John Frederick - "Riders of the Silences"

Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire - "Lone Star Planet"

Sewell Ford - "Torchy and Vee"

John Kendrick Bangs - "Ghosts I have Met and Some Others"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

The Cave of Gold

E >> Everett McNeil >> The Cave of Gold




"Tew bad tew scare th' Leetle Woman," Ham said regretfully; "but 'twould
be a heap worse tew have Quinley an' Ugger git that thar gold. I got
scart of them jest as soon as th' Leetle Woman showed up th' big nugget;
for they must be a-lurkin' 'round here somewhere, keepin' an eye on us;
an', if they heer'd of Dickson's gold, they shore would try an' git it.
Wal, we'd better follow their example an' git tew bed; for we've got a
hard day's work afore us, if we finish th' wing dam an' turn th' water
tew-morrer. I'm goin'," and Ham, knocking the ashes out of his pipe on
the log on which he was sitting, arose and went into the house, whither
he was soon followed by the others.

* * * * *

The next day as Thure and Bud were sitting in the shade of the cool side
of the gulch, a little apart from the others, eating their lunch and
discussing the great find they expected to make when they turned the
water of the little stream into the new channel, Thure, whose eyes
happened to be looking down the gulch at that moment, suddenly
exclaimed:

"Hello, look who's coming!" and he pointed down the gulch to where a man
could be seen walking slowly toward them, a pick and shovel and gold-pan
slung across his broad shoulders, a Mexican sombrero on his head and the
rest of his body clothed in a blue flannel shirt and linen trousers that
had once been white, protected by deerskin leggings and thrust into the
tops of knee-boots.

"Out prospecting, I reckon," and Bud glanced curiously at the advancing
stranger, for visitors had been rare in that lonely gulch. "Let's ask
him to dine with us," and he smiled as he glanced at the coarse but
abundant fare spread out on the ground between them. "He must be hungry,
if he has lugged those things on his back far. Hello!" and he turned to
the stranger, who by this time had come to within a couple of rods of
where the two boys sat, "You are just in time to help us finish up these
beans and pork. Come and have a seat at our table," and he grinned a
welcome, as he nodded toward the food.

"I don't care if I do," smiled back the stranger, as he flung pick and
shovel and pan from his back and dropped down by the side of the boys,
"especially since I've got a little jerked venison here that I know will
taste good to you, if you've been living on salt pork as long as the
most of the miners have," and he began to undo a little bundle tied to
the end of his pick, and presently disclosed a chunk of dried venison
and a couple of ship-biscuits, wrapped up in a coarse but clean cloth.
This food he at once laid down on the cloth, which he had spread out on
Bud's table, and bade the boys help themselves, at the same time and
without any further invitation helping himself to the beans and pork.

"Wait, and I'll get you a cup of hot coffee," and Bud jumped to his feet
and hurried to where Ham was superintending the boiling of a pot of
coffee over the camp-fire.

"Say, dew you know who that feller is who has j'ined grub with you?"
queried Ham, grinning, as he filled a tin cup full of the coffee and
handed it to Bud.

"Oh, just a miner out prospecting, I reckon," answered Bud, as he took
the coffee. "We thought we would be social and asked him to share our
meal," and he started back with the coffee.

"Wal," and the grin on Ham's face broadened, "that feller is James W.
Marshall!"

"What!" and Bud stopped so suddenly that he almost spilt the coffee.
"Not the James W. Marshall who discovered the first gold in California!"

"Th' identicle cuss," laughed Ham. "But 'tain't done him much good so
far."

"Glory be, we just thought he was an ordinary prospector, when we asked
him to share our lunch! And so he is the man that started all this mad
rush for California gold," and Bud's eyes turned curiously in the
direction of the stranger. "Well, he sure don't look as if the gold had
done him much good."

"That's usually th' way on it," replied Ham. "Th' feller what finds it
only gits th' first smell, then 'long comes some other feller an'
gobbles it all up, leavin' th' finder nuthin' but th' glory."

"Maybe we can get him to tell us the story of how he found the gold,"
and Bud's face lighted up. "I'd like to hear it from his own lips."

"Wal," grinned Ham, "jest tell him that he's 'bout th' most abused man
in all Californy, an', I reckon, he'll open his heart tew you. He's
pow'ful sore over everybudy else but he a-gettin' th' gold, an' he th'
discoverer."

"Maybe the hot coffee will do as well," laughed Bud, as he hurried back
to his guest.

