John Franklin Swift, Robert Greathouse: A Story of the Nevada Silver Mines (1870)

 

 

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CHAPTER XLI.

A WORTHY MEMBER OF THE WASHOE BAR.

            THE story of the flight of Mr. Graham reached Harry Stacey's ears in the regular course of events. Such a delicate bit of scandal found its way naturally into the Washoe journals, and was copied throughout the country. He was shocked and saddened by the unfortunate termination of his client's career, but was not very greatly surprised. Mr. Graham, though employing the young man in defending the suits pending against

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the mine, had never given him any knowledge of his financial affairs. Harry knew, however, without being told, that his notable ill success in searching for the silver vein must have long since brought the proprietor to great straits. When he therefore heard of the gentleman's flight, he soon reconciled the strange proceeding with probability, as all others had done. It had been the resort of a sensitive nature to avoid facing a difficulty that was no longer surmountable. "He could not satisfy his creditors," thought Harry, "and he has not had the fortitude to face them and tell them so." Mr. Graham's conduct had placed Harry in not only a delicate, but in an exceedingly difficult position.

            The claim of the Bosh Mining Company, though utterly without foundation in either law or justice, might, by the defendant's extraordinary absence, become formidable. The suit had now advanced to that stage where it required the utmost watchfulness. The demurrers and dilatory motions had been disposed of, and there remained, nothing save the issues of fact. In short, the suit was ready for trial and might be called at any term of the court. To make matters worse a regular term was about to commence, and it lay in the power of the plaintiffs to force it on within three or four weeks, should they deem it advisable to do so. There was not the least probability that the conspirators would willingly come to trial under ordinary circumstances. But this last complication was so strange that the young man scarcely knew what to look for. He very soon resolved, however, not to be found asleep at his post. "I will do the best I can," he thought, " and act as if I expected no favors from the enemy."

            Mr. Snakeweed, who met him in the street or about the courts every day, never failed to tell him that the case would not be urged for trial at present.

            "Indeed," cried that gentleman, in a burst of frankness, " my clients are perfectly content to have you go on and develop the mine, and not till that is done will we come around for our share of the spoils."

            A day or two after the news became public that Mr. Graham had absconded, Mr. Snakeweed came to see Harry to make a friendly call. At first they talked of general matters, late decisions of the higher courts, lawyer's gossip, and the like, but somehow the suit of the Bosh Company versus Graham was suggested and Mr. Snakeweed spoke of that. His clients had substantially determined to abandon it, he said; Mr. Graham

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had been ruined in the attempt to find pay rock in the mine, and the managers of the Bosh Company did not wish to share his fate ; that should they succeed in recovering possession of the property, they would simply have won an elephant that they could not keep.

            "Then you will not be ready for trial at the approaching term, Mr. Snakeweed?" inquired Harry.

            That gentleman looked at the young man with amazement upon his face.

            "Ready at next term," he cried, "I should say not. You need not be surprised at being served with a notice of discontinuance at any moment. The Bosh people don't seem willing to pay any more costs, and Snakeweed and Bittergin don't work for nothing, I can tell you. Give yourself no trouble about the suit, my young friend," said Mr. Snakeweed, "for I promise you that it will not be tried within one year from to-day."

            "Would you object to giving me a stipulation to take it over the next term, Mr. Snakeweed ?"

            Mr. Snakeweed stammered a little, and, Harry thought, looked confused.

            Well, no, he could not just do that without getting the Company's consent, which would involve a meeting of the Board of Directors. "But my word of honor, Mr. Stacey," he cried, laying his hand upon his breast, "ought to be between gentlemen, enough for that, you know."

            "Oh, of course," said Harry, " that will be quite sufficient" ; and so they parted.

            But Harry was not satisfied. In fact he was rendered more anxious than ever. The pains taken by Mr. Snakeweed to convince him that the case would not be brought on for trial, together with his refusal to put the agreement into the form of a written stipulation, by which alone it could be made binding, caused the young man to fear that some sharp practice was intended. So he resolved to prepare for trial. True, his client had apparently abandoned everything and gone away. But he had not instructed Harry to relax in any manner his watchfulness. The suit still was in his hands and his duty required him to do all that could be done, and he would do it. So he worked day and night in preparing himself for the case. Not much could be done in San Francisco. He must transfer his operations to the scene where the battle was to be fought.

            The day preceding the day fixed by him for his journey,

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word came of Mrs. Graham's death. Blanche McIver heard of it before Harry, and gave him the news at the very moment of her own departure to join her friend.

            When Harry arrived at Virginia he found Blanche already there. He called at No. 16, and had an interview with Helen, and indeed with them both, for Blanche was present. He found her, as he expected, still greatly depressed, though the first stunning effect of the blew had, under Blanche's cheering influence, partially passed away. He explained to Helen the cause of his visit. He had been retained by her father as his legal adviser in the suit for the mine, and was the attorney in the cause. Mr. Graham's withdrawal from the country had not been made known to him by that gentleman. He, therefore, felt that his relationship to him had not been changed, and that his duty required him to defend the suit to the best of his ability, at least until he should receive instructions to the contrary. His visit was now made for that purpose.

            Helen replied that she could give him no advice or information about the matter. That he must do what his own judgment and sense of right dictated without looking to her.

            "I had supposed such would be the case," said Harry. "But I feel that, under the circumstances, your father having no other legal adviser than myself, that I ought to place my services at your disposal as well. I am here, and will willingly aid you in any manner that lies within my power."

            Helen answered, thanking him for the kind offer. She did not know at the moment what she might need, but at the next interview would converse with him more fully about her situation.

            So Harry withdrew, and went to look after the impending suit of the Bosh Company versus Graham. Mr. Graham being away, Harry found it his duty to communicate with his superintendent, Mr. Bloodstone. He did this most reluctantly, for the fact that that gentleman was to be the future husband of Helen burnt deeply into the young man's soul. "He will at least not know that I ever aspired to her hand," thought Harry, "for I am sure she has never told him that circumstance." He would fain have avoided the interview had it been possible, but it was not. So he made his way in the direction of Mr. Graham's office, turning over in his mind what would be his probable reception. "If he suspects my feelings toward his intended wife he will not receive me very pleasantly, but I cannot help that. His jealousy must not prevent my doing my duty."

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            At the office Harry found two gentlemen, one was Mr. Enoch Bloodstone, the superintendent ; the other was introduced to him by that gentleman as Mr. Marvin Withergreen, President of the Pactolus Mine. The two gentlemen, so Mr. Bloodstone said, had just been engaged in talking over the unfortunate turn of fate that had befallen their mutual friend, Mr. Graham, and his amiable family. They both expressed their sorrow at what had occurred, and with great difficulty could restrain their tears in speaking of it. In truth the two gentlemen, if their own stories could be believed, had more than once found themselves involuntarily weeping when the sad subject had been suggested to their sympathetic minds.

            Harry was glad to find that the unfortunate family still had a place in the hearts of those who had known them. His business in the Territory was in behalf of Mr. Graham's interests, and he would need all the assistance that gentleman's friends and well-wishers could extend to him.

            Mr. Bloodstone inquired of him the nature of his business. He had come to defend the title of Mr. Graham to the mine against the claim of the Bosh Company.

            "Indeed," cried the superintendent, "is that suit to be brought to trial ? I thought it was to be dismissed on motion of the plaintiffs."

            "It has not been dismissed," said the lawyer, "and may be brought to trial at the term of court now almost upon us." Mr. Withergreen inquired the nature of the suit. Harry explained it to him. And when he had finished Mr. Withergreen said, —

            "There is just such another pending against my mine, the Pactolus ; but I do not pay any attention to it, sir. They dare not bring it on."

            "That may be, Mr. Withergreen, because you are prepared to meet the trial whenever it shall come. I only fear their taking advantage of our unfortunate position, and forcing it on when we are not ready."

            Both Mr. Withergreen and the superintendent shrugged their shoulders with contempt.

            "Impossible," cried the President of the Pactolus. "Why should they want the mine ? It will be time enough for them to stir when you find the vein. Nobody wants a mine that is filled with water at the bottom and choke-damps at the top, so that they could not get into it if they tried. My word for it,

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sir, they don't intend to throw any money down Mr. Graham's shaft. Too much has gone down there already."

            This was also the opinion of Mr. Bloodstone.

            "Still," cried Harry, "Mr. Graham's friends owe it to that gentleman not to permit his rights to be jeopardized by any default of theirs."

            Here Mr. Bloodstone showed his teeth. He thought that some other people had a sufficient interest in the mine not to allow it to be lost, besides Mr. Graham. He, Mr. Bloodstone, had pitched a good many thousands of very hard dollars down that hole, and he did not intend to let anybody get in there and pick them up if he could help it.

            "In that you are quite right, Mr. Bloodstone," said Harry, affecting not to see the changed manner. " But to successfully defend the most contemptible suit you must be prepared. Have you taken any steps to protect your interests, sir ? have you employed counsel ? "

            Mr. Bloodstone had not, he answered doggedly. He had never seen the necessity of it, and did not think there was any need of acting in a hurry. He would now go to his lawyer, however, he said, and attend to the business.

