Part 4
The real toil now commenced; for digging in the river-bed had to be undertaken at depths varying from fifteen to twenty feet beneath the surface. To dig on dry land a hole of four or five feet in depth is a comparatively easy task, but to dig a hole of like depth _under water_ is a most arduous undertaking, a task requiring strength, perseverance, and much patience. Tools used under water are difficult to manage, and by reason of the resistance of the water lose half their efficacy. For instance, a strong man wielding a heavy hammer under water, although he may strive his hardest, and exert his full strength, can only make his blow of the same force that a child of ten could strike on _terra firma_, because the water resists his arm and the fall of the hammer, in proportion to the area of surface of his arms and the implement. I also found that when using a spade I could only remove a portion of a spadeful each time, as the current and swirl of water floated the lighter particles off, leaving only the heavier pieces upon the blade of the spade; thus digging holes in the expectation of finding the treasure was a wearisome task, especially as I had to cease my work at frequent intervals, to allow the turbid water, thick with sediment, to become clear enough for me to see what I was about. Thus toiling on, another five weeks passed wearily away, without the least trace of our quest being discovered.
The Jew at length began to weary of pumping air to me, and I of diving and delving, so we resolved to take a few days’ rest, and decide what further steps we should take in our search.
The river was about forty yards wide, and although I had sunk about a dozen pits in the bed of the stream, I had discovered absolutely nothing.
I thought the matter carefully over each day, but could only come to the conclusion that we were either searching in the wrong place, or that the treasure had long since been washed away and lost. Still, I could not imagine how even the swiftest torrent could affect or move anything buried beneath the river-bed at a depth of four or five feet. Then it struck me that earthquakes were not unknown in the region, and a shock might have caused an upheaval of the river-bed, by which the treasure might have been exposed and washed away centuries ago by some unusually heavy flood. If this had happened, was it not also probable that the stumps of the two towers would have been rent and cracked in many places?
Certainly it was.
I therefore examined the ruined towers, but their foundations were perfect, save for a few superficial fractures. I thereupon concluded that my earthquake theory was not tenable.
I next examined the banks on each side of the river, especially the portion immediately _between the towers and the water_, and found that on one side, the side farthest from our hut or cottage, solid rock formed the principal part of the bank. From the tower on that bank to the brink of the water was a distance of just fifty feet; but the tower on our side of the river stood within ten feet of the water, and the foundation stood upon an ordinary layer of earth, with an under stratum of gravel similar to the bed of the river.
My old friend and I could see nothing in this to assist us in any way; but when I retired to rest that night I could not help asking myself the question, “Why does one tower stand fifty feet from the water and the other only ten?”
Was it not probable that whoever built the towers would erect them at equal distances from the river? And again--If one tower were required for some reason to be nearer the water than the other, would it not be the one which was built upon the solid rock?
Over these questions I pondered and worried half through the night, while my old comrade snored away as peacefully and regularly as he had done any time during the past nineteen centuries.
Before I joined my companion in a nasal duet I came to the following conclusions:--
1. Probably centuries ago the river had been much narrower.
2. A river does not keep its exact course for ever: many things may cause it to change its course.
3. This river had not diverged much from its original course, as proved by the towers; but if it had diverged at all it was towards the eastern tower (cottage side).
4. The towers were exactly one hundred and eighty feet apart, but the true centre of the river would be forty feet from the west bank and eighty feet from the east bank.
5. River _beds_ may rise or fall from their original level, by deposits of earthy particles settling, and thus covering up what was once the true river-bed; or by a swift river scouring off the upper surface of the bed, which would thus eventually expose anything hidden at a depth of five or six feet below the bed.
6. The deepest part of a river is usually in the centre, and there would probably be the spot where anything in the way of treasure would be buried, because of the greater inaccessibility.
Next day the Jew and I held a consultation, when we decided, after carefully weighing the above ideas, that I should cut a trench five feet deep and twenty or thirty yards long, from north to south, along the bed of the river in a line with its course, and at a distance of forty feet from the west bank, a spot which we surmised to be the centre of the river in ancient times.
Again night after night I toiled, and for three weeks I dug and delved, but this time not _quite_ in vain, for at the end of this period I came upon a hard substance which I supposed to be just what I had struck my spade upon many times before--a stone. I took it in my hand, for the water was too turbid to see anything clearly beneath its surface, and felt it to be much too heavy for a flint of the size of one’s fist. Probably it was metal!
My heart beat swiftly as I ascended.
I took it to the hut and examined it. It was indeed metal--it was gold!
We gazed upon it for some time, and then, placing it upon the table, I capered round it with delight. The Jew was very calm over it.
“Wait,” said he; “this may only be a solitary nugget dropped from a boat, or thrown into the stream by some thief to hide his guilt.”
