwon Isco who had brought him up and made a glorious idol of him and now when she could not say where he was but only was sure that he must be quite safe in virtue of a charm from a great medicine man which she had hung about him. It seemed to me according to what I was used to that in these regions human life was held a great deal too lightly. It was not for one moment that I cared about firm any more than is the duty of a fellow creature. He was a very good young man and in his way good looking, educated also quite enough and polite and a very good carver of a joint. And when I spoke he nearly always listened but of course he was not to be compared as yet to his grandfather, the true Sawyer. When I ran back from Suwon Isco who was going on about her charm and the impossibility of anyone being a scout who wore it I found Mr. Gundry in a genial mood. He never made himself uneasy about any trifles. He always had a very pure and lofty faith in the ways of Providence and having lost his only son Elijah he was sure that he never could lose firm. He had taken his glass of hot whiskey and water which had always made him temperate and if he felt any of his troubles deeply he dwelt on them now from a high point of view. I may have said a little too much my dear about the badness of mankind. He observed with his pipe lying comfortably on his breast. All sayings of that sort is apt to go too far. I ought to have made more allowance for the times which gets into a ticklish state when an old man is put about with them. Never you pay no heed whatever to any harsh words I may have used. All that is a very bad thing for young folk. But if they treated you badly Uncle Sam how can you think that they have treated you well? He took some time to consider this because he was true in all of his thoughts and then he turned off to something else why the smashing of the mill may have been a mercy although in disguise to the present time of sight it will send up the price of scantlins and we was getting on too fast with them. By the time we have built up the mill again we shall have more orders than we know how to deal with. When I come to reckon of it to me it appears to be the reasonable thing to feel a lump of grief for the old mill and then to set to and built a stronger one. Yes that must be about the right thing to do and we'll have all the neighbors in when we lay the foundations. But what will be the good of it Uncle Sam? When the new mill may at any time be washed away again. Never at any time he answered very firmly gazing through the door as if he saw the vain endeavor. That little game can easily be stopped for about $50 by opening down the bank toward the old track of the river. The biggest water spout that ever came down from the mountains could never come an eye the mill but go right down the valley. It hath been in my mind to do it often and now I see the need I will. Firm and I will begin tomorrow. But where is all the money to come from Uncle Sam? You said that all your friends had refused to help you. Nevermind my dear, I will help myself. It won't be the first time perhaps in my life but suppose and I could help you just some little. Suppose and I had found the biggest lump of gold ever found in all California. Mr. Gundry ought to look surprised and I was amazed that he did not. But he took it quietly as if I had told him that I had just picked up a brass button of his and I thought that he doubted my knowledge very likely even to what gold was. It is gold Uncle Sam, every bit of it gold. Here is a piece of it just look and as large I'm sure as this table and it may be as deep as this room for all one can judge to the contrary why it stopped the big pile from coming to the top even when you went down the river. Well now that explains a thing or two said the Sawyer smiling peacefully and beginning to think of another pipe if preparation meant anything. Two things have puzzled me about that stump and indeed I might say three things. Why did he take such a time to drive and why would he never stand up like a man and why wouldn't he go away when he ought to? Because he had the best of all reasons Uncle Sam. He was anchored on his gold as I have read in French and he had a good right to be crooked about it and no power could get him away from it. Hush my dear Hush. It is not at all good for young people to let their minds run on so but this golden looks very good indeed. Are you sure it is a fair sample and that there is any more of it? How can you be so dreadfully provoking Uncle Sam? When I tell you I saw it with my own eyes and there must be at least a half a ton of it. Well half a hundred weight will be good enough for me and you shall have all the rest my dear. That is if you will spare me a bit Miss Remy. It all belongs to you by discovery according to the diggers law and your eyes are so bright about it Miss that the whole of your heart must be running upon it. Then you think me as bad as the rest of the world. How I wish that I had never seen it. It was only for you that I cared about it. For you, for you and I will never touch a scrap of it. Mr. Gundry had only been trying me perhaps but I did not see it in that light and burst into a flood of childish tears that he should misunderstand me so. Gold had its usual end in grief. Uncle Sam rose up to soothe me and to beg my pardon and to say that perhaps he was harsh because of the treatment he had received from his friends. He took me in his arms and he kissed me but before I could leave off sobbing the crack of a rifle rang through the house and Suaniska with a whale rushed out. End of chapter 12. Chapter 13 of Erema. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Linda Dodge. Erema by R. D. Blackmore. Chapter 13, The Sawyer's Prayer. The darkness of the young summer night was falling on earth and tree and stream. Everything looked of different form and color from those of an hour ago and the rich bloom of shadow mixed with color and cast by snowy mountains which have stored the purple adieu of the sun was filling the air with delicious calm. The Sawyer ran out with his shirt sleeve shining so that any sneaking foe might shoot him but with the instinct of a settler he had caught up his rifle. I stood beneath the carob tree which had been planted near the porch and flung flantastic tassels down like the earrings of a niggress and not having sense enough to do good I was only able to be frightened. Listening intently I heard the sound of scurrying steps on the other side of and some way down the river and the particular tread even thus far off was plainly swan-escoes and then in the stillness a weary and heavy foot went toiling after it. Before I could follow which I longed to do to learn at once the worst of it I saw the figure of a man much nearer and even within twenty yards of me gliding along without any sound faint as the light was I felt sure it was not one of our own men and the barrel of a long gun on his shoulder made a black line among silver leaves I longed to run forth and stop him but my courage was not prompt enough and I