VIRGINIA CITY, August 13th, 1878.
DEAR FRIEND JOE:--Your going away has caused us ever so much trouble. It was foolish and cruel of you to imagine--even when you were in trouble--that any of the Club weighed friendship on old-fashioned placer diggings gold scales. We are sorry for your misfortune, but it is on _your_ account that we are sorry.
It is not so serious that it cannot be made up in a little while, if you do not persist in remaining in some place where there are no opportunities to do any good for yourself. It may be a long time, among strangers, before you can obtain employment. Because you have made one mistake, do not make another, but without delay come back. This is Tuesday. It will take you until about Sat.u.r.day next to get to Austin. You will be pretty badly used up and will have to rest a day. But on Sunday evening you ought to start back by stage and rail. That will bring you home a week from to-day. A week from to-night then, we shall expect your account of how big the mosquitoes are at the sink of the Carson, and what your opinion is of Churchill County as a location for a country residence.
Yours fraternally,
HERBERT ASHLEY.
Alex"s letter was very brief, as follows:
VIRGINIA CITY, August 13th, 1878.
Come back, Joe. Were your precedent to be strictly followed, we should suddenly lose a majority of our most respected citizens.
In the interest of society and of the Club come.
ALEX.
TO MR. JOE MILLER, Austin.
Corrigan did not like to read his letter, but the Club insisted, and after declaring that the Club would get "a dale the worst of it," he proceeded as follows:
VIRGINIA CITY, Nevada, August 13th, 1878.
DEAR AULD JO:--It"s murthered yees ought to be for doing onything phat compills me to write you a lether. Whin I commince to write I fale as though all the air pipes were shut off intirely. I would sooner pick up a thousand dollars in the strate, ony day, than to have to hould a pin in me hand and make sinse in my head at the same moment. You know that same, too, and hince phy did yees go away and force all this work upon me? Is it in love wid horseback exercise that ye are? We have been talkin" your case over, quiet loike, in the Club, and we have unanimously rached the irresistible conclusion that it was an unpatriotic thing for yees to do--to propose this Club business and thin dezart it just whin our habits had become fixed, so to spake; and it would become a mather of sarious inconvanience for us to change. In this wurreld a man can shirk onything excipt his duty, and it is a plain proposition that it is your duty immejitely to come back. My poor fingers are cramped to near brakin" by this writin", and it is your falt, the whole of it, ond I pray yees don"t let it happen ony more.
Faithfully,
B. CORRIGAN.
P. S.--Should you nade a bit of coin to return comfortably draw on me through W. F. & Co.
BARNEY.
Harding read next.
VIRGINIA, August 13th, 1878.
DEAR FRIEND MILLER:--Enclosed I send certificate of deposit for $100. The Club desire, unanimously, that you return without a moment"s unnecessary delay. All agree that this is the best field for you. I will see the foreman in the morning, tell him you have been called away for a week and get him to hold your place for you. It was very wicked of you to go away. You can only get forgiveness by hurrying back.
Lovingly,
HARDING.
Brewster"s was the final letter, and was in these words:
VIRGINIA CITY, Nevada. }
8th month, 13th day, A. D. 1878. }
MR. JOSEPH MILLER:
DEAR SIR AND FRIEND:--I have this evening, with great pain, learned that you have left this place, and, moreover, have heard explained the reasons which prompted that course on your part. It would be a lack of candor on my part not to inform you that I sincerely deplore the wrong which you have done yourself and us. At the same time I believe that the real date of the wrong was when you permitted yourself first to engage in stock gambling. This world is framed on a foundation of perfect justice. The books of the Infinite always exactly balance. In the beginning it was decreed that man should have nothing except what he earned. It was meant that the world"s acc.u.mulations of treasures--in money, in brain, in love, or in any other material that man holds dear--should, from day to day, and from year to year, represent simply the honest effort put forth to produce the treasure.
Men have changed this in form. Some men get what they have not earned; but the rule is inexorable and cannot be changed. The books must balance.
So when one man gets more than his share, the amount has to be made up by the toil of some other man or men. This last is what you have been called upon to do, and, naturally, you suffer.
But I acquit you of any sinister intention toward us. So do we all. Your fault was when you first attempted to set aside G.o.d"s law. You may recall what was said a few nights ago. "The decree which was read at Eden"s gate is still in full force, and behind it, just as of old, flashes the flaming sword."
We have thoughtfully considered your case. The unanimous conclusion is that you should at once return; that here among friends and acquaintances, with the heavy work which is going on, you have a far better opportunity to recover your lost ground than you possibly could among strangers.
Moreover, you are familiar with this lode and the manner of working these mines. You are likewise accustomed to this climate, hence I conclude that your chances against accident or disease would be from fifteen to twenty per cent. in favor of your returning.
In conclusion, I beg, without meaning any offense, but on the other hand, with a sincere desire to serve you, to say that I have a few hundred dollars on hand, enough perhaps to cover all your indebtedness here. If you would care to use it, it shall be yours, _in hearty welcome_, until such time as you can conveniently return it.
I beg, sir, to subscribe myself your friend and servant,
JAMES BREWSTER.
"G.o.d bless you, Brewster," said Harding impetuously.
"That is a boss lether," said Corrigan.
"I could not do better than that myself," was Ashley"s comment.
"It is a diamond drill, and strikes a bonanza on the lower level," said Carlin.
"The formation is good, the pay chute large, the trend of the lode most regular, the grade of the ore splendid," said the Professor.
Wright said: "It is a good letter, sure."
"It reads as I fancy the photographs of the Angels of Mercy and Justice look when taken together," suggested Alex.
The Colonel remarked that the letter established the fact that Brewster was not so bad a man as he looked to be.
What should be sent to Miller was next discussed again. It was finally determined that all the letters should be sent except Harding"s; that he should rewrite his, and instead of sending the certificate of deposit, should, like Corrigan, instruct Miller to draw on him if he needed money, and that any such drafts should be shared by the whole Club.
Then the money to pay the bills was raised among the old members of the Club, and placed in Carlin"s hands to be paid out next day.
When all was finished a sort of heaviness came upon the company. There was an impression of sorrow upon them. They had been happy in their innocent enjoyment, but suddenly one who was a favorite, who was at heart the most generous one of the company, had failed them, and they brooded over the change.
At length Harding roused himself and said: "Miller must be sleeping somewhere down in the desert to-night. I wish I could call to him by telephone and bring him back."
"That reminds me," said Alex, "of something that I heard of yesterday.
Down at the Sisters" Academy there is a telephone. There is a little miss attending that school, and every morning at a certain hour there is a ring at a certain house down town. The response goes back, "Who is it?" and then the conversation goes on as follows: "Is that you, papa?"
"Yes!" "Good morning, papa!" "Good morning, little one." "Is mamma there?" "Yes." "Say good morning and give my love to mamma." "Yes."