            Harry thanked him.

            As the interests of Mr. Bloodstone and Mr. Graham towards the Bosh Company's claim were identical, he should be most happy to co-operate with Mr. Bloodstone's counsel.

            "Will you arrange for an interview with him as soon as possible ? For my sole business in the Territory is to attend to this matter."

            Mr. Bloodstone promised to do so at once, and Harry bade the gentleman "good morning," and returned to the American Eagle Hotel.

            The young man found himself, upon reflection, more sorely perplexed than before. The interview had not been at all to his satisfaction. The whole manner of the man had been to him suggestive of deception and concealment ; yet he could conceive of no cause for any such conduct.

            "If he had been less polite," thought Harry, "I might have put down his conduct to his dislike for me. I might have suspected that Helen had confided to him my secret. But no, that is impossible. She never would have done it ; and, besides, an honest man, only jealous, would have simply turned me out of the door and refused to talk with me about the business. He would not have condescended to cheat me,

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to deceive, or throw me off my guard. He would have said, 'I have my own counsel, and you can go about your business.' He handled me altogether too gingerly," thought Harry, "he does not hate me, he only fears me. Why should he fear me? I can't conceive, but we will wait and see."

            The young lawyer was gradually getting sharpened up to the edge necessary to cut his way through the frauds of a corrupt community ; but he had not got to the ground of fathoming all the depths to which human depravity can descend. He could not conceive of Mr. Bloodstone's discovery and concealment of the vein in the mine of his employer, nor of the monstrous consequences that had been formed to appropriate it. The complicity of Mr. Withergreen in the fraud, if suggested, would have been at once dismissed to its proper place in the drawer of some writer of sensational romances.

            Again, the young man, from his newness to the country, was ignorant of much that was going on about him. He did not even know that such a mine as the Pactolus existed ; and, especially, he did not dream that the stock was at that moment selling in the market readily at two thousand five hundred dollars a share, a sum which, to be justified, would make the mine the most valuable one upon the entire Comstock Lode. Had he even been told of it, he could never have suspected the cause that had operated to put it up to such a fabulous price.

            He could not have known, what was the truth, that Wither-green and Bloodstone, in despair of depressing the stock by their "bearing " operations, had, more than a month before, gone into the market and invested their entire fortunes in the shares of the Pactolus, in the vain hope of obtaining a controlling interest, at any price, and had failed signally.

            Their efforts had only succeeded in putting the shares up to four thousand dollars each, at which price they had bought as long as either their money or credit lasted, but without getting enough for their purpose ; and now it had receded to twenty-five hundred, leaving them to suffer a loss, when they should sell, that would surely ruin them both.

            This had happened only a few days before the disappearance of Mr. Graham. Had he fled one week earlier, they would have been spared this immense expenditure and risk ; for, in that case, they could have got possession of his mine at a much less cost to themselves, by a plan which they were about to adopt, now that he was out of the way.

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            The whole matter was to be managed upon a different, and more economical basis. The gifted Withergreen, as usual, was the inventor, and entitled to the credit. The plan had already been perfected by that genius, and put in motion.

            The black-mail claim of the Bosh Company was to be turned into a legitimate lawsuit, and pushed on to success. This could be done by a sham defence, to be made by Mr. Enoch Bloodstone, followed by a default.

            A great part of the stock of the Bosh Company was speedily bought up ; Ebenezer Gudgeon was allowed to retain his shares, so was Mr. Melchisedec Snakeweed. The respectability of the one and the legal tact of the other was necessary in managing the matter. Good society could never condemn any scheme in which the Gudgeon family were concerned. But the interesting sons of Commodore Plug, so dear to the heart of Judge Bung, were remorselessly bought out of the fat enterprise for the insignificant sum of a few hundred dollars each. The bright youths were ruthlessly stripped of the certain fortune that had been so generously given to them by the Bosh Company's directors. There was no longer need of a friend near to Judge Bung's court, for the fight was to be transferred to the pure atmosphere of the Washoe tribunals.

            This done, the coast appeared clear. Napoleon B. Spelter was placed in chief command. He appointed a subaltern, Mr. George Washington Tack, to be counsel for the defendant, Mr. Enoch Bloodstone, who intended to be beaten in the coming lawsuit.

            They were aware that Henry Stacey was the attorney of record for the defence, and had control of the suit. But it was known that a hundred ways lay open to the conspirators to either drive him from the case, or at least to neutralize his efforts. So Mr. Snakeweed was set at work to prevent his coming to the Territory at the next term, if possible, by a verbal, and, therefore, not binding promise, not to bring the case on for trial at this term.

            Failing in this, Mr. Tack was to obtain control of the cause, if possible, and, throwing Mr. Stacey off his guard, was to suffer a judgment to go against his client.

            Again, they could easily put such obstacles in the way of Harry, in the gathering of testimony, as would, in the end, surely prevent his making a defence. Mr. Bloodstone could pretend to have the witnesses ready, but on the morning of the trial they could be spirited away, or if they appeared in court,

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they could be made to testify to a wholly different state of facts from that expected of them by Mr. Graham's lawyer.

            All these things failing, — and they could not all fail, — they still had the court and the jury on their side, and that alone was enough to ensure a favorable result.

            But we have already anticipated our story, by pointing out to the reader a state of facts that Mr. Stacey only discovered as each feature in the course of events developed itself.

            In the afternoon he was gratified by receiving the card of Mr. George Washington Tack. That gentleman introduced himself to Harry as the attorney for Mr. Enoch Bloodstone, in the suit of the Bosh Company versus Graham.

            "My client," continued Mr. Tack, "if you will pardon the suggestion, has made such enormous advances upon the mine, in the course of its development that, in view of the extraordinary conduct of Mr. Graham, we consider ourselves as the chief parties in interest. Indeed, sir, — and I say it with all respect, —we look upon Mr. Graham as having left us quite in the lurch. He has evidently intended to abandon his claim altogether. Have you heard from him since his departure, Mr. Stacey ?"

            "No," replied Harry, " I confess that I have not. But I cannot permit his rights to be regarded in that manner ; at least, not until he instructs me specially to that effect."

            "Indeed," cried Mr. Tack, " I quite appreciate the professional pride that would call for such a course from you. Anticipating your taking such a view of your duties, I have brought with me instructions that will, I am quite sure, relieve your mind of any further difficulties arising from a sense of delicacy in quitting the case. I have instructions here from Mr. Graham's agent and superintendent, Mr. Bloodstone, who happens, also, as you are aware, to be my client, requiring you to surrender to me the whole business."

            Here he handed Harry a paper, which, upon perusal, proved to be as Mr. Tack had stated. It was a polite note to Harry, suggesting the fact that the distance he was from home would make his duty of defending the suit both arduous and expensive. But that yet feeling and respecting the professional honor that would keep him in the case, unless properly relieved from the obligation to act, he, as agent and superintendent of Mr. Graham, and acting in his name, hereby respectfully discharged him, Mr. Stacey, from his employment, and released him from all obligations and duties towards Mr. Graham, as his attorney

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and legal adviser. Harry read this paper carefully to the end, and then politely returned it to Mr. Tack.

            "I have never been authorized by Mr. Graham to look to his superintendent for instructions, and cannot do so now. I mean no offence to that gentleman, and have no reason to doubt his perfect good faith, but I cannot abandon or give up my position as Mr. Graham's attorney, without absolute orders from that gentleman, either verbally or in writing, plainly expressed, to do so. You will therefore excuse me, if I decline to accede to Mr. Bloodstone's demand."

            "My dear sir," cried Mr. Tack, laughing, "I told him you would not do so, at the time. I would not, under similar circumstances, and I said so to him. I am glad you have acted as I would have done, for two reasons : first, it shows that the honor of the bar is, as it always was, a matter of paramount consideration in the minds of its members; and secondly, I shall have the benefit of the talent and learning of Mr. Stacey to assist me in this case, to say nothing of the society of a gentleman whom I have already learned to so greatly respect."

            Harry was not imposed upon by these complimentary remarks ; though he could not see precisely from what quarter the blow was being aimed ; still he was convinced that all this manoeuvering and false play, meant mischief somehow, to him and his clients. He is sparring for wind, thought Harry, bowing at the end of Mr. Tack's declaration of friendship. Where will he strike next ? He had now fully determined not to trust anybody in the case, that should come from Mr. Bloodstone, no matter on what pretence, but just why, he could not answer. Can my distrust of the man arise from my knowledge of his engagement to marry Helen ? he thought ; for if so, there is no ground for any suspicion. His interests are wholly bound up in Mr. Graham's. With the possession of his daughter's hand, which will come sooner or later, the mine will be substantially his, and what possible interest can he have to take any unjust advantage of his future father-in-law ? This reason appeared absolutely conclusive. Yet Harry could not make up his mind to trust Mr. Graham's superintendent, after his manner of the day before.