shamefully shrank away behind the trunk of the carob tree like a sleuth compact and calm-hearted villain he went along without any breath of sound stealing his escape with skill till a white bower tent made a background for him and he leaped up and fell flat without a groan the crack of a rifle came later than his leap and a curl of white smoke shone against a black rock and the sawyer in the distance cried well now as he generally did when satisfied so scared was I that I caught hold of a cluster of pods to steady me and then without any more fear for myself I ran to see whether it was possible to help but the poor man lay beyond earthly help he was too dead to palpitate his life must have left him in the air and he could not have felt his fall in violent terror I burst into tears and lifted his heavy head and strove to force his hot hands open and did I know not what without thinking laboring only to recall his life are you grieving for the skulk who have shot my firm said a stern voice quite unknown to me and rising I looked at the face of Mr. Gundry unlike the countenance of Uncle Sam I tried to speak to him but I was too frightened the wrath of blood was in his face and all his kind desires were gone yes like a girl you are sorry for a man who has stained this earth till his only atonement is to stain it with his blood Captain Pedro there you lie shot like a coward through the back I wish you were alive to taste my boots murderer of men and filthy ravisher of women miscreant of God how can I keep from trampling on you it had never been in my dream that a good man could so entirely forget himself I wanted to think that it must be someone else not our Uncle Sam but he looked toward the west as all men do when their spirits are full of death and the wand light showed that his chin was triple whether it have may have been for right or wrong I made all haste to get away the face of the dead man was quite a pleasant thing compared with the face of the old man living he may not have meant it I hope he never did but beyond all controversy he looked barbarous for the moment as I slipped away to know the worst there I saw him standing still longing to kick the vile man's corpse but quieted by the great awe of death if the man had stirred or breathed or even moaned the living man would have lost all reverence in his fury but the power of the other world was greater than even revenge could trample on he let it lie there and he stooped his head and went away quite softly my little foolish heart was bitterly visited by a thing like this the Sawyer though not of great human rank was gifted with the largest human nature than I had ever met with and though it was impossible as yet to think a hollow depression as at the loss of some great ideal came over me returning wretchedly to the house I met Swan Isco and two men bringing the body of poor firm his head and both his arms hung down and they wanted somebody to lift them and this I ran to do although they called out to me not to meddle the body was carried in and laid upon three chairs with a pillow at the head and then a light was struck and a candle brought by somebody or other and Swan Isco sat upon the floor and set up a miserable Indian dirge Stow away that cried Martin of the Mill for he was one of those two men wait till the lad is dead and then pipe up to your lichen I felt him try to kick while we carried him along he come forth on an errand of that sort and he seemed to have been disappointed a very fine young chap I call him for to try to do it still how so whenever his mind might be wandering missy keep his head up I did as I was told and watched poor firm as if my own life hung upon any sign of life in him when I look back at these things I think that fright and grief and petty must have turned an excitable girl almost into a real woman but I had no sense of such things then I tell you he ain't dead cried Martin no more dead than I be he feels the young gal's hand below him and I see him try to turn up his eyes he has taken a very bad knock no doubt and trouble about his breathing I see the fellow scalp once and shot through the heart but he came all around in six months and protected his head with a document firm now don't you be a fool I've had worse things in my family Ephraim Gundry seemed to know that someone was upgrading him at any rate his white lips trembled with a weak desire to breathe and a little shadow of life appeared to flicker in his open eyes and on my sleeve beneath his back some hot bright blood came trickling keep him to that said Martin with some carpenter sort of surgery lest fear of the life when the blood begins to run don't move him missy never mind your arm it will be the saving of him I was not strong enough to hold him up but Schwann ran to help me and they told me afterward that I fell faint and no doubt it must have been so but when the rest were gone and had taken poor firm to his straw mattress the cold night air must have flowed into the room and that perhaps revived me I went to the bottom of the stairs and listened and then stole up to the landing and heard Schwann Isco who had taken the command speaking cheerfully in her worst English then I hoped for the best and without any knowledge wandered forth into the open air walking quite as in a dream this time which I had vainly striven to do when seeking for my nugget I came to the bank of the gleaming river and saw the water just in time to stop from stepping into it careless about this and every other thing for the moment I threw myself on the sod and listened to the mournful melody of night sundry unknown creatures which by day keep timid silence we're sending timid sounds into the darkness holding quiet converse with themselves or it or one another and a silvery murmur of the wavelet sooth the twinkling sleep of leaves I also being worn and weary and having a frock which improved with washing and was soiled already by nursing firm was well content to throw myself into a niche of riverbank and let all things flow past me but before anything had found time to flow far or the lullaby of night had lulled me there came to me a sadder sound than plaintiff nature can produce without her master's aid the saddest sound in all creation a strong man's wail child as I was and perhaps all the more for that reason as knowing so little of mankind I might have been more frightened but I could not have been a bit more shocked by the roaring of a lion for I knew in a moment whose voice it was and that made it pierce me tenfold it was Uncle Sam lamenting to himself and to his God alone the loss of his last hope on earth he could not dream that any other than his maker and his maker's works if ever they have any sympathy listen to the wild outpourings of an agent but still very natural heart which had always been proud of controlling itself I could see his great frame through a willow tree with the sear grass and the withered reeds around and the faint gleam of fugitive water beyond he was kneeling towards his shattered mill having rolled his shirt sleeves back to prey