The hot coffee, possibly even more the contagion of the joyous
enthusiasm of the two youths, did, indeed, seem to act like a charm on
Marshall's taciturn and soured disposition; for, before the meal was
half over, he was talking freely of his mining ventures with Thure and
Bud; and it needed but a few well-directed inquiries to bring the
desired story from his willing lips.

"How did I happen to discover the gold?" he began, as if the boys had
asked him directly for the story, which they had not. "Well, it all came
about in this way," and he settled himself into a comfortable position.
"In May, 1847, Captain Sutter sent me up the American River to look for
a good site for a sawmill that he wished me to build for him; and, after
a number of days of fruitless search, I found what looked like the exact
spot I was hunting for on the South Fork of the American about
forty-five miles from Sutter's Fort. Captain Sutter, you may be sure,
was well pleased when I told him of my success; and we entered into a
partnership, according to which I was to build the mill and he was to
find provisions, tools, teams, and pay a part of the men's wages; and in
August, everything being ready, I started out with six men and two
wagons loaded with the tools and provisions. We first put up log houses
in which to live; for we expected to remain there all winter. But this
was done in no time for the men were great with the ax. Then we cut
timber and fell to work hewing it for the framework of the mill and to
building the dam, which, with the help of about forty Indians, who had
gathered around us in great numbers, we put up in a kind of a way in
four weeks. When the mill was nearly completed, it was my custom every
evening after the men had quit work to raise the gate in the mill-race
and allow the water to run all night, in order to wash as much sand and
gravel as possible out of the race during the night; and in the morning,
while the men were getting breakfast, I would go down and shut the gate
and walk along the race to see where the work needed to be done for the
day.

"One clear cold morning in January--I shall never forget that morning. I
can see it all as I sit here--the nearly completed mill, the slopes of
the surrounding tree-covered hills, the water pouring over the dam, the
mill-race, a foot or so of water still rushing along over its bottom--I
can see it all--"

Marshall paused, his eyes staring straight in front of him, a peculiar,
dreamy, wild look in them that sent uncanny chills to the hearts of both
boys as long as it lasted. What was he seeing? Visions?--Visions of what
that morning meant to a gold-mad world?

"No, I can never forget that January morning," Marshall resumed, after
perhaps a minute, the normal look again coming back into his eyes; "for
on that morning I found the gold that has set the world crazy and proven
little more than a curse to me," and a gloomy bitter look clouded his
face.

"On that morning, as usual, after having shut off the water, I started
to walk along the race, keeping my eyes pretty close to the ground, so
as to make a note of where the ditch needed more digging. There was
still about a foot of water running in the race. Suddenly my eyes caught
a glimpse of something shining through the water, just a bright little
gleam of yellow lying on the bottom of the ditch; but the first sight of
it made my heart jump, for I thought it might be gold; and I reached my
hand down quick through the water and picked it up and examined it
eagerly. The piece was about half the size, and of the shape of a pea;
and felt and looked like gold, only it did not seem to me to be exactly
the right color: all the gold coin I had seen was of a reddish tinge;
this looked more like brass. I looked again in the water and saw another
piece and picked that up. Then I sat down on the bank, with the little
pieces of shining metal on the palm of my hand, and began to think right
hard. Was it gold? I recalled to mind all the metals I had ever seen or
heard of, but I couldn't seem to think of any that looked like this,
that is, that looked enough like it to make me certain of what it was.
Suddenly the thought came to me that this was probably nothing but iron
pyrites, or fool's gold, that I had heard and read of, but had never
seen. I trembled at the thought; for by now I had become considerably
excited over the possibility of its being gold. But iron pyrites would
break when pounded! I jumped to my feet, getting more excited every
minute; and quickly found a couple of hard river stones, and, putting
the pieces on one, I pounded them with the other. It was soft, and
didn't break! It must be gold; but was probably largely mixed with some
other metal, possibly silver, for I thought that pure gold certainly
would have a brighter color.

"I don't know just how long I sat there, looking at them two little bits
of yellow metal in my hand and thinking hard of all that it might mean
to me and the men with me, if it should really prove to be gold, for I
sure was some excited; but, when I got back to our cabin, the men had
finished their breakfast and were beginning to wonder a little what had
become of me. I showed them the two pieces, and told them where I had
found them, and that I thought they were gold. This excited the men a
good deal; and I had some trouble to keep them from dropping everything
and going to gold hunting, leaving me finish my job alone. However, I
told them that as soon as we had the mill finished we would give a week
or two to gold hunting and see what we could make out of it, and this
satisfied them for the time, none of them then dreaming there was enough
gold there to amount to much.

