When I had been nursing the Captain nine days he was somewhat better, but very feeble. During the afternoon we lifted him into a chair and gave him an alcoholic21 vapor22 bath, and then set about putting him on the bed again. We had to be exceedingly careful, for the least jar produced pain. Gardiner had his shoulders and I his legs; in an unfortunate moment I stumbled and the patient fell heavily on the bed in an agony of torture. I never heard a man swear so in my life. He raved23 like a maniac24, and tried to snatch a revolver from the table—but I got it. He ordered me out of the house, and swore a world of oaths that he would kill me wherever he caught me when he got on his feet again. It was simply a passing fury, and meant nothing. I knew he would forget it in an hour, and maybe be sorry for it, too; but it angered me a little, at the moment. So much so, indeed, that I determined25 to go back to Esmeralda. I thought he was able to get along alone, now, since he was on the war path. I took supper, and as soon as the moon rose, began my nine-mile journey, on foot.
As I “raised the hill” overlooking the town, it lacked fifteen minutes of twelve. I glanced at the hill over beyond the canyon28, and in the bright moonlight saw what appeared to be about half the population of the village massed on and around the Wide West croppings. My heart gave an exulting29 bound, and I said to myself, “They have made a new strike to- night—and struck it richer than ever, no doubt.” I started over there, but gave it up. I said the “strick” would keep, and I had climbed hill enough for one night. I went on down through the town, and as I was passing a little German bakery, a woman ran out and begged me to come in and help her. She said her husband had a fit. I went in, and judged she was right—he appeared to have a hundred of them, compressed into one. Two Germans were there, trying to hold him, and not making much of a success of it. I ran up the street half a block or so and routed out a sleeping doctor, brought him down half dressed, and we four wrestled30 with the maniac, and doctored, drenched31 and bled him, for more than an hour, and the poor German woman did the crying. He grew quiet, now, and the doctor and I withdrew and left him to his friends.
It was a little after one o’clock. As I entered the cabin door, tired but jolly, the dingy32 light of a tallow candle revealed Higbie, sitting by the pine table gazing stupidly at my note, which he held in his fingers, and looking pale, old, and haggard. I halted, and looked at him. He looked at me, stolidly33. I said:
“Higbie, what—what is it?”
“We’re ruined—we didn’t do the work—THE BLIND LEAD’S RELOCATED!”
It was enough. I sat down sick, grieved—broken-hearted, indeed. A minute before, I was rich and brimful of vanity; I was a pauper34 now, and very meek35. We sat still an hour, busy with thought, busy with vain and useless self-upbraidings, busy with “Why didn’t I do this, and why didn’t I do that,” but neither spoke36 a word. Then we dropped into mutual37 explanations, and the mystery was cleared away. It came out that Higbie had depended on me, as I had on him, and as both of us had on the foreman. The folly38 of it! It was the first time that ever staid and steadfast39 Higbie had left an important matter to chance or failed to be true to his full share of a responsibility.
But he had never seen my note till this moment, and this moment was the first time he had been in the cabin since the day he had seen me last. He, also, had left a note for me, on that same fatal afternoon—had ridden up on horseback, and looked through the window, and being in a hurry and not seeing me, had tossed the note into the cabin through a broken pane40. Here it was, on the floor, where it had remained undisturbed for nine days:
“Don’t fail to do the work before the ten days expire. W. has passed through and given me notice. I am to join him at Mono Lake, and we shall go on from there to-night. He says he will find it this time, sure. CAL.”
“W.” meant Whiteman, of course. That thrice accursed “cement!”
That was the way of it. An old miner, like Higbie, could no more withstand the fascination41 of a mysterious mining excitement like this “cement” foolishness, than he could refrain from eating when he was famishing. Higbie had been dreaming about the marvelous cement for months; and now, against his better judgment, he had gone off and “taken the chances” on my keeping secure a mine worth a million undiscovered cement veins42. They had not been followed this time. His riding out of town in broad daylight was such a common-place thing to do that it had not attracted any attention. He said they prosecuted43 their search in the fastnesses of the mountains during nine days, without success; they could not find the cement. Then a ghastly fear came over him that something might have happened to prevent the doing of the necessary work to hold the blind lead (though indeed he thought such a thing hardly possible), and forthwith he started home with all speed. He would have reached Esmeralda in time, but his horse broke down and he had to walk a great part of the distance. And so it happened that as he came into Esmeralda by one road, I entered it by another. His was the superior energy, however, for he went straight to the Wide West, instead of turning aside as I had done—and he arrived there about five or ten minutes too late! The “notice” was already up, the “relocation” of our mine completed beyond recall, and the crowd rapidly dispersing44. He learned some facts before he left the ground. The foreman had not been seen about the streets since the night we had located the mine—a telegram had called him to California on a matter of life and death, it was said. At any rate he had done no work and the watchful45 eyes of the community were taking note of the fact. At midnight of this woful tenth day, the ledge46 would be “relocatable,” and by eleven o’clock the hill was black with men prepared to do the relocating. That was the crowd I had seen when I fancied a new “strike” had been made—idiot that I was.
[We three had the same right to relocate the lead that other people had, provided we were quick enough.] As midnight was announced, fourteen men, duly armed and ready to back their proceedings47, put up their “notice” and proclaimed their ownership of the blind lead, under the new name of the “Johnson.” But A. D. Allen our partner (the foreman) put in a sudden appearance about that time, with a cocked revolver in his hand, and said his name must be added to the list, or he would “thin out the Johnson company some.” He was a manly48, splendid, determined fellow, and known to be as good as his word, and therefore a compromise was effected. They put in his name for a hundred feet, reserving to themselves the customary two hundred feet each. Such was the history of the night’s events, as Higbie gathered from a friend on the way home.
Higbie and I cleared out on a new mining excitement the next morning, glad to get away from the scene of our sufferings, and after a month or two of hardship and disappointment, returned to Esmeralda once more. Then we learned that the Wide West and the Johnson companies had consolidated49; that the stock, thus united, comprised five thousand feet, or shares; that the foreman, apprehending50 tiresome51 litigation, and considering such a huge concern unwieldy, had sold his hundred feet for ninety thousand dollars in gold and gone home to the States to enjoy it. If the stock was worth such a gallant52 figure, with five thousand shares in the corporation, it makes me dizzy to think what it would have been worth with only our original six hundred in it. It was the difference between six hundred men owning a house and five thousand owning it. We would have been millionaires if we had only worked with pick and spade one little day on our property and so secured our ownership!
It reads like a wild fancy sketch53, but the evidence of many witnesses, and likewise that of the official records of Esmeralda District, is easily obtainable in proof that it is a true history. I can always have it to say that I was absolutely and unquestionably worth a million dollars, once, for ten days.
A year ago my esteemed54 and in every way estimable old millionaire partner, Higbie, wrote me from an obscure little mining camp in California that after nine or ten years of buffetings and hard striving, he was at last in a position where he could command twenty-five hundred dollars, and said he meant to go into the fruit business in a modest way. How such a thought would have insulted him the night we lay in our cabin planning European trips and brown stone houses on Russian Hill!
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1
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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10
ranting
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| v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨 | |
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11
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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amending
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| 改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 ) | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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alcoholic
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| adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者 | |
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vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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jaunt
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| v.短程旅游；n.游览 | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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exulting
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| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
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wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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pauper
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| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
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meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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38
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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40
pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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41
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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42
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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43
prosecuted
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| a.被起诉的 | |
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44
dispersing
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| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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45
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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46
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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47
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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48
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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49
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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50
apprehending
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解 | |
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51
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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52
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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53
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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54
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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