“But you said you were disappointed, sir?” I said, as he sat down, and began to replace his stockings and boots.
“I am boy, horribly.”
“With all that wealth before us?”
“Yes. Do you know what it means?”
“Riches for us all, sir,” I said, proudly.
“Hah! Look here, boy. I have been out in these glorious valleys many years now. The place is a perfect Eden, where nature smiles upon us, and wealth showers her golden gifts. You know my home, and that no troubles come, save some trifle with the Indians now and then. Do you know what would happen if it were known that this ravine teems with gold?”
“We should set to work and make fortunes of it, sir, and not let it be known.”
“Bah! Impossible, Gordon. In one month from now the news would have spread; and as long as the gold lasted, this place would be turned from a Paradise into a horror. The scum of the American population would float here, with all the lawlessness that was in California in its early days. Drinking-bars and gambling-saloons would rise like mushrooms; and where now all is beauty and peace, there would be robbery, violence, murder, drunkenness, and misery too horrible to contemplate.”
“What!” I cried, incredulously, “because a rich supply of gold is found?”
“Yes. I have seen it all, and I know,” he cried; “and I have often hoped and prayed that no gold might be found near here. Gold can be made a blessing, but too often it has proved a curse.”