The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-02-17
tCopyrisht, 1880, by JOAQUIN N1LLERI
THE BURIED RIVER
A Romance of California.
BY JOAQUIN MILLER.
CHAPTER TX.
THE MYSTERY OF THE WELL.

The last crust" "0ut at the elDOws,"
and such like expressions. borrowed from
older days, convey to US in our land of
bounty an idea rather than any actual fact
If a Ean is ''Out at the elbows" in Cali
fornia, let him take off his coat and carry
1t on his shoulder, as in Italy. This will
conceal the condition of things, and he will
be quite as comfortable, for the coat here
is rather q luxury than a necessity.
If q man is out of bread, let him eat meat;
for in almost any fence-corner sits q rab-
bit. with a premium on his head in many
counties, waiting to be killed and eaten.
On any hedge sings a lark; in any dimple of
the hills from here to Mexico the quail
pipes, with his many notes, the whole year
through. A gun and a load of shot, or,
simpler still, a stout cord and a bent bush
for snare and spring. and you have meat in
abundance any hour in the day; and meat,
too, fit for a king. AS for the matter of a
bed, that is as simple of solution as the out
at-the-elbow coat. Every redwood tree is
of itself not only a tent. impervious to rain
or sun, but it is almOsta an entire hotel. For
example. the whole space and circle under
its spacious and shapely boughs, an area of
from twenty-five to one hundred feet In
diameter, is one continuous carpet. Car
petit 1t is a cushion; a cushion that
has cost half a century of time to make
perfect. 1t is of a soft, subdued old gold
hue; you sink into it at every step. And
vet so elastic is this carpet that a horse
with his iron feet. And the fragrance of it!
All the spices of the Orient are not more
delicious, dreamful, luxurious. You are
invited to repose by this perfume, and
sense of silence. and large hberalty or
nature, by every reckoning tree In a red
wood forest.
John Gray had literally eaten his 'last
crust but a heavy f~owling-piece, borrowed
from a neighboring hut, leaned In the
Besides, when you go out to sea here, even
with the crudest sailors, you will find
tumbled about the deck somewhere, or in
the bottom of the boat; heaps d
on. Bread, thick-crusted. and. of the
best, rolls of butter like gold, boiled eggs
by the half bushel-these little details are
always at hand here where a spanking sail
taminated air of the vast Pacific gives you
ready relish. These things, let it be re-
peated, are as much a part of the boat out
tit as one of its planks. And you help your
self as leisurely and fully to them as you do
to the air. But in the presence of all the
majesty that attends you here who shall
bend down his face to describe the art OF
tearing asunder the legs of a sea crabf And
who shall stop the thunder of the sea of
seas booming and booming against the
granite battlements that wall in the gold
pieces of California to say how that this
man or that woman suddenly grew hungry
and, gracefully leaningove caught up from
a lunch-basket and adrOltly peeled boiled
eggf.
cabin and be alone. He threw himself in
at the open door, hastily struck a light,
81 ill., 1.o- forth his from THAR
hiding place near his heart. Opening these
on the table, he tried to apply what knowl-
edge he had that day gained to the solution
of the one great problem: For now he was
truth of his theory. The Buried River was
a fact. He had sailed by It's mouth. He
had heard it muttering in its muddy bed
below. The great Buried River that once
Rocky mountains, and flowed from Salt
lake to the sea had had the golden gate
for its mouth.
He was sitting at that moment above the
bubbling. roaring waters of the Buried
River. He had not a lime in his pocket;
but down there, deep down almost as the
level of the ocean, was q river that was
literally paved with gold.
He went TO the door and looked out. The
moon was setting fast in the Golden Gate;
little time TO lose. He must look into that
Indian we'll that night and before Farla
could possibly com back from the island.
Apang, a sharp pain, almost shot through
his heart as he fastened out and down the
steep declivity in the dense thlcket and
thought of Farla away out on her precipit-
Gus rock in the sea. She had been good to
him. And now that she was absent from
her temple he was about to enter it and
pillage it of Ter secret; plumber her house
and she away from home; possibly in
peril.
Passing around by a blind path through
a tangle of musk that made the air heavy
Nth narfunna in tho dow no chime auhdanlu
to a deep ravine flowing 10 the west. A
dense tangle of ~chapparel and all sorts of
~overhanging boughs and briars seemed to
bar his way here; but throwing himself on
his hands and knees, he was soon able to
rise and walk erect in the moist gravel bed
of the little blind stream. He advanced
but a few PAGES. for all this little dingle of
dense growth down here in the face of
nature was not bigger than little green
plot at best. All about the hills hung over
it, and men and cattle passed daily to and
fro and rounda about; but clearly nothing
ever entered here, save the silent priestess
of the haunted Indian well; and even she
came n went in the most stealthy way.
The moon was at his back, but very low,
as he paused in the little open space in the
heart of the dense copse. lBut what bright
and shining fancy circle of silver was that
before him and almost at his feet9 1t was
whittier, lighter than the moonlight and rose
almost to his waist. He put forth his hand
and touched the tall shaft of gold that shot
Mp through one Oh the ten Thousand Gala
lilies that made up this glorious snow-white
border about the mouth of the Indian well.
This Gala lily should be called the Nile
lily. 1t is the same stately, luxurant lily
that the red, rich waters of the Nile have
nourished since the morning stars suns to-
gether.
1t was in this same perfumed foliage that
the daughter of Pharoah found the holy
Moses Graded mid his lily leaves.
He now started a little as he saw, by the
dim light of the facing moon, that he was
standing at the foot of three carefully
trimmed graves. What earthly purpose
could this strange girl have had in so care
know, nor will / even attempt to answer
will answer for her actions. / can only
record them. and set things down as they
appeared.
Recovering his composure in a moment
the man stepped a pace forward, parted the
ing far forward, looked down with eager
ness into the m sterious depths OF the wide.
deep. well. Nothing. N~othingf He saw
nothing, but certainly there was a bub-
bling, gurgiing sound; a something indis-
and then, making sure of his footing,
leaned forward over the fragrant wall of
lilies. painting his bosom yellow with their
shafts of gold, and listened long and
eagerly.
This time there was no installing thefact
that there was some sort of disturbance or
commotion in the deep, dark stream below.
1t was almost dark now. The last raw of
moonlight WAS leaving the lilies Another