"After this, while at work in the race, we all kept a sharp lookout, and
in the course of three or four days we had picked up about three ounces,
our work going on the same as usual; for none of us at that time
imagined that the whole country was sown with gold. If we had--that mill
sure would never have been completed," and Marshall smiled a little
bitterly.

"Four or five days after I picked up those two little pieces of yellow
metal I had to go to Sutter's Fort; and, wishing to get all the
information I could respecting the real value of the metal, I took all
that we had collected with me, and showed it to Captain Sutter. He at
once declared that it was gold; but, like me, thought it was largely
mixed with some other metal. We now tried to hit upon some means of
telling the exact quantity of gold found in the alloy; but couldn't
figure out how to do it, until we stumbled upon an old American
cyclopedia, that gave the specific gravity of all the metals and rules
to find the quantity of each in a given bulk. We now wanted some silver,
with which to compare our metal; and, after hunting over the whole fort
and borrowing from some of the men, we managed to get three dollars and
a half in silver. Captain Sutter had a small pair of scales; and, with
the aid of these and the cyclopedia, we soon ciphered it out that there
was neither silver nor copper in the gold, but that it was entirely
pure.

"This proof that the metal was real gold excited both of us
considerable; but, when we had cooled down a little and talked it over,
we concluded it would be our best policy to keep it as quiet as possible
until the mill was completed. Now, at this time, there was a great
number of disbanded Mormon soldiers in and about the fort, and, somehow,
they came to hear of it; and then the golden cat was out of the bag, for
the news that gold had been discovered just spread over the whole
country like wild-fire. Indeed, I had hardly got back to the mill,
before men with picks and pans and shovels and hoes and all sorts of
tools began coming in, all anxious to fall to work and dig up our mill
by the roots; but this, of course, we would not allow, although I
sometimes had the greatest trouble to get rid of them. I sent them all
off in different directions, telling them of such and such places where
I felt certain they would find gold, if they would only take the trouble
to dig for it. Not that I really thought they would find any gold, for
at that time I never imagined the gold was so abundant; but they would
dig nowhere but in such places as I pointed out and I had to get rid of
them someway. I believe if I had told them to dig on top of a mountain,
that, so great was their confidence in me, they would have climbed to
the top of the mountain and began picking away at the rocks," and
something, almost a twinkle, came into Marshall's eyes, brightening
their somber lights.

"And did the parties you scattered through the country find any gold?"
inquired Thure eagerly.

"Yes, many of them did, to my surprise," answered Marshall; "but the
second real discovery of gold was in a gulch on the road to Sacramento.
The third gold discovery was made on a bar of the South Fork of the
American River a little above the junction of the Middle and South
forks. The diggings over there where Hangtown is," and he flung up one
of his arms in the direction of Hangtown, "was discovered by myself; for
we all went gold hunting, as soon as the mill was finished. Some Indians
found the diggings down at Kelsey's; and thus in a short time we
discovered that the whole country hereabouts is sown with gold, thick in
spots but thin and scattering almost all over. Now that is the true
story of the gold discovery in California, right from the lips of the
man who picked up the first piece of gold, and who has had more cheating
and robbing than thanks from the men the discovery has helped most," and
the somber light deepened in the eyes of the disappointed and soured
man, who always laid the blame of the misfortunes that seemed to follow
him after the great discovery on the ingratitude of his fellow men,
rather than on his own inability to use the opportunities that a kindly
fate had thrust in his way.

"Well, it sure does seem hard," sympathized Bud, "that you, who
discovered the gold, should be able to get so little of it. But," and
his face brightened, "your luck may change to-morrow, and you may yet
live to see yourself one of the richest men in California."

Here the huge form of Hammer Jones broke in on the three.

"How d'dew, Jim," and Ham reached down a big hand and gripped the hand
of Marshall. "Ben tellin' th' yunks all 'bout th' Great Discovery, I
reckon?" and he grinned. "Wal, if you'll jest sot down an' make y'urself
easy for 'bout three hours, 'til we puts the finishin' touches on this
here dam, I shouldn't be none s'prised if we was able tew show you
somethin' of a discovery ourselves," and Ham pointed to the now nearly
completed dam.

