it was five o'clock in the morning when bill crane opened his eyes. he felt refreshed by his night's sleep, yet under ordinary circumstances would have deferred getting up for at least an hour. but the consciousness that he had a treasure to guard, and the knowledge that he was at any moment liable to be called to account by the real owner, whose camp was scarcely more than a mile distant, aroused him to exertion.
"i must get away while john miles is still asleep," he bethought himself. "let me get to frisco first, and i can at once dispose of it, and he will never find me out."
crane did not wait to prepare breakfast. that he could take on the road an hour or two later, when he felt safe from interruption.[pg 75] he rose and shook himself. this was his scanty toilet. next he must take the bag from its place of concealment, and then he could commence his journey.
while uncovering the bag, crane did not discover that it had been tampered with, partly because it was still there. it was natural to suppose that, if discovered by a third party, it would be carried away. he did not even open the bag, not thinking it necessary.
"john miles hasn't waked up yet," he said to himself with a smile. "when he does, there'll be some swearing, i'll be bound. you're a good boy, john miles, but you ain't so smart as you think you are. i think i have got the start of you this time."
bill crane rode off smiling.
his course led him by the camp of the chinamen. early as it was they were astir. ah sin saw the rider, and at once recognized him as the man he had robbed. how could crane know that those pleasant-faced barbarians had served him such a trick?
"hallo, chinamen!" he said aloud. "have they got out here already? i'll speak to them.[pg 76] hallo, john!" he said, halting his horse, for even then every chinaman was john.
"how do, john?" replied ah sin, smiling blandly.
"my name isn't john, but no matter. what are you two doing?"
"looking for gold," was the reply.
"do you find any?"
"velly little. bad place."
"have you been in san francisco?"
"yes, john."
"why didn't you stay there?"
"too many chinamen—too little washee,—washee."
"what have you got in the way of provisions? mine are stale. i'd like to buy some of you."
"we have got a little lice, john."
"got a little what? oh, i know: you mean rice. why don't you pronounce your english better?"
"because chinamen not 'melican men."
"then i suppose i may as well be moving on, as i can't get anything out of you. oh, have you got any tea, john?"[pg 77]
"yes, john."
"got any made?"
ah sin produced a cup, for he and his friend had just prepared their breakfast, and being warm, bill crane gulped it down with a relish.
"after all, a man needs some warm drink in the morning," he said to himself. "how much to pay, john?"
"nothing, john. 'melican man welcome."
"john, you're a gentleman, or rather both of you are gentlemen, even if you are heathens. i'll remember you in my prayers."
the eminent christian, bill crane, rode off from the chinese camp, calmly confident of his moral superiority to the two benighted heathen whom he left behind him. whether he remembered his promise to intercede for them in prayer is a little doubtful, or would have been, if he had had occasion to pray himself. it is to be feared that prayer and william crane had long been strangers.
as crane rode away, the two chinamen exchanged glances. a gentle smile lighted up their yellow faces, and they were doubtless thinking of something[pg 78] pleasant. they exchanged a few guttural remarks which i should like to be able to translate, for they doubtless referred to bill crane, whom they had kindly supplied with a cup of tea gratis. yet, perhaps, considering all things, it was the dearest cup of tea crane had ever drank, since it was the only return he got for a bag of gold-dust worth over two hundred dollars. but there is an old saying, "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." crane was just as happy as if the bag really contained gold-dust. but this happy ignorance was not to last long.
after riding five or six miles our traveller thought he might venture to dismount for rest and refreshment. he selected as his breakfast-table the green sward beside a sparkling mountain streamlet. he dismounted, permitting his horse to graze while he took out the stale provisions which must constitute his morning meal. they were not very palatable, and crane sighed for the breakfasts of old, the memory of which at this moment was very tantalizing. but he comforted himself with the thought that he had the[pg 79] means of making up for his enforced self-denial when he reached san francisco.
this naturally led him to open the bag, and feast his eyes over his easily obtained wealth. he untied the string, and with a smile of pleased anticipation peered at the contents.
his face changed suddenly.
was he dreaming? in place of the shining dust, his eyes rested on—sand.
he hastily thrust in his finger, and stirred the grains. but nothing else was to be discovered. the bag contained nothing but worthless sand.
crane stared at the deceptive bag in the most lugubrious astonishment. surely the bag contained gold-dust when he concealed it. there could be no doubt on that point, for he had opened it and seen the contents for himself. but in that case, how could such a change have been effected in one night? it had not been touched; so, at any rate, he believed. he had found it in the morning in the exact spot where he had placed it overnight, and yet—
bill crane took another look at the contents[pg 80] of the bag, hoping that he had been deceived by some ocular delusion, but the second examination brought him no comfort. he sank back, feeling in a state of mental and bodily collapse.
never was poor thief so utterly bewildered as bill crane. he could almost believe that some magical transformation had been practiced at his expense. was it possible, he thought, that john miles, discovering his loss, had visited him, and played this trick upon him? he could not believe this. it was not in accordance with john's direct, straightforward nature. instead of acting in this secret manner, he would have sternly charged crane with the robbery, and punished him on the spot. leaving him out of the account, then, the mystery deepened. it never occurred to crane to suspect the chinamen who had so hospitably furnished him with a cup of tea. even if they had come into his mind, he would have been puzzled to account for their knowledge of his having the bag in his possession.
bill crane was decidedly unhappy. his glowing anticipations of prosperity, based upon the capital[pg 81] contained in the bag, were rudely broken in upon, and the airy fabric of his hopes dashed to the ground. he felt that fortune had been unkind—that he was a deeply injured man. had his claim to the stolen property been the best possible, he could not have felt the injustice of fate more keenly.
"it's always the way!" he exclaimed in deep dejection. "i always was unlucky. just as i thought i was on my feet again, this cursed gold-dust turns to sand. here am i out in the wilderness without an ounce to my name. i don't know what to do. i'd give a good deal, if i had it, to find out what became of the gold-dust."
as he spoke, crane, in a fit of ill-temper, kicked the unlucky bag to a distance, and slowly and disconsolately mounting his horse, plodded on his way. all his cheerfulness was gone. it was some comfort, but still scant, to think that john miles was as unlucky as himself. both had become penniless tramps, and were alike the sport of fortune. there was a difference in respect to[pg 82] their desert, however. john miles may rightly claim the reader's sympathy, while bill crane must be considered to have met with a disaster which he richly deserved.
