USA > California > A picture of pioneer times in California, illustrated with anecdotes and stores taken from real life > Part 60
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" Yes, we are right. There, yonder, is the very tree described in my memorandum."
" You are right, Captain; and it is under that old oak our lit- tle matter of money is buried. Come over, Captain, and see us take it from its hiding-place."
" No, no," said Ward in an impatient, hurried voice; "do that yourself, after we have got through. Somehow I hate the sight of this place to-night; to me it looks horribly cheerless and cold. What Brown admires about it I don't see; for that fright- ful precipice is all that I can see, and I am near enough to that now to suit me; so let us go back here into this timber and dig up the box while we have daylight, and be gone from this cursed looking place."
As Ward spoke he turned back to lead the way into the tim-
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ber. It must have been that some presentiment of impending evil oppressed him; for he looked pale and anxious. His voice had in it a tremulous tone, his motions were quick and nervous, while his eyes gleamed from side to side, as if in search of apprehended danger. A look of disappointment passed between Jack and his boys when Ward declined to go to the edge of the cliff as Jack had asked him to do; but they followed him into the timber without speaking.
" Aye, here is the spot, sure enough," said Ward, pointing to a little mound well covered with grass; " and here are the four trees marked just as noted in my book; so off with your coats and to work lively, as I want to get out of this dismal place be- fore dark."
Ike and Mike obeyed without hesitation, and fell to work with a will. Soon the box came to view. Ward and Jack stood close to each other with their eyes fixed on the work. Ike now threw the crowbar, with which he had been trying to move the box, behind him and behind his father also, and dropped on his knees as if to examine the box, while he exclaimed:
" Look, Captain Ward; I fear it has been opened and robbed!"
Ward stooped to look, and, as he did so, Jack, with a move- ment as noiseless and stealthy as a wildcat when preparing to spring on its prey, picked up the crowbar, and, whirling it in the air, made a blow at Ward's head. The pirate's quick eye caught the shadow of the uplifted weapon, just in time to move his head and receive the terrible iron on his left arm, breaking it short off at the elbow. Now all three men sprang on Ward. He is borne down to the ground; but with almost superhuman strength he throws back his assailants with terrible blows from his only arm. The Lawsons are covered with their own blood, flowing from nose and mouth. There is no outcry heard from the terrible struggle-nothing but the quick, hard breathing and hoarse growling sound, sometimes taking form in words of mut- tered imprecation and hate. The contest is as noiseless as that of bulldogs in their fiercest fights. Ward is dragged, foot by foot, towards the cliff. Every yard of the ground is marked by the struggle. Nearer and nearer to the fearful precipice they approach. Johnny, wild with excitement, holds the rope in his hands, while he jumps up and down, and makes all sorts of contortions, in sympathy with the changes in the struggle. Now the cliff is almost gained. Ward is on his face, held down by
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all three men. His right arm is stretched out before him, while the fleshless, red bone of the broken one protrudes through sleeve and all, and covers the grass with blood.
" The rope, Johnny, the rope!" cries Jack.
Quick as a flash, Johnny hands it to Ike, with the noose all prepared. Ike jumps from his position, slips the noose over Ward's head, and stoops while he fastens the end of the rope to the butt of the oak tree. Ward, who seems to have been gath- ering all his strength for one mighty effort, gives a sudden bound, and clears himself of both Jack and Mike. In an in- stant more, he seizes Ike by the belt on his waist, and now, with his only arm, he holds him over his head, crying out:
" Back, you murderers, or he goes over the cliff !"
Jack and Mike utter a fearful yell, and spring on hira. Then Ike goes whirling over Ward's arm from the cliff. Now Ward fastens a despairing death grip on the Lawsons, and all three seem sure to go together over the cliff. But no; by kicks and blows they force Ward over the edge. Then he grasps the rope near the end fastened to the tree, and slides slowly down half its length, until, sailor-like, he clasps it with his feet, and, using his teeth as a second hand, he begins to ascend again. Jack and Mike stand over him, watching, in their wild, savage fury, his desperate struggle for life. Now his ascent is stopped; for his teeth give way, and blood streams from his mouth. He looks up aud sees Jack above him, with a fragment of rock in his hand, and about to hurl it upon him. In a hoarse, half- stifled voice, Le cries out :
" Jack, take me up, and I will marry Lizzie, and make you all rich !"
