Neither did the natives realise the great wealth lying so near their encampment. They knew nothing as yet of the magic power of gold, as all their trading hitherto with the white people had been with the skins of wild animals. The action of their white brother digging so earnestly up the river simply amused them. Ever since that morning when they had watched him playing at such an early hour before his cabin door they had serious doubts as to his sanity. They had often discussed the strange expression in his eyes, and the wildness of the sounds he had made upon the "stick with strings," the name they gave to the violin.
Martin was greatly pleased that the natives did not understand what he was doing. It would have given him no end of trouble if they realised the value of the discovery he had made. Therefore, when he returned to his cabin with the gold he had taken off of bed-rock there was no one to ask any questions, and no curious excited persons crowding around to examine the ore. There was only Nance, who was not even surprised, who merely ran to meet him to tell what she and Quabee had been doing during the day.
CHAPTER X
THE AWAKENING
All through the rest of the summer Martin carried on his mining operations, and steadily the pile of gold within the cabin increased. At length the cold nights and the short days warned him that winter was fast approaching. He accordingly began to wonder what he should do with his treasure. He did not care to have it lying about in the house, as it was hard to tell what might happen to it. At any time a white man might drift that way, and he well knew that dark deeds had been committed with a far lesser motive than the seizure of so much gold. It would prove a temptation to almost any man. He would often awake with a start in the dead of night thinking that some one was creeping stealthily across the floor. Formerly he would sit late before the fire with never a shadow of a fear upon his mind. But now he would turn apprehensively towards the window, thinking that faces were peering in upon him. He hardly liked to be away from home for any length of time lest something should happen to the gold during his absence.
His mind became so obsessed with this idea that he became nervous, and his peace of mind vanished. At last he determined to deposit the gold in a secure place. After careful consideration he dug a hole in the ground at the back of the cabin. At the bottom he placed a large flat stone, walled up the sides, and plastered them over with clay, such as he had used upon the fire-place and chimney.
When this had been finished to his satisfaction he erected over it a small, strong log building, the back of the cabin forming one of the sides, through which he cut a door. There was no other opening in the lean-to, not even a window, so the place would always be in darkness except when lighted by a candle. In the floor, and immediately over the excavation, he fastened a trap-door, fitting the flat-hewn pieces of timber in such an irregular manner that no one would ever suspect that there was any opening in the floor at all. Then when the roof was placed in position, and all finished, Martin brought the gold from the cabin and deposited it in his ground vault. When the trap-door was dropped back into place Martin viewed everything with great approval. He called this building his "Bank," and he often smiled to himself as he considered what a unique bank it really was. He alone was the president, shareholder, and depositor. There were no books to keep, and no regular hours in which to do business. There was no competition, and no anxious watching of the fluctuations in the money market. He had full control of everything, and to no one did he have to render any account.
Martin's mind thus became so filled with the lure of the gold that for weeks everything else was either neglected or forgotten. From morning till night, and often during the night, he thought of the wealth he was acquiring. The fear lest the missionary should visit the encampment troubled him very little. Nance, too, received but a small share of his attention. He found it difficult to play with her, or to tell her the stories for which she asked. She was left more and more to Quabee's tender care, and always ran to the Indian woman with her little troubles. Martin did not notice that the child was eating less of late, neither did he awaken to the fact that her happy joyous laugh was seldom heard. She would often sit quietly by herself, holding her doll in her arms, while her big open eyes gazed far off into space.
One morning when Nance did not get up at her usual time Martin went to her cot.