and his white locks shone in the starlight then after trying several times he managed to pray a little first perhaps partly from habit he said the prayer of our Lord pretty firmly and then he went on to his very special case with a doubting whether he should mention it but as he went on he gathered courage or received it from above and was able to say what he wanted Almighty Father of the living and the dead I have lived long and soon shall be dead and my days have been full of trouble but I never had such trouble as this here before and I don't think I shall ever get over it I have sinned every day of my life and not thought of thee but of victuals and money and stuff and nobody knows but myself and thou all the little bad things inside of me I cared a deal more to be respectable than to get on with my business than to be prepared for kingdom come and I have just been proud about the shooting of a villain who might have gone free and repented there is nobody left in me in my old age thou hast taken all of them wife the son the mill grandson and the brother who robbed me the whole of it may have been for my good but I have got no good out of it show me the way for a little time oh Lord to make the best of it and teach me to bear it like a man and not break down at this time of life thou knowest what is right please to do it all men end of chapter 13 chapter 14 of arama this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Linda Dodge arama by R.D. Blackmore chapter 14 not far to seek in the present state of controversies most profoundly religious the Lord alone can decide though thousands of men would hurry to pronounce for or against the orthodoxy of the ancient Sawyer's prayer but if sound doctrine can be established by success as it always is Uncle Sam's theology must have been unusually sound for it pleased a gracious power to know what he wanted and to grant it bravest Mr. Gundry was and much enduring and resigned the latter years of his life on earth must have dragged on very heavily with abstract resignation only and none of his blood to care for him being so obstinate a man he might never have admitted this but proved against everyone's voice except his own his special blessedness but this must have been a trial to him and happily he was spared from it for although firm had been badly shot and kept us for weeks in anxiety about him his strong young constitution and well nourished frame got over it a truly good and learned doctor came from Sacramento and we hung upon his words and found that there he left us hanging and this was the wisest thing perhaps that he could do because in America medical men are not absurdly expected as they are in England to do any good but are valued chiefly upon their power of predicting what they cannot help and this man of science perceived that he might do harm to himself and his family by predicting a miss whereas he could do no good to his patient by predicting rightly and so he foretold both good and evil to meet the intentions of Providence he had not been sent for in vain however and to give him his due he saved Ephraim's life for he drew from the wound a large bullet which if left must have poisoned all his circulation although it was made of pure silver the Sawyer wished to keep this silver bullet as a token but the doctor said that it belonged to him according to the miners law and so it came to a moderate argument each was a thoroughly stubborn man according to the bent of all good men and reasoning increased their unreason but the doctor won as indeed he deserved for the extraction had been delicate because when reason had been exhausted he just said this oh Colonel Gundry let us have no more words the true owner is your grandson I will put it back where I took it from upon this the Sawyer being tickled as men very often are in sad moments took the doctor by the hand and gave him the bullet heartily and the medical man had a loop made to it and wore it upon his watch chain and he told the story so often saying that another man perhaps might have got it out but no other man could have kept it that among a great race who judged by facts it doubled his practice immediately the leader of the robbers known far and wide as Captain Pedro was buried where he fell and the whole so raised Uncle Sam's reputation that his house was never attacked again and if any bad characters were forced by circumstances to come near him they never asked for anything stronger than ginger beer or lemonade and departed very promptly for as soon as Ephraim Gundry could give account of his disaster it was clear that Don Pedro owed his fate to a bottle of the Sawyer's whiskey Firm had only intended to give him a lesson for misbehavior being fired by his grandfather's words about swinging me on the saddle this idea had justly appeared to him to demand a protest to deliver which he had once set forth with a valuable cow hide whip coming thus to the rover's camp and finding their captain sitting in the shade to digest his dinner Firm laid hold of him by the neck and gave way to feelings of severity Don Pedro regretted his misconduct and being lifted up for the moment above his ordinary view perceived that he might have done better and shaped the pattern of his tongue to it Firm, hearing this, had good hopes of him yet knowing how volatile repentance is strove to form a well-marked track for it and when the captain ceased to receive cow hide he must have had it long enough to miss it now this might have ended honorably and amicably for all concerned if the captain had known when he was well off and luckily he had perloined a bottle of Mr. Gundry's whiskey and he drew the cork now to rub his stripes and the smell of it moved him to try it inside and before very long his ideas of honor which he had since enough to drop when sober began to come into his eyes again and stir him up to mischief hence it was that he followed Firm who was writing him well satisfied and appeased his honor by shooting in cold blood and justice by being shot anyhow it was beautiful who all this trying time to watch Uncle Sam's proceedings he appeared so delightfully calm and almost careless whenever he was looked at and then he was ashamed of himself perpetually if anyone went on with it nobody tried to observe him of course or remark upon any of his doings and for this he would become so grateful that he would long to tell all of his thoughts and then stop this must have been a great worry to him seeing how open his manner was and whenever he wanted to hide anything he informed us of that intention so that we exhorted Firm every day to come round and restore us to our usual state this was the poor fellow's special desire and often he was angry with himself and made himself worse again by declaring that he must be a milkshop to lie there so long whereas it was much more close to the truth that few other men even in the western states would have ever gotten over such a wound I am not learned enough to say exactly where the damage was but the doctor called it I think the sternum and pronounced that