Perhaps it was only natural that I should become the hero of the miners when the camp was at last reached and the men learned the strange story of our recovery of the gold. Nux and Bry also came in for a good share of praise, which they well deserved, and it seemed as if the adventure had established a permanent good feeling between the gold seekers and our crew of the “Flipper.” There was no more suspicion on either side, and when the Major made a new division of the recovered gold he generously insisted that I should receive even more than I had been robbed of, for my share. Whatever the Major’s faults might be, he was certainly liberal in his dealings with others, and Uncle Naboth was greatly pleased with the profitable result of an adventure that had at first threatened to ruin the fortunes of the firm of Perkins & Steele. No one mourned very much over the death of the men who had stolen the gold; on the contrary, there was a feeling of general relief that the four desperadoes were unable to cause any more trouble. Therefore the camp resumed its former routine, and the miners set to work with renewed vigor to wash out the golden grains from the rich sands of the inlet.
It was about this time that the grave and reserved Captain Gay proved himself to be a genius, and by an act of real cleverness that crowned his name with glory materially shortened the stay of our entire community on the island.
The Captain had worked side by side with the common sailors, for the Major showed no favoritism, and insisted that every able-bodied man should perform his share of the work. Even Uncle Naboth had from the first day of our capture toiled from morning till night; but he accepted his tasks with rare good nature, and frequently confided to me, in his droll way, that his enforced labor had added ten years to his life.
“I was gettin’ altogether too chunked and fat,” he said one evening, “and likely enough I’d ’a’ been troubled sooner or later with apoplexy or dropsical. But now I’ve lost twenty or thirty pounds weight, an’ feel as lively as a cricket in a hornet’s nest. Work’s a good thing, Sam. I’m glad the Major made me do it. Probably he’s saved my life by his cussedness.”
Captain Gay had been working at the upper end of the inlet, near to the place where a slender mountain stream fell from a precipice above and mingled its fresh water with that of the inlet. This stream fell upon a rocky bottom, but in course of years it had worn a bowl-shaped hollow in the rock, which could be distinctly observed through the transparent water.
“There ought to be a lot of gold in that hollow,” Ned Britton had remarked to the Captain one day. “I’ve an idea all the gold we find in the sands of the inlet has been brought here by the mountain streams.”
“I’ve been thinking that, myself,” answered the Captain; but it was a week later that he climbed the rock and followed the bent of the stream for nearly a mile, marking carefully the lay of the land.
The next morning he went to the Major with his plan, which was nothing less than a proposal to turn the stream from its bed, several hundred yards above, and let it follow a new course and reach the inlet a hundred feet distant from its present fall.
The Major stared thoughtfully at the Captain for a time, and then followed him up the stream and made a careful examination of the territory. The result was an order for all the seamen of the “Flipper” to place themselves at the disposal of Captain Gay and obey his orders.
In three days they had built a dam of rocks and brushwood nearly across the stream, and pried away the banks in another place to allow the water to escape by the new channel.
The fourth day the opening was closed in the dam, and the stream plunged away on its new course, leaving its former bed practically dry.
Immediately the men ran down to the inlet, where the Major himself waded to the hollow caused by the previous fall of water and dipped up a pan of sand from the cavity. Upon examination it proved richer in gold than any of us had anticipated, the sands containing many small nuggets which, being heavier than the grains of metal, had been accumulating for many years in the basin.
All hands were set to work in this locality, and inspired by the rich harvest that rewarded their toil, they labored early and late, until the bags of dust and nuggets had become so numerous that even the Major was filled with amazement.
But this was not all that was gained by turning the mountain stream from its bed. In several hollows up above Captain Gay discovered rich deposits of small nuggets that were secured with ease, and two weeks later the Major called a meeting of all the members of the party on the sands before his tent.
“Boys,” said he, “we’ve got enough to make every one of us rich for life. What’s the use of staying here longer? I’m getting homesick, for one, and a good many of you are longing to get back to the States and begin spending your piles. What do you say—shall we board the ship and go home?”
“Yes!” they yelled, without a dissenting voice.
“Then,” said the Major, “tomorrow we’ll divide the spoils, so that every man has his honest share; and then we’ll pay our passage money to Mr. Perkins and sail away home.”
The division was accomplished with very little dissatisfaction or friction, for the worst elements in our assorted company had been removed, and the Major was absolutely just in his decisions. One or two, to be sure, grumbled that the provisions from the “Flipper” had been purchased at too high a price, or that too much of the gold was set aside to pay for the passage back to San Francisco; but not one objected when the Major set aside three heavy bags of gold to reward Captain Gay for his clever feat in turning the mountain stream.
When Uncle Naboth and I, in the seclusion of my hut, had figured out our share of the profits, the old man was hugely delighted.
“My partner!” he exclaimed, slapping his thigh with enthusiasm, “it’s paid us better than three trips to Alaska! We’ve nearly made our fortunes, Sam, my boy, and if we get safe home again we can thank the Major for making us his prisoners.”
It did not take our party long to transfer all their possessions to the decks of the “Flipper,” where the ship’s carpenter and part of the crew had been sent beforehand to clear up the rigging, ship a new rudder, and make some repairs that had been rendered necessary by the storm that had driven us to this strange island.
To my own inexperienced eyes the damage had been so great that it seemed as if the sailors would require weeks in which to make the vessel fit to put to sea again; so that I was astonished, when I went aboard, to note how quickly the task had been accomplished. Indeed, the “Flipper” seemed as trim and staunch as when she last sailed out of the Golden Gate, and doubtless she was fully able to bear us all safely home again.
All our party having been put aboard, together with their property, Captain Gay ordered the anchors hoisted, and at eleven o’clock on the morning of September 16th, the “Flipper” headed out to sea before a fair br............