more unexpected discoveries—captain bunting makes bill jones a first mate—larry o’neil makes himself a first mate—the parting—ned sinton proves himself, a second time, to be a friend in need and in deed.
“it never rains but it pours,” saith the proverb. we are fond of proverbs. we confess to a weakness that way. there is a depth of meaning in them which courts investigation from the strongest intellects. even when they are nonsensical, which is not unfrequently the case, their nonsense is unfathomable, and, therefore, invested with all the zest which attaches, metaphysically speaking, to the incomprehensible.
astonishing circumstances had been raining for some time past around our bewildered adventurers, and, latterly, they had begun to pour. on the afternoon of the day, the events of which have been recorded in the last chapter, there was, metaphorically speaking, a regular thunder-plump. no sooner had the party returned to old mr thompson’s cottage, than down it came again, heavy as ever.
on entering the porch, lizette ran up to tom, in that pretty tripping style peculiar to herself, and whispered in his ear.
“well, you baggage,” said he, “i’ll go with you; but i don’t like secrets. walk into the parlour, friends; i’ll be with you in a minute.”
“tom,” said lizette, pursing up her little mouth and elevating her pert nose; “you can’t guess what an interesting discovery i’ve made.”
“of course i can’t,” replied tom, with affected impatience; “now, pray, don’t ask me to try, else i shall leave you instantly.”
“what an impatient creature you are!” said lizette. “only think! i have discovered that my maid, whom we hired only two days ago, has—”
“bolted with the black cook, or somebody else, and married him,” interrupted tom, with a look of horror, as he threw himself into any easy-chair.
“not at all,” rejoined lizette, hurriedly; “nothing of the sort; she has discovered that the little girl mr sinton brought with him is her sister.”
“what! kate morgan’s sister!” cried tom, with a look of surprise. “i knew it; i was sure i had heard the name before, but i couldn’t remember when or where; i see it now; she must be the girl larry o’neil used to talk about up at the diggin’s; but as i never saw her there, of course i couldn’t know her.”
“well, i don’t know about that; i suppose you’re right,” replied lizette; “but isn’t it nice? they’re kissing and hugging each other, and crying, in the kitchen at this moment. oh! i’m so happy—the dear little thing!”
if lizette was happy she took a strange way to shew it, for she sat down beside tom and began to sob.
while the above conversation was going on up-stairs, another conversation—interesting enough to deserve special notice—was going on in the parlour.
“sure don’t i know me own feelin’s best?” remarked larry, addressing ned sinton. “it’s all very well at the diggin’s; but when it comes to drawin’-rooms and parlours, i feels—an’ so does bill jones here—that we’re out ’o place. in the matter o’ diggin’ we’re all equals, no doubt; but we feels that we ain’t gintlemen born, and that it’s a’k’ard to the lady to be havin’ sich rough customers at her table, so bill an’ me has agreed to make the most o’ ourselves in the kitchen.”
“larry, you’re talking nonsense. we have messed together on equal terms for many months; and, whatever course we may follow after this, you must sup with us to-night, as usual. i know tom will be angry if you don’t.”
“ay, sir, but it ain’t ‘as oosual,’” suggested bill jones, turning the quid in his cheek; “it’s quite on-oosual for the likes o’ us to sup with a lady.”
“that’s it,” chimed in larry; “so, mister ned, ye’ll jist plaise to make our excuges to mrs tom, and tell her where we’ve gone to lo-cate, as the yankees say. come away, bill.”
larry took his friend by the arm, and, leading him out of the room, shut the door.
five seconds after that there came an appalling female shriek, and a dreadful masculine yell, from the region of the kitchen, accompanied by a subdued squeak of such extreme sweetness, that it could have come only from the throat of mademoiselle nelina. ned and the captain sprang to the door, and dashed violently against tom and his wife, whom they unexpectedly met also rushing towards the kitchen. in another moment a curious and deeply interesting tableau vivant was revealed to their astonished gaze.
in the middle of the room was larry o’neil, down on one knee, while with both arms he supported the fainting form of kate morgan. by kate’s side knelt her sister nelly, who bent over her pale face with anxious, tearful countenance, while, presiding over the group, like an amiable ogre, stood bill jones, with his hands in his breeches-pockets, his legs apart, one eye tightly screwed up, and his mouth expanded from ear to ear.
“that’s yer sort!” cried bill, in ecstatic glee. “w’en a thing comes all right, an’ tight, an’ ship-shape, why, wot then? in coorse it’s all square—that’s wot i say.”
“she’s comin’ to,” whispered larry. “ah! thin, spake, won’t ye, darlin’? it’ll do ye good, maybe, an’ help to open yer two purty eyes.”
kate morgan recovered—we need scarcely tell our reader that—and nelly dried her eyes, and that evening was spent in a fashion that conduced to the well-being, and comfort, and good humour of all parties concerned. perhaps it is also needless to inform our reader that larry o’neil and bill jones carried their point. they supped in the kitchen that night. our informant does not say whether kate morgan and her sister nelly supped with them—but we rather think they did.
a week afterwards, captain bunting had matured his future plans. he resolved to purchase a clipper-brig that was lying at that time useless in the harbour, and embark in the coasting trade of california. he made bill jones his first mate, and offered to make larry o’neil his second, but larry wanted a mate himself, and declined the honour; so the captain gave him five hundred pounds to set him up in any line he chose. ned sinton sold his property, and also presented his old comrade with a goodly sum of money, saying, that as he, (ned), had been the means of dragging him away from the diggings, he felt bound to assist him in the hour of need. so kate morgan became mrs o’neil the week following; and she, with her husband and her little sister, started off for the interior of the country to look after a farm.
about the same time, captain bunting having completed the lading of his brig, succeeded in manning her by offering a high wage, and, bidding adieu to ned and tom, set sail for the sacramento.
two days afterwards, ned got a letter from old mr shirley—the first that he had received since leaving england. it began thus:—
“my dearest boy,—what has become of you? i have written six letters, at least, but have never got a single line in reply. you must come home immediately, as affairs here require your assistance, and i’m getting too old to attend to business matters. do come at once, my dear ned, unless you wish me to reprove you. moxton says only a young and vigorous man of business can manage things properly; but when i mentioned you, he shook his head gravely. ‘too wild and absurd in his notions,’ said he. i stopped him, however, by saying that i was fully aware of your faults—”
the letter then went rambling on in a quaint, prosy, but interesting style; and ned sat long in his room in old mr thompson’s cottage poring over its contents, and gradually maturing his future plans.