" Ah, viliain, Lizzie is dead, and I swore to send you to her; for she is waiting for you to fling you into the infernal regions, where you belong! Yes; here is Lizzie's answer and the message she sends you!"
While Jack spoke, Ward's eyes were fixed, staring on the rock in Jack's hands, and his eyes and head never moved as the ter- rible messenger of death came, with unerring aim, rushing through the air. Then the skull crushes in, the eyes leap from their sockets, the bloody jaw drops and the hideous, mutilated mass falls to the full length of the rope with a horrid thud!
It is almost night. The fog is now dense and dark, and the wind is rushing with a lonesome moan through the timber on
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the cliffs around Saucelito, as Jack's yell of triumph sounds over the dead, mutilated body of Lusk. Hark! What scream or shriek is that that now pervades the whole atmosphere ? Can it come from some sea-fowl, frightened by Jack's shout of fran- tic triumph ? Or can it be; oh, can it be, that the spirit of poor Agnes Ward is hovering near, and now shrieks as her fiend-child is launched into a frightful eternity ? Oh, poor Agnes Ward! can it be that that frightful mass of mutilated humanity, swing- ing there in that terrible death, is the growth of the poor little infant you hushed to sleep in the dismal London garret with your mournful song? The same poor little limbs you saved from being cold by wrapping them in miserable garments taken from your own shivering body ? The same you fed when you had to starve yourself ? The same whose little heart, so inno- cent then, beat close to yours, throb for throb, as its little form lay on your breast in the long, dark nights, as you watched for the dawning of the morning that was to bring no hope to you ? Yes, poor Agnes; it is the growth of the child about whose future, when all else was lost and dark, and dismal in your terrible, weary way, one solitary ray of hope did seem to loom up in the distance to induce you to struggle to live.
Oh, society, society! are not your ways, modes and worldly teachings responsible for this woeful scene of here to-day at Saucelito ?
CHAPTER XXVII.
AT SEA IN AN OPEN BOAT-RESCUED BY DE FOREST.
After Ward had left the cabin to go on shore at Saucelito, Walter and Minnie remained seated together in a terrible state of suspense, yet careful to show no sign of fear to Brown's eye. They seldom spoke, and then in whispers. Brown walked up and down, but did not attempt to address them. Time passed, and it grew almost dark. Brown ordered the cabin lamps lit; he took out his watch, and began to look very uneasy, and once said aloud: "I cannot understand what detains the Captain so long." Then an undefined hope came to the brother and sister; but so faint that they did not dare to express it to each other. Brown grew more and more uneasy. He went to the upper steps of the cabin stairway, and called for the second mate.
" Where," he asks, " is Mr. Lawson ?"
" With the Captain, on shore, sir."
" Oh," said Brown, with a start, " and who are the other men with the Captain and Mr. Lawson ?"
" Mr. Lawson's two sons, sir, Yellow Dick and the boy Johnny Lucky."
Brown grew deadly pale, and became so faint that he had to sit down on the stairway. The second mate, not observing his agitation, retired.
"Oh, it must be," murmured Brown; " old Jack has him sure. Yellow Dick is Jack's cousin, and Johnny Lucky would cut any fellow's throat for them. Was the Captain mad when he left with such a boat's crew ?"
Just as Brown got back to the cabin, he heard the noise of a boat alongside. He again turned deadly pale, and threw him- self on the sofa, repeating over and over:
" Oh, he's got him, he's got him, and I am lost!"
Now he plainly hears men leap on deck, and an order given out in Jack's voice, with the answers from the second mate, 42
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" Aye, aye, sir." Their feet are on the stairway, and Brown is almost in a faint. Minnie and Walter observe all this, and hope grows in their hearts in spite of themselves; but Minnie, never- theless, gasps and trembles, and Walter whispers to her:
" Faith in God, Minnie; courage!"
" Oh, yes, darling; that tremor is over, thank God !" And she smiles in her brother's face and is a woman once more, ready to face any danger.
She averted her eyes from the stair-way when she heard the steps, and so did Walter, and now they are surprised and startled by hearing Jack's voice close to them, and, looking up, they see him, and three stout men, standing before Brown with revolvers in hand, while Jack says: "Mr. Brown, sir, throw up your arms!"
Brown obeys, crying out piteously: " Oh, Jack, spare my life, and I will serve you like a slave. I had nothing to do with Lusk's treachery to poor Lizzie."