I went soberly to work again, taking with me a small basket weighted with stones to prevent it floating away. I dug, and again struck upon large nuggets, which I placed in the basket; I also found pieces of metal which had evidently been shaped by human hands, although they were in such a corroded state that I could only surmise what had once been their shape or use. I washed off the adhering gravel and took my find ashore to the hut, trembling with excitement as I did so.
Hurrah! every piece was pure gold! gold!! gold!!! Then, being thoroughly exhausted by my long dive and the excitement of my discovery, I frightened my companion nearly out of his wits by fainting, and falling like a log of timber at his feet.
When I awoke it was broad daylight, and I was lying comfortably in my cot, but with a very bad headache.
I groaned, for it at once flashed across my mind that the basket of gold was, after all, nothing but a dream, a delusion!
Calling my friend from the other room, and glaring at him the while, I asked half-a-dozen questions before he could answer one.
“Calm yourself, my son, and I will answer all your questions, but not before you give me your word that nothing shall excite you. Remember, that in your overwrought state, with a burning brain, an enfeebled frame, and a naturally excitable temperament, such a thing as madness might overtake you, or an attack of brain fever seize you.”
“Father, I will be a very Stoic; nothing shall unduly move me.”
“Prove then that you can control your feelings by not asking me a single question till you have eaten your breakfast.”
I obeyed; but how every morsel stuck in my throat, and had literally to be washed down with coffee. The apparently everlasting meal was at length finished, and again I put my numerous questions, and recounted my dream of the basket of gold. Then with a gesture intended to compose me, the Jew drew forth from a locker the basket of gold, and held it out to my astonished gaze.
“Gold!” I exclaimed, stretching out my trembling hand.
“Yes, gold,” said the Jew, quietly placing the basket upon the table as if it contained apples. “Gold, simple gold; would you be so weak as to addle your brain for a basketful of the vile dross? It is at once the curse and blessing of humanity; it kills and it saves; it blackens the pure, and gilds vice; it creates and it destroys, and more often paves the way to hell than builds a ladder to heaven.”
What my friend said upon gold would fill many pages, but to shorten these remarks I will simply say that his eloquence and force of argument were so great, that I presently became infected with his ideas of the metal before me. I had been like a man drunk with gold, but had now become sober with advice.
My fevered brain quieted down, and I simply resolved in my mind that I should be a rich man. Well! what of that, there were plenty of rich men in the world who lived and enjoyed their wealth, but then--unlike my ancient friend--a few short years would bring them face to face with that great harvestman, Death, and what of the riches then?
In a day or two, having with the Jew’s kind nursing and attention quieted my mind, I re-commenced my work, and found many more baskets of gold of various shapes; battered crowns, cups, shield bosses, rings, and ornaments of all kinds, many of them with gems in them, were brought to the surface; and one night as I lay in bed, it came into my head that I would the next night bring ashore a basketful of the loose gravel, and examine it to see if any small pieces of gold were among it.
Accordingly the next night, as most of the large pieces of gold had been gathered, I filled my basket with gravel, and took it to the hut, where I spread it forth on the table.
To our astonishment, not only did we discover small pieces of gold, but precious stones, cut and uncut, were to be seen sparkling amid the heap of gravel. The gravel was of more value than the lumps of gold!
The cut gems we put carefully by in a box, and those in a rough state, which we had more difficulty in finding because they were of a dull and lustreless surface, we placed in a large leathern bag.
I found I had literally been shovelling up precious stones when I fancied I was digging gravel, but now that I was aware of the value of the gravel-bed, I carefully brought every basketful ashore, and together we sorted over the contents.
For several weeks, night by night, I continued my work of diving, until nature gave out, and I became completely prostrate, and by my old friend’s advice resolved to give up seeking for more valuables. I had gold of ten times my own weight, several leathern bags of natural uncut gems, about a peck of beautiful cut jewels, and enough ring-seals and ornaments to stock a museum; I was rich beyond my most extravagant dreams. I was twice over a millionaire!
The Wandering Jew had but a few more days to be with me, for he may not sojourn at one place more than six months, and that privilege is only allowed him once in each century; at other times a calendar month is his longest stay at any place. Usually he tramps from place to place, halting but a short time at each town or village; at other times he undertakes long journeys among the Caucasus Mountains, the Urals, or the Alps; at other times he hies him to Norway, Finland, and even Siberia. These journeys he undertakes with no other encumbrance than a long staff. He can accomplish feats that would be impossible to other mortals: no wild animal dare attack him; cold he can feel but it cannot harm him; sleep has no hold upon him when he wills himself to remain awake, nor does hunger have any pangs for him, as he is able to fast for weeks at a time without any great inconvenience. He speaks many languages and knows many countries. He wants for nothing, as he has the power of willing persons to give him exactly what he may require, not _against_ their will, but with pleasure to themselves.
