The Wedge of Gold Part 22

They examined Jordan's saddle with a great deal of curiosity, as it was, with the rest of the luggage, put upon the wagon. One of them, in broken English, asked about it; where in England he found it.

He laughingly answered that they could not make any such saddle in England; that it was a Mexican saddle. Then the Boer wanted to know if he were a Mexican.

"Not by a blamed sight," said Jordan. "Do I look like er greaser?"

The Boer looked at him helplessly.

"Did you never har of ther United States?" asked Jordan.

The Boer shook his head. "Never har of America and Americans?" Jordan asked.

The Boer smiled. He had heard of Americans, and asked eagerly if Jordan and his friend came from America.

"Yo' may bet yo'r everlastin' broken Dutch diaphram that we did," said Jordan, at which the Boer hurried to tell his companions that the two strangers were not English, notwithstanding their clothing.

The first eight days of the journey, the travelers found excellent roads, and averaged twenty-seven miles a day. They did not go by the capital, but turned off to the left.

The first day the road lay mostly over the coast mountains. Toward night they entered upon the table-lands of Natal, which were generally level, except where, here and there, a low mountain spur had to be crossed. It was a gra.s.sy country, spa.r.s.ely dotted with palms, with here and there timber in sight up ravines that ran down from the hills, and occasionally they ran upon cl.u.s.ters of heath-flowers. Indeed, the whole country was covered with flowers of rare beauty, but mostly odorless. It was all new and strange, and was noted with keen interest by the two Americans. It was the rainy season, and the road was soft in places, and some of the streams were pretty high. But they got along without serious trouble. One had been in Nevada, the other in Arizona, and both in Texas.

The first night they camped by a little stream, ate their supper, and spread their beds by some willows on the gra.s.s. It was a perfectly calm night, and in that clear air the stars shone magnificently.

As they were smoking their pipes after supper Sedgwick pointed out to Jordan the constellation of the Southern Cross as a sight which their friends in the North-land could never see unless they crossed the equator.

Jordan looked at the stars some time in silence, and then said: "Them stars is been s.h.i.+nin' thar allus, and yit, Jim, they wuz outer sight o'

us. To see 'em we had ter cross ther line. Who can tell, Jim, what new stars'll s.h.i.+ne on us when thet other line, thet men call death, shall be crossed, and our eyes shall be given ther new light beyond?"

He paused a moment, and then went on: "I'z been prospered. When I war a boy I went to ther wah. I war in many a fight. Men as loved life mightily wuz killed all 'round me; many another brave feller tuk sick and died.

Not a scratch c.u.m ter me.

"I made er stake easy-like in ther mines. I've dun well 'nuff; and yit, Jim, if thar should c.u.m ther summons ter-night, and I knowd I'd got ter go, I wouldn't hev a sorrer 'cept thet we haven't pa.s.sed on ther mine yit."

Then Sedgwick realized that in the selfishness of his own loneliness at leaving his bride, he had forgotten his friend, and that he had all the time been concealing a deeper grief and trying to cheer him.

"Dear old Tom," he said humbly. "I have been absorbed and selfish since we left England. I did not realize my own selfishness. We have found new stars in the sky. Let us trust that no sorrows will come to us that will not be cheered by stars behind them, and let us nurse the hope that this journey is but a discord in our lives that will make the music of them sweeter when it shall be pa.s.sed."

"Sh.o.r.e enuff," was Jordan's answer. "I war once down at the bottom of ther Colorado Canon. It war terrible. I never seen a place so desolate and wild; but, Jim, I looked up along the walls hundreds of feet overhead, and thar in ther daylight, away off in ther infinite sky, some stars war s.h.i.+nin'."

So there, in the starlight, on that lonely table-land in South Africa, the two true men clasped hands in silence, and their hearts drew nearer to each other than they had ever been drawn before.

The second day, the road in places skirted a forest in which the yellow tree and the great beech were the most prominent trees, creepers grew around them, and vines trailed over their branches; marvelously tinted flowers mingled with them, and the scene was enchanting.

More than once a band of antelope was seen scudding away in the distance; here and there a zebra fled from before them, and once a pair of giraffes were discerned afar off over the plain. Though it was the beginning of winter, the tsetse fly bothered their stock a good deal, but the Boers cut branches from the trees and covered the animals with them when the sun was hottest and the insects most troublesome.

After the fourth day the road began to ascend, and at last the point was reached where the vehicles had to be given up, and the saddle and pack animals from the capital had to be brought into use. The real hills had been reached. The trail ran over a succession of sharp mountain ridges, and narrow valleys. It was not a well-made trail on the ridges, and the flanks of the ridges were so abrupt and rocky that progress was very slow; moreover, it was clear that to build a road on the line of the trail, over which heavy loads could be hauled, would be a most expensive, almost impossible, undertaking.

It required three days to make the trip of forty miles.

Finally, though, the last summit was crossed, and after a heavy descent, there spread out another valley, and on a ridge beyond, from the mountain side, could be seen something like a dump, with rock piled upon it. The two friends recognized the spot at the same moment and stopped their animals in the trail to take in the surroundings. They estimated that the mountains must be a spur of the Drakenberg Range, that they were within the basin drained by the head waters of the Vaal River, and that they were in the Southwestern Transvaal. The mountains of that point had a general course northeast and southwest, and it was clear that the mine was practically over the range in approaching from the direction of Port Natal.

"It's all right," said Jordan, "'cept it seems to me like we orter uv c.u.m down on ther other side of Africa, and c.u.m in from ther West. From this way it would need a pack train of bald eagles ter bring in supplies, while ter get a mill in--Good Lord!"

"I fear you are right, as usual, Tom," said Sedgwick, "but if, as I suspect, the mine is of no account, it will not matter much."