            The matter being now settled, apparently to the satisfaction of both, that Mr. Stacey was to continue to act as attorney for Mr. Graham, the two lawyers sat down and began to talk over the case, and how it was to be defended. The first thing special that Harry discovered in his associate, was, that he was exceed-

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ingly ignorant of professional learning ; and next, that he evinced, what Harry thought was a suspicious amount of anxiety to take entire charge of the work, and to relieve his young friend of any labor, or drudgery, as he called it, in the preparation for trial. Indeed, Mr. Tack assured Harry that he might return to San Francisco, and wait the coming on of the case. "I will attend to all the details, I assure you, sir. Mr. Bloodstone knows all of the witnesses. I shall have but little on my hands for the next fortnight, and will attend entirely to going over the evidence. When you come back, Mr. Stacey, I assure you we will have a cloud of witnesses brought together, that will quite astonish you. We shall be able to prove Mr. Graham's prior possession of the mine so conclusively, that there will be no chance for the most corrupt jury in the world to be bought away from us."

            Harry thanked Mr. Tack for his zeal and kindness, but he would rather stay here and look after the matter personally, especially in the view of the extraordinary absence of Mr. Graham.

            "But we will act together in all things," said Mr. Tack, rising to go. "Whatever is done will be with the most perfect knowledge by each, of the other's plans."

            Harry could see no objection to that, and so told him, and they separated for the time.

 

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CHAPTER XLII.

HELEN GRAHAM CONSULTS A LAWYER.

            IN the evening Harry received a message from Miss Graham. It was brought by Charley Hunter. He had been sitting in his room a half-hour trying to determine the question in his on mind, whether he ought to call upon that lady again without an express command to that effect. At the moment when he had persuaded himself that he ought to do so in spite of the circumstance that she was engaged to be married to Mr. Bloodstone, the door opened and Charley entered.

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            Miss Graham wished to see Mr. Stacey at No. 16, at as early a moment as would be convenient for him to call.

            Harry thanked the boy, and said he would proceed immediately to Miss Graham's apartments.

            He found her alone, Blanche McIver having retired with a slight indisposition, the effects of her recent journey over the mountains. It was the first time Harry had seen her alone since the memorable day when she had dismissed him in despair. He was quite sure that he had never seen her look so beautiful as she was in her suit of black. She asked him, kindly, to be seated in a chair near to where she sat.

            "I have sent for you, Mr. Stacey," she said in a sad tone, "to consult you, professionally, upon a matter that weighs heavily upon me."

            Harry assumed an attentive attitude, and begged her to proceed.

            "The affair is a most delicate one," she said, "in view of all the circumstances, and I communicate it to you, in confidence, the more readily as you already know more of my situation than any one that I have now about me. You are aware, Mr. Stacey," and here her voice sank even lower than before, " that I have promised to marry Mr. Enoch Bloodstone."

Harry acknowledged the fact by an inclination of the head. "I have told no one now living of the circumstance, except yourself and my father."

            Harry assured her that she could depend upon his discretion in all things, and she continued, —

            "My father's disappearance was most extraordinary and unaccountable. He went out of the house on Sunday afternoon to go, as he said, to the mine. We only know, as a matter of certainty, that he never returned. We heard that he had fled from the country to avoid his embarrassments. Had that been the fact, we ought, reasonably, to have received letters from him in no great length of time afterwards. But he has never written to us, — not once. The anxiety and uncertainty about his fate was the immediate cause of my poor mother's death."

            Here the lady's firmness gave way and she sobbed in her handkerchief for a moment, and then went on, but in a broken voice.

            "Before she died," — here she looked hard at Harry, as if to watch the effect of her words upon him, —"especially the night of her death, she either knew or fancied that she knew, in some

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mysterious manner, where my father was. And, acting upon that knowledge, or illusion, as the case may have been, she exacted from me a pledge, — more, Mr. Stacey, she laid upon me, her daughter, a solemn duty not to rest till I had gone to him and brought him home, — released him, indeed, from the place where she believed or imagined him to be kept."

            Harry had listened to each word with strict attention.

            "Then your mother believed, or knew, as you say, that your father was detained, unwillingly ; that he was held under duress of some sort ?"

            "Yes, Mr. Stacey, that was precisely her notion, and she has put such a charge upon me that I feel it my duty to do as she wished me at all hazards. I have sent for you, Mr. Stacey, not to consult you about the reason of my mother's whim, its value, or authority with prudent people ; not to ask you whether I ought to make an effort to perform my mother's dying request, for upon that I wish no advice. My mind is clear. I shall do all that in a feeble woman lies to redeem my promise made in the arms of my poor mother before she died. I have sent for you, Mr. Stacey, as an honest and loyal gentleman, a friend of my dead mother and my father, and I trust of myself, to consult with you upon the method to be pursued in following my mother's wishes. I wish to ask you how I am to do it."

            "I understand you fully, Miss Graham. Your mother, on her dying bed, fancied that your father was somewhere in detention against his will. Having no one else about her at the moment she laid upon you the obligation of his rescue. She being dead, that pledge binds your conscience, if it does not really satisfy your reason. But, having resolved to do as you have been enjoined to do, you wish only to have the means pointed out, unaccompanied by any reasons or arguments tending to show any supposed fallacy in your mother's notions."

            "Yes, Mr. Stacey, that is precisely what I wished to say."

            Harry reflected a moment. "Why does she not go to Bloodstone?" he thought; then he said in an earnest and kindly tone,—

            "I am at your service, Miss Graham. Where did your mother tell you to search for your father ?"

            She looked at him as if still in doubt whether she could communicate to him the fantastic notions of her poor mother, then she answered, —

            "Down in his own mine, Mr. Stacey."

            Harry started, and looked for a moment as if he doubted the evidence of his senses.

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            "In the Graham mine !" he said, slowly.

            "In the Graham mine, Mr. Stacey."

            "Did she fancy — did she understand, I should say, — Miss Graham, that he was still living, or that he had perished in the mine, and that only his body was there ?"

            " She understood that he was then in the mine, and living."

            "Was your mother aware of the mephitic gases that had so long filled the mine ?"

            But seeing her look at him in a reproachful manner, he remembered his promise and apologized.

            "I forgot myself, Miss Graham ; I promised not to offer any obstruction to your course. I will try not to offend again. Is our discussion to be restricted with respect to the possible reasons for his detention in the mine, and, especially, are we free to discuss who it may be who holds your father in this unlawful imprisonment ?"

            "I am quite incapable, Mr. Stacey, of throwing any light upon these questions. If he is detained there as my mother fancied him to be, I know not why.  She gave me no intimation upon that point. As for the persons who detained him, she said but little. She thought he was kept by an individual whom she designated as 'that man.' She gave no other hint."

            "Have you any notion, Miss Graham, who was meant by your mother, when she spoke of 'that man' ?"

            Helen hesitated.

            "Yes," she said, "I have reason to think that I know who was in my mother's mind."

            "Would you object to telling me that much?"

            "Is it necessary, Mr. Stacey? for I will say this, that I throw myself wholly upon your generosity. I will tell anything that you think is necessary or even beneficial in the matter."

            "It is true, Miss Graham, that I might presume without being told, that if your father was detained in the mine, that his imprisonment would naturally be the work of the one in authority there. Yet it would, perhaps, not be .too much to ask of you who you understand to be the wrong-doer in the case. But in asking the question, I will say to you that I pledge whatever honor there is in my heart not to divulge, unnecessarily, or to use, otherwise than in the investigation, any information you may give me."

            "I am content, Mr. Stacey. The person referred to by my mother was Mr. Bloodstone."

            Observing that Harry remained silent, she continued,—

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            "You are not to understand that because I give the name of the gentleman to whom I have promised my hand in marriage, that I know of any special motives that he may have for my father's detention, or that I have any reasons beyond my mother's declaration for thinking him guilty. I have no fixed belief in the subject. I am acting upon no conviction, no opinion. I have promised my mother to do a certain act, and if it is in my power, if my life shall be spared to me, I will do it. Can you assist me, Mr. Stacey ?"

            Harry did not answer her question directly. He said, —

            "I suppose, Miss Graham, that your pledge would be redeemed by a thorough and careful examination of the mine made by competent persons, though your father was not found to be detained there."

            "I cannot undertake now to say what I would consider a performance of my promise, Mr. Stacey. I prefer not to lay down any special boundary within which I am to act. I wish to do my duty ; but I admit that the limit of that duty has a special standard within my own conscience. The assurance of no living creature that I had done all, would satisfy me, unless my own heart told me also that I exhausted all the means within my reach. I wish to go on, leaving my own judgment uninfluenced by others to dictate to me how perfect has been the search, how faithful my efforts. I would rather you would leave that wholly to myself, as you have already promised to do, with respect to the reason for my attempting to obey the last wishes of my mother."

