Sure, whatever Horace Greeley said, the people would believe.
In order to make certain that the report would be a good one, it had been arranged to pilot Mr. Greeley to the richest of the claims, and invite him to wash from these for himself. Pat's was the lowest down and therefore the first—and now Pat seemed to think that the reputation of the gulch rested on his shoulders.
He had donned a fresh shirt, ahead of time, and evidently had tried to slick up generally. The water had been turned off from the sluice4 as if in preparation for a postponed5 clean-up.
"Take it 'asy," directed Pat, when Terry, having delivered the two pies contracted for, was about to spring into the pit and begin the business of the day. "Let the sluice be, so His Honor can clane up some o' the riffles by himself. An' we'll jist be loosenin' the dirt a bit here an' yon, for the sake o' keepin' busy an' makin' the place convanyent for him."
In fact, Pat was so particular in "jist loosenin' the dirt a bit" that Terry suspected him of not wishing to soil his shirt.
"Well, I'm thinkin' they're comin'," pronounced Pat. "Out o' the pit with ye an' wash your hands an' face so ye'll be a credit to the gulch. Sure, ye might have put on a clane shirt yourself—but mebbe 'tis better wan6 of us looks like a hard worker."
Terry had a notion to retort that probably Harry7 was wearing the clean shirt; they had only three shirts for the two of them, and the extra ought to go to the cook, of course.
All around, the other miners were unusually busy, so as to impress the great Horace Greeley, but they kept an eye directed down the gulch. Now a party, on muleback, were drawing near. They numbered half a dozen, conducted by John Gregory himself, and a little squad9 of onlookers10 trailed behind.
"Mind ye, let me do the talkin'," he cautioned, to Terry. "An' be polite to His Honor, yourself. He's a great man. An' in case Oi ask ye to dig, take your dirt careless loike from the corner beside that white rock, for the rock's a lucky stone."
The party halted at Pat's pit and gazed in, and Pat and Terry, pausing in their show of work, looked up. Besides John Gregory, there were in the party Green Russell and Mr. Williams, the stage company superintendent12, and Editor William Byers of the Rocky Mountain News, and—yes, Mr. Villard, the Cincinnati reporter.
Terry did not know whether Mr. Villard would remember him, or recognize him, anyway, in those clothes, which were much worse than when worn in Denver.
"This is one of our promising13 gulch claims," was saying John Gregory. And—"Good morning to you, Pat," he addressed. "How are things looking with you today?"
"Foine, thank ye, John," assured Pat.
"Come out a minute, Pat. Mr. Greeley, I want to make you acquainted with Mr. Casey, a leading citizen of the Gulch. And Mr. Richardson—Mr. Casey. And Mr. Villard—Mr. Casey." Pat, who had clambered out, removed his hat and rather bashfully shook hands.
So that was Horace Greeley, was it; the editor of the New York Tribune! He didn't look like an editor of a big paper such as the Tribune. Rather, with his square hat and his rosy14 face surrounded with a fringe of short white whiskers, and his roly-poly figure, as he sat his mule8, his legs sticking straight out, he looked more like a church deacon or a prosperous "back East" farmer.
Mr. Richardson, who probably was that reporter for the Boston Journal, as spoken of by Mr. Villard in Denver, was a tall, wiry man with soft hat and full brown beard, and wore a Colt's revolver.
"These gentlemen are out from the East, Pat," continued John Gregory, "to see if it's true that we're all starving hereabouts and that the gold is in our eye. Mebbe you've no objection to their doing a little investigating on their own account down in your hole there."
"Faith, Oi'd be proud if their Honors would touch their fingers to me dirt," asserted Pat. "Would they loike to get down in, or shall Oi pass a bit up to 'em?"
"About how much are you washing out a day, Pat?" invited Green Russell.
"Oh, a hundred dollars a day, more or less, dependin' on the clane-ups," answered Pat.
"Upon my word!" exclaimed Mr. Greeley, adjusting a pair of spectacles, the closer to peer. "I was scarcely prepared to find that a fact."
