Elizabeth Gerberding

“ I can easily take it up to my room.”
“All right. Your house is so near that you’d be sure to hear me. The gates are nailed up, but I can’t help feeling a little nervous. Keep what I’ve told you to yourself.”
“Do you think you will lose it all, Ben?”
“I can’t tell. I’m going to make a fight for it.”
“You’re awfully worried. I can tell by your face.”
“Well, what if I am? Most men are—most of the time. It’s life.” Beth sighed. “We’re rushed along, just as if we were on a river, and all we can do is to do the best we can. If we do that, it’s enough.” ”

“ Ben Ralston and his cousin Beth were sitting on the northern slope of Russian Hill, one of the many hills of San Francisco. At the foot of the elevation the black buildings and smokeless chimney of an abandoned smelting-works rose from the beach which skirted the hill. ”

“ Ben related his experience.
“You were in luck to see the Collector,” commented Mundon.
“My belief is that the chief’s all right in such cases,—a big man who won’t stoop to no dirty business and who’ll listen to a feller’s story and treat him fair. He’s got a sense of what he’s ben put in office for, by the people, to serve the people. But a smarty clerk who takes delight in snubbing the people who really give him his bread and butter—deliver me from him! ”

“ Above them, on a higher embankment, a sentry paced to and fro, his bayonet glistening in the sunlight.
“So, Dame Trot scolds a good deal, does she?” Ben remarked, ignoring the invitation to expatiate on the scheme. “I must stop calling her that. Her name’s Mrs. Hodges.”
“Yes, she does. I don’t think she means to, though,” she added. “I think she’s been disappointed in so many things that it’s made her cross with everything. If it wasn’t for poor little Sue I couldn’t stand it.”
“Sue would miss you—if you should go away.” ”

“ He could read the triumph in Syd’s face, and it cost him an effort to put on a bold front and see them all through the gates.
“It’s no go, I’m afraid,” he whispered to Beth. For answer she pressed his hand. He closed the gates and turned to Mundon.
“Well,—it’s a failure. You needn’t tell me—I know it.”
“Failure? No, ’tain’t a failure.”
“Are you saying that to let me down easy?”
“Before God, I ain’t! Why, boy, what you got tears in your eyes fur? Brace up and be a man!”
“I’m trying to, Mundon.” Ben’s voice shook. ”

“ Ben turned and saw the man who had signed as a witness to the agreement.
“How do you do, Mr. Mundon?” he replied. “Yes, I think it will need an arastra to crush the bricks.” His grave face showed that already the cares of the undertaking were preying upon him.
“Don’t you mind the sneers and laughs of anybody,” the man said, with a sturdy independence that Ben liked. “You’ve got a good proposition. I’ve seen it done in Australia and a big pile cleaned up. They do it in this country, too; and if this old chap you bought it from didn’t have the mining fever so bad, he’d have done it years ago.” ”

“ Mundon was particularly pleased to find the “jigger” undisturbed.
“Here’s the slag I mean, Ben. I’ve dreamt about that there identical lump fur three nights runnin’.” Mundon pointed to the rugged top of a lava-like bowlder, which reared itself from a corner of the earthen floor.
“I guess you’re right about the metals there are in it,” said Ben; “but it might be an aerolite for all I know.”
“What’s that? Say it again.”
“An aerolite? It’s the lump of metal they find when a meteor falls and it’s unlike anything found on this earth.” ”

“ Mundon had been marking a circle in the center of the floor.
“Now, Ben,” he said, “we’re ready for the corner-stone, and you’re the proper person to lay it. You just git one of those bricks and put it here.” He struck the center of the circle a blow with his spade.
“I didn’t know you could corner a circle,” said Ben, as he placed a brick upon the spot indicated.
“You kin corner anythin’, if you only find out how to do it. There,” he added, with satisfaction, “the first brick’s laid. Now, she’ll go a-hummin’!”
“Let me help you,” said Ben. “It’s more interesting than building the mule-shed. ”

“ Ben sat down on some lumber and gloomily watched Mundon melt the gold in a crucible.
“Yes, so ’tis; but gold’s worth twenty dollars an ounce. Didn’t expect ’twould be all gold, did you? I’m a-figurin’ roughly on the tons of stuff you’ve got in sight and the amount of gold you’ve got out of one jiggerful, and—you’ve got a good [Pg 122] thing all right, Ben. But you’re just like all kids,—beggin’ pardon,—onreasonable.” ”