            "I am willing to do so, Miss Graham ; your father has strong claims upon me for the confidence he placed in me when here. Your mother's wishes are to me like the wishes of my own mother ; for she certainly took an interest in me, that would have been most gratifying, if I had been her son. I am sure I loved her as a mother. I will do the best I can, Miss Graham ; I know of no plan except the legal one of proceeding by the writ of habeas corpus. I will, however, before acting, make an attempt to visit the mine, by ordinary means. Not that I consider that anything will be gained by it, for it is quite improbable that such an attempt will result otherwise than in failure. It is said that the mine is filled with gases destructive to human life. If this story be true, we will be kept out of the mine by natural causes. If it be false, then the men who have given currency to the story, are interested in keeping away any visitors, and will not hesitate to do so against any

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ordinary influences. In the end, therefore, we shall be obliged to invoke the power of the law. In such case, the names of the parties whom we believe, or imagine, to be doing the unlawful act, must necessarily be disclosed, and the affair made public. Are you willing to submit to this scandal, Miss Graham?"

            "I am, if it be necessary to do so, in order to obey my mother's commands," she answered, in a steady voice. "I am willing to do anything, to submit to anything, that lies in the line of the performance of what I consider a duty. Beyond that, I do not suppose you will ask me to go."

            "No," he answered, "I shall try not to do so."

            "The very nature of my action," she continued, "is based upon the possibility that my future husband has been guilty of a crime. Such being the fact, it would be idle to take him into the secret of my intentions. If he prove innocent, I shall have done him a wrong for which I will gladly make any reparation in my power. I have thought of all this. I understand the apparent absurdity of it all. I have a notion how it must seem to you ; to men, judged by the standard of men's reason, and understanding ; how it appears when viewed in this light. I have discarded reason entirely in the matter, and am following an impulse, a blind impulse, if you please to so call it, but one as strong as any strength so feeble a woman as I am can possess. I would prefer to obey my mother without offending any one, without wounding the feelings of any one, especially a man who holds my solemn promise to become his wife ; but, if I am to live longer upon this earth, I must not forget the dying words of my broken-hearted mother."

            "It is not necessary to say another word to me, concerning your motives, Miss Graham," said Harry, with a burst of enthusiasm that flashed in his eyes, and illuminated his countenance, "I understand you, and will do all in my power to aid you. Do not doubt my zeal; depend fully upon my discretion. I will set about the work this very moment."

            Helen could only thank him by a look. She did not dare to trust herself with words, for her tears were already too near the surface to permit of any experiments in language.

            "Good-night," said Harry, "I do not know what success I may have in invoking the law in aid of right in Washoe ; but if I fail, it shall not be for lack of zeal in the cause."

            "Good-night," said the lady, closing the door upon him. Then turning, she threw herself upon her knees, and, with

410      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

clasped hands, asked her heavenly Father to "aid in the work so generously commenced."

            Harry proceeded immediately to his room, and began, without hesitation, to draw the papers necessary to procure the writ of habeas corpus. "I may not be required to use it," he thought, "but I will complete them to-night, because, at this hour, I can do nothing else. To-morrow I may visit the mine, possibly, by the consent of Bloodstone. There are a hundred things I may do ; but, to-night, this alone can be done." And so he plunged his pen into the ink, and then wrote off sheet after sheet of paper, and laid them upon the floor at his side. Before he retired to bed he had prepared all the forms required to invoke in the cause of Mr. Graham the processes of the law for asserting the right of personal liberty.

 

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CHAPTER XLIII.

CONSCIENCE AN OBSTACLE TO JUSTICE.

            HARRY STACEY was up at an early hour the following morning. Before any decided line of conduct could be entered upon, it was necessary for him to make a general survey of the field in which he was to operate. By ten o'clock he had ascertained all that could be known by the outside world, with respect to the condition of the Graham mine. As Mr. Graham's attorney, preparing for the trial of the suit pending against the mine, it was only natural and proper for him to visit the premises, and to examine carefully the disputed possessions. Arriving at the hoisting works which covered the mouth of the shaft, he knocked at the door, and found it locked on the inside. This was not a remarkable circumstance. The mine was not being worked, and the hour was early in the morning. It was quite natural to suppose that the watchman would be within, and perhaps still in bed, so Harry repeated his clamor for admission, till at last the door was unlocked from within, and partially opened.

            "What do you want," said the watchman, in a gruff voice.

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       411

            "I would like to come in, if you please," said Harry.

            "But I don't please," said the watchman. "If you could read, you might know that it was against the rules. Look at that notice," and the man pointed to the usual warning written over the door, "No admission."

            "But I have business," cried Harry, as the man was shutting the door in his face.

            "What, is it ?" said the watchman, stopping and peering through the crack.

            "I am Mr. Graham's attorney. I have come about a law suit against the mine, and I want to examine the place."

            At this, the door was opened, and showed Mr. Enoch Bloodstone standing behind the watchman.

            "Good-morning, Mr. Stacey," said that gentleman, with an air of forced ease, as Harry thought. "I did not recognize your voice at first. Pray walk in, sir. We do not admit everybody to the works now, as we are not doing anything ; but, of course, the rule does not apply to you."

            Harry thanked him, and entered the house. It was simply a large wooden building, with closely planked sides, and roof of the same material. In the centre was the shaft that descended to the mine ; close by stood the steam engine, used for hoisting the cage up and down ; but this was cold, as no work had been done for several weeks ; not since the water came into the mines.

            "Do you sleep at the mines " asked Harry of Bloodstone.

            "Oh, no sir, I do not ; but I am always here at a very early hour ; I have been engaged this morning in sounding the water at the bottom of the shaft ; I do this every day to see if it increases in depth."

            Though Mr. Bloodstone made this statement, Harry saw no line or other instrument that could have been used for that purpose.

            "Do you go down the shaft to make your soundings, Mr. Bloodstone ? "

            "No, certainly not, Mr. Stacey ; were you not aware that the mine is filled with damps, so that no one can enter it?"

            Harry had heard something of this circumstance, but only by vague rumor. And besides, it might have been purified in the meantime.

            "Oh, no, sir," said Mr. Bloodstone, "not at all; it remains as bad as ever ; almost every day I let a dog down in the cage, and he comes up nearly suffocated after being down there only

412      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

three minutes. We do not put down any light, for fear of an explosion, but the matter is not serious, Mr. Stacey ; if we should ever determine to resume work again, a thing now not very probable, we can soon remove the bad air. On the other hand, if the mine should be abandoned, — and I am now only waiting to hear from Mr. Graham, to determine upon that course,—then, as you will naturally understand, it will be of no consequence what sort of air is at the bottom of the old pit."

            Harry walked around the cage, and examined it as well as he could, Mr. Bloodstone following him, and watching him incessantly as he moved. But the young man had never been in a mine before, and all was new to him. He observed nothing extraordinary about the place. Indeed, he was too ignorant of such matters to have been able to judge, had there been anything out of the way. But he thought that he could see in the conduct of Mr. Bloodstone something like anxiety. His face, Harry thought, was unusually pale, even for that gentleman's always cadaverous complexion. " Can it be," thought the young man, "that my own suspicions mislead me? The hour is early, and Mr. Bloodstone has not yet broken his fast. That which I take for the trepidation of conscious guilt, may be only the result of a casual annoyance upon an irritable temperament ; the man is hungry and I am detaining him." But another circumstance attracted the notice of the young lawyer. There were, when he entered, four men in the place, besides the watchman and the superintendent. Six men were, at this early hour, already for some purpose in the hoisting works of a mine, not being operated, and in fact about to be abandoned, and the door was locked. Had they all slept there, it would not have -appeared so remarkable. But one of them, at least, had come from his bed in another part of the town. None of these men spoke to Harry, except the superintendent. But they all stood around him, or dogged him about, so the young man thought, in a manner evincing more than ordinary interest in his movements. It was apparent to Harry that nothing could be gained in this way. If Mr. Graham was at the bottom of the mine, these men were his custodians, and nothing could be done save by some force that could wholly overcome them.

            "I called up to take a look about the place, Mr. Bloodstone, so as to have some notion what it was like. That is all, sir. At the trial I shall have to ask many questions about the mine, and feel the necessity of knowing a little about it."

            Mr. Bloodstone said, "that the desire was only natural."

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       413

            "But I don't think I have made much progress," continued Harry with an air of gaiety, "I do not think I know enough about mines yet, to judge of what is at the bottom by a look at the outside."

            "Few men ever get to that point of knowledge, Mr. Stacey. No man can tell what is under ground by looking at the surface."

            "I suppose not, sir, but they often act as if they did know."

            "Yes," cried Mr. Bloodstone with a laugh, "in buying 'Wildcat' shares, I suppose you mean."

            Harry did not say what he meant. "He might call again, at some more convenient hour," he said. "At present, he felt that he was detaining Mr. Bloodstone from his breakfast, and would take his leave."

            Mr. Bloodstone bade him "Good morning," and closed the door behind him.

            Harry felt that the case was growing more difficult of solution. It was clear the mine could not be visited. To offer to enter it was to face death, either from noxious air below ground, or by the hand of still more vicious men above.

            Whatever the facts might be, it was not intended by Bloodstone and his creatures that anybody should go down the mine.

            Harry felt, for the first time, the extent of his own weakness, as against the forces opposed to him. He determined to seek assistance and advice. "I do not know the customs of this country sufficiently well, to make my way single-handed against these men."