Marshall at once became greatly interested, when Ham had explained to
him what they hoped the dam would do for them; and not only agreed to
wait until the completion of the dam, but to help in its completion;
and, in a few minutes more, all were again at work, spurred to
extraordinary exertions by the thought that a few short hours more would
tell the story of their success or failure.




CHAPTER XIX

SOME EXCITING MOMENTS


Exactly at three o'clock, by Mr. Conroyal's big silver watch, the last
shovel of dirt and the last stone was thrown on the dam; and, with
cheers that echoed and reechoed up and down the narrow gulch, our
friends saw all the water of the little stream flowing into its new
channel.

"Now get your pans and pails, and we'll hustle the water out of the
hole, so that we can get at the dirt," Mr. Conroyal cried excitedly, the
moment it was seen that the dam was working perfectly and that the old
bed of the stream below the dam was fast becoming dry.

With another cheer, each grabbed up a pan or a pail, and all made a rush
for the hole in the elbow of the now nearly drained bed of the stream,
acting more like an excited troop of school boys than gray-haired and
long-bearded men, as some of them were.

The old bed of the stream was solid rock, worn smooth by the action of
the water; and, as Thure and Bud, in their anxiety to be the first to
reach the hole, raced down this, Thure's feet suddenly slipped on the
wet rock and down he went, the gold-pan he was carrying flying from his
hands and banging loudly as it slid for a short distance over the hard
rock. He jumped quickly to his feet, fortunately unhurt, and bent
hastily to pick up the pan. As he lifted the pan, which had been stopped
by a bit of rock that projected a couple of inches above the level of
the bed, his eyes caught a bright gleam that came from the upper side of
the projecting rock.

For an instant Thure stared wildly at the shining bit of metal lodged
against the rock; and then, with a yell that brought everybody to a
halt, he dropped the pan and grabbed the bit of metal.

"Gold! Gold!" he shouted excitedly, as he held up between the thumb and
finger of his right hand the bit of metal he had picked up, which was
about the size and something the shape of his thumb.

In a moment all were crowded around him, eagerly examining the nugget.

"It certainly is gold!" declared Marshall, as he hefted the nugget on
the palm of his hand.

"Hurra, that's a durned good sign that that thar hole is chuck full of
it!" cried Ham, excitedly swinging the gold-pan he held in his hand
around his head. "Come on! Let's git that water out of th' way an' down
tew pay-dirt, jest as quick as th' Lord'll let us," and he started on
the run for the hole, followed by all the others.

The hole in the point of the elbow of the old channel of the stream was
about twenty feet across; and now, of course, was level full of water,
which had to be thrown out before any digging could be done.

Ham, who had a long pair of rubber boots, bought on purpose for this
occasion, now slipped them on his feet, pulled the legs up to his waist,
where he fastened them to his belt, seized one of the pails, and stepped
into the hole. At the first step he went down to the knee, at the
second, nearly to the tops of his rubber boots, but the third step
lowered him in the water only a couple of inches.

"Gosh, 'tain't deep! We can have th' water out of here in no time. Now,
jest git in line an' I'll pass th' water out tew you," and he plunged
the pail down into the water, and quickly passed it to the man standing
the nearest to him, who passed it on down a line that had been quickly
formed until the last man was far enough down for the water, when thrown
on the ground, to run off down the old channel.

There were enough pans and pails to keep a constant stream of them
passing up and down the line; and, as everybody, under the spur of the
thought of what might lie hidden there in that hole, worked with
feverish haste, the water was speedily lowered, until after an hour of
as hard and tiresome work as was ever done by men, the bottom of the
hole was laid bare.

"We'll dig a hole first off right in th' center of th' hole plumb down
to bed-rock," declared Ham, as he passed out the last pailful of water.
"Then, if thar's any gold here, we'll strike it shore. Throw me a
shovel!" Ham's face was flushed and his eyes were sparkling with
excitement; for now the great moment was near, the moment that would
tell whether or not all their labor had been in vain, whether or not
they were to find the expected gold.

"Here! Here!" and Thure caught up a shovel and rushed to Ham; and almost
collided with Bud, who, shovel in hand, was also rushing to Ham.

"Let us help you dig! Let us help you dig!" cried both boys, almost
beside themselves with excitement.

"Now, jest hold y'ur hosses an' git out of here. This is men's work,"
and Ham good-naturedly thrust the two boys aside, caught up a shovel,
and began throwing up the moist sand and gravel like an animated steam
shovel.