a building up process was required and it must take a long time if ever it could be done it was done at last thanks to Suan Iscoe who scarcely ever left him by day or night and treated him skillfully with healing herbs but he without meaning it vexed her often by calling for me a mere ignorant child Suan was dreadfully jealous of this and perhaps I was proud of that sentiment of hers and tried to justify it instead of laboring to remove it as would have been the more proper course and Firm most ungratefully said that my hand was lighter than poor Suan's and everything I did was better done according to him which was shameful on his part and as untrue as anything could be however we yielded to him in all things while he was so delicate and it often made us poor weak things cry to be the masters of a tall strong man Firm Gundry received that shot in May about 10 days before the 12 month was completed from my father's death the brightness of summer and the beauty of autumn went by without his feeling them and while his system was working hard to fortify itself by walling up as the learned man had called it there had been some difficulties in the process caused partly perhaps by our too lavish supply of raw material and before Firm's gap in the sternum was stopped the mountains were coming down upon us as we always used to say when the snow line stooped in some seasons this was a sharp time of hurry broken with storms and capricious while men have to slur in the driving weather tasks that should have been matured long since but in other years the long descent into the depth of winter is taken not with a jump like that but gently and softly and windingly with a great many glimpses back at summer and a good deal of leaning on the arm of the sun and so it was this time the autumn and the winter for a fortnight stood looking quietly at each other they had quite agreed to share the hours to suit the arrangements of the sun the nights were starry and fresh and brisk without any touch of tartness and the days were sunny and soft and gentle without any sense of linger it was a lovely scene blue shadows gliding among golden light the sawyer came forth and cried what a shame this makes me feel quite young again and yet I have done not a stroke of work no excuse make no excuse I can do that pretty well for myself praise god for all his mercies I might do worse perhaps than have a pipe then firm came out to surprise him and to please us all with the sight of himself he steadied his steps with one great white hand upon his grandfather's sunday staff and his clear blue eyes were trembling with a sense of gratitude and a fear of tears and I stepped behind a red strawberry tree for my sense of respect for him almost made me sob then jaller thought it high time to appear upon the scene and convince us that he was not a dead dog yet he had known tribulation as his master had and had founded a difficult thing to keep from the shadowy hunting ground of dogs who have lived a conscientious life I had wondered at first what his reason could have been for not coming forward according to his custom to meet that troop of robbers but his reason alas was too cogent to himself though nobody else in that dreadful time could pay any attention to him the rovers well-knowing poor jowlers repute and declining the fair mode of testing it had sent an advance a very crafty scout a half-bred Indian who knew as much about dogs as they ever could hope to know about themselves this rogue approached faithful jaller so we were long told afterward not in an upright way but as if he had been a brother quadruped and he took advantage of the dog's unfeigned surprise and interest to accost him with a piece of kidney containing a powerful poison according to all sound analogy they should have stopped the dear fellow's earthly tracks but his spirit was such that he simply went away to nurse himself up in retirement neither man nor dog can tell what agonies he suffered and doubtless his tortures of mind about duty unperformed were the worst of all these things are out of human knowledge in its present unsympathetic state enough that poor jaller came home at last with his ribs all up and his tail very low like friends who have come together again almost from the jaws of death we sat in the sunny noon and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves the trees above us look proud and cheerful laying aside the mere frippery of leaves with a good grace and contented arms and a surety of having quite enough next spring much of the fruity wealth of autumn still was clustering in our sight heavily fetching the arched bow down to less in the fall when fall they must and against the golden leaves of maple behind the unpretending roof a special wreath of blue shown like a climbing eponia but coming to examine this one found it to be nothing more nor less than the smoke of a kitchen chimney busy with a quiet roasting job this shows how clear the air was but a thousand times as much could never tell how clear our spirits were nobody made any demonstration or cut any frolics and capers or even said anything exuberant the steadfast brooding breed of england which despises antics was present in us all and strengthened by a soil whose native growth is peril chance and marvel and so we nodded at one another and i ran over and courtesyed to uncle sam and he took me to him you have been a dear good child he said as he rose and looked over my head at firm my own granddaughter if such there had been could not have done more to comfort me nor half so much for all i know there is no picking and choosing among the females as god gives them but he has given you for a blessing and saving to my old age my dearie oh uncle sam now the nugget i cried desiring like a child to escape deep feeling and fearing any strong words from fern you have promised me ever so long that i should be the first to show firm the nugget and so you shall my dear and firm shall see it before he is an hour older and jaller shall come down to show us where it is fern who had little faith in the nugget but took it for a dream of mind and had proved conclusively from his pillow that it could not exist in earnest now with a gentle satirical smile declared his anxiety to see it and i led him along by his better arm faster perhaps than he ought to have walked in a very few minutes we were at the place and i ran eagerly to point it but behold where the nugget had been there was nothing except the white bed of the river the blue water flowed very slowly on its way without a gleam of gold to corrupt it oh nobody will ever believe me again i exclaimed in the saddest of sad dismay i dreamed about it first but it could never have been a dream throughout you know that i told you about it uncle sam even when you were very busy and that shows it could never have been a dream you told me about it i remember now mr. gundry answered dryly but it does not follow there was such a thing my dear you may have imagined it because it was the proper time for it to come when my good friends had no money to lend