USA > California > A picture of pioneer times in California, illustrated with anecdotes and stores taken from real life > Part 61
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" Oh, that is glorious!" said the brother and sister. " Thank you, Johnny, thank you."
" Now," said Johnny, " let us not talk, but listen. Stop row- ing, Captain."
Then Johnny threw himself on the side of the boat, and let- ting his head drop near the water, remained listening for five minutes, while he seemed hardly to breathe. He then sat up erect, and said :
" Now, Captain, lay up your oars. We are over a mile from land, anyway, and it may be that the ebb tide has taken us miles out. So now make a place for the lady to lie down on, and you and I will take watch about, until daylight."
" I am satisfied," said Walter, "and I will take the first watch. So tell me what it is necessary for me to do while on the watch ?"
" You are to keep the tiller in your hand, and keep the boat heading towards the swells and waves, as I am doing; and you must keep your ears sharp open, to catch the sound of breakers, in case we should drift in shore, or on the rocks."
" Now," said Minnie, " if that is all there is to do, I insist on taking a watch, so that you two, who are so terribly tired from rowing, can get some sleep. I am fresh, and could not sleep if I were to lie down now. so I entreat to be let do this, dear Walter."
At first Walter would not listen to the proposal, but at length he yielded to her earnest request, and it was agreed that she was to take the first two hours, as her watch, on condition that she should lie down for the remainder of the night. Walter now gave Minnie his time-piece, putting the guard-chain around her neck, and Johnny and he wrapped themselves in their blankets and were soon asleep at her feet.
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Now, my young readers, let me ask you to stop with me and look at Minnie as she sits upright, with unflinching courage, in the stern of that boat, with both her little hands grasping the tiller. There is no covering on her head but her own luxuriant hair, for her ears must be kept free to hear every uncommon sound. Her form, from her waist down, is wrapped in the red blanket, got from the pirate ship. Her large, bright eyes are wide open, trying to pierce the darkness around her. She scarcely breathes, she is listening so for the dangers she is warned of. Her brother and the boy are sleeping at her feet, wrapped in their blankets. Now and then she glances at them, and a smile of satisfaction, though sad it may be, passes over her face, and then her gaze is upwards for a moment, and her lips quiver and move, as if in earnest supplication to Him in whose keeping she knows their frail bark rides the dark, fearful ocean beneath her. Boys and girls of California pioneer parents, be proud, for such were your mothers! Aye, and to you men of the Califor- nia Pioneer Society, we will say shame ! for such are the women your constitution excludes from membership.
Just at one o'clock Minnie called Walter, as had been agreed on, and then laid down herself in his place, and was soon rocked to sleep by the great waves of the mighty waters of the Pacific. Walter's watch was three hours, Johnny then took his turn, while Walter slept soundly until after the approach of daylight. The only land in sight as light spread over the ocean, was a mountain, far to the north of them; and they found it impossi- ble to judge in what position they were to the harbor of San Francisco. However, after some discussion, they put the boat on a course they thought most likely to be correct, and rowed slow- ly on in that direction. Then breakfast was made on hard bread and a drink of the water from the supply Jack had given them. They had made an unexpected discovery this morning. They found, in the bottom of the boat, the two buckskin bags of gold- dust that had been stolen from Walter the night of his arrival in San Francisco from Downieville. The bags were exactly in the condition they were when Walter handed them to Brown for safe-keeping, sealed as Walter had sealed them, and each seal was marked: " Wagner and Hilton. $3,500." Johnny gave a smile as the discovery was made, and said:
" Those two sacks went on board the Blue Bell the night you gave them to Brown."
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Walter threw them down again, saying:
" That was what Jack alluded to last night, when he said he put something on board belonging to us of right. And they will be nice to have if we get safely home."
" Yes, Walter, dear," said Minnie; " and I take our finding them as a good omen."
The gold was not thought of again for some time. The sea was calm, and the day proved intensely hot. They were all feverish from the excitement and hard rowing of the night be- fore, and Walter, particularly, drank water very often. Jolinny at length said :
" That will not do, Captain; we must drink as little as possi- ble, for we may get out of water before we get out of this scrape, and then we die sure!'
This caution startled Walter and Minnie, as they had never thought of such a chance as that before. So now all drank sparingly. The whole day passed, but no land came in sight in the direction in which they were rowing. Nor did a sail show itself. The night closed in, and was gone through just as the night before had been. They were now very sparing of the water, and Johnny measured out each one's allowance with an old tin cup he found in the boat. Minnie wanted to take less than Walter and Johnny, insisting that they needed it more than she did; but to this they would not listen, and insisted on her taking her full share with them.