For the few days which remained we occupied ourselves in packing and forwarding the boxes by different routes, and under different disguises, to my home in distant England, in which I longed once more to set foot.
I endeavoured in every way to obtain the real name of my generous old friend, but without success, and am sorry to say he did not even give me the opportunity of thanking him for having made me a millionaire, for one stormy morning when I arose I found myself alone; my comrade had flown, leaving upon the table a scrap of paper bearing these words--
“My son, riches added neither to the honour nor happiness of the great king Solomon; how, then, shall they bring _thee_ peace--that peace which is the spirit of happiness--except by doing good with that which earth and water have yielded up to thee?
“Do good with thy riches, and thy fellow men shall bless and reverence thee.
“Use thy riches in a selfish or discreditable manner, and thy gold shall turn to lead as thou graspest it, and drag thee deep down to an eternal doom. Fare thee well.
“(Signed) JOHN XXI., xxiv.”
* * * * *
Many were the schemes which racked my brain for turning my valuables into money; and for a long time after returning to England I did not know how to proceed, but at length hit upon a plan. The very numerous relics of pagan times I presented, under various assumed names, to museums throughout the kingdom. The gold I had no difficulty in disposing of to the large manufacturing jewellers in Birmingham. The uncut precious stones I occasionally send in parcels of a thousand to M. Koster of Amsterdam, who for the past ten years has set apart a wing of his great establishment, containing twenty-five men, who are constantly employed in cutting and polishing gems for me. These are then sent to agents in all parts of the world, and disposed of, the proceeds being placed to my account in the Bank of England.
I live as a wealthy country gentleman should, in good style, but without ostentation. I travel a great deal in the summer, and to every genuine call of distress my purse is open, but the cases requiring pecuniary aid which come under my _personal_ observation are not nearly enough to absorb the amount--about £100,000--which I wish to spend yearly in charity and good philanthropic work. My money is distributed over the British Isles to charities of every denomination under the initials A. Z., which you have probably often seen in the daily newspapers, and I trust I may live for many years to bestow my largesse on cases and institutions worthy of aid.
I have more than I shall spend during my lifetime, but there is doubtless a great deal more treasure in the river-bed which I overlooked in my hasty search, and which could be made the means of alleviating much suffering, wretchedness, and distress in this country, if it were brought to light by some one who would search for it in a more diligent and thorough manner than I did, and who would, when he had secured it, put it to the same good use that I am doing. To whom could I tell the secret of the whereabouts of the ruined towers, with the certainty that he would carry out my wishes?
I wonder who would take up the search at the point at which I ceased?
By obtaining permission from the government of Z----, the river’s course could be again deflected as it was in the early Christian days, and the remaining treasure systematically and leisurely recovered.
* * * * *
It was quite late when my guest left me that night, after having first extracted from me the promise that I would call upon him at his humble inn in the happy valley next day.
Having made a parcel of the still wet clothes I called next morning upon my new friend, and spent the day with him, wandering about the valley, and trying a cast with the fly. On parting in the evening he informed me that he was to return to town next day, and I should probably see him no more.
A day or two after his departure a man came down to the beach leading a fine piebald mare, and inquiring if I were Mr. S----. I informed him that that was my name, whereupon he gave me a note written in pencil, reading thus--
“MY DEAR FRIEND,
“I cannot allow the day I spent in your cosy domicile on wheels to pass without some little acknowledgment of the courtesy shown me, and of the kindness you extended to a perfect stranger. By bearer I send you a magpie, which kindly accept as a remembrance of
“Your obliged friend, “H. K. K. (A. Z.)”
I have never seen H. K. K. since, although I think I could, if I wished, make a very near guess at his real name and abode. The magpie still tugs myself and home from place to place, the admired of all beholders from the beauty of his peculiar markings. He makes my caravan an object of extra interest wherever I go, simply because of the superstitious belief that a piebald horse brings luck.
Some people _wish_ when they see my horse, others affirm that stroking its glossy hide helps to realize their wish. Parents whose children suffer from St. Vitus’s dance have asked me to allow the afflicted ones to ride a little way on its back, in the belief that such exercise on a parti-coloured steed will effect a cure.
A jockey about to ride a race on a certain occasion begged seven black hairs from the tail of my horse and seven white ones from its mane. I granted his request, and watched him bind the hairs carefully round the handle of his riding-whip. I witnessed the race with more than usual interest, and strangely enough the superstitious jockey WON his race by a short head.
At more than one inn at which I have halted, the landlord would take no money for the maintenance of my parti-coloured horse, saying that bad luck would fall upon them if they charged for the keep of a “lucky” horse.
