LITERATURE. "SILVER LINING" CLAIM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7339, 20 July 1892, Page 1

LITERATURE. "SILVER LINING" CLAIM.

A SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND GOLDFjELDS. {Covnhill jlajfui'nc.) Chapter 11. Adam and his partner Barney had notions of conscience, though these appurtenances worked very defectively when financial matters were under consideration. Barney was tbe kindesthearted man on the Eangatonga diggings. If a comrade's child was left fatherless, if a mate was crushed by a fall of rock, if even an old acquaintance should turn up one morning very much " down on his luck," Barney was naturally the first person in the township who would be appealed to for monetary assistance. The openhanded, impulsive Irishman had numerous friends and welt wishers, and whenever his name was mentioned it was received with a panegyric on the splendid qualities of his warm heart. The conclusion of these plaudits, however, was invariably a warninf; some recollection of a ahady transaction was whispered. "Smart maa, Barney Ryan; take my'straight tip/ don't buy any of his claims unless you're sartin whatyou'rebuyin,'" Buch was always the conclusion of a biographical sketch of Barney. Adam was a general favourite also. He possessed a species of dry, caustic humour, greatly relished in mining circles. He waa full of cbat and stories, and could talk against any other man in the township, while ho never omitted to " shout " mo3t generously whenever he struck a gocd claim or disposed of a good bargain. Qualities tuch as these invariably attract friends in all stages of Bocicty. * The afternoon that saw the bargain struck with John Cbinaman was a fortunate one for the thirsty souls that crowded the smoky bar-room of the Eangatonga Hotel. Adam felt greatly elated with the luck of selling to A Chinaman. Had any of the European miners purchased the heap of tailings and the claim, it would have become necessary that tho partners should disappear from tho scene. But it did not matter about John. He was a stranger, and they had taken him in; and it was a matter for sincere congratulation that the astute member of the Mongolian iac2 had met some one more than a match for him. Yes, Adam was at his beslj tba!; evening. The storekeeper had been paid, and though he had oxpressed a little astonishment at the partners selling such a good claim, when he received a knowing wink from Adam he had burst into a fit of laughter. « The whole of Eangatonga was soon in full possession of the fauts, the storekeeper having no small pleasure in recounting such an exquisite joke to his numerous customers and hangers-round. "'Why did ye sell such a good claim ?' says I," he repeated to each now listener, *' and Adam just gave me a blooming wink; nearly bust myself with laughing —it's the 'straight tip* I'm giving you, and them blooming two 'avehad the Chinese." There was naturally considerable curiosity manifested the same evening in the barroom aa to the fuller details, and when the partners made their appearance question after question, more or less pointed, was made in regard to the sale of the claim. Adam could not be induced, however, until ■well on in the evening's carousal to admit the soft impeachment of being too much for a Chinaman. When at last he did so tho general amusement was mush increased, and the partners received a specieß of silent hero worship in deference to their astutoaess and clsvorlj'-devised ruse de gvxrre. There was also a feeling that John Chinaman had succumbed to a temptation which had proved ineffectual ia provoking the township into speculation; and this added greatly to the general satisfaction. If we see a man generally considered more astute than ourselves fall a victim to a speculation which we havo carefully avoided, we are conscious of a gentle humming of self-applause, of a sense of swelling pride in our own foresight und good common sense; and it argued well for the general intelligence of Eangatonga Township that the population had proved itself superior to wiles which even cunning John had found to be deadly—for if he had not found out his mistake yet he would do ao early tho following morning. And what about poor John ? Did no one think how long it had taken the patient, long-suffering individual, who stared about him with those Btrange, deep, far-lit eyes of his, that aeeined to miss nothing worth remarking —did no one consider how long it had taken him to scrape togetbur the .£SO he had jaat parted wiih for a usalea3 claim? Hard-working, hard-living, mean to misetliness, and dirty because he could never allow himself time to be cleanly, JAn could not expect to find iaau7 friends among the European population. They had at least traditions—often nothing more—of belonging to a highei scale of civilization. Then John had very bad habits : he smoked opium, and played a game of chance called by the absurd name of "fan tan." What could b« expected from a m^.n like that? Had he got beastly drunk three times a week, like a decent Christian, some people might have felt sorry for him. But to rendei himself insensible by the use of opium wac to put himself outside the pale of sympathy and enable the inebriated Anglo-Saxon tc regard him with utter scorn. Yet it is a hard thing to lose one's savings—just a£ hard for him who smokes opium as for him v;ho drinks potato spirit under the notion that it is good old Highland whiskey. "S'elp me Bob, I'll go an' see the Chinaman 'makee wagee' out of these' ere bloomin' tailings!" was the final expression of one of the company, received with roan of laughter a3 it slowly dispersed at 11 o'clock in obedience to the Licensing Act and the summons of the sleepy barman. Sure enough the next morning found r small crowd watching John's operatiou: with suppressed amusement. It was strange, they thought, he should waste sc much time over the claim. He ought tc have discovered its value by thi3 time, anc completed the general amusement bj throwing it upin disgust. But no, he stil hung CD, and had collected some dry titrei for the purpose of making a fire. He cculc not intend to live there, for his hut wat down at the lower end of the township Yet he lit the fire, produced a frying-pan and after carefully propping it over th< flame, proceeded to fry a portion of thi tailings. When the contents of tho pai became slightly warm, he sprinkled a whiti substance over them, and urged tha fin underneath. A thick white smoke resulted which slowly rose and floated over thi spectators, now so thoroughly intere3tei that they drew nearer and nearer to John' fire. For a t'me the heavy sulphurou fumes made the eyes of the onloookor water freely, and caused a burning senaa tion in the back of their throats. But th smoke grew thinner and thinner as th heat of the fire grew greater, andatlaE the fryinopan and its contents were glow ing with "a dull red hoit. John stirre the tnilings with a Btick until the laf vestige of smoke had disappeared; thei lifting the frying-pan, he carried it dow to the edge of the water, clobb to the 6ide < the deserted "cradle." Tho curiosity of the spectators was no very intense, and they crowded up to Jol to ascertain the result. After dipping tl f ryingpan into tho water until it was co enough to be easily handled, John pr ceeded to wash out the content 3 in tl