" Yes, Minnie," said Walter; "while the water lasts, we will share and share alike, and trust in God for the rest!"
The morning of the second day came, and was, like the first, hot and parching; and no land yet appeared in sight. They now materially changed their course, and rowed on in a slow sort of a way. They reduced the allowance of water to the very lowest living quantity, and all were suffering terribly from thirst. They had plenty of the hard bread, but they dare not eat it, because it increased their thirst to drink. Sometimes they broke crumbs of the bread in a few drops of the water, and took both to- gether in that way. Three or four sails appeared in sight this day, but, though they kept their red blankets up as a signal, no notice was taken of it, and the sails disappeared, one after another, leaving them almost in despair. At four o'clock, land came plainly in sight, but they were unfit to row in consequence of their want of water, for every drop was now gone. and their
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suffering became nearly intolerable. Johnny showed them how to relieve themselves, in some degree, by placing cloths soaked in salt water around their necks and on their stomachs. He cut steel buttons from their clothes, and, putting one in his own mouth, told Walter and Minnie to do the same, as he explained to them that the working of any hard substance in their mouths would bring moisture there, and give partial relief. He, himself, did not hesitate to saturate all his clothes in salt water. Walter was apparently affected more by the thirst than either Johnny or Minnie, yet there was an unnatural wild, bright light even in their. eyes. The terrible night closed in, and now Walter got fits of fearful wildness. He laughed immoderately; then sud- denly stopped, and insisted that the sea was all on fire around them. This was frightful to hear, and then Minnie, in a suppressed, gentle voice would say:
"Darling Walter, try and control yourself."
He would put his hand over his eyes, saying: " Yes, dear Minnie, you are right; I will, I will." Then, in a little while, he would begin to sing, saying: "We may as well sing, Min- nie. There is no harm in that."
Then again Minnie would control him, and so the fearful third night was spent. Day light came; but an intense, dark fog was on the sea. Johnny raised up from where he lay, and said:
" Now, let us all join in one long, loud cry. It may be some ship is lying very near us, and will hear it. I have known of such a cry at sea being heard a great distance through a fog like this."
So they all joined in the cry, and it was beyond description mournful to hear. Minnie joined, but her cry was all to God, asking for Walter's safety far more than her own. They sat back, Johnny and Walter with their heads resting on the side of the boat, almost gasping for breath. Minnie sat erect, as calm and composed as ever; but her lips were apart, and her breath was hard and short. After awhile, Johnny gave the signal, and one cry more went out into the fog, with a yet more terrible and mournful sound. Walter now threw himself into the bottom of the boat, and laid his head in Minnie's lap, looking up in her face, as with a smile, he said:
" Poor Minnie!"
She stooped her head down, and kissed him, saying:
" Walter, darling, say 'Thy will, not mine, be done, my God.' "
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Walter instantly repeated the words after her, and, closing his eyes, he seemed sometimes half-asleep, and sometimesa choking spasm shook his frame; but he never moved his head from Min- nie's lap, and she continued to every now and then change the wet cloth on his neck. Suddenly Johnny cries out:
" Oh, we are saved ! we are saved ! A brig ! look, a brig ! A brig ! Oh, we are saved ! we are saved !"
And he leaps up and down, and then gives a loud cry, and drops back into the bottom of the boat in a half-stupor. Walter started at Johnny's cry, raised his head and sees the brig; then dropped it back into the same position, saying:
" Why won't they let us die in peace ?"
Minnie hears the cry, raises her head, and sees the ship com- ing directly for them. Her eyes are fastened on it. Now she sees a boat lowered. Now the ship and boat look to her all on fire, and in the bright fire-light she plainly sees James De For- est. Now her senses seem to be all confused. She laughs aloud, leans her head down over Walter, and, with her hand turning back his hair from his forehead, she murmurs: " Dar- ling, darling!" and continues laughing hysterically. The ship's boat is now alongside, and Minnie hears a well-known voice close to her, saying:
" Oh, darling Minnie, you are saved !"
She turns her head with a sudden start, and says:
" Oh, yes, James; I knew we would find you in heaven before us. Poor Walter and I died last night. How long have you been here ?"
Frightened and shocked, De Forest trembled at the sight be- fore him, and only said:
" Darling Minnie, Walter and you are both saved. Try and compose yourselves."
" Oh, yes, James; but if you were here when we died, you would have been so sorry." Then suddenly she calls loudly: " Water, water, for Walter !"