“it’s awkward,” soliloquised he, resting his head on both hands. “i shall have to go at once, and so won’t have a chance of seeing bunting again, to tell him of poor tom’s circumstances. he would only be too glad to give him a helping hand; but i know tom will never let him know how hard-up he is. there’s nothing else for it,” he added, determinedly; “my uncle will laugh at my profitless tour—but, n’importe, i have learned much.—come in!”
this last remark was addressed to some one who had tapped gently at the door.
“it’s only me, ned; can i come in? i fear i interrupt you,” said tom, as he entered the room.
“not at all; sit down, my boy. i have just been perusing a letter from my good old uncle shirley: he writes so urgently that i fear i must return to england by the first homeward-bound ship.”
“return to england!” exclaimed tom, in surprise. “what! leave the gold-fields just as the sun is beginning to shine on you?”
“even so, tom.”
“my dear ned, you are mad! this is a splendid country. just see what fortunes we should have made, but for the unfortunate accidents that have happened!” tom sighed as he spoke.
“i know it,” replied his friend, with sadden energy. “this is a splendid country; gold exists all over it—not only in the streams, but on the hill-sides, and even on hill-tops, as you and i know from personal experience—but gold, tom, is not everything in this world, and the getting of it should not be our chief aim. moreover, i have come to the conclusion, that digging gold ought to be left entirely to such men as are accustomed to dig ditches and throw up railway embankments. men whose intelligence is of a higher order ought not to ignore the faculties that have been given to them, and devote their time—too often, alas! their lives—to a species of work that the merest savage is equally capable of performing. navvies may work at the mines with propriety; but educated men who devote themselves to such work are, i fear, among the number of those to whom scripture specially speaks, when it says, ‘make not haste to be rich.’”
“but there are other occupations here besides digging for gold,” said tom.
“i know it; and i would be happy and proud to rank among the merchants, and engineers, and such men, of california; but duty calls me home, and, to say truth,” added ned, with a smile, “inclination points the way.”
tom collins still for some time attempted to dissuade his friend from quitting the country, and his sweet little wife, lizette, seconded his efforts with much earnestness; but ned sinton was immovable. he took passage in the first ship that sailed for england.
the night before he sailed, ned, after retiring to his room for the last time in his friend’s house, locked his door, and went through a variety of little pieces of business that would have surprised his hosts had they seen him. he placed a large strong-box on the table, and cautiously drew from under his bed a carpet-bag, which, from the effort made to lift it, seemed to be filled with some weighty substance. unlocking the bag, he proceeded to lift out handful after handful of shining dollars and gold pieces, interspersed here and there with massive nuggets. these he transferred into the wooden box until it was full. this was nearly the whole of ned’s fortune. it amounted to a little more than 3000 pounds sterling. having completed the transfer, ned counted the surplus left in the bag, and found it to be about 500 pounds. this he secured in a leather purse, and then sat down to write a letter. the letter was short when finished, but it took him long to write, for he meditated much during the writing of it, and several times laid his head on his hands. at last it was completed, put into the box, and the lid screwed down above it. then ned read a chapter in the bible, as was his wont, and retired to rest.
next day tom and lizette stood on the wharf to see him embark for england. long and earnest was the converse of the two friends, as they were about to part, probably for ever, and then, for the first time, they became aware how deep was the attachment which each had formed for the other. at last the mate of the ship came up, and touched his hat.
“now, sir, boat’s ready, sir; and we don’t wish to lose the first of the ebb.”
“good-bye, lizette—good-bye, tom! god be with and bless you, my dear fellow! stay, i had almost forgotten. tom, you will find a box on the table in my room; you can keep the contents—a letter in it will explain. farewell!”
tom’s heart was too full to speak. he squeezed his friend’s hand in silence, and, turning hurriedly round, walked away with lizette the instant the boat left the shore.
late in the evening, tom and his wife remembered the box, and went up-stairs to open it. their surprise at its rich contents may be imagined. both at once understood its meaning; and lizette sat down, and covered her face with her hands, to hide the tears that flowed, while her husband read the letter. it ran thus:—
“my dearest tom,—you must not be angry with me for leaving this trifle—it is a trifle compared with the amount of gold i would give you if i had it. but i need not apologise; the spirit of love in which it is given demands that it shall be unhesitatingly received in the same spirit. may god, who has blessed us and protected us in all our wanderings together, cause your worldly affairs to prosper, and especially may he bless your soul. seas and continents may separate us, but i shall never forget you, tom, or your dear wife. but i must not write as if i were saying farewell. i intend this epistle to be the opening of a correspondence that shall continue as long as we live. you shall hear from me again ere long.
“your sincerely-attached friend,
“edward sinton.”
at the time tom collins was reading the above letter to lizette, in a broken, husky voice, our hero was seated on the taffrail of the ship that bore him swiftly over the sea, gazing wistfully at the receding shore, and bidding a final adieu to california and all his golden dreams.