            Before leaving San Francisco this time, he had taken the precaution to provide himself with letters of introduction to some of the gentlemen of the legal profession in Virginia, who were known to be lawyers of integrity and proved honor. For it must not be understood, that in Washoe, all of the lawyers were made up of men of the class who had caused Harry to play the role of a returned Union soldier on the occasion of his first visit to the Territory.

            Indeed, there, as everywhere, even in the worst state of society, there was scope and room in the profession for men of honor and principle. And though, at times, it might appear that the quickest road to wealth and distinction, lay by the short cut through which Napoleon C. Spelter and his satellites were driving with such speed, yet, in the end, it will no doubt prove, indeed it already has proven, that those gentlemen who

414      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

remained true to the obligations of honor, of truth and justice,—obligations resting most heavily upon the shoulders of lawyers, because of the influence they wield in society,—have been the most successful, and are the most honored and renowned. Such were General Williams, Mr. Covington, Judge Burden, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Wright ; Mr. Stewart, also, must not be forgotten, as well as many others.

            Harry presented his letter to the first of the above named gentlemen. General Williams was a gentleman advanced in years, who had through life borne a high reputation for legal ability, as well as for honor and integrity.

            "I am glad to see you, Mr. Stacey," said General Williams, after reading his letter. "Can I be of any service to you while here ? '

            Harry thanked the General for the kind inquiry, and asked for a private interview upon a matter of importance.

            "This way," said the General, politely ; and they walked into his private office. Here, when they were seated, Harry explained to the General the matter upon his mind, impressing him with its strictly secret nature. Having gone over the ground as completely as it was in his power to do, he asked for the advice of the veteran.

            General Williams put many questions to Harry, tending to draw out any concealed or forgotten facts, that might disclose a motive for the imprisonment of Mr. Graham. But, becoming satisfied at last that the young man had told him all that he himself knew, and that no more was to be found out, he deliberated a moment, and then spoke.

            "There is nothing intrinsically improbable in the theory of the young lady, that her father is detained in the mine. Much more high-handed proceedings are carried on every day in our midst. As for there being no motive for the crime, that may be simply the result of our imperfect knowledge of the facts. If we knew the entire relationship between Mr. Graham and the superintendent, or between the superintendent and Mr. Graham's family, which we cannot know, the ground might prove to be bristling with motives for even his death. That is no objection whatever. The weakness of the theory lies purely in the circumstance which has brought it into existence. First, it is reported, and apparently proven, that Mr. Graham has voluntarily either absconded himself, or fled from the country. For his doing this, it appears, there was some motive, though even that does not strike you or me as being a very

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       415

forcible one.  But you and I are lawyers, and know that the escape of the debtor from his obligations in this country is easy, and in a community made up of debtors, not attended with any considerable degree of humiliation. Mr. Graham was not a lawyer, and may not have studied clearly the difference between a gambling, risk-taking community of adventurers, always in debt and trouble, and an older and more stable society, like that in which he had been reared and educated. We have thus a probable case in favor of the theory of voluntary concealment or flight. What have we against it ? Have we any facts, besides the sick-bed fancy, or the hallucination of a lady, confessedly dying from the shock produced by her husband's disappearance ? I see nothing else. The circumstance that he has not written to his family, would, if accompanied by other collateral and supporting facts, be worth something ; but alone, it does not go for much. My judgment therefore is, Mr. Stacey, that no case is made out against the managers of the mine, and that by waiting a few days longer, you will no doubt hear of the fugitive, from some place of safety ; perhaps in the Atlantic States, whither he is unquestionably making his way, at this moment."

            Harry had not told General Williams of his desire to search the mine in any case, for the purpose of relieving the conscience of Mr. Graham's daughter. He now did so.

            The General looked grave. "That is a matter worthy of consideration, Mr. Stacey. As I said before, there is nothing inherently improbable, in the lady's notion of the cause of her father's absence. I do not pass a day in this Territory without hearing of some act, committed by the managers of mines, that do not require for their performance any greater degree of moral depravity than this,— nor, indeed, much more boldness, for that matter. I only doubt the story, simply because it comes to me from so questionable a source as the disordered brain of a dying woman ; and comes with no supporting circumstances. But if the young lady feels a moral, a filial duty, pressing upon her to investigate this theory, she undoubtedly possesses the right to do so ; and any one opposing the exercise of the right at once raises the very thing her theory lacks that is a collateral circumstance in its support. If he is not there, why object to a search ?"

            "I do not know that any one does object, General Williams. We are told by the people in charge, and that is the opinion generally of the public, that for some time past the mine has

416      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

been filled with gases destructive to human life, and cannot be entered. But no one has offered to enter the mine, nor have we any reason to suppose that any resistance would be made were we to propose to do it."

            "Is the place kept locked and guarded ?" asked General Williams, after thinking a moment.

            "It is, General. I was there this morning, and found six men in the place at an early hour, and the door locked on the inner side."

            "But you were allowed to enter ?"

            "Yes, I was let in, after some hesitation."

            " Did you see anything unusual ?"

            "Nothing ; but I am wholly unaccustomed to mines."

            "I see, I see," cried the General, rising from his chair, and, walking up and the room, "you would not have suspected, or understood it, had there been anything unusual. You did not offer to descend ?"

            "No, I did not," answered Harry, "I did not deem it prudent."

            "Certainly," said the General, still walking up and down. "Of course you did not ; if the story of the choke damps was true, you could not go on."

            "If it was false, the danger would have even been greater from other causes."

            "I see, I see ; you could not go down, or even talk about it. You acted prudently."      After musing for a time, the General continued, "If you are to act on the young lady's theory, Mr. Stacey, you owe it to her to go upon the full presumption that Mr. Graham is in the mine and living, at the moment you act. Any other course would not only fail, in the event of her being correct in her notion, but would result most disastrously to the prisoner. Those who may now be simply detaining him for a time, till some event is accomplished, for example, possibly with the idea of liberating him hereafter, might, in their alarm for their own safety, destroy him. They must not be apprised of your suspicions, till you are prepared to strike a decisive blow."

            "Then, what is your advice, General ?" asked Harry.

            "A habeas corpus is the only remedy that the law can afford. I know of nothing else, but even that, in so delicate a case, I acknowledge to be of doubtful efficacy. If the parties would make resistance of any sort, it would be the better for us.

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.   417

A resistance to the process would arouse public opinion and a riot would follow, or rather the mine would be attacked at once, by a mob of angry miners, who are the only irresistible force in this country, and the place would be searched by them. If he was found the wrong-doers would be hanged on the spot. But mobs are always spontaneous, and cannot be produced or controlled by individuals. Again, the fact of their resistance to process would furnish what our case lacks. That is some proof, sufficient to overcome the apparent absurdity of the origin of our theory in a sick woman's dream. The very thing I fear is, that the officer will be received with courtesy, and told to descend. Even if he takes the risk, and faces the supposed noxious gases, the prisoner would have been made away with before assistance could reach him."

            Harry confessed the difficulties that lay upon all sides.

            "But, General, you recommend the writ in the ordinary way ? "

            "Oh, yes, there is nothing else that I see. Though I confess that but for the frame of mind into which the daughter seems to have fallen, I should recommend nothing. You are welcome to my office to prepare your papers, Mr. Stacey, and, in the interest of humanity I willingly volunteer my own services in the matter to assist you."

            Harry thanked General Williams, and sat down at once.

            "I have almost everything prepared now," he said. "I have only to fill in the blanks left in the papers. What course do you recommend, General ?"

            "Any will do, sir. The writ issues, of course, upon the ordinary affidavits ; and to find Mr. Graham is to release him, for there can be no question about the illegality of his detention. Your success will be a matter that will rest more with the sheriff than with the judge. Make it returnable before Judge Pufgall. He is in town, I believe. Who makes your affidavits, Mr. Stacey ? Who is to swear to the fact of his detention ? "

            Harry looked up in dismay. He had not thought of this question before.

            To procure the writ an oath must be taken to the effect that the person demanding its issuance had good reason to believe, and did believe, that Mr. Graham was detained against his will, and held an unlawful prisoner in the mine, by the individuals in charge thereof.

            As a rule, lawyers never like to make affidavits. Perhaps it may arise from a consciousness of the facility with which their clients are generally willing to make them. It is an axiom with

418      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

the profession that each man ought, and generally can do, his own swearing, and this theory has been sustained by an experience as old as the invention of oaths.

            But here was an exceptional case. Harry had heard Miss Graham say that she was not acting upon reason, that she had no opinions upon the subject, but was moved by an impulse which she felt it her duty to obey.

            No doubt, had Harry carried the papers to her, and, without explanation, told her that she must verify them, she would have acted as people generally do under similar circumstances. She would have taken the oath without thinking much about it.

            But he did not wish to go to her with it. First, he dreaded to tell her how little faith he had in the dying fancy of her mother. And, again, he did not like the idea of permitting her to be sworn to a fact that, he felt sure, she only half believed.

            He explained these difficulties to General Williams, with the bearing they had upon his mind.

            "It is now too late for you to do anything to-day," said the General. "You will have until to-morrow morning to deliberate upon your course. No movement must be made till all is ready."

            To this Harry agreed, and, as it was near night, took his way to his room at the American Eagle Hotel.