your heart was so good that it got into your brain and you must not be vexed my dear child it has done you good to dream of it i said so all along firm observed miss rima felt that it ought to be and so she believed that it must be there she is always so warm and trustful is that all you are good for i cried with no gratitude for his compliment as sure as i stand here i saw a great boulder of gold and so did jowler and i gave you the piece he brought up did you take them all in a dream uncle sam come can you get over that i assure you that for the moment i knew not whether i stood upon my feet or upon my head until i perceived an extraordinary grin on the sawyer's ample countenance but firm was not in the secret yet for he gazed at me with compassion and uncle sam looked at us both as if he were balancing our abilities send your dog in missy at last he said he is more your dog than mine i believe and he obeys you like a christian let him go and find it if he can at a sign from me the great dog dashed in and scratched with all four feet at once and made the valley echo with the ring of mighty barkings and in less than two minutes there shown the nugget as yellow and as big as ever ha ha i never saw a finer thing shouted uncle sam like a schoolboy i were too many for you missy dear but the old dog wallops the whole of us i just shot a barrel load of gravel on your nugget to keep it all snug till firm should come around and if the boy had never come around there the gold might have waited the will of the almighty it is a big spot anyhow it certainly was not a little spot though they all seemed to make so light of it which vexed me because i had found it and i was proud of it as if i had made it not by any means that the sawyer was half as careless as he seemed to be he put on much of this for my sake having very lofty principles especially concerning the duty of the young young people were never to have small ideas so far as he could help it particularly upon such manners as mammon or the world or fashion and not so very seldom he was obliged to catch himself up in his talking when he chanced to be going on and forgetting that i who required a higher vein of thought for my youth was taking his words down right and i think that all of this had a great deal to do with his treating all that gold in such an exemplary manner for if it had really mattered nothing what made him go in the dark and shoot a great barrel load of gravel over it end of chapter 14 chapter 15 of arama this is a libra box recording all libra box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra box.org recording my linda dodge arama by rd blackmore chapter 15 brought to bank the sanity of a man is mainly tested among his neighbors in kindred by the amount of consideration which he has consistently given to cash if money has been the chief object of his life and he for its sake has spared nobody no sooner is he known to be successful than admiration overpowers all the ill will he has caused he is shrewd sagacious longheaded and great he has earned his success and few men grudge while many seek to get a slice of it but he as a general rule declines any premature distribution and for this custody of his wealth he has admired all the more by those who have no hope of sharing it as soon as ever it was known that uncle sam had lodged at his bankers a tremendous lump of gold which rumor declared to be worth at least a hundred thousand dollars friends from every side poured in all in hot haste to lend them their last barthing the sawyer was pleased with their kindness but thought that his second best whiskey met the merits of the case and he was more particular than usual with his words for according to an old saying of the diggers a big nugget always has children and being too heavy to go very far it is likely to keep all its little ones at home many people therefore were longing to seek for the frogs of this great toad for so in their slang the miners called them with a love of preternatural history but mr. Gundry allowed no search for the frogs or even the tadpoles of his patriarchal nugget and much as he hated the idea of sowing the seeds of avarice in anyone he showed himself most consistent now in avoiding that imputation for not only did he refuse to show the bed of his great treasure after he had secured it but he fenced the whole of it in and tarred the fence and put loopholes in it and then he established jaller where he could neither be shot nor poisoned and kept a man with a double barreled rifle in the ruin of the mill handy to shoot but not easy to be shot and this was a resolute man being martin himself who had now no business of course martin grumbled but the worst his temper was the better for his duty as seems to be the case with a great many men and if anyone had come to console him in his grumbling never would he have gone away again it would have been reckless of me to pretend to say what anybody ought to do from the first to the last i left everything to those who knew so much better at the same time i felt it might have done no harm if i had been more consulted though i had never dreamed of saying so because the great gold had been found by me and although i cared for it scarcely more than for the tag of a boot lace nobody seemed to me able to enter into it quite as i did and as soon as firms danger and pain grew less i began to get rather impatient but uncle sam was not to be hurried before ever he hoisted that rock of gold he had made up his mind for me to be there and he even put the business off because i would not come one night for i had a superstitious fear on account of its being my father's birthday uncle sam had forgotten the date and begged my pardon for proposing it but he said we must not put it off later than the following night because the moonlight would be failing and we durst not have any kind of lamp and before the next moon the hard weather might begin all this was before the liberal office of his friends of which i have spoken first although they happen to come after it while the sawyer had been keeping the treasure per due to abide the issue of his grandson's illness he had taken good care both to watch it and to form some opinion of its shape and size for knowing the pile which i had described he could not help but finding it easily enough and indeed the great fear was that others might find it and come in great force to rob him but nothing of that sort had happened partly because he held his tongue rigidly and partly perhaps because of the simple precaution which he had taken now however it was needful to impart the secret to one man at least for firm the recovering was still so weak that it might have killed him to go into the water or even to exert himself at all and strong as uncle and strong as uncle sam was he knew that even with hoisting tackle he alone could never bring that piece of boy into bank so after much consideration he resolved to tell martin of the mill as being the most trusty man about the place as well as the most surly but he did not tell him till everything