ORIGINAL TALE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 74, 10 July 1869, Page 6

ORIGINAL TALE.

THE GOLDEN VALLEY.

" You pity me ? I cannot pity myself, I played high and staked my life on the throw. I have lost, and, in the jargon of your respectable citizens, the law must take its course. You ask me if I repent? hardly. There is brighter blood than any from the heart of that miserable skinflint on my hands ; but my sleep has never yet been disturbed by remorse or terror. I have faced death too often to fear it now, and for the life of me I can see no greater disgrace in perishing by the cord than by the bullet. Don't imagine lam ungrateful for your kindness, and in proof listen to an episode of my history, containing a secret, monarchs would gladly purchase. Never mind who I am, whether I cut my family or they cut me; that is all past and gone, and concerns no one but myself. I landed in Prisco in '49, and about ten minutes afterwards got a bullet through my lungs, because I resembled a notorious horse-stealer. My assailant discovered his mistake in time to stop sending a second messenger to explore my interior, and after apologising for his mistake, left me to take my chance. A shipmate of mine chanced to pass, and by his directions I was carried to a shanty, where a doctor soon dressed my wound. Bill Biggs, who had so opportunely come to my assistance, was quite a youth, although his form made him look a good deal older than he actually was. He could whip his weight in alligators, and was as trusty and leal a friend as ever backed a man in frolic or. fight. He tended me all through my sickness, and I got to love him. as well as ever I loved any human being — except once, and — and that was a dream." The condemned criminal hesitated for a moment, a burning blush suffused his hardened countenance, and a stifled sob shook his worn frame. The emotion, whatever its cause, was but momentary, and he continued talking faster and with even greater levity than before. " I liked Bill, and he cottoned to me like a mastiff pup ; so whenever I got strong enough we agreed to be mates. We started for the San Jacinto and worked more or less successfully for about a year. As fast as we made a pile it was lost at the faro bank, until at length we got sick of remaining stationary. We packed our swags on a couple of mules, and started for the mountains, where some rich leads were reported to have been found. Por a week we trudged onward, lodging at nights in ranches, where our bold bearing and ready weapons compelled a civil reception. At last we got beyond the populated part of the country, and began to ascend ranges near the place where the road to Virginia City has been made. One evening we were rejoiced to see a solitary log hut, and hurried towards it, for I tell you what, sir, the winds up there are a caution to polar bears. Inside the hut we found its owner just about rubbing off. He was an Indian halfcaste, and although I look on a Skunk, an Indian, and a Greaser, as the meanest cusses going, Bill was soft enough to nurse the beggar a little. While I occupied myself with lighting a fire and boiling the billies, he fed the sick man with brandy, and smoothed his bed for him. The poor wretch was not ungrateful and besought us to remain until he knuckled down, in order to give him a decent burial. After some demur I agreed to stay, chiefly because the mules wanted a spell. The half-caste was profuse in his thanks, and told us we should never repent our kindness. I at once smelt mice, for those half-breeds are great misers, and often hoard large sums of money. Bill and I held a consultation, and as the fellow was too far gone to stand any persuasion in the form of a tar jacket and a slow fire, we agreed to soft-soap him into discovering his hoards. On re-entering the hut we found the poor beggar at the point of death, and with barely strength enough to beckon us to his side. He held a tattered piece of paper in his hand which he gave to Bill, " Val d' oro,"he muttered, "Indian secret — kindness — masses for — ■" The rattle sounded in his throat and he fell back a corpse. On" examination we found the paper to be a rude map of a portion of the Eocky Mountains. A track was marked through the mazes, terminating in a spot marked Val ' d ' oro. The sight sent the blood to my heart, for I felt the golden secret was mine; the vague rumours I had so often heard were confirmed, and I held the clue to Eldorado. You smile at such an idea, but a little thought will show that no silly dreams sent the best blood of England and Spain in quest of the golden mountain. The Indians had not learned to distrust the white man, so they fearlessly told the precious secret of their race. Where do you think all the wondrous wealth of Montezuma's city came from? Whence the treasure of the Aztecs' ? You might as well enquire whither they disappeared when the conquered race balked the rapacity of the invaders by burying all their gold. One thing is certain, no Indian-worked mines yet discovered could possibly have supplied the thousandth part of the wealth which dazzled the first European invaders. We carefully studied the map, and found that the wondrous treasure was barely ten days journey from the halfcaste's hut, "Qur minds quickly