They were now alongside the brig, and De Forest, catching Minnie in his arms, scrambled up the side in sailor fashion, and laid his precious burden safely down on the deck of the May Day. The sailors did the same for Walter and the boy. The Captain now took charge of restoring the sufferers, and would allow no interference. Water was given to them by spoonfuls only. The boy recovered first, and, as he came to himself, he suddenly
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sprung from the man in charge of him, and caught up the pitcher of water, out of which they were slowly feeding him, and when he was seized to prevent him from drinking too much, he yelled like a maniac. They overpowered him, however, and, under the Captain's judicious treatment, he and Walter fast re- covered. Minnie's case seemed a more difficult one, and Mrs. Marshall found it very hard to subdue her fits of hysterical laughing and crying. At length, she seemed to become com- posed, and to realize that they were saved; but her delicate physical structure had been tried to the utmost, if not beyond its endurance, and it apparently had great difficulty in regaining its full vigor, though her mind had righted itself, and was once more clear and steady. By the middle of the afternoon Walter was sleeping calmly. Johnny was also sound asleep in one of the sailor's bunks. Poor Minnie slept, but her sleep was un- easy, and when she awoke, it was evident that she was in a high fever. The Golden Gate was now in plain view, and the May Day had at last a fair wind. So, with every sail set, she was soon in the bay; and now at six o'clock in the evening she was alongside the wharf in San Francisco. And that was the news the policeman was bringing when he called to John McGlynn and Captain Fitzgerald, saying:
" News ! news ! Come to the Chief's office !"
As soon as the May Day had touched the wharf, De Forest had Walter and Minnie conveyed in a carriage to their cottage; and Mrs. Marshall kindly accompanied them, as Minnie's fever continued to increase. Minnie now lay in bed in her own, sweet, little room, but in a burning fever. Jane was soon back at her post, and Dr. Coit was called, and did all that was possible to subdue the fever that raged in her veins. All night Jane and Mrs. Marshall watched by Minnie; but morning found her no better. Walter and all her friends were in the greatest alarm. A nurse was procured, as good Mrs. Marshall had to return to her husband. Then the news reached Colonel Eaton's of Min- nie's great danger, and Mrs. Eaton and Fannie both came in haste to see her, which ended in their staying to nurse her. Nine days; and yet poor Minnie seemed to linged between life and death, and Dr. Coit would give no opinion. A council of physicians was called, and Dr. Coit's treatment was approved. Another day, and all is joy and happiness, for Dr. Coit, as he leaves Minnie's room, says:
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" The crisis is past, Mrs. Eaton. She is safe, if properly cared for. Visitors kept away, and all allusions to the terrible scenes she has lately gone through should be carefully avoided."
Walter and De Forest, who were crouched down in their chairs in the little sitting-room, waiting for the doctor's words, which they knew were to announce Minnie's life or death, heard what he said to Mrs. Eaton with feelings of joy that no one can describe. But we know that in their ecstasy of joy, they did not forget to acknowledge with overflowing gratitude from whence the blessing came. Yes, dear Minnie; the storm that was so long gathering over you has spent its force, and has now cleared away, leaving not a trace of a cloud behind to cast a shadow on your future California life. You are not only un- injured, but you have proved yourself to be a Christian in faith and fidelity, and every inch a true woman; a worthy daughter of the great Republic that gave you birth; a worthy child of the young giant State you have adopted as your own, and that you love so devotedly. Yes, Minnie; the clouds are all gone, and we have not a doubt but that your faith in God will be as undoubting and unfaltering in the bright sunshine of your com- ing life as it was when the night was the darkest.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HAPPY EVENTS-CONCLUSION.
A few words more and my little history must end, for I cannot intrude further on friends by going into their after lives, even if their career among us be ever so prosperous.
While Minnie was so sick Walter was surprised one morning by a visit from Johnny Lucky.
" Captain," said he, " you see, I was walking along the shore, beyond the Presidio, just to look at the place they say the Blue Bell went ashore the night we left her, and I suddenly came on two dead bodies that were washed on shore, and I turned them over, and one was old Jack sure; so I thought I would ask you to help me to get it nicely buried near poor Miss Lizzie's grave."
And here the boy turned away and wiped his eyes.
Walter at once gave the necessary assistance. So, for long years, a marble head-stone stood in the Yerba Buena Cemetery, with two names handsomely engraved on it ; one was Elizabeth Lawson, the other was John Lawson, and the grave was always handsomely decorated with rose-bushes and geraniums, evident- ly well guarded and cared for by some unknown hand.
