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"Bah! I've seen that MacNeale claim! Only a showing of ore! Not worth
bothering with!"
"It might be we don't see the same things when we look," Trevallion replied.
"I've been looking at ore and at rock formations all my life. You were a
merchant or something of the kind, weren't you?"
"A man can learn," Crockett said.
"Thank God for that." Ledbetter came over and joined them. "Jim, when you go
out, I've got a dozen mule loads of ore I want to send."
"All right!" Crockett said irritably. "Fifty dollars! I hope you're worth
it."
Trevallion nodded. "In the morning then."
Melissa added, "Whatever he tells you, Will, keep it to yourself."
Irritated, he glanced at her. "Look, have I ever asked you "
"No, Will, you haven't, but do you ever show your poker hand to the other
players?"
"Of course not. This isn't the same. How can he operate the mine if he
doesn't know the facts?"
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"All I ask is that you not show your cards. Not all of them, anyway."
After she had gone into the kitchen, Crockett said, "Melissa's a fine girl,
but sometimes she seems to think I'm a child."
Ledbetter shook his head. "Not so, Will. Melissa hears a lot of talk. Miners,
businessmen, they all sit here and talk over their coffee. You're a good man,
Will, but a trusting one, too trusting."
"The trouble is," Trevallion suggested, "that when a man gets a very capable
assistant, he tends to leave more and more of his work to that assistant,
until soon he's really running the show."
"Not my show," Crockett said. He got up. "See you in the morning,
Trevallion."
After he had gone, Trevallion asked, "Who is this Hesketh, anyhow? I hear his
name mentioned but never see him around."
"He doesn't come around," Melissa replied. "I don't know him, and he is
probably a perfectly trustworthy man. I just don't believe in trusting anyone
too far."
"Good thing to know," Trevallion commented.
Melissa flushed, then she went on. "He keeps very much to himself when he's
here. He's got a cabin up the hill a ways, and he spends his time either there
or with his books down at the office."
"Minds his own affairs," Ledbetter said, "doesn't drink, doesn't chew
tobacco, and he seems to have no interest except in that mine."
"Is he a miner?"
"Not so's you'd notice. First I heard of him was six or eight years ago over
inSacramento . He was buying ore from miners, mostly from those who needed
money quick, so he bought cheap."
Trevallion came down the hill in the morning and walked over to the Solomon.
He already knew most of the basic facts. Will Crockett had claimed 150 feet
along theComstock Lode , and had sunk a shaft that was now sixty feet deep.
From that they had run a drift at right angles to the shaft with a fair
showing of ore. At that point work was stopped, and another drift was started
at right angles to the first. In this second drift there was a fair showing of
ore, and the width of the vein increased as they went deeper.
The showings were good, and they had shipped several pack trains of ore for
milling. All that was commonly known about town, where miners talked freely
and there were few, if any, secrets.
Crockett was waiting at the collar of the shaft. There was no talk. They
lighted their lamps and descended into the mine. Trevallion was no geologist
and made no pretense at so being. He was simply a man with practical mining
experience who automatically studied every rock formation he encountered.
What they were beginning to call the Comstock Lode lay along a fault where
there were also a number of lesser faults, or which seemed to be so, trending
toward the northeast or northwest. Trevallion knew little about the ground,
but surmised much, which might or might not prove to be true. The richest ores
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he had seen thus far were in quartz mixed with calcite, galena, and pyrite. In
all of this, there was gold and argentite.
The major thrust of the Comstock seemed to be northeast from the Solomon. He
walked along the drift, studying the rock formations. The timber work, such as
it was, seemed well done, and the mining seemed thoroughly professional.
In Number Two drift the ore was low-grade quartz with some galena, a little
argentite, and a good deal more of sphalerite. No silver was visible, although
the ore had a fair showing of it when milled.
He started back. "I'll check Number One next," he suggested.
"Scarcely worth the bother," Crockett assured him, "but I want it all
studied."
The Number One drift, where work had been abandoned, showed nothing of
interest until right at the face of the drift. At the face he stood for a
moment or two, puzzled. There was no rocky debris, chipped or broken rock
lying at the foot of the face. Still more puzzled, he walked back a few feet
and studied the wall again, while Will Crockett waited with some impatience.
After a bit he walked back down the drift and began to examine the scattered
rock with care.
Several times he squatted to pick up small fragments of ore or rock, and some
he discarded, others he pocketed. Finally he stood up and walked back to the
face.
"Why did you stop work here?"
"It wasn't showing any paydirt.We decided to pull out and try drifting
another direction." He flashed his light around. "You can see for yourself.
There's nothing in sight."
Trevallion turned around. "Let's go on top," he said. "I've seen enough."
When they were back in the air, the afternoon was cool. Noon had just passed,
and a wind was blowing down the slopes ofSunMountain .
"Let's go have a cup of coffee," Trevallion suggested, "we've got some
talking to do."
"Seems to me all you do is drink coffee," Will complained, "or is it
Melissa?"
"It isn't Melissa. She's a fine girl, and I've helped her get started, as did
Jim Ledbetter, but we're only friends."
Seated inside the bakery, Trevallion sipped a taste of coffee and then said,
"Crockett, there's somebody in that mine who has plans of his own."
"What's that mean?"
"You're drifting the wrong way, and there's somebody who is working there who
knows it. Maybe there's more than one."
"You got that bee in your bonnet, too?" Will said impatiently. "You trying to
tell me Al Hesketh is a crook? Well, I'm not buying it. Not one bit."
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"I mentioned no names, and I do not know your Mr. Hesketh. I only know that
you were touted into drifting in the wrong direction by somebody who knew
better."
From his pocket he took some of the ore fragments he had selected from the
floor of the drift. "Look, and look closely." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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