            Here he sat down in a brown study, as to what course to pursue. He could not take the oath himself ; he did not feel that he had sufficient cause for believing that Mr. Graham was in the mine. In truth, he did not believe him to be there. Should he go to Helen and explain this fact to her, and ask her to do so, the fact of his own doubt would almost certainly reflect itself in her mind, and she, too, would either refuse to be sworn, or do so, perhaps, with a severe wound to her own conscience.

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       419

 

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CHAPTER XLIV.

THE OBSTACLE REMOVED.

            WHILE Harry was engaged in turning the matter over in his mind, he was disturbed by a knock at his door.

            It proved to be Jack Gowdy, the stage-driver who had just arrived from across the mountains, whither he had gone in his regular turn the day after the funeral of Mrs. Graham.

            "How do you do, Jack ?" cried Harry, delighted to see his old friend. "I missed you when I came over, greatly to my disappointment, and was obliged to ride all the way inside the coach."

            "I am sorry," said Jack, after a burst of pleasure at seeing Harry, during which they both sat down. "But the truth is, sir, that stage-driving is getting into a bad way. Gentlemen are quitting it, and it is falling into the hands of sneaks and trash. Half the drivers now don't know a gentleman when they see him. And good reason why, sir. Because they have not been brought up gentlemen themselves. It is not in them, sir. They think because a man has got on a black coat that he is a gentleman, and so they fill up the best seats with tract peddlers, exhorters, and Methodist preachers, and white-check men of all sorts, —fellows that would be afraid to risk a bogus Mexican dollar on four aces. If I don't have mighty big luck and get killed soon, I expect to live to see free niggers driving stage !" Here Jack held up his hands, as if in a mute prayer to the powers above to be permitted, before that dreaded day, to depart in peace.

            "When do you go back home, Mr. Stacey ? I want to know, so that I can see that you are not obliged to ride with any blue-bellied Yankees, or free niggers. For if there is anything in this world that I hate, it is the company of low, ignorant, vulgar people, and I never want to see gentlemen forced to consort with such. I can't stand them, sir."

            Harry told Jack that his return was quite uncertain,

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            "You know I am over here about the suit against Mr. Graham's mine."

            "Yes, I heard so," said Jack. "I hope you will get justice for him, especially as he is away. All he wants, you know, is a square deal, and then he is bound to beat the thieves. Old Snakeweed is against you, I believe, is he not ?"

            "Yes," said Harry, "but the chief lawyer for that side is the great man of the Washoe bar, Mr. Napoleon B. Speller."

            "Is he, though ?" said Jack, with a long face. "Well, I am sorry, for they say he never loses a trick, but just clears the board every deal. My business in here was to say to you that old Snakeweed will, most likely, come over with me, and if he does, I can run him off over the bank and break his neck, if that will be of any service to you. It would only be to kill two birds with one stone, for, you know, I owe him a little balance on an old account."

            "No," said Harry, laughing at Jack's serious air, "it would not be the least benefit ; for there are a dozen just like him now here, to take his place. If poor Mr. Graham was only at home, they would not bring on the trial. It is to take advantage of his extraordinary disappearance, that they are now pressing the matter forward."

            "Why don't you send over to Salt Lake, and fetch him home?" said Jack. "There is no reason why he should not be here, except that he is too thin-skinned. If he once understood how people feel towards him, he would come back fast enough."

            "Do you think he is at Salt Lake, Jack ? "

            "Do I think so?" said the stage-driver, confidently. " Why, I don't think anything about it, I know he is there. When you know a thing, you don't think it, do you ? — you know it. Well, I know he is at Salt Lake."

            "Do you ? " cried Harry, eagerly. " How do you know it ? "

            "How do I know it ? " said Jack, stopping, and scratching his head in a perplexed way. "Well, I can't tell you exactly how I know it. I think somebody must have told me so. I can't just remember at this moment who it was; but I have heard it, I am sure."

            "Ah, that is the trouble, Jack ; nobody knows, of their own knowledge, where the poor gentleman is. His daughter thinks that she knows where he is, but her reasons for knowing it are no better than yours."

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       421

            "Does she think she knows ?" inquired Jack, eagerly. "Where does she think her father is ? "

            "I don't know that I ought to tell you, Jack, for it is a secret, and must remain so till to-morrow."

            "Till to-morrow, Mr. Stacey ? Well, can't you trust Jack Gowdy with anything that belongs to that young woman till tomorrow ? If you can't, then it's about time he handed in his checks, and quit the game, for his credit has run down to a low pass."

            "I don't mean that, Jack," said Harry, "but you know secrets that are not our own, we have no right to divulge."

            "But you must tell somebody, Mr. Stacey. If you are going to blow the thing up to-morrow, it's because you are going after the old man. Well, you might want company in the expedition. Jack Gowdy is considered a reliable gentleman when there is any business to be done in his line."

            It occurred to Harry in an instant that in the execution of the writ, the sheriff might want assistance ; and, having full confidence in Jack's honesty, he told him what was about to be done.

            "Miss Graham has an idea, Jack, not a strong one, for it is only a fancy, that her father may be down in the mine."

            "What mine, Mr. Stacey ? "

            "His own mine, Jack, — the Graham mine."

            "What is he doing down there ? — Dead, does she think ?"

            "No, she thinks that he is living. She fancies that the men in charge of it are keeping him in the mine a prisoner, for some reason, and she does not know what."

            " Whew !" whistled Jack, in a long, clear whistle, not stopping till his lungs were emptied. "That is it, by the living hokey! I hope to be eternally bursted and chewed up, if the old man is not at the bottom of the mine ! I feel as if I had known it from the first ! Mr. Stacey, that girl knows more than all of us put together ; and I said so, the first time I ever clapped eyes on her. You can see it in her nostrils ; she has the thorough-bred cut, that no man ever saw in any but first-class stock. Did you ever see a full blooded eclipse colt, Mr. Stacey ? "

            No ; Harry never had.

            "Well, it's a pity ; for you would understand the points of that girl. She is right, sir ; the old man is in the mine, and the thieves are keeping him there."

            "Do you think so, Jack ?"

422      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

            "I don't think anything about it ; I know it," said Jack, with more confidence than ever. "And you are going after him, tomorrow, are you, Mr. Stacey ?"

            "That has been my plan. I have been drawing the papers to-day, to procure a writ of habeas corpus, that will enable us to visit the mine. But just now, I am in a little perplexity about making the oath necessary to procure the writ. I cannot, conscientiously, swear that I believe Mr. Graham is in the mine. It is true that he may possibly be there ; but to say that I believe it, I cannot."

            Jack considered a moment, and then he said,

            "I should not think that very heavy swearing would be required in such a case as this. I have known horse thieves, and all sorts of scoundrels to be got clear with a 'habis carats,' in the States. Somebody must have done the swearing. Now, in an honest case like this, I would think that the wear and tear on the conscience could not be much."

            Harry explained that the oath, in each case, was precisely the same.

            "Well, that is odd," said Jack. "It looks very strange to me, that it takes as much swearing to get an honest, Christian gentleman away from a pack of garotters and scoundrels, as it takes to get a horse thief out of the penitentiary, when he has been caught riding the nag out of the country. I can't understand it."

            Harry could not explain any further than he had already done ; and so, Jack sat apparently revolving the anomaly in his mind. At last he spoke.

            "Mr. Stacey," said he, "is the swearing very tall ?"

            "I do not precisely understand you, Jack."

            "Well, what I mean, is, to ask, is it what might be called rough swearing. Is the swearing necessary to get Mr. Graham out of the hands of them garotters and superintendents, and such like, as seems to have got him down, such very hard swearing that it takes a scientific man to do it ?" Seeing that Harry only looked more perplexed by his question ; he continued, —"what I mean to ask, Mr. Stacey, is this : can a gentleman who has always earned his own living by hard work, and who has not got any too much book learning, — can such a gentleman as that, I say, come square up to the point, if he puts his whole mind to it ?"

            Harry explained that the oath was very simple, requiring no

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       423

scientific attainments, but being merely a question of conscience.

            "Well, that is all right, Mr. Stacey. Now answer me one more question. Suppose a gentleman, not a professional man in such matters, nor yet a scientific man, but say a man who never swore much except privately, on his own account, at stable men, and hostlers, and faro dealers, when they did not pull the cards square, and abolitionists, and free niggers occasionally, in a general way; — suppose, I say, such a man as that should commence swearing up this case, say this evening, as soon as we could commence work, and should keep it up steady, without interruption, till to-morrow morning at five o'clock, do you think we could fetch it up to the notch ?"

            Harry looked at Jack, laughingly, for he did not quite understand whether or not he was serious, and said, —

            "Yes ; it can be done in much less time than that, Jack."

            "Very well," said Jack, sitting back in his chair, composedly, "that is my hand."

            "What do you mean, Jack ?" asked Harry.

            "I mean, Mr. Stacey, that it would gratify me very much, if I could take a swear at them there documents."

            "Do you mean, Jack, that you wish to make the affidavits necessary to procure the writ of habeas corpus in this matter ?"