“ Fish is the meanest man in town; that he won’t give you any show at all, and won’t let you take another cent out of the Works.”
“Then, they’ve heard about it already?” he asked. She nodded. “Quick work! And that it serves me right. I dare say that’s another thing they say?”
The girl’s face flushed. “Yes, they did. Mrs. Hodges was the worst. She said that Mundon was a sharper and that you were a greeny.”
“Well, it isn’t over yet.”
They walked on for a few moments in silence. Although Ben spoke up stoutly, he was very despondent.
“Tell you what I wish you’d do, Beth?” he suddenly said. ”

“ Just because you’re three years older than me, you think you’re grown up!”
“Why, Beth, what’s come over you?”
“You’re a man all at once; that’s all. I s’pose now we can’t have any more fun with stilts and tar-barrels. Nor fly kites, nor run races, nor—nor do anything we used to do! I hate the scheme,—I do!”
Ben laughed. “Come on,” he said; “I’ll race you.”
Off they went, flying along the beach until they came up, breathless, against the wooded slopes of Black Point. They climbed up the bank until they reached the ramparts. ”

“ Through the long hours of the night, as Ben sat in the shadow of a wall across the street from the Works, he had plenty [Pg 162] of time for reflection. Although he had indignantly refused to believe the imputation against Mundon’s honesty, still it kept persistently recurring to him.
“Can it be possible that he was in with that smuggling gang, and that fear of personal safety made him use me as a catspaw to inform on them?” he asked himself, but dismissed this as being highly improbable. Mundon’s surprise when the opium was discovered had been too genuine to be doubted. ”

“ What right have I to promise to pay a man out of my thinking?”
“There ain’t any other way. You’ve just got to do it; or borrow the money from some one else, which amounts to the same thing.” He paused for a reply, but as he noticed Ben’s hesitation he hastened to divert him from his weighing of right and wrong. “I recollec’ a chimney on one of Senator Fair’s mills up in Nevada, that yielded a pile of gold and silver when ’twas broke up. Why, they found one solid lump of silver half as big as my fist, in a crack in the masonry. ”

“ The retort did not seem heavy to Ben as they lifted it to the furnace; and he concluded that Mundon had asked him to help him, in order that he might feel that he was more than a spectator.
“He’s got the finest feelings,” Ben said to himself. “He’s always trying to make a fellow feel comfortable.”
They built a roaring fire in the furnace.
“Now, you kin tend that fire fur two hours, Ben,” said Mundon, “while I go down-town and see ’bout gittin’ some more coal and a few little things we need. I’ll be right back. Don’t forget—you got to keep that there retort red-hot the whole time.” ”

“ Ben watched with them, looking off on the waters of the bay and listening [Pg 71] for the dip of muffled oars. More than once he fancied he heard the smugglers approaching, and his heart beat fast as he waited to be sure before calling the men.
He felt a great distaste for his position, and correctly attributed Mundon’s refusal to join in the watch to the same reason. When morning dawned he experienced a distinct relief that nothing had occurred during the night to place him in the position of an informer. ”

“ Ben said to himself. “And I wish all these folks would go home before we make the clean-up.” He drew Mundon aside. “Can’t you get rid of them before we melt the stuff?”
“Don’t know. They ’pear to be powerful interested in what we’re doin’,” the other replied.
“That’s just it; they’re too much interested. We’ve got gold on both days; but there’s no knowing how long that luck will last. Suppose we opened the crucible some night and didn’t get anything?” ”

“ They’re the most important point, ’cause that’s the way you kin tell a horse’s age—by his teeth. If they’re long, he’s old. You want to see that they ain’t ben filed, too.”
“Do you think the point about the teeth would apply to a mule?” Ben asked.
“There ain’t nothin’ that applies to a mule except—patience. You’ve got to have everlastin’ patience when you come near a mule. But, they’re knowin’. Lordy! I’ve had ’em teamin’ up in the mountains when they knew a sight more’n most men. I’d talk to ’em just like they was humans. ”

“ Syd repeated in surprise.
[Pg 50]
“Yes, for gold; and I expect to find a pile.”
“Well, I hope you won’t be disappointed. Just give me a lump to have set in a scarf-pin, will you?” He laughed in derision.
“All right,—a small nugget will do, I suppose. I must be going now; good morning.”
Syd gave a grunt in reply and slouched away. Tall and awkward, he thrust his head forward when he walked and kept his eyes fixed on the ground.
Ben turned and watched him for a moment. “How he would rejoice in my failure!” he said to himself. “It’s odd that some people find their pleasure in just such things. ”

“ This is the stuff,” Mundon said, as he carefully took the gold from the crucible, “be it much or little of it, that makes wild beasts of men. ’Most all the sins that make a man into a beast can be laid to this pretty shinin’ dirt.”
[Pg 140]
On the afternoon of the fourth day Ben and Mundon were working like beavers.
“’Bout five minutes now, and we’ll take out the amalgam,” Mundon remarked. “I b’lieve it’ll carry more than twice as much as yesterday’s. Somehow, the stuff shined more when we broke it up. I reckon I’ve got ’bout a quarter of the chimney chipped.” ”

