Golden Graves [pp. 1-17]

Golden Graves.
ment, for poesy did not flourish at the Lowber Mine, and it was rather startling, in fact,
when abruptly introduced. But, after all, it
might not be so unnatural under the circumstances of a young fellow preparing to bury
his father or brother, and so I attempted no
comment, but wisely came at once to the business of the moment.
"W Vell, then, since we are agreed, we might
as well go to work," I responded.
The Dutchman had brought a spade, and
I a pick. The turf was tolerably free from
stones, and could easily be lifted o(ff; beneath were loose stones mingled with the
earth, and gradually growing more and more
thickly embedded as the grave became deepened. There was plenty of work for both of
us; one loosening the stones with his pick,
and the other throwing them out, while Charley stood motionless on the bank. For two
hours we thus worked, having again fallen
into silence. At the end of that time, we
had excavated a grave nearly seven feet long
and about five feet deep. Little by little, the
labor became more severe, as the character
of the soil changed for the worse, and, finally,
I began to think that we had gone far enough.
"Seeing that we are near the water mark
of the stream, when there is any stream at
all," I said. The Dutchman and I were both
resting for the moment, still standing in the
grave; I looking down, while carelessly prodding a little around my feet with the pick, he
following with his eyes the last spadeful of
earth and stones which he had thrown up to
the surface. Suddenly I found myself giving
a little start, immediately, however, recovering myself; and with an almost imperceptible motion, in obedience to what might be
called a quick instinct, I let a little shower
of loose earth fall from the side of the pit
upon the bottom. "And yet," I added, in
an indifferent sort of tone, "if you think it
should be made a little deeper-See, here,
Charley! You two had better go back for
the body, and while you are away, I will cut
the grave down a little further. Will save
time, you see."
"We will all three go back together," the
boy responded, in a steady, decided tone, for
which one would scarcely have given him
credit, judging him only from that pale, weaklooking face. Whatever spirit of enforced
determination had hitherto been gathered
into his expression, somehow, now seemed
marvelously increased. "No one but yourself must help us."
For the moment I studied him intently, as
though to determine, once for all, how much
he really knew or suspected, and thereby definitely mark out my own course of action.
My survey was unsatisfactory-at least unfavorable to any further insistence upon my first
proposed intention. And after all, might it
not be best to humor the matter a little?
A quarrel now might spoil everything; but
if I chanced to be wrong in supposing that
his keen glance had penetrated my secret,
there would be abundant opportunity to
make it right in the future, at my own sweet
leisure, and for my sole benefit, as well.
"All right," I said, dropping my pick,
"Let us all go, then."
So we went back to the camp, leaving our
implements behind. The body had meanwhile been prepared for burial as suitably as
possible. There were no pine boards in the
settlement, out of which a coffin could be
made not even a cracker box. But the
canvas, which at the first had been loosely
thrown over the remains, was now bound
tightly around them in many folds, and
closed up at the head and feet, the whole
being neatly sewed in place, so that the body
was prepared for its interment pretty much
as if made ready to be buried at sea. Meanwhile, a sort of bundle of boughs, with outreaching handles, had been manufactured,
and the body was placed on this, for easy
transport to its last resting place. Several
of the miners volunteered for this last duty,
but I declined their assistance. Two men
could comfortably bear all the load, I said,
and it seemed proper that those who had already dug the grave should be left to finish
the business to its end. There was little
logic in the argument, but there was no one
interested to refute it. So all the volunteers
for the funeral-none of them were very ur gent in the matter-cheerfully relinquished
[Jan.
4