            "That is precisely what I do want to do, Mr. Stacey. I could not have put it in just those words, but that is what I mean. If you had practised it a week, you could not have hit my idea nearer to the centre."

            "But, Jack, do you really believe that Mr. Graham is down in the mine, and that he is detained there against his will, by his own superintendent ? "

            "Is that what Miss Helen says, Mr. Stacey ?"

            "That is what she fears may be the case, Jack ; she does not say so. She fears that it may be so."

            "Is that what them documents say, Mr. Stacey ?"

            "Yes, Jack ; that is the substance of the petition. Now, do you believe it ?"

            "Do I believe it ? Mr. Stacey, I don't believe nothing about it, sir ; I told you that at the start. I know he is down there. I am as certain of it, as I am that I am sitting here, at this moment, talking to you. Mr. Stacey, I would back that lady's judgment, if I had the money, for a million of dollars, on any card she would name. It is enough for me to know that she says he is there, or that the chances are that he is there,

424      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.      

and I go my pile on it in any shape the game takes. I'll bet on it ; I'll swear to it ; I'll fight for it ; and, Mr. Stacey, it may not become me to say it, but it is only the frozen truth, by the Eternal ; I'll die for it, if it is necessary. So trot out your papers, and let us begin at once ; because, you know, I leave here at five o'clock in the morning."

            "Jack," said Harry, in a hesitating manner, "do you intend to tell me that you wish to make the oaths to this petition upon your present knowledge of the facts?"

            "Yes, Mr. Stacey. I've no doubt in the world, in the first place, that Mr. Graham is kept in the mine by the superintendent. And if you knew superintendents as well as I do, you would be as clear about it as I am. I copper all mining superintendents, I do, at every turn. In the second place, there never was a paper drawn, that Miss Graham said was right, or half way right, that I would not swear to till I was black in the face, whether I believed it or not. I tell you, sir, I never go behind that lady's word, and I don't think that any gentleman ought to go behind such a lady's word, or, indeed, any lady's word. It is my duty, as a gentleman, to back up that lady with my coin, with my fire-arms, and with my oath, when it is necessary. And when I forget what a gentleman's duty is towards a lady, especially when that lady is in trouble, I want somebody to tell me that it is time to hand in my checks, and quit ; and I want to hand them in, there and then."

            "But, Jack, suppose it should turn out, after all, that Miss Graham was mistaken about the whole matter. What would people say to you ? for you must know, if you make this oath, it will be understood that you are the principal mover in the matter. It will be thought that you are the originator of the whole idea."

            "Will it, though ?" cried Jack, evidently delighted at the prospect. "That suits me ; that's my hand. I want them to think so. As for the matter failing, it can't fail, sir ; for the old man is down there, sure. In the next place, if it does, nobody will dare to say a word to Jack Gowdy about it. When he has done his duty to a woman, and that woman in distress, do you think any thieving mining superintendent is going to call him to account for his conduct ? Not if he knows himself! Do you know, Mr. Stacey, what I would do to that fellow, Bloodstone, that I have always known for a thief, since the first time I put eyes on him, if he should presume to speak

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       425

to me about anything I did conscientiously, and in a gentlemanly way, for that poor, grief-stricken lady ?"

            Harry gave Jack to understand that he was not fully informed upon that point.

            "Well, I'll tell you. I would cut both of his ears off smooth to his head. And do you think I would let him go at that ? not if I know myself intimately. I would scalp him into the bargain ; I would not leave him as much hair as would make a wig for a bald-headed June bug. No, sir ; nor half as much, Mr. Stacey," said Jack, wrathfully rising up, as the idea of Bloodstone presuming to call him to account came to his mind. "If the infernal scoundrel comes fooling around me, by God I sir, I will knock out his bung on the spot, and let him run out in the gutter I"

            "If you are sincerely in earnest," cried Harry, himself con- verted by Jack's enthusiasm to a feeling that he could take the oath with no great stretch of conscience, " we will go at it at once."

            "Indeed, I am sincere, Mr. Stacey ; and I would consider it only too great an honor to be allowed a chance in that lady's cause, to go at the thieves. That poor lady is in trouble, and Jack Gowdy never forgets that he is a gentleman, when a woman needs the help of one. When he does, Mr. Stacey, he hopes that„day will be his last one on this earth."

            Jack's boundless faith had converted the young lawyer. He was already growing ashamed of his own scruples. Indeed, the oath was one necessary to be taken. The writ of habeas corpus, the shield of oppressed innocence, could not be obtained without it. To delay in such a matter, when life and death really depended upon time, was, after all, carrying matters of conscience, perhaps, to a dangerous point. Jack's enthusiastic willingness had brought Harry to the point that he himself would have taken the oath now, if Jack had not been ready to do so.

            "Very well ; let us be off, and attend to the matter immediately."

            So saying, the two young men arose, and left the room together.

426      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

 

CHAPTER XLV.

THE KING'S WRIT RUNNETH NOT IN THE GRAHAM MINE.

            JACK GOWDY finished the affidavits in time to start away over the mountains at the proper time. Indeed, he was much surprised at the small amount of swearing that sufficed.

            "Is that all?" he cried, when told that the business was completed. "I supposed it would take an hour or two, at least."

            At an early hour the next morning, Harry appeared before Judge Pufgall and procured the writ of habeas corpus, and hurried away in search of the sheriff, to serve it. Everything depended upon the zeal and good faith of the executive officer, in whose hands he should place the writ. He had been told by General Williams from the first that the difficulty lay in that quarter; nor had the General been able to give him much encouragement to hope. "These officers," he said, "are often corrupt, and still more frequently they are influenced by political considerations to favor persons who can serve them hereafter at elections. This might seriously inconvenience your operations, even in a case where there was a marked probability of foul play. But in this case, the officer will most surely disbelieve the whole story. He will feel certain from the beginning that nothing can come of it, and he will hesitate to offend anybody by a zealous and vigorous execution of the writ. There is, therefore, great danger that if he performs his duty at all, it will be in so lax and prefactory a manner that no good will come of it. But you can only try and do your best. Fortune may favor you in some special manner."

            With these very discouraging words still in his ear, the young man directed his steps to the office of the sheriff. He was received politely enough, and presented his papers. The- officer examined them in silence, and appeared, when he had read them, to be not a little perplexed.

            "Mr. Graham detained in his own mine,—by his superintendent and certain workmen !" said he, at last, repeating in a tone

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       427

of doubt the substance of the petition. "Why do you think so, sir ? "

            This petition to Harry was one calculated to draw out a sharp reply. His impulse was, to suggest that it did not concern the officer why he thought so, as the order of the court was all that he need look at. But, remembering the peculiarity of his position, he made an answer tending to pass the matter over as pleasantly as possible.

            "It had been thought," so he said, "that Mr. Graham was imprisoned there, but he was not at liberty for the moment to disclose the grounds for the notion."

            "It is the idea of an insane person," answered the officer. "The mine is filled with mephitic gases, and no person can live for a moment within it."

            "Have you been in the mine, recently, sir ?" asked Harry.

            "No," answered the officer ; " but I hear so from everybody. I have no doubt that such is the case."

            "Will you execute the writ ?" asked the lawyer, struggling to keep down his anger.

            "I am not the sheriff," answered the man, coolly.

            "You are not the sheriff! What are you, then ?"

            "I am only his deputy. The sheriff is absent in a distant part of the country, and will not be back for three days."

            "But if you are his deputy, what is to prevent your serving this writ?"

            "Nothing, only I thought perhaps you might prefer to have the chief officer, instead of a subordinate. He may have some power of successfully inhaling and living in the midst of choke-damps, that a mere deputy does not possess. I am sure I do not wish to try it ; at least, not till I am high sheriff."

            This the man said with a sneer that boded ill for poor Harry's success.

            "I cannot wait for his return, sir, and must ask you to do it."

            "Very well," said the man, folding up the papers and shoving them into a pigeon-hole of his desk. "I will attend to it in the course of the day."

            "But," cried Harry, in distress, "I would like to go with you when you serve the papers ; and I am here now for that lair-pose."

            "It will not be necessary," said the man, coldly. "I know Mr. Bloodstone very well. He is one of my most intimate friends. There will be no obstacle thrown in the way of the

428      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

writ, believe me, sir. My friend, Mr. Bloodstone, is a gentleman who respects the law of the land, and would not, I am sure, raise a finger to obstruct its execution. You need give yourself no uneasiness about the matter. In the course of the day I will call on him, and we will do our duty."

            "But what is to prevent your attending to it at once ?"

            "I am not obliged by the law to do so, sir; so long as we act with reasonable diligence, the law is satisfied. If you are a lawyer, sir, you must know that. I do not wish to disturb my friend, Mr. Bloodstone, of whose innocence of this disgraceful charge, I am already as well convinced as if I had been through the mine. I am aware sir," he continued, with a lofty manner, observing Harry looking at him with an expression of astonishment, not unmingled with anger, "that my private opinions do not relieve me from the necessity of performing my official duty, nor shall I permit them to do so in any manner. But I am not obliged to forget that my friend is a gentleman, simply because some needy attorney chooses to trump up against him a charge as frivolous as it is scandalous."