" Hold, villain, hold! Do not dare to speak her name again, or I will first cut out your tongue and then cast you ironed into the sea!"
Now Brown cringed to the floor with abject fear. He tried to speak; he tried to beg for life, and his jaws opened and shut, but not a word could the wretch articulate.
" Take that belt off him, Mike," said Jack.
Brown, with trembling hands, unbuckled the belt himself and handed it to Mike.
" Where is the key to those shackles ?" continued Jack, point- ing to Walter, while he looked at Brown.
Still trembling, Brown drew the key from his pocket and gave it to Mike.
" Take those shackles off, Mike, and put them on this fellow."
"Aye, aye, sir," answered Mike, as he approached Walter, who now began to yield to a feeling of hope that was like a dream, and Minnie could hardly contain herself, there was such a rush of hope and joy about her heart. She did not yet under- stand how it was that Ward was not to come back, and that Jack seemed to have command of everything. Nor did Walter exactly comprehend it, and they both looked on in amazement, sometimes doubting if they really were awake.
Jack continued: "As soon as you have the irons on, take the fellow and put him in the hold, all secure, until I have time to attend to his case."
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"Oh, mercy, mercy, Jack! I have $10,000, and you can have it all, if you will let me live and go on shore, and I will never betray you."
"Away with the howling hound!" cried Jack, fiercely; and, moaning and begging, and shackled with the irons taken from Walter, Yellow Dick and Mike dragged Brown up the stairs and out of hearing. Now Jack turned to Walter, and said: " Young man, can you row a boat ?"
" I think so," said Walter.
" Would you venture to attempt, in this dark night, to row a boat to San Francisco, if I give you one to take your sister there ?""
" I will try, anyway, and be most grateful to you."
" As to your gratitude, young man, it is of no consequence to me now. I feel that my career is over. I have done things in my life that it will not do to even talk of. I am sorry for them, and I will do as poor Lizzie always wanted me to do-I will pray every day to God and the Savior to forgive me. Do you know, lady," continued Jack, turning to Minnie, " I once had a daughter as dear to me as you are to your brother? I educated her like a lady. I had her taught the religion of my country. She looked to me so sweet and beautiful, and I only lived to love her. I used to dream of her all night, and every day I would laugh to myself when I thought of her. Well, well; this morning the man I had served all my life murdered her. Yes; Lusk-or Captain Ward, as we used to call him here-murdered her, after first proving false to her; and, having no power to get the law to punish him, we hanged him this evening by the neck from the cliff yonder. And my poor boy Ike lost his life in the struggle; for we had a fearful fight." Here Jack stopped, shuddered, and turned away for a moment, as if to get command of his voice. After pacing up and down the cabin for a minute, he continued: "I once loved this man Lusk better than I loved any one in the world not of my own blood. I served him in every way, without asking the why or the wherefore; and, in return, he murdered my darling pet, my sweet child! But he is dead, on the cliff yonder, and I have no more to say of him."
Minnie said, in her own sweet voice: "I wish I could say a word that would give you any comfort."
" Comfort! Oh, no, lady; no comfort for me! My last hope
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of that has gone! But I have a great wish that God would for- give me, as Lizzie said He would; for I want to be where she is when I die. Can you tell me what I ought to do, lady ?"
Then Minnie, in the gentlest way, told him what she thought he ought to do, and how he ought to pray. He listened atten- tively, and promised to do as she told him.
" One thing more I will ask of you to do, for Lizzie's sake," said Minnie.
" And what can that be ?" said Jack, looking surprised.
"I will ask you to spare the life of that wretched man Brown."
" Why," said Jack, " that was the fellow that helped Lusk in his game about poor Lizzie, and to trap you and your brother. Do you know that ?"
" Yes; I know it all. But the Christian religion requires us to forgive all our enemies, if we expect to be forgiven our- selves."
Jack hesitated, and then said: " Would Lizzie agree with you ?"
" Most certainly she would."
" Well, then, I will spare his life; for I want to do what you think Lizzie would wish me to do. And now I have a request to make of you."
" Well," said Minnie, " I am glad of that."
" I want you to go to Miss Scott's boarding-house, and find where Lizzie is buried. And I want you to go yourself and put some flowers and little ornaments around the grave for me." And then the old man's voice choked, and for some time he did not speak. Minnie, in earnest language, promised to attend to the grave.