was ready and then he took him straight away to the place here in the moonlight we stood waiting firm and myself and suan isco who had more dread than love of gold and might be useful to keep watch or even lend a hand for she was as strong as an ordinary man the night was sultry and the fireflies though dull in the radiance of the moon darted like soft little shooting stars across the still face of shadow and the flood of the light to the moon was at its height submerging everything while we were whispering and keeping in the shade for fear of attracting any wanderers notice we saw the broad figure of the sawyer rising from a hollow of the bank and behind him came martin the foreman and we soon saw that due preparation had been made for they took from under some driftwood which had prevented us from observing it a small movable crane and fixed it on a platform of planks which they set up in the riverbed pale faces eat gold suan isco said reflectively and as if to satisfy herself dim eat drink die gold dim pull gold out of one's other's ears welly hope mellican man's get enough gold now don't be sarcastic now suan i answered as if it were possible to have enough for my part said firm who had been unusually silent all the evening i wish it had never been found at all as sure as i stand there mischief will come of it it will break up our household i hope it will turn out a lump of quartz guilt on the face as those big nuggets do 99 out of 100 i have had no faith in it all along because i found it mr firm i suppose i answered rather pettishly for i had never liked firm's insistent bitterness about my nugget perhaps if you had found it mr fern you would have had great faith in it can't say can't say was all firm's reply and he fell into the silent vein again heave ho heave ho there you son of cooks cried the Sawyer who was splashing for his life in the water i've tackled him now just tighten up the belt to see if he bite a center like you can't lift him god blessy not you it'll take all i know to do that i guess and firm ain't to lay no hand to it don't you be in such a doggone hurry hold hard can't you for suan and martin were hauling for their lives and even i caught a hold of a rope bend but had no idea what to do with it when the Sawyer swung himself up to bank and in half a minute all was orderly he showed us exactly where to throw our weight and he used its own to such good effect that after some creaking and groaning the long horn of the crane rose steadily and a massive dripping sparkle shown in the moonlight over the water hurrah what a whale howl the tough ash bends cried uncle sam panting like a boy and doing nearly all the work himself martin lay your chest to it well grass him in two seconds californi never saw a sight like this i reckon there was plenty of room for us all to stand around the monster and admire it in shape it was just like a fat toad squatting with his shoulders up and panting even a rough resemblance to the head and haunches might be discovered and a few spots of quartz shown here and there on the glistening and bossy surface some of us began to feel and handle it with vast admiration but firm with his heavy boots made a vicious kick at it and a few bright scales like sparks flew off why what ails the lad cried the saw your in some wrath what harm hath the stone ever done to him to my mind this here lump is a proof of the whole creation of the world and who hath lived long enough to gain say here this lump hath lain without change in color since creation's day and here it is as big as big and heavy as when the lord laid hand to it what good to argue again such facts supposing the world came out of nothing with nobody to fetch it or to say a word of orders however could it have managed to get a lump of gold in it like this they clever folks is too clever let them pull all their heads together and turn out a nugget and i'll believe them uncle sam's reasoning was too deep for anyone but himself to follow he was not long in perceiving this though we were content to admire his words without asking him to explain them so he only said well well and began to try with both hands if he could heft this lump he stirred it and moved it and raised it a little as the glisten of the light upon its rounding showed but lifted fairly from the ground he could not however he might bow his sturdy legs and bend his mighty back to it and strange to say he was pleased for once to acknowledge his own discomforture five hundred and a half i used to lift to the height of my kneecap easily i may have fallen off now a hundred weight with years and strings in my back and romatics but this here little toad is a clear hundred weight out and beyond my heftage if there's a pound here there's not an ounce under six hundred weight i'll lay a thousand dollars miss rima give a name to him all the thunder and nuggets has thunder and names then this shall be called uncle sam i answered because he is the largest in the best of all it shall stand miss cried martin who was in great spirits and seemed to have bettered himself forever you could not have given it a finer name miss if you had considered for a century uncle sam is the name of our glorious race from the kindness of a nature everybody's uncle we are now in virtue of superior knowledge and freedom and given of general advice and sticking to all the world or all the good of it darn if old sam aren't the front of creation well well said the sawyer let us call it uncle sam if the dear young lady likes it it would be bad luck to change the name but for all that we must look uncommon sharp or some of our glorious race will come and steal it before we unbutton our eyes who cried martin but he knew very well that his master's words were common sense and we left him on guard with a double-barreled gun and jowler to keep watch with him and the next day he told us that he had spent the night in such a frame of mind from continual thought that when our pet cow came to drink at daybreak it was but the blowing of her breath that saved her from taking a bullet between her soft tame eyes now it could not in any kind of way hold good that such things should continue and the sawyer though loath to lose sight of the knucket perceived that he must not sacrifice all the morals of the neighborhood to it and he barely had time to dispatch it on its road at the bottom of a load of lumber with martin to drive and jowler to sit up and firm to ride behind when a troop of mixed robbers came riding across with a four-wheeled cart and two sturdy mules enough to drag off everything they had clearly heard of the golden toad and desired to know more of him but uncle sam and his usual blandness met these men at the gate of his yard and upon the top rail to ease his arm he rested a rifle of heavy metal with seven revolving chambers the robbers found out that they had lost their way and mr. gundry answered that so they had and the sooner they found it in another direction the better it would be for them they thought that he had all his men inside and they were mighty civil even