"You're ready to make a clean-up, I see," spoke15 Mr. Byers. "Suppose you show Mr. Greeley and these other gentlemen. How long will it take?"
"A matter o' two hours," replied Pat. "But would His Honor loike to try a pan, first? Sure, a pan or two from the pit, an' a couple from the riffles—that's a fair tist."
"Yes, I believe I should like to see the evidences of a pan," declared Mr. Greeley.
"There's no need of His Honor gettin' down in," averred17 Pat. "It's no place for the feet of a gintleman. Terry, me lad, pan a spadeful, will ye, an' show Mr. Grayley the color so the New York Tribyune'll tell the world all about it?"
Something in the slant18 of Pat's eye reminded Terry to dig his dirt from beside the white rock in the corner; seizing the spade, he did so, and dumped into the pan always handy. The ditch that fed the sluice was only a few steps from the shallow edge of the pit. Squatting19 over it, Terry deftly20 panned the dirt. No one could have done it better—and the result certainly was amazing. Terry handed up the pan, but he scarcely could believe his eyes. Mr. Horace Greeley would require no 'specs to see that color!
"Between two an' thray dollars, Your Honor," assured Pat, as amidst exclamations21 the remarkable23 pan was passed about. "Even a boy can get the rale stuff in these diggin's. Will Your Honor keep the dust for a token? An' will ye be after tryin' a pan for yourself? Sure, everything ye find is yours."
"You might try a pan from the riffles of the sluice, Mr. Greeley," suggested Mr. Byers.
"I will." Mr. Greeley promptly24 rolled up his sleeves, and settled his square hat more firmly on his head. "Let me have the pan, if you please." He carefully scraped the color from the pan and deposited it in a buckskin bag that he carried. "Where shall I take from?"
"Annywhere, annywhere, Your Honor," bade Pat.
"Why not about the middle, Mr. Greeley?" proposed Journalist Richardson. "That would be fair."
"Let him alone, gintlemen," urged Pat. "Let His Honor do it all himself. Come out, Terry, lad. Ye'll be gettin' in His Honor's way."
That was not one bit true, because Mr. Greeley would not be anywhere near Terry. However, Terry trudged25 out, to please the anxious Pat; and now Mr. Villard hailed him.
"Why—hello, Pike's Peak Limited! I thought that was you. Where's your partner, and how are you making it in the mines?" He shook heartily26 with Terry, in spite of the mud on Terry's clothes—not to speak of considerable on Terry's hand.
"Harry's up at the cabin. We're doing pretty well, thank you," answered Terry.
"Well, I should rather say you were, if you wash out two and three dollar pans! I was hoping to see you. Mr. Richardson has a message for you. Richardson, this is one of the partners in that Pike's Peak Limited outfit27 you've inquired about."
"Oh, yes." And Mr. Richardson, the Boston journalist, also shook hands with Terry. "Glad to meet you. Mr. Greeley and I passed some people on our way out by stage. That is, they spent the night near us, at one of the stage stations. They asked us, if we saw the Pike's Peak Limited boys at the diggin's anywhere, to say they were coming. There were two families traveling together. One was Mr. and Mrs. Richards——"
"They're my father and mother!" exclaimed Terry.
"And the other was Mr. and Mrs. Stanton, and a boy and a little girl."
"I know 'em!" cried Terry, excited. "The boy's name is George and the girl's name is Virgie. The Stantons are near neighbors of my folks, in the Big Blue Valley. Are they near? When'll they get here?"
"Oh, they were some distance out yet," smiled Mr. Richardson. "But they had spanking28 good teams and were pushing right through. They'll——"
"Ha, ha! Watch our old friend Horace! He acts like an expert," laughed Mr. Villard.
For Mr. Greeley, after having deliberately29 selected the packed dirt from several of the riffles at the middle of the sluice, was proceeding to wash his pan at the ditch.
"Why, His Honor might have been in the diggin's all his life!" praised Pat. "Sure, isn't he a Californy Forty-niner?"