"Not only now," she said, " but on every Christmas eve." A promise she never forgot to this day.
Jack now turned to Walter, saying: "I will send Johnny Lucky on shore with you, and he will be of some help in work- ing the boat. He is a good sailor, and Mr. Wagner, if it comes in your way, give him a helping hand to get employment and the like. I will give the poor boy some money to start with, and I want you to advise him to be good, as Lizzie used to do."
Here the old man again paused, and continued: "I would keep you until daylight, but we have to weigh anchor right off and put to sea; for I must avoid some ten men, who are to be
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here some time to-night, and who are particular friends of Lusk and might give me trouble when they found what had happened, The men now on board are almost all my friends. I will now order you something to eat while I get the boat ready. You had better eat, because you have a hard row, and perhaps a hard night, too, before you."
As Jack spoke, he left the cabin, and the brother and sister again found themselves alone. And now they yielded to their first impulse, and poured out their thanks to the Almighty Giver of all good for their deliverance. Eatables were now before them, and with a good heart they ate, to give them strength for the work before them.
In a few minutes Jack announced the boat ready, saying to Walter: " I have put a demijohn of water on board, plenty of hard bread, three blankets, and something else that you will find when daylight comes, that belongs of right to you; so that if you do miss your reckoning to-night, you will not starve or freeze."
And now old Jack stooped down and whispered to Minnie: "Pray for me, for I have no one on earth to do it, now that Lizzie is dead."
" You shall have my poor prayers as long as life lasts," an- swered Minnie, as she stepped on the ladder and committed her- self to the protection of a stout sailor, who descended it with her and placed her in safety in the boat. Then Walter took his place at the oars, and Johnny Lucky, with a lantern and a small pocket compass he got from Jack, took his place at the tiller. The night was dark, dismal and foggy, and, manned as the boat was, the situation of our friends was truly dan- gerous; but this they did not see. No; all they thought of now was their wonderful deliverance from the power of Lusk. They did not fear to face the danger of death in an ordinary way. Walter, too, was confident that he could row the little boat with perfect ease. Jack had instructed Johnny as to the course the boat should hold to make San Francisco; so Walter did not fear tke result, and with a light heart shoved off, and was soon out of hearing of the terrible bark they had that day approached with such fear. Johnny Lucky was a strange act- ing and looking boy. He had always a wild, scared look about him. He seldom spoke, except when compelled to by the busi- ness in hand. Then he said but little; not a word more than
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was necessary. There were times, however, when he seemed to wake from this reticence, and to become bright and half-wild with spirits. When in these moods, he would tell all sorts of stories of his childhood and boyhood, of the fearful scenes he had witnessed at sea on pirate ships, and on land among robbers and cannibals. Some of these stories were so improbable and fearful that few believed them, and supposed that when Johnny got into any of these moods he had a touch of insanity about him; but many people believed them, and listened with avidity. It is in the recollection of many of us to have heard Johnny talking in one of these wild moods about the death of the pirate Captain at the hands of his first mate, at Saucelito. None of his strange stories seemed to excite him so much as this one. He would almost froth at the mouth as he described the fearful scene, and then suddenly seem to sicken, grow faint, and drop into his wonted, half-stupid way. He was about seventeen years old at the time of which we are now speaking. His com- plexion was sallow; he was tall and lithe. He professed to know nothing of his parentage, race or country, but believed his parents to have been murdered off the coast of South America, and that he fell into the pirates' hands in that way, as his first recollections were connected with pirates and pirates' ships.
Minnie sat in the bow of the boat, with one of the Blue Bell's new red blankets, which Jack had given them, wrapped around her. For the first half hour, no one spoke, though Walter's and Minnie's thoughts were all wild and joyous at their recov- ered freedom. Then Johnny, in a quick, sharp tone, said:
" You let your oars go too deep, Captain; you never will hold out that way."
Walter corrected the fault without speaking. Then, in a little while, Johnny covered his lamp with his handkerchief, so as to hide its light, and dropping on his knees peered close down over the water as far as he could see in the darkness, and exclaimed:
" The fog is lifting a little, and I think I can see land, and I think it is Alcatraz Island, and that the tide is taking us out towards the Golden Gate. We must make to the east of the island, Captain, or we may get out to sea."
" Well, Johnny, you keep her heading right and I will do my best," said Walter.