At this interview with Johnny, Walter inquired if he knew any- thing of what became of the body of Lusk. The boy told him that the next day after leaving the May Day he went to Sau- celito to see if he could find any traces of the body of Ike Law- son; but that he did not find a trace of it, and that when he visited the spot where they had hanged Lusk he found that the rope had been cut by its friction on the rocks, and that the body had disappeared in the sea.
During the following year Walter often met with John Lucky; but he was always reticent, and at length disappeared alto- gether from his view; and, though many knew him and had often listened to his strange stories, yet, when he finally disappeared,
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no one could tell where he went to, no more than any one, or even himself, could tell where he came from, in the first place.
When once Minnie passed the crisis, she regained her health and strength rapidly, and on the third day of her convalesence Mrs. Eaton and Fannie left for their own home, as the Colonel expressed himself very lonely without them
Minnie was now overrun with congratulations from all her friends. Captain Fitzgerald was installed as a member of her family, and the evening of his life was rescued from its lonesome outlook.
Minnie and James De Forest have had their full explanation, and he is entirely satisfied with her reasons for not being more open with him when such grave difficulties began to gather around Walter -but then he hints to her that perhaps she was a little too proud in the matter.
" Well, dear James," she says, "perhaps that was so, and that I was punished for my pride."
" Well, never mind, darling Minnie," he says; " all is well that ends well, you know; and if I had not started for Oregon just as I did, perhaps no one on board of the May Day would have heard your cry for help."
And then they closed the discussion in a way to suit them- selves, and settled the matter as sweetly and as innocently as they had often made up disputes when children together.
Captain Fitzgerald is preparing to start for New York to bring out his long-lost sister. Then Walter and Minnie give the Cap- tain a power of attorney to join with their mother in making a deed of their sweet little Newark homestead to Uncle John Wag- ner. Then James De Forest goes to Oregon, to return by the time Captain Fitzgerald gets back; and he does return all right, after having prepared a beautiful residence in his Oregon home in every respect as he knew Minnie's taste to be.
After Fanny Eaton returned home with her mother, Walter very soon found he had pressing business in the neighborhood of Sacramento. Fannie's heart bounds when she hears his voice in the parlor. She is pale and scarlet by turns. She cannot stay out of the parlor, though she did not wish to appear to be in a hurry to go in. As she enters, she intends to look sur- prised when she sees Walter, but she makes an egregious failure of it-and finds she cannot possibly ask him, as she in- tended to do, what he came for; for she kuows right well what he came for, yet wishes to pretend she did not.
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That evening Walter has a long talk with the Colonel, in which Mrs. Eaton joins. Then Mrs. Eaton's handkerchief is all wet with tears of lonesomeness and joy.
Early the next morning Walter takes a chance to talk to Fannie. He tells her of Minnie's engagement and impending marriage with James De Forest, and goes on to tell her how terribly lonesome and miserable he will be when Minnie is gone; and draws such a sad picture that Fannie's tears flow fast, and then her heart throbs-oh, so hard, that you could hear it across the room-and she lets Walter take her hand, for the poor fel- low is so sad and lonesome talking of Minnie; and then, as he whispers something, very low, to her, she looks up. Then their eyes meet, and then-and then-yes-and then-well, I can- not tell a word more without a breach of confidence; so excuse me, my dear young readers ; but one thing I will tell you, though strange it may appear, after such depression and sad- ness:
When Walter and Minnie appeared at breakfast they were both-yes, both-though Minnie was to go to Oregon so soon- in the wildest and most joyous spirits ; and the happy feeling seemed to have a contagion about it; for Colonel and Mrs. Eaton acted as happily and frolicsome as if they were only just married that day themselves, or going to be, instead of the said old couple they were the night before when Mrs. Eaton had such use for her handkerchief.
Then, after Walter gets back to San Francisco, comes a letter to Fannie from Minnie, full of joyous congratulations and light- hearted fun, and it concludes:
" So you see, Miss Fannie, I am not the mischievous, wicked, good-for-nothing girl you once called me, after all. And now, Fannie, darling sister, as from this day I call you, I want you to get your dear parents to consent that we be married the same day, here in San Francisco."
And so it was in the end arranged. Then came good Isaac Hilton to San Francisco; and, after due consideration, articles of parinership between him and Walter were agreed on, to do business in San Francisco. Walter's recovered gold gave him sufficient capital to do this, and Captain Fitzgerald put twenty thousand dollars into the concern as a silent partner.
