Read Ebook: Larawan: Mga Sugilanon ug Dinalídalí by Rama Vincente

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Ebook has 588 lines and 20313 words, and 12 pages

"That programme would have suited me exactly, Oliver. Your Uncle William was a lawyer, and you take after him a good deal. But now it cannot be thought of."

"Why?"

"Ah, it is a bitter story, my boy, and I do not see how I can tell it to you. I was very blind and foolish, trusting those that were not worthy of my confidence, and now both of us must suffer for it."

"I don't understand."

"And perhaps you never will, quite. I was never of a speculative nature; but this was apparently so easy, and so sure to turn out profitably, that I entered into it without due consideration."

"It is money-matters, then, father, that makes you say that I must change my plans; must give up thinking of going to college, and all that?" faltered Oliver.

"Yes, Oliver, alas! yes." Mr. Bright heaved a deep sigh. "I am ruined; I am not worth a dollar in the world!" he added.

THE STORY OF THE AURORA MINE.

Oliver Bright was greatly astonished by his father's disclosure. There had been nothing said or done heretofore to indicate that Mr. Arthur Bright was on the brink of financial disaster. The two had lived in exceedingly comfortable, if not elegant, style, and the boy was granted every reasonable desire.

"You are ruined?" he repeated, with eyes wide open at the announcement.

"Yes, Oliver, completely ruined. This very roof that shelters us is no longer my own."

"And is there no hope?"

Mr. Bright shook his head.

"I have hoped, until now; all hope is useless--that is"--and the man paused.

"What, father? What is the chance?" asked the boy eagerly.

"It is hardly worth considering, Oliver, it is so small. We had better face the truth, bitter as it is."

Oliver drew a long breath. To endure poverty is no pleasant thing, especially when one has once been rich. The boy was so completely taken aback that for a moment he did not say a word.

"I should have spoken of this before and prepared you for its coming," went on Mr. Bright; "but day after day I trusted that matters would take a better turn and all would be right. I am to blame there."

"Never mind; you did what you thought was right," responded Oliver as bravely as he could. "But I wish I had known; I would not have laid so many plans for the future. I might have got ready to go to work instead."

"I have not yet decided what I shall do when we leave this home. I have been out of active business so long that I suppose it will come hard to resume it again. Perhaps I will go back to the book business, that is, if I can find a suitable opening."

Oliver looked at his father in dismay. For a man in Mr. Bright's state of health to go back to active life after a retirement of eight years would be hard indeed.

"I wish I knew something of the book business; I'd sail right in and work for both of us," he declared with considerable vim. "But I don't know the first thing about business of any kind," he added with a sigh.

"You are bright by nature as well as by name, Oliver," said his father with a faint smile. "I think you will stand a fair chance of making your way."

"I hope so. Any way, I intend to try. But, father, won't you tell me something of your affairs?"

"Yes, Oliver; I intend to tell you as much as you can understand. It may prove a useful lesson to you." Mr. Bright ran his hand over his forehead as if to collect his thoughts. "About a year after I sold out my interest in the Franklin Book Company and settled here, I became acquainted with Colonel Mendix. Do you remember him?"

"Oh, yes. He was a dark, Spanish gentleman, with a heavy black beard."

"You are right, saving that he was far from being a gentleman, though I did not know that at the time. This Mendix was introduced to me by James Barr, an intimate friend of mine, who was a surveyor and who had become interested in several mining schemes."

"I remember him also."

"This Mendix visited me several times, and finally unfolded to me a simple plan for making a fortune on the outlay of a comparatively small sum of money. As you say, he was of Spanish descent, his people coming from some place in South America. He had also a number of relatives among the early settlers in California, who, you know, settled there before the gold fever broke out."

"Yes, I have heard of those Spanish settlements."

"Colonel Mendix said that among these relatives were two old men who had in their possession a paper containing the full directions for reaching and locating a very valuable mine somewhere up among the mountains. These two men were too old to work the mine themselves, and they were willing to sell out their secret and rights for ten thousand dollars, to be paid when the mine was located and found to be as they represented."

"What was the mine supposed to be worth?" asked Oliver with interest.

"Colonel Mendix placed its value at not less than seventy-five thousand dollars, and said it might be worth several hundred thousand."

"It's a wonder he didn't buy the mine himself, without saying anything about it."

"He said he had not the cash, and he did not wish to apply to any of his Spanish friends for fear they would make inquiries and buy the mine for themselves. Mendix was a very plausible talker, and before I was aware of what I was doing, I had agreed to advance the money, stipulating, however, that James Barr should be the one to locate the mine and determine its value. I had known Barr so long that I felt sure I could trust him.

"Easily enough; it's as plain as day."

"As soon as this was done, Mendix and Barr set out for California. Two months later I received word that they had obtained the directions and were about setting out for the mine, which was located somewhere back of a place called Sutter's Mill.

"Four months passed. Then came a long letter from Mendix and a note from Barr. The mine had been found even better than represented, and they wished to close the bargain at once, and asked me to forward a draft for five thousand dollars additional, which they intended to use in purchasing the machinery of an abandoned mine some ten miles distant, and have it transported to the Aurora. The outlook seemed so favorable that I complied without hesitation.

"Another letter came a month later from Mendix, saying the mine had been opened, but that another five thousand dollars would be needed to put in additional machinery for draining the water and crushing the rock. This I also paid, although in order to do it I was compelled to take a mortgage on this place for three thousand."

"Didn't you have other money?"

"Only in stocks, and those I did not care to sell as they were then low and I thought they would rise. I found that Dr. Tangus had money to loan, and so I went to him."

"Dr. Tangus!" cried Oliver, thinking of what was to come.

"Yes. He let me have the money and took a mortgage on this place. The money fell due last week, and yesterday I received a note from the doctor asking for payment."

Oliver gave a groan. Was it possible his own doings had hurried Dr. Tangus's actions?

"And you cannot pay him?"

"No. But I am ahead of my story. Time went on and I heard no more from the mine. I wrote to Mendix and to Barr, but received no reply. Then came a draft for four thousand dollars to pay for some more machinery Mendix had ordered. I paid the claim, but immediately sent word not to contract any more debts, as I would not pay them, and demanding an accounting.

"None came, and I sent an agent to San Francisco to find out how matters stood. At the end of two months I received word from this man, Bentwell, and also from Mendix, that the mine had become flooded with water, that it could not be drained, and that in making surveys of the place James Barr had been drowned.

"This news was so disheartening I knew not what to do. I was out twenty-four thousand dollars, and had not a thing to show for it. I was on the point of starting for California myself when a friend of Mendix appeared on the scene.

"This man had been out to the mine, and knew all about it. He said the Aurora was utterly worthless, that Mendix had at last found it so, and that the man had left in disgust for South America. Private creditors had levied upon such machinery as was above ground, and that I might as well give up all hope of ever receiving a dollar out of the thing.

"This news all but prostrated me; for in the meanwhile stocks here in the East were declining rapidly. I kept up as long as I could, but now it is no use to do so longer. As I said before, every dollar is gone."

Mr. Bright turned away to hide his emotion. The story had been a hard one to tell. Oliver knew not what to say.

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