"'Zactly," said Jordan. "Thar's no use tryin' ter put up collateral on which ter borrer trouble 'fore we know anythin' 'bout ther mine."

So they pressed on and made their camp that night near a great spring that the miners had lived by while opening the mine. Next morning both Americans were up early, and, the breakfast disposed of, they went to the mine with buckets of water and hammers.

They kept their natives pounding rock all day, while they washed the samples. They took the ore from every part of the dump. The result was most satisfactory. "It will a.s.say more than $30," said Jordan. "I believe it will work up to $30 by mill process, for it's perfectly free gold ore and not too fine."

The next day the inclines were all explored, and samples taken, step by step--taken and marked, as they proceeded. The ore body where practically exposed was carefully measured, and where any change was discernible it was noted and special samples taken. The floor of the lowest level reached was not only sampled, but a hole a couple of feet below the lowest excavation was dug, and the samples were saved.

The vein was a contact between slate and granite, and was very regular in size, and apparently in quality. The vein was exposed for probably 600 feet, and thence up the hill it was covered with debris. It was almost night when the camp was reached, and the men were very tired.

Next morning the samples taken the previous day were crushed and carefully washed.

When all was finished, Jordan said: "Jim, it's a honest mine. Ther only drawback is ther place. I've no idee what er road would cost, but it would take a power o' money, sho."

It was decided to try to explore the slope of the range they were on, up and down, to see if a break in it could not somewhere be found. They tried it to the north, and soon found themselves in a mighty gorge, with great mountains closing them in from every direction except the one from which they had come. They returned to camp, and one more day was gone.

The next morning they started early to the south, and toiled until eleven o'clock, to find themselves once more ambuscaded by the precipitous hills. Again they made their way back to camp, without comfort, except that they had pa.s.sed through a great forest of beech and yellow wood sufficient for fuel and mine timbers for years.

Next morning when they had finished breakfast, Sedgwick asked Jordan what his idea was by that time as to the best course to proceed.

Jordan shook his head, and said: "I'm afeerd we must try to build ther road or invent a berloon."

From the spring there ran a considerable stream off at right angles from the mine, and in exactly the opposite direction from whence they had come.

Sedgwick said: "Tom, that stream, unless it sinks, finds its way to the sea after awhile. We are in for it; a day or two more will not count.

Suppose for awhile we follow that stream and see where it leads us."

"Agreed--a good idee," said Jordan. Taking with them two Boers, the engineer, and a pack animal with food and some blankets, they bade the rest keep the camp, as they might be absent two or three days. They started down the stream. It flowed in a general course to the west. After a mile or more from the camp, the banks widened out into a wooded valley, several hundred yards across, but when six or seven miles had been traveled the valley narrowed down again, and the mountains closing in, made what, at a little distance, seemed a solid wall in front. "Headed off once more, I fear," said Sedgwick.

"The stream keeps up a full head. It must git through ther hills somewhar," said Jordan.

"True enough," said Sedgwick. They followed it to the very base of the hill, to find that there it made a bend at right angles to the south and flowed through a cleft of the mountain not much wider than the stream itself. Into this they entered, and pursued their way for about 600 yards, when the stream again turned through another mighty fissure to the west, and ran a quarter of a mile farther, when another large valley opened out which was some five miles across. In this valley the stream sank in the sands and was lost. The travelers skirted the valley, keeping close to the hills where the ground was hard. Reaching the other side they found a narrow opening through which the stream had once flowed.

They followed a winding way for two or three miles, the chasm bearing a little west of south, emerging at last into an open country. A fringe of willows was seen low on the southern horizon. The Boers said they knew the stream, the course of which was marked by the willows; that it was a big creek, along which their people had stock farms. They marked the obscure opening through which they had traced their way out of the mountains and started for the creek and possible ranches. The Boers said that farmers' roads ran from these ranches out to the main road over the range to the east, the road which they had come up on from Port Natal.

They pressed on another seven or eight miles, and a rude house, half dug-out, came in view, distant a couple of miles.

They approached it, and from the people living there the Boers learned that it was seventeen miles out to the main road, over a good farmers'

road all the way. They camped at the house, or near the house, all night.

One of the residents brought in a fine young antelope, which they bought and cooked, and they suppered royally on antelope, hard tack and coffee.

Next morning they returned to the mine, reaching there early in the afternoon. They had been out from Port Natal seventeen days, had found and sampled the mine, and explored a natural pa.s.s for a road.

How to proceed was the next question. Sedgwick's idea was that both should return to the seash.o.r.e, proceed to England, and order a mill from San Francisco, because they knew that there were no good patterns for quartz mill machinery on the continent; and both agreed that should the mill be built in England and s.h.i.+pped thence to South Africa, the fact would be published and all their plans would be interfered with.

Jordan was silent for awhile; at last he said: "Jim, I ken understand thet ther thot uv goin' back ter London ez mighty enchantin' ter yo'. But thet's a game girl, thet thar young wife o' yourn; she listed fo' this wah ez well ez yo,' er she'd never let yo' c.u.m away. Yo' must go by ther straightest track fer San Francisco and bring ther mill. I'll stay and hev some rock ready for crus.h.i.+n' when ther mill c.u.ms."

"But, dear old friend," said Sedgwick, "it will take a year, perhaps, to get a mill here from San Francisco. To leave you here--you would die of the horrors with no company but these Boers."

"How d' yer know but I'd make a pretty good Boer or Kaffir my own self with er little practice?" asked Jordan. "We'll stay over ter-morrer and git some work goin'; then I'll go with yer ter the coast and get some men and things I need. I'll c.u.m back; you'll go ter Frisco, and everything'll be lovely."