usual way. The fine sand of tbe tailings passed away in muddy water, and at last there was left in the pan a heap of shining white metal about half the size of your fist. The metal ahone and glistened under the clear water, and the little crowd of loafers grew cloaer and doner round John. As the washing was completed, John looked up at the nearest of the company and smiled — such a queer, quaint, ancient, yet childlike smile, at once seducing and selfsatisfied. " You savey ?" he said. "You savey ? Silvee, feilvee!" Then he nodded and smiled, and nodded and smiled again. The assembled audience gave a grunt of surprise. All of them understood the finding of gold in its free state, but none of them had any knowledge of silver or its various ores. John became quite communicative, amd taking one of tbe .company to the heap of tailings, picked up a handful and said ; " HBavee, you aavey !" whioh was to say that the stuff was of great weight. It waa certainly both heavy and black, a blu shgray black sand produced by pulverizing the quartz. " Welly good," said John smiling again, as he handed a portion to the loafer, and then returned to scoop the metal out of the frying-pan. The loafer carried Im handful of stuff to the assayer at the Bank in the little township, and next day Eangatonga was ringing v/ith the news that John Chinaman had struck a splendid new find. The assayer had pronounced the quartz sand to contain Bulphide of eilver, and to give a return equal to 2000 onnceß of silver to the ton of quartz. "Just my bloomin' luck," said Barney Ryan ; " I'm always backing the second horse — whinever there's a second horse to back." ' His partner, who was tho recipient of this piece of philosophic confidence, waa silent, but his thoughts were noue of the ' piea=santeat. It was extremely gratifying to hia powera of diplomacy to get au advantage orer John Chinaman, but is was exasperating to find this advantage to be a mere delusion; that, in placa of selling a bad claim for a long price, he had sold a fortune for an old song ; that, instead of being intellectually superior to the Chinaman, John had proved bimeolf so immensely superior to Adam Jellicoe as to purchase for merely a nominal figure a claim which " tbe cuss " must have known all the time to be extremely valuable. The population of Eangatonga, also, had become very sarcastic, and it was galling to amA po3aeEsed of a considerable fund ( of caustic humour — often indulged in most ' freely at the expense ot the bystanders— to be subjected to the torrent of gibes and laughter that met Jellicoe and his partner on every hand. Thia was a very uncomfortable state of matters, and Adam's feeling 3 goaded him on to attempt some remedy ; but what the remedy was, or in what direction he could look for it, took soma considerable thought to ascertain. One thing Adam made up his mind to, however — he must get the better of that Chinaman, or disappear altogether from lliiagafconga. (To be continued.)