Then came the realization of James De Forest's day-dream; but even brighter and more joyous than he had dared to dream it.
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It was a double marriage. Minnie and Fanny both wore the white dresses and orange-blossoms, as he had it in his fancy. As Minnie was arranging her bridal ornaments, she showed James the locket with the sweet little rosebud he had given her so long ago at the little cottage gate in Newark. And it spoke of truth and constancy more sweetly than words could do.
The little church in Market street is crowded with friends on that early morning.
James De Forest and Minnie, Walter and Fannie, stand be- fore the altar. Father Maginnis is there to perform the double marriage. Walter and Minnie's beloved mother is there, as well as Colonel and Mrs. Eaton, Captain Fitzgerald, Isaac Hil- ton and his good wife, John A. McGlynn, James Becket, Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Allen, with their two beautiful eldest chil- dren.
Jerry Brady had come on a special invitation from Minnie to be master of ceremonies in the carriage line-and it is my opin- ion that General Sherman did not look half so proud when he was marching through Washington City, at the head of a victor- ious army at the close of the war of the rebellion, than Jerry Brady did that wedding day while giving orders in regard to the carriages.
Captain Fitzgerald had presented Jerry with a fine gold watch and chain. The chain was in length and fashion of the regular log-chain style, and no horseman in the State could show one to excel it.
I will just mention here that Jerry found himself greatly dis- turbed and made very unhappy by the many attractions of Jane (Minnie's faithful hired girl), and, seeing that she was attracted by this display of gold across his breast, he thought it a favor- able moment to tell Jane of his desolate and unhappy feeling, and of the nice little home he had in Sacramento to share with somebody; and she listened and listened until Jerry slyly got a turn of the gold chain around her neck; and the consequences was that Jerry Brady wrote to his dear, old mother in Ireland and countermanded the order for "the girl that was to be shipped for him around Cape Horn, with a bit of a bill of lad- ing, all properly signed by the Captain of the ship," as he had told the gamblers that morning on the Marysville road, when he was so gallantly aiding in Minnie's rescue.
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As Father Maginnis was wishing Minnie good-bye, he said:
" Minnie, child, you are too much dressed to-day. Take off those things," pointing to her gay bridal dress and ornaments, "as soon as you can, and put on your every-day, useful clothes."
Minnie laughed, and then she saw big tears in the old man's eyes, as he continued in a low, hurried voice :
" God bless you, Minnie; be as good as you always were. Good-bye, good-bye. I am in a hurry to be off."
Then came a magnificent breakfast given to that joyous wed- ding party by Captain Fitzgerald and his sister, Mrs. Wagner. As at that time I was a reporter for one of the daily papers, I had an invitation, and enjoyed the whole scene with a zest a pioneer Californian alone could feel. I marked well the company, and I felt proud of our people and of our young State. And, as I walked home, I could not help exclaiming : " Oh, California ! California! if your acquisition has cost treasure and valuable lives, you have flung broadcast over your sister States gold by the million and the million, that has cheered many and many a household, and saved from breaking many and many a weary heart ! And you have, besides, enriched the National treasury, which may yet save the nation, if endangered by foreign foe, or civil feud. Yes; if your coming has brought sorrow to some hearts, you have also brought joys to many, with no sparing hand. If, in the wish to possess themselves of your treasures, villains and hypocrites have come to the surface, and fed for a time on the vitals of the people, you have also drawn forth from obscurity a hundred times the number of as brave and no- ble a race of men as ever trod the earth; and, above all, you have drawn forth for our administration and love, a race of women unsurpassed, the world over, in every quality that makes women dear to men, and fit mothers for children of this republic.
Yes; California, you have drawn forth in '47, '48, '49, '50 and '51, pioneer women worthy of a place in history alongside those who accompanied the English emigrants to Plymouth Rock, and Lord Baltimore to the shores of Maryland. Yes; whose history will serve to arouse emulation among the true daughters of America and shame away luxuriant idleness from the precincts of their houses.
Yes; dear California, we may be proud of your men, your cli-
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mate, your soil, your great rivers and bays, your inexhaustible hidden treasures, your spreading fields of golden grain that will yet feed half the world, your boundless pastures, with uncounted herds and flocks, furnishing to all the most delicious meats; but, above all this, every true son you have will be prouder, far, of your pioneer women, and will forever love and honor them; for to us pioneer men they were all in all, and, being tried in the crucible of a pioneer life, they proved to be of the purest GOLD.
THE END.
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA
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