though we had only two negroes to help us and suan iska with a great gun cocked but their curiosity was such that they could not help asking about the gold and sooner than shoot them uncle sam replied that upon his honor the nugget was gone and the fame of his word was so well known that these fellas none of whom could tell the truth even at confession believed him on the spot and begged his pardon for trespassing on his premises they hoped that he would not say a word to the vigilance committee who hanged a poor fella for losing his road and he told them that if they made off at once nobody should pursue them and so they rode off very happily end of chapter 15 chapter 16 of arama this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by linda dodge strange as it may appear our quiet little home was not yet disturbed by that great discovery of gold the solier went up to the summit of a steam in public opinion but to himself and to us he was the same as ever he worked with his own hard hands and busy head just as he used to do for although the mill was still in ruins there was plenty of the finer work to do which always required hand labor and at night he would sit at the end of the table furthest from the fireplace with his spectacles on and his red cheeks glowing while he designed the future mill which was to be built in the spring and transcend every mill ever heard thought or dreamed of we all look forward to a quiet winter snug with warmth and cheer indoors and bright outside with sparkling trees brisk air and frosty appetite when a foolish idea arose which spoiled the comfort at least of two of us aphorium gundry found out or fancies that he was entirely filled with love of a very young maid who never dreamed of such things and hated even to hear of them and the maid unluckily was myself during the time of his ailment I had been with him continually being only too glad to assuage his pain or turn his thoughts away from it I partly suspected that he had incurred his bitter wound for my sake though I never imputed his zeal to more than a young man's natural wrath at an outrage but now he left me no longer in doubt and made me most uncomfortable perhaps I was hard upon him and afterward I often thought so for he was very kind and gentle but I was an orphan child and had no one to advise me in such matters I believed that he should have considered this and allowed me to grow a little older but perhaps he himself was too young as yet and too bashful to know how to manage things it was the very evening after his return from Sacramento and the beauty of the weather still abode in the soft warm depth around us in every tent of rock and tree and playful glass of river a quiet clearness seemed to lie and a rich content of color the grandeur of the world was such that one could only rest among it seeking neither voice nor thought therefore I was more surprised than pleased to hear my name ring loudly through the echoing hollows and then to see the bushes shaken and an eager form leap out I did not answer a word but sat with a wreath of white buvardia and small adiantum round my head which I had plaited anyhow what a lovely deer you are cried firm and then he seemed frightened at his own words I had no idea that you would have finished your dinner so soon as this mr. firm and you did not want me you were vexed to see me tell the truth miss Reema I always tell the truth I answered and I did not want to be disturbed just now I have so many things to think of and not me among them oh no of course you never think of me a Reema it is very unkind of you to say that I answered looking clearly at him as a child looks at a man and it is not true I assure you firm whenever I have thought of dear uncle Sam I very often go on to think of you because he is so very fond of you but not for my own sake a Reema you never think of me for my own sake but yes I do I assure you mr. firm I do greatly they're scarcely a day that I do not remember how hungry you are and I think of you tush replied firm in a lofty gaze even for a moment that does not in any way express my meaning my mind is very much above all eating when it dwells upon you a Reema I have always been fond of you a Reema you have always been so good to me firm I said as I managed to get a great branch between us after your grandfather and Swan Isco and Jaller I think that I like you best of almost anybody left to me and you know that I never forget your slippers a Reema you drive me almost wild by never understanding me now will you just listen to a little common sense you know that I am not romantic yes firm yes I know that you never did anything wrong in any way you would like me better if I did what is an extraordinary thing it is oh a Reema I beg your pardon he had seen in a moment as men seem to do when they study the much quicker face of a girl that his words had keenly wounded me that I had applied them to my father of whom I was always thinking though I scarcely ever spoke of him but I knew that firm had meant no harm and I gave him my hand though I could not speak my darling he said you are very dear to me dearer than all the world besides I will not worry you anymore only say that you do not hate me how could I how could anybody now let us go in and attend to Uncle Sam he thinks of everybody before himself and I think of everybody after myself is that what you mean a Reema to be sure if you like you may put any meaning on my words that you think proper I am accustomed to things of that sort and I pay no attention whatever when I am perfectly certain that I am right I see replied firm applying one finger to the side of his nose in deep contemplation which of all his manners annoyed me most I see how it is Miss Reema is always perfectly certain that she is right and the hold of the rest of the world is quite wrong well after all there is nothing like holding a first rate opinion of oneself you are not what I thought of you I cried being vexed be unbearance by such words and feeling their gross injustice if you wish to say anything more please to leave it until you recover your temper I am not quite accustomed to rudeness with these words I drew away and walked off partly in earnest and partly in joke not wishing to hear another word and when I look back being well out of sight there he sat still with his head on his hands and my heart had a little ache for him however I determined to say no more and to be extremely careful I could not injustice blame Ephraim Gundry for looking at me very often but I took good care not to look at him again unless he said something that made me laugh and then I could scarcely help it he was sharp enough very soon to find out this and then he did a thing which was most unfair as I found out long afterward he bought an American jest book full of ideas wholly new to me and these he committed to heart and brought them out as his own productions if I had only known it I must have been exceedingly sorry for him but Uncle Sam used to laugh and rub his hands perhaps for old acquaintance's sake and when Uncle Sam laughed