The hole was partly filled with coarse sand and gravel; and, since gold
is so heavy that it will sink down through sand and gravel until it
comes to something more solid, all this had to be thrown off before they
could hope to come to pay-dirt, which is usually a thin layer of gravel
or clay lying on top of the bed-rock. Ham was now digging down to this
bed-rock; and, when he reached it, he would throw a few shovels of the
dirt directly on its top into a gold-pan, and then a few minutes'
washing of the dirt in the pan would show whether or not they had struck
gold. The hole he was digging was not large enough for more than one man
to work in it at a time, consequently the others formed a circle around
Ham and watched his progress with faces feverish with excitement, any
one of them ready the moment Ham tired to seize a shovel and jump into
the hole in his place. But the shoveling was not hard and the sturdy
muscles of Ham did not tire.

In the excitement of these thrilling minutes nobody saw anything but
Ham, nobody heard anything but the push of his shovel through the moist
gravel and the thud of the dirt as it fell on top of the ground. It is
doubtful if a cannon fired within a rod of them, would have made one of
them jump. Hence it is not to be wondered at that none of them saw the
black clouds gathering about the tops of the mountains to the northeast
and swiftly sweeping down toward them, nor heard the peals of distant
thunder, sounding louder and nearer with the passing of each minute. The
gold-fever was hot in their blood; and they were deaf and blind to all
but the digging man.

Ham's shovel bit swiftly down into the soft, moist sand. Now he is down
to his waist. Now only his shoulders show above the top of the hole.
Suddenly, with a violent grunt, he straightens up.

"Bed-rock!" he yells, and begins digging again.

The excitement is now intense. Nearly every one has a gold-pan in his
hand, and is holding it out toward Ham, ready to receive the first
shovel of pay-dirt. That first shovel of dirt means so much, possibly a
fortune for all! Even the graybeards, Mr. Conroyal and Rad Randolph and
Frank Holt, men who could, who often had faced death without the quiver
of a muscle, are now all of a tremble with excitement. Thure and Bud are
both bending forward so far that there is danger of their tumbling into
the hole on top of Ham.

For a couple of minutes longer Ham shovels out the dirt, but more slowly
and carefully now.

"Give me a pan," and he suddenly straightens up, seizes one of the pans,
and disappears in the hole. A moment later he jumps out of the hole, the
pan nearly filled with dirt in his hands, and races like a mad man with
it to the little stream of water, followed by all the others.

In the excitement of the moment no one notices how dark it is becoming,
nor hears an ominous sound, a distant roar, each second growing louder,
and coming from far up the gulch.

Ham reaches the water, and, plunging the pan down into it, begins
carefully stirring its contents with his big fingers. Around him bend
the others, regardless of wet feet. In a few minutes the larger part of
the sand and the gravel is washed out of the pan by the water. Now only
a thin layer of black sand remains on the bottom of the pan. The crucial
instant has come. Ham slowly straightens up, carefully pours all the
water out of the pan, bends his head down close over it, and begins
moving the thin layer of black sand about with his fingers.

"Is there, is there any gold?" queries Thure, unable longer to keep
silent.

Ham does not answer for a moment, but continues to stir the sand with
his big fingers, bending his head still closer to the pan.

"Not a durned smell!" and he suddenly hurls the pan violently from him.

At this moment Mr. Conroyal utters a startled exclamation and glances
quickly up the gulch. One look is sufficient to turn his face white.
From where he stands he can see straight up the gulch for nearly half a
mile; and half that distance up the gulch he sees a dark gray wall, ten
feet high, topped with white, rushing down toward him with the speed of
a race horse, and hears a roar like the rushing charge of a thousand
cavalrymen.

"My God, a flood!" he yells. "Climb for your lives!"

There was no need of a second warning. All could now see the advancing
flood, could hear the deafening roar, could feel the solid earth
beginning to tremble beneath their feet; and all began to climb for
their lives up the steep side of the gulch. There was no time to stop to
pick up anything. Pans, shovels, picks, and such parts of their clothes
as happened to be off their bodies they left where they lay.

Thure and Bud happened to be climbing almost directly under Marshall.
Suddenly, before they were above the danger line and when the flood was
almost upon them, Marshall's feet slipped and he slid past the boys down
directly in front of the advancing flood. It looked like death to stop
to help him; but neither boy hesitated an instant.

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