made up. The secret was ours, and ours it should remain ; we would chance it with no partners, but share the peril and the profit between ourselves. The danger of our undertaking was great, for our goal lay in the very centre of the Blackfeet country, and we had not only the horrors of cold and famine to encounter, but also the untameable ferocity of that merciless tribe. The prize was worth the hazard, and as we well knew that to light a fire during the journey would be to court destruction. We cooked a quantity of food sufficient, with great ehonomy, to last us a fortnight, and started off. I shall not enlarge on our sufferings from the rigour of the climate, nor our hairbreadth escapes from wandering bands of the Blackfeet ; suffice it to state that on the thirteenth day we reached the spot where, according to the map, the Val d'oro was situated. We could see nothing — nothing but the wild rocks piled around us; here seamed with awful chasms, there towering up to the clouds like the minnarets of some vast cathedral. Por the first time our spirits fell ; the Indian had, with the usual craft and malice of his race, fooled us on to certain destruction. Without speaking we picketed the mules and threw ourselves on the bare ground. At length an idea struck me, we might have mistaken the landmarks on the chart, and accordingly we set i ourselves to study it carefully. No ! it was too certain, we were at the end ' of our expedition, and it was a fool's errand after all. There was the needle-shaped rock to the north east ; the huge boulder to the south; and the stunted distorted pine between the two.

" Wai," said Bill, " I'm licked." " Pooled," I cried bitterly, " and by a redskin too."

We pondered over the map for some time longer. "Look yar," said Bill, suddenly, "This arrow seems to point to the root of that yere bush, we may as well prospect there on the off-chance."

With very little hope in our hearts we scrambled towards the pine, and found it more difficult of access than we thought. It stood overhanging a huge rock, all overgrown with cloudberries and other alpine shrubs. Painfully we ascended, hewing a path for ourselves with our machetes. I reached the summit first, and as I stretched to grasp the tree, stumbled, and fell forward into a kind of cavity. I stood still for a moment ; then, like a madman, I cut and hacked until I had cleared away the underwood. The hope I scarcely had dared to feel was realised — it was the mouth of a cave! Hewn in the rocky wall, I saw a rude representation of an arrow, with the mystic triangle of the Aztecs sculptured above it. The half-caste had spoken truly — the path to Eldorado was open before me. Bill was up beside me in a moment, and at once comprehended the discovery. Neither of us spoke ; but, as if by a common impulse, we hurried towards our camp, and seized a couple of torches, or, rather, tallow lamps, we had fortunately brought with us. We returned and entered the cavern. The passage was long and dismal. Hideous lizards dropped upon us from the roof; strange night birds and loathsome bats dashed towards our lights. All at once the space seemed to widen, the roof became higher, and a dull yellow glare bewildered our eyesight. All around us was gold — solid virgin gold.

Like a man in a dream I stood and looked stupidly around. Bill, calmer and more collected, set fire to a heap of brushwood that lay on the floor. The light filled the whole cave with brilliance. Everywhere was gold : walls, floor, roof, nothing but gold.

Strange, \meouth quarrying tools lay on the ground, as the forgotten race of miners who had first discovered the mammoth seam had left them. Huge blocks of the precious metal lay strewed upon the floor. I felt wild with emotion, and throwing myself on the golden soil, sobbed like a little child. The nickering of the light seemed to frame demoniac faces on the walls ; and .strange voices whispered in my ears, " Toui's, yours, all yours alone ! " I seized one of the dissevered masses of the precious metal and hugged it and kissed it and hugged it, glancing jealously round, as though I feared to be deprived of my booty. It was almost too heavy for me to lift, yet with almost superhuman strength I raised it and tottered to the open air. I laid it on the ground, and sat beside it rubbing my hands over it, and talking as though it had beyn a living thing. M\. at once I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Bill, who had followed me out. I knew him not, but, mad with jealousy and avarice, sprang upon him. Twice my ready knife pierced him ; then the hot blood gushed out over my face, and my madness left me. Too late ! My only friend, my brother, lay dyiug at my feet. I scarcely know what followed. I buried poor Bill, I think, and then packed the cursed nugget on the mules, and started on the back track.

My recollection seems hazy and indistinct, but I know I came to myself .camped two days' journey from El Dorado. I had the gold still with me, but I had no food. I killed one of the mules, and allayed the cravings of hunger with the flesh, a portion of which I reserved, and proceeded on my journey. It was an unfortunate one. Theßlackfeet got on my track, and

it was only by abandoning that for which I had perilled my soul that I escaped. I arrived in Frisco penniless, and you know the rest of my history ; how I stuck up and killed that wretched old miser, because he would not advance me enough to make another expedition to the golden valley. To-morrow all will be over; and as you are the only one who has spoken kindly to me, I give you this map. May it prove as great a blessing in your hands as it has proved a curse in mine."

He gave me a crumpled sheet of paper,' and shaking my hand, motioned me to leave him. He was hanged next day. I have never made use of the secret, for the curse of innocent blood ever rests on the treasure of the Val d'oro.