there was nobody near who could help laughing with him and so I began to think firm the most witty and pleasant of men though I tried to look away but perhaps the most careful and delicate of things was to see how Uncle Sam went on I could not understand him at all just then and thought him quite changed from my old Uncle Sam but afterward when I came to know his behavior was as clear and shallow as the water of his own river he had very strange ideas about what he generally called the female kind according to his ideas and perhaps they were not so unusual among mankind especially settlers all females were of a good but weak and consistently inconsistent sort the surest way to make them do whatever their betters wanted was to make them think that it was not wanted but was hedged with obstacles beyond their power to overcome and so to provoke and tantalize them to set their hearts upon doing it in accordance with this idea then which there can be none more mistaken he took the greatest pains to keep me from having a word to say to firm and even went so far as to hint with winks and nods of pleasantry that his grandson's heart was set upon the prettiness Sylvester the daughter of a man who owned a herd of pigs much too near our sawmills and herself a young woman about the rage of stress and in a larger like contemptible but when Mr. Gundry without any words conveyed this piece of news to me I immediately felt quite a liking for gaudy but harmless Pennsylvania for so her parents had named her when she was too young to help it and I heartily hope that she might suit firm which she seemed all the more likely to do is his conduct could not be called noble upon that point however I said not a word leaving him purely to judge for himself and feeling it a great relief that now he could not say anything more to me I was glad that his taste was so easily pleased and I told suanisco how glad I was this I had better have left unsaid for it led to a great explosion and drove me away from the place altogether before the new mill was finished and before I should otherwise have gone from friends who were so good to me not that I could have stayed there much longer even if this had never come to pass for week by week and month by month I was growing more uneasy uneasy not at my obligations or dependence on mere friends for they managed that so kindly that I seemed to confer the favor but from my own sense of lagging far behind my duty for now the bright air and the wholesome food and the pleasure of goodness around me were making me grow without knowledge or notice into a tall and not altogether to be overlooked young woman I was exceedingly shy about this and blushed if anyone spoke of it but yet in my heart I felt it was so and how could I help it and when people said as rough people will and even uncle sam sometimes handsome is as handsome does or beauty is only skin deep and so on I made it my duty not to be put out but to bear it in mind and be thankful and though I had no idea of any such influence at the moment I hope that the grandeur of nature around and the lofty style of everything may have saved me from dwelling too much on myself as Pennsylvania Sylvester did now the more I felt my grown-up age and health and buoyant vigor the sureer I knew that the time was come for me to do some good with them not to benefit the world in general in a large and scattery way as many young people set out to do and never get any further but to right the wrong of my own house and bring home justice to my own heart this may be thought a partial and paltry object to sit out with and it is not for me to say otherwise at the time it occurred to me and no other light except as my due business and I never took any large view at all but even now I do believe though not yet in pickle of wisdom that if everybody in its own little space and among its own little movements will only do and take nothing without pure taste of the salt of justice no wreaking atrocity of national crimes could ever taint the heaven such questions however become me not I have only to deal with very little things sometimes too slim to handle well and too hazy to be woven and if they seem below my sense and dignity to treat of I can only say that they seem very big at the time when I had to encounter them for instance what could be more important in a little world of life than for uncle Sam to be put out and dare even to think ill of me yet this he did and it shows how shallow are all those theories of the other sex which men are so pleased to indulge in scarcely anything could be more ridiculous from first to last when calmly and truly considered then the firm belief which no power of reason could for the time root out of him uncle Sam the dearest of all mankind to me and the very kindest was positively low enough to believe in his sad opinion of the female race that my young head was turned because of the wealth to which I had no claim except through his own justice he had insisted at first that the whole of that great nugget belong to me by right of soul discovery I asked him whether if any stranger had found it it would have been considered his and whether he would have allowed a greaser upon finding to make off with it at the thought of this Mr. Gundry gave a little grunt and could not go so far as to maintain that view of it but he said that my reasoning did not fit that I was not a greaser but a settled inhabitant of the place and entitled to all a settler's rights that the bed of the river would have been his grave but for the risk of my life and therefore what I found in the bed of the river belonged to me and me only in argument he was so much stronger than I could ever attempt to be that I gave it up and could only say that if he argued forever it could never make any difference he did not argue forever but only grew obstinate and unpleasant so that I yielded at last to own the half share of the boyan very well everybody would have thought who has not studied the nature of men or been dragged through it heavily that now there could be no more trouble between two people entirely trusting each other and only anxious that the other should have the best of it yet instead of that being the case the mischief the myriad mischief of money set in until I heartily wished sometimes that my miserable self was down in the hole which the pelf had left behind it for what did uncle sam take into his head which was full of generosity and large ideas so loosely packed that the little ones grew between them especially about womankind what else did he really seem to think with the downright stubbornness of all his thoughts but that I his poor debtor and pensioner and penniless dependent was so set up and elated by the sudden access of fortune that henceforth none of his sawing race was high enough for me to think of it took me a long time to believe that so fair and just a man could ever set such interpretation upon me and when it became too plain that he did so truly I know not whether grief or anger was uppermost in my troubled heart end of chapter 16