"From a booming western city came reports of marvellous openings for
business men--of small investments bringing swift and large returns. I
placed my wife in the care of a good, motherly woman and bade her
good-by, while she, brave heart, without a tear, bade me God-speed. I
went there determined to win, to make a home to which I would bring both
wife and child later. For three months I made money, sending half to
her, and investing every cent which I did not absolutely need of the
other half. Then came tales from a mining district still farther west,
of fabulous fortunes made in a month, a week, sometimes a day. What was
the use of dallying where I was? I hastened to the mining camp. In less
than a week I had 'struck it rich,' and knew that in all probability I
would within a month draw out a fortune.
"Just at this time the letters from home ceased. For seven days I heard
nothing, and half mad with anxiety and suspense I awaited each night the
incoming train to bring me tidings. One night, just as the train was
about to leave, I caught sight of a former acquaintance from a
neighboring village, bound for a camp yet farther west, and, as I
greeted him, he told me in few words and pitying tones of the death of
my wife and child."
For a moment Mr. Britton paused, and Darrell drew instinctively nearer,
though saying nothing.
"I have no distinct recollection of what followed. I was told afterwards
that friendly hands caught me as the train started, to save me from
being crushed beneath the wheels. For three months I wandered from one
mining camp to another, working mechanically, with no thought or care as
to success or failure. An old miner from the first camp who had taken a
liking to me followed me in my wanderings and worked beside me, caring
for me and guarding my savings as though he had been a father. The old
fellow never left me, nor I him, until his death three years later. He
taught me many valuable points in practical mining, and I think his
rough but kindly care was all that saved me from insanity during those
years.
"After his death I brooded over my grief till I became nearly frenzied.
I could not banish the thought that but for my rashness and foolishness
in taking her from her home my wife might still have been living. To
myself I seemed little short of a murderer. I left the camp and
wandered, night and day, afar into the mountains. I came to this
mountain on which we are sitting and climbed nearly to the top. God was
there, but, like Jacob of old, 'I knew it not.' But something seemed to
speak to me out of the infinite silence, calming my frenzied brain and
soothing my troubled soul. I sat there till the stars appeared, and then
I sank into a deep, peaceful sleep--the first in years. When I awoke the
sun was shining in my face, and, though the old pain still throbbed, I
had a sense of new strength with which to bear it. I ate of the food I
carried with me and drank from a mountain stream--the same that trickles
past us now, only nearer its source. The place fascinated me; I dared
not leave it, and I spent the day in wandering up and down the rocks. My
steps were guided to the mine I showed you to-day. I saw the indications
of richness there, and, overturning the earth with my pick, found gold
among the very grassroots. Then followed the life of which I have
already given you an outline.