“ Mundon remarked. “In my opinion, there ain’t one chance in a hundred of their catchin’ ’em.”
“Why shouldn’t they catch them if they come back here for the opium?” Ben innocently inquired.
“Why, boy, there’s more plaguey ramifications to a gang like that. From what you’ve told me, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that this man Cutter’s in it himself. Most likely every move you’ve made has ben known to ’em; and they’d hev taken the stuff away if they’d got a chance.”
All that night the Custom House men kept a watch at the Works. ”

“ You see, the gold what stays in the furnaces, works right into the mortar and bricks in a [Pg 59] dust so fine you can’t see it. That’s why you need a ’rastra. But, sometimes, fine particles of precip’tated silver’ll get blown into a crack, until there’s a big lump formed.”
They peered up the gaping black mouth of the chimney. The furnaces had been roughly torn out and large openings marked where they had joined the chimney.
“Tell you what, Ben,” exclaimed Mundon, “s’pose I skin up and see what I kin see?” ”

“ The Chinese regarded him with a sphinx-like stare. “O, ten dollars is not much money to me,” he remarked, indifferently. “I like to rent from you; that’s all. On that day I speak to you I go with the crowd to see what you do. I hear Mr. Fish talk to old man.”
“Old man with a big gray hat and a cane?” Ben eagerly inquired.
“Yes. I suppose those men think I not understand much English, for they not pay much attention to me. Mr. Fish say to old man that it too bad to lose so much money. They mean your [Pg 184] gold—they watch it. Then they talk about a lease; and old man say it not good any more. ”

“ I don’t care if the law does back him up,—it’s dishonest trickery!”
“Maybe you won’t be a millionaire, after all.” The girl’s face wore a blank expression. Then she suddenly brightened. “But millionaires always go through this sort of thing, don’t they? [Pg 160] Mr. Palmer landed in San Francisco with only fifty cents in his pocket and chopped wood to earn his dinner. I’ve heard him tell about it lots of times. I think he’d rather talk about it than anything else in the world. Perhaps,” she glanced at Ben, “you’re too well dressed, Ben, to turn out a millionaire. ”

“ A horse has got a heap of sense, but, in my opinion, a mule kin discount him every time.”
“We’re safer, then, in buying a mule than a horse?”
“Law, yes! For the work you want done, you are.”
“Well, I’ll be going along, I guess,” remarked Ben. “I want to look over the field before the sale begins.”
“That’d be a good idee.”
Ben boarded an electric car which crossed the city. He was dubious as to his ability for the task he had undertaken, and regretted that he had not [Pg 82] asked Mundon to go in his place. He ran over the directions for buying a horse. ”

“ Mundon exclaimed. “I should think that ’sperience would have taught ’em to suspect one of [Pg 143] theirselves sooner than us. ’Twas only one man as showed any suspicions outright, and like as not he was one of the rogues himself. I was half a mind to tell him so once, but I knowed ’twouldn’t do no good.”
“Not a bit,” Ben agreed; “and it might do harm.”
“Mining’s a curious business. It’s the only business on earth, though, where you ain’t cuttin’ the ground away from under some other man’s feet. ”

“ Ben indignantly repeated. “At what, I’d like to know! I came here to get some information from the proprietor of this fruit-canning factory.”
“Information! Fruit factory!” the man sneered. “That’s a likely story! This place has been under suspicion for some time as being one of the biggest opium-dens and smuggler’s storehouses in town.” ”

“ Mundon watched Ben lay the bricks.
“How clumsy I am!” the latter exclaimed when the bricks refused to lie evenly. “I’ve often watched [Pg 99] bricklayers at work. It looks as easy as breathing; but it isn’t,—not by a long sight!”
“It’s a trade,” Mundon laconically remarked.
“Then you must be Jack of them all,” said Ben, “for there’s nothing you can’t do.”
“I’ve ben in most of ’em. It’s mean to try to do things when you don’t know how. Sometimes, a job I wasn’t used to would take a powerful long time ”

“ Ben shook his head.
Mundon reflected a moment. “That’s queer, Ben. You don’t tell us enough about the man for us to git hold of anything,” he said. “I’d like to git at him. You had a tussle with him, yet you don’t say whether he was fat or thin, or tall or short. We ain’t got nothin’ ter go by.”
Ben smiled faintly. “What’s the [Pg 174] use of going? We couldn’t afford to hire a detective; it would cost more than the clean-up amounted to. ”