            Harry felt a strong disposition to strike the man, but it was certain that by doing so all would be surely ruined. He considered a moment and then asked the sheriff not to go farther in the matter till he should return.

            "I will call again in half an hour."

            "Very well," said the deputy-sheriff, coolly. "As you please; I will not move in the matter before afternoon, in any event." "Good morning, sir."

            Harry hurried away as fast as he could go, to the office of General Williams.

            "Well; sir, what progress?" cried that gentleman, directly that Harry entered the room.

            The poor fellow was so discouraged and disappointed, that he was ready to burst into tears.

            "Something is wrong, I am sure," continued the General. "I know it from the expression of your face. I feared you would fail ; where is the obstacle ?"

            Harry at last summoned courage and told him all that had occurred at the sheriff's office.

            General Williams appeared deeply interested.

            "Our case is not made any worse against Bloodstone," he said at last ; "and therefore not any better for us. It is not likely that he knows anything of this as yet ; but he will know

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       429

in a few minutes, for the sheriff's officer will send him word. Mr. Stacey !" and here the General stopped in front of Harry, and spoke in a decided manner. "My advice now is,— I have no doubt precisely what you have in your own mind. Our blow has miscarried. It is too late to remedy the error. No matter what our private opinions may be as to the whereabouts of Mr. Graham, based upon general probabilities ; we owe it to his daughter and to humanity to act in all respects as if we fully believe that at this moment he is at the bottom of his own mine, still living, but kept a prisoner by a band of wicked and unscrupulous men. Such being, therefore, with us the established fact, what must be the result of continuing our present course ? Clearly, it will be the immediate destruction of the prisoner. They will kill him in an hour, simply to avoid the disgraceful disclosure, to say nothing of the danger they run. For if he should be found there, a mob of miners would probably hang the whole batch of conspirators at the door of the hoisting shed. If he is found at all, it will be only his dead body at the bottom of some pit, or floating in the water, where it will be said he had thrown himself in a fit of desperation, equivalent to insanity, produced by his financial troubles. It will be more likely that he will not be found at all, but will be successfully secreted."

            "What do you advise me to do ?" asked Harry, with a despondent voice ; for he had, as General Williams suggested, already arrived at a most decided conclusion in his own mind.

            "Hasten away at once, and withdraw your papers !" answered the General, promptly. "Say that you have become convinced that it is all a mistake of somebody ; some crazy man ; an idle chimera, not worth pursuing."

            Harry was away in a minute, and soon bolted into the office of the sheriff.

            "I have come to ask leave to withdraw the writ of habeas corpus," he said. "I feel that I have been misled, and that the person who reported the matter has made a grave and serious mistake."

            Poor Harry was telling the truth, for he referred to himself, and his blundering manner in showing his hand before knowing what he could expect of the officer. The deputy received him more cordially than before.

            "I have been looking the papers over," he said, "and became already satisfied that you were not to blame. You are, I perceive, a stranger here and have acted upon the informa-

430      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

tion of one Jack Gowdy, — a low, disreputable character, a drunken stage-driver ; indeed, who was no doubt under the influence of intoxicating spirits when he imagined his remarkable story. I know the fellow to be drunk half his time. I am glad to see your willingness to correct your error, sir. I have already sent word to my friend Bloodstone, of the proceeding, and that I would call up in the course of the afternoon and talk with him about it. But now I will send a second messenger with the news of the change of your intentions."

            "Do so, if you please," cried Harry, pale with alarm at what might be the consequences of the revelation when made at the mouth of the mine.

            The deputy called a man, and writing a hasty note, despatched him after the first one.

            "They will arrive at Bloodstone's place together, I have no doubt," said the sheriff.

            Harry thanked him, and withdrew with his writ of habeas corpus.

            He again returned to the office of General Williams.

            "I am very sorry on the young lady's account," said the old lawyer, " that this matter could not have gone on to a final and satisfactory conclusion. It would, without a doubt, have been of great service in putting her mind at rest at the very least. And that would have been a result well worth all the time employed and even the scandal created by the effort. But to continue the affair under circumstances that would simply add to her present affliction an additional grief, in the shape of a dread that her father may have perished in consequence of the very efforts made in his behalf, would be of no advantage to her whatever. As it is now, the entire field of hope lies before her. The motive, whatever it may have been, for her father's detention, may pass away and he be permitted to escape. The wrong-doers would be in no very great peril, even if Mr. Graham should appear in public and tell the story of his wrongs. The conspirators, if they exist at all, are beyond a question both numerous and powerful. His story would be disbelieved by most people, probably by all except his own family and perhaps a few personal friends. Even these might think the whole the result of a temporary mental aberration, while to the general public it would be considered a mere pretext for an absence really produced either by his own follies or disasters, if not his crimes. It would be said that he had at last become ashamed of his flight, and had come back with this story to account for

ROBERT GREATHOUSE.       431

it. The most charitable construction put upon his conduct, and the marvellous disclosure made to excuse his disappearance, would be that he was insane.

            "To support this most merciful and friendly theory of insanity, would be his great difficulties in financial matters prior to his departure. The years spent by him in vainly searching for the silver lode would be suggested as a strong trial upon a brain which had finally yielded beneath the continued strokes of a hostile fortune. We may therefore hope, Mr. Stacey, that the necessity of these men to add murder to the lesser crime may not prove urgent, as it certainly is not. If they are numerous, and I should expect to find them to be so, and perhaps respectable, they will prefer to face a living man who can be put down, to having a dead body upon their hands, an accuser often more powerful in its appeal for justice than the same body with a living tongue and voice to cry out. Besides, they will hesitate before they trust their associates in taking so great a crime upon themselves if it can be avoided. But a public exposure, like that threatened by our proceedings, might, and probably would, force them to act at once ; and from a company of unscrupulous Washoe mining adventurers, not worse than many of their neighbors, they would become suddenly transformed to a band of assassins, with the blood of our friend hot upon their hands. Explain this all to the young lady, Mr. Stacey, and recommend her to wait, and let us see what time may do. Indeed, you must not forget, sir, that any coach that drives up to your door may bring her a letter, or even the returning father himself. For while we must act as if he was in the mine, we believe him to be in altogether other and different parts."

            Harry thanked the old gentleman for his great kindness, and went to his room at the hotel. He did not know how to summon courage to face Helen Graham. He had not only failed in performing the duty that had been placed upon him, but he had actually jeopardized the life he had been asked to protect. But this was not all. There was a secret consciousness at the bottom that his failure had been in part his own fault. He had run away like a boy, and acted foolishly, prematurely. He had sprung his mine too soon and been hoisted with it. He could not even plead that he had acted to the best of his ability ; for if so, then the ability must be of a low character, —so he feared.

432      ROBERT GREATHOUSE.

John Franklin Swift, Robert Greathouse: A Story of the Nevada Silver Mines (unexpurgated edition of 1870) -- Part 1 (Title Page; TOC; The Silver Mines; Edmond Graham, Wife, and Daughter; Bob Greathouse, the Murderer; The Cosmodental Hotel; The Colony of Castaways); Part 2 (Enoch Bloodstone "strikes" it in the Graham Mine; Dame Partlet's Revenge; What constitutes Manhood; High Life; The Bosh Silver-Mining Company); Part 3 (The great Chain-shot Ball; The Fairy Island; The Blackmail Suit; Going to the Mines; Woman's Rights); Part 4 (Strawberry Station; The Carson Grade; Snakeweed and Bittergin, Counsellors-at-Law; Education forms the Common Mind; Jack Gowdy buys Mining Shares); Part 5 (The two Mortgages; Mr. Napoleon B. Spelter; No. 16, American Eagle Hotel; The Washoe Bar; The Patriotism of the Washoe Bar); Part 6 (What the Washoe Bar thinks of itself; A Declaration of Love; An Engagement to Marry; Joy in No. 16, American Eagle Hotel; An old Lover is sent about his Business); Part 7 (The Wedding Day is fixed; More Trouble at the Mine; How Mines are managed in Washoe; Charley Hunter obtains Employment; The Mother and her Offspring); Part 8 (Mr. Graham visits the Fourth Level; Mr. Graham has gone upon a Journey; The Wedding is Postponed; Mrs. Graham goes upon a Journey; A Friend comes to see Helen); Part 9 (A Worthy member of the Washoe Bar; Helen Graham Consults a Lawyer; Conscience an Obstacle to Justice; The Obstacle Removed; The King's Writ runneth not in the Graham Mine); Part 10 (Miss Graham is in very great Trouble; Joseph Bowers, of Calumet Creek; Practice at the Washoe Bar; The Sky is more Overcast; The Clouds begin to lift); Part 11 (Jack Gowdy's Logic; A Private writ of Habeas Corpus; Six Hours ahead of Time; Ten Hours ahead of Time; Serving the writ of Habeas Corpus); Part 12 (The Washoe Bar airs its Eloquence; Napoleon B. Spelter on the War-Path; Home Again; Another engagement to Marry; Jack Gowdy hands in his checks; Exeunt Omnes)