" Aye, aye, sir," came from Johnny.
In a few minutes more, Johnny is again on his knees, peering over the water, and now exclaims:
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" Oh, if I am not mistaken about that land being Alcatraz, we are losing instead of gaining." Then, rising quickly, he said: " Lady, come and take my place; I will show you how to handle the tiller and look at the compass, and I will take the other pair of oars."
Minnie instantly, with Walter's help, was by Johnny's side. He showed her what to do, and Minnie at once comprehended her duty.
And now Johnny threw himself into a seat in front of Walter; threw out the other pair of oars and worked in time with Walter. Now the boat seemed to fly through the water, and so they worked for perhaps twenty minutes. Walter said:
" Look again, Johnny."
In an instant he was on his knees, and exclaimed:
" Oh, we cannot make it. Our only chance now will be to head our boat a point or two to the westward and . try to make the main land east of the Fort. If we can catch that point, it is as much as we can do now.'
Then turning to Minnie, he showed her the required change in the compass, and dropped back into his place. And now they both pulled with all their might. Not a word was spoken for another half-hour. And now the fog again became so thick that they could not see five yards from the boat. Johnny again breaks silence by saying :
" We will be either out to sea or close on land by the Fort in fifteen minutes. Can you hold out pulling for that time, Cap- tain ?" turning his head to Walter as he spoke.
"Yes, Johnny, I can hold out if you can."
" I will do so if it kills me," was Johnny's reply.
" Why do you say fifteen minutes, Johnny ?" said Walter.
" Because, Captain, I know about what time it takes to cross the bay, in any way you can take it, and I have had two such scrapes as this before, and we saved ourselves by an oar's length."
No more was then said, and Walter and Johnny pulled as men pull for dear life. Johnny soon began to duck down his head in a listening attitude, but made no remark until the full fifteen minutes were passed. Then he said, in a low, disappointed tone:
" We must have missed it, Captain; the ebbing tide was too much for us."
No one spoke for ten minutes more, and Walter and Johnny
.
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pulled on with all their strength. Then Johnny suddenly ex- claimed :
" Oh, we are out beyond the Heads, sure; for here are the big waves and swells. I must take the tiller, or we may be cap- sized."
And poor Minnie, with her heart sunk low, but courageous, took a seat in front of Walter.
" Take it easy now, Captain; for we must cruise here till day- light," was Johnny's first remark after taking his new position. Minnie asked him, in a low voice:
" Can a boat as small as this live at sea ?"
" Yes, lady; in moderate weather we might live a month, if well managed, and even longer."
" Johnny," said Walter, "you know a hundred times more about the sea than I do; so I will be guided in what I do by what you say."
" Well, if you can row on, in an easy sort of a way, for about twenty minutes, do so. Then I can judge where we are by the motion of the water. I know now that we have crossed the bar, and that we are at sea; but I cannot yet tell our relative position to the harbor."
So Walter rowed on as advised by Johnny, while he spoke cheerfully to Minnie.
" Oh, Walter," she said, " I am not frightened. Our situa- tion out here on this dark water is surely fearful; but, oh, how little I mind it, compared to the terrible danger we were deliv- ered from this very evening."
" Yes," said Walter; " I do not mind this in the least, though we may be in danger; but it is danger from death, and death only. The frightful position we escaped from I cannot, even now, on this dark, dismal sea, bear to think of in comparison."
" No, Walter; somehow I feel and seem to realize that here we are, if I may so express it, in God's especial keeping! That He holds us in his hand, as it were, to do with us as He sees fit. So let us bow cheerfully to His will, whatever that may be."
" Darling Minnie, it makes me feel happy to hear you talk so bravely, and I hope I will set you no bad example. I wish I could know that that note was really taken up and paid, and then, it appears to me, I would feel perfectly satisfied; for then, if anything was to happen to us out here, there would be no danger of disgrace to our name."
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" You mean the forged note in Page, Bacon & Co.'s bank ?" said Johnny.
" Yes, Johnny. What do you know about it ?"
" Oh, I know all about. That was the way they were to send you to State Prison, if your sister did not marry Captain Lusk; and they tried to get the note out of the bank. But the bank would not give it up without an order from you; and then Lusk forged a letter from you, telling the bank to give it up. But just as Brown got to the bank, he saw the clerk handing the note to a man by the name of Fitzgerald. When Lusk heard that he swore, and was very mad."
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