So much for credulity and superstition!
III.
INTRODUCTION TO “A STRANGE RESURRECTION.”
While travelling along the Norfolk coast, and enjoying its golden sands and bracing breezes, I fell in with a jolly old fellow who was mending one of the huge oaken breakwaters, with which some parts of this wind-swept coast are protected, to prevent the encroachment of the sea, which, year by year and slice by slice, devours the soft clay cliffs, as regularly and insatiably as a ploughboy consumes his thumbpiece after the first two hours of morning work.
The jolly one had charge of a gang of half-a-dozen semi-amphibious agricultural labourers, who were driving down the great iron-shod piles deep into the sand, by means of an erection very similar in construction to a guillotine, except that instead of the lunette a huge block of iron weighing several hundredweight fell upon the pile to be driven when a lever is pulled.
The men, with whom I conversed while they ate their noonday meal, were of the usual type of tawny-bearded, brown-faced, straight-nosed men one sees on the east coast, who, when not employed in farm work, gain their scanty living on the sea. But the ganger was a man of a different stamp; he was short and thick like a Shetland pony, and very nearly as rugged and unkempt as one of those sturdy animals, for his iron-grey beard and hair blew about in the wind like the tattered rags on a mawkin.
He was a most jocular little-big man, full of fun and funny sayings, and the loudest to laugh at his own jokes was--himself. His laugh was hearty at any time, but on special occasions he would give a peculiar roar that would quite startle any person not used to Billy Flowerdue’s wild guffaw.
I invited Billy to spend an evening in my caravan, an invitation which he readily accepted, as he was some miles from his home, and only at present lodging in the inn of a neighbouring village.
Billy opened his eyes at many of the curiosities I had picked up during my travels, and widest of all at a curious piece of work which had been made by a man in the same line of business as himself--that of a carpenter and wheelwright. It was a wooden leg, which had been made for a cow, and which the animal had worn for several years, until she met her death by lightning.
It was a curious contrivance made of two pieces of wood, jointed at the knee with a pair of ordinary iron hinges, and made to fly out straight when the animal arose from a recumbent position, by means of thick india-rubber springs attached from the upper to the lower timbers.
If the powerfully-built little carpenter opened his eyes wide at what he was pleased to call “that thayer cur’us contraption,” he did so even more fully when I asked him to allow me to send him to sleep by a peculiar power I possessed, and I quite believe he thought I was either insane, bent on robbing him, or else thirsting for his blood.
I had, therefore, to fully explain the meaning of hypnotism to Billy, who, although a masterful hand with the adze or chisel, had apparently no brain for other subjects. His head was full of chips and timber, and nothing more. By dint of persevering persuasion, he was at length prevailed upon to permit me to place him in a state of trance, but not until I had first placed my faithful collie “Skybo” in a mesmeric sleep; at the sight of which Billy laughed loudly enough to make the plates and crockery in my house on wheels rattle again.
I had no need to ask Billy to give up his mind, and allow himself to think of just nothing at all, for it appeared a chronic state with him, to which he relapsed after every laugh. When he did enter the trance state he related the following very curious adventure of his early days.
A STRANGE RESURRECTION.
I am not what you may term an _old_ man, being a few months short of sixty-five years, but though my years are totalling up considerably, my spirits are light as a feather, and although fifty years have passed away since the story I am about to tell you took place, the incidents are as vivid in my memory as they were a month after their occurrence.
I was a youngster of fourteen or fifteen at the time I am about to speak, and like most boys of that age had a liking for the sea, especially as I dwelt in a great seaport where every one was in some way or other connected with fish or ships, and where even the schoolboys’ common expressions were flavoured with nautical terms.
My birthplace was Great Yarmouth, and at the time I left school in 1835, no one seemed to ask the question, which we so frequently hear now, of “What are you going to do with your son?” because it seemed predestined that the entrance of a boy into the world should be by way of the high seas. Each boy at the age of fourteen or fifteen appeared to look forward intuitively to the time when he should make his first voyage, or join one of the great herring fleets which annually leave Yarmouth in August; and he knew also that his maiden experience was merely a test, to ascertain for what particular division of toilsome nautical life he was most fitted.
Some liked the sea and its thrilling dangers, and stuck to it through fair weather and foul, working their way upward, till in a very few years they became mate, skipper, and presently part owner of the smack or lugger they commanded. Others preferred shore life; the sea was too coy a mistress for them to woo; and they were accordingly apprenticed to sail or mast-makers, shipwrights, smiths, netmakers, or something of the kind connected with shipping. Others again would volunteer for service in Her Majesty’s Navy, being taken with the trim appearance of the young fellows who had preceded them in that branch of the nautical life, and came home on leave, to show off their little horde of gold saved from their first cruise money.