Mr. Greeley was not so swift in his motions as a skilled prospector30, but he evidently knew the correct method. He dipped, and tilted31 the pan, and twirled out the dirt and water; and peered, and dipped and twirled again.
Each time that he peered he seemed to be more interested, and his smooth, chubby32 face grew redder.
"Have you struck it rich, Mr. Greeley?"
"Upon my word!" And straightening, he returned with the pan held close under his nose. "Marvelous! If this is gold—and I judge that it is—these are very rich diggings indeed."
They all crowded forward to inspect the pan. The bottom of it was absolutely yellow!
"Hurrah33 for Mr. Greeley!" congratulated the other journalists, and hands patted him roundly on the back.
"Gold!" proclaimed Pat. "Faith, an' if 'tain't a twinty dollar pan I'll ate it. Wance I washed out siventeen dollars myself, but never a pan like that from mere34 a few riffles. Keep it, Your Honor. Would ye like to try ag'in?"
"Oh, no, no," declined Editor Greeley, considerably35 flustered36 as he painstakingly37 transferred the flakes38 and dust to his buckskin sack. "This is proof enough. Now I have worked with my own hands and seen the results with my own eyes—I have the results in my very pocket! Nobody can gainsay39 the richness of these new Western mines, and the truth shall be announced to the world as far as my paper can carry it." He smiled boyishly on Terry. "I beat you, my son, didn't I? Well, well!"
"This is one of the Pike's Peak Limited boys, Mr. Greeley," explained Journalist Richardson. "You remember a party of emigrants40 on the trail sent word by us to them, in case we ran across them at Cherry Creek41 or elsewhere."
"Yes, yes. That is so," and the great Horace Greeley extended his hand to Terry. "You must be Terry, then—the son of that Mr. and Mrs. Richards in one of the wagons42."
"Yes, sir," answered Terry, wondering how Mr. Greeley could remember. "They're my father and mother. The other outfit lived on the next ranch43 to us in the Big Blue Valley."
"And they had another boy, and a little girl beside," said Mr. Greeley. "That's good. I'm glad to see young blood entering this vast new country of the United States. When I return to New York I think I shall print as a motto: 'Go West, young man; go West.'"
After shaking hands again with Pat, the Horace Greeley party rode on up the gulch, for further investigations44. Pat respectfully watched them; then he clapped on his battered45 hat and faced Terry with a droll46 wink47.
"B' gorry, that was good wages for an hour's work. Oi'm thinkin' Mr. Grayley'll be wishin' to sell his Tribyune an' dig in the dirt along with the rest of us here."
"I should say!" agreed Terry. "Jiminy, this is awful rich ground! I didn't know there was so much gold in here, did you? We must have opened up a regular layer yesterday."
"Don't ye tell anybody," whispered Pat, "but Oi opened up me oyster-can a bit, an' sprinkled a few pinches jist to make the visit by His Honor the more interestin'. Sure," continued Pat, "ye wouldn't want a man like the great Horace Grayley to soil his hands for mere a dollar or two, would ye? An' it's all right. The same gold came out o' here in the first place, an' wance Oi tuk siventeen dollars an' fifty cents from a single pan, myself. He might have done as much without my help, if he'd struck the proper spot, an' I only made matters 'asy for him. Now he can print the news with an exclamation22 point. Well, let's clane up the sluice, an' give back to the oyster-can what's due it an' more besides."
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1
gulch
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| n.深谷，峡谷 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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sluice
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| n.水闸 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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6
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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7
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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8
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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9
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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15
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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16
peeked
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| v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出 | |
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17
averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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spanking
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| adj.强烈的，疾行的；n.打屁股 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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prospector
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| n.探矿者 | |
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tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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36
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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painstakingly
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| adv. 费力地 苦心地 | |
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38
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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gainsay
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| v.否认，反驳 | |
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emigrants
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| n.（从本国移往他国的）移民( emigrant的名词复数 ) | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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42
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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45
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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46
droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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47
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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