The Golden Chimney: A Boy's Mine

Ben Ralston and his cousin Beth were sitting on the northern slope of Russian Hill, one of the many hills of San Francisco. At the foot of the elevation the black buildings and smokeless chimney of an abandoned smelting-works rose from the beach which skirted the hill. Beyond, the blue bay sparkled in the sunlight, except where fleeting cloud-shadows raced across its surface.

“I was born just about forty years too late,” the boy remarked with emphasis.

“But the city’s a big place, and it’s getting bigger and bigger,--I heard a man say so to-day.”

“I know all that, Beth; and the reason is, there are more people coming all the time. Every one who comes lessens my chances to get on. Forty years ago there weren’t many folks here, but there were a heap of chances.”

“I had a feeling when I came up here to-day that you weren’t going to take that place in Stratton’s store.”

“What made you think so?”

“O, I just guessed so from the way you talked. You always talk that way when you’re blue.” She buried one of her hands in the shining sand on which it rested.

“Think,”--he pointed to the huge chimney at the foot of the hill,--“think of the gold the fire of that chimney has melted! And then expect me to be an errand boy at three dollars a week, with a chance of a raise to four in six months! I tell you, Beth, I can’t do it. I’m not that kind. I’d get so wild thinking of it all. If it were something more to do, or something where I could get ahead quicker, I wouldn’t be so dead set against it.”

“Syd would like the place, I think, if you’re positive you’ll not take it.”

“Well, he’s welcome to it. Perhaps he’s the plodding kind,--though I never thought he was; but I’ve got two hundred dollars, and it’s got to help me to something better.”

“I thought you said it was three hundred?”

“So it was; but some more bills turned up and had to be paid, so it’s dwindled. I’ve got it in the savings bank.”

The girl looked at the massive pillar which reared itself before them.

“I should think some of the gold would have stuck to the chimney,” she remarked.

Her companion suddenly grasped her wrist.

“Beth!” he exclaimed. His eyes glowed with excitement, and he sprang to his feet and whirled his hat around his head as he gave a cheer. Then he stood quite still and gazed at the chimney.

The girl looked at him in wonder. “What is it?” she asked.

“I don’t know myself--exactly. Maybe, it’s nothing, and maybe,--you’ve found my fortune.”

“I?”

“Yes, you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why, goosey, don’t you see it yet? To buy the right to mine the soot for gold, the gold of the early days. Somehow, I’ve always felt that that would be the stuff to put me on my feet,--and here it is. Maybe, I’ve been mistaken,--maybe, I wasn’t born too late, after all.”

“Mine the soot! How can you?”

“Why not? I’ve heard of its having been done.” His face shone with hope. “No one’s ever thought of this!” he exclaimed. “Don’t you see it’s a big thing?” he questioned, as she did not speak.

“If you can only do it. Will old Madge give you leave?”

“He will if I pay him for it. He’d give me the right, too, to tear down the old sheds; and of course there’s gold under the crazy ramshackle things. They had so much of it in the early days that they weren’t any too careful.”

“Mr. Madge would be foolish to give you the right, if the gold is there.”

“He is sort of fool-crazy over his mines. He’s always telling every one all about them, how rich they are and all that. The biggest vein ever seen is always just ahead. He wouldn’t come down to mining soot.”

“But wouldn’t it be his gold if you found it on his land?”

“No, ’twouldn’t. Not any more his than mine. The Works were just a mill to crush everybody’s ore; and what’s left is for the sweeper. Besides, the land is only leased, anyway, and if I go open-handed and buy the right to sweep, what I find’s mine.”

“I should think that some of it would be his, too.”

“I don’t see it that way. A girl’s always got such cranky ideas of business.”

“Well, we won’t quarrel about it until you get it. Shall you put in all your money?”

“Every cent, if I have to. I’d like mighty well to have some left, though, for the expense of working the thing.”

“O, Ben, suppose you shouldn’t find any gold?”

“That’s the chance I’ve got to take. But you shall have anything you want, Beth.”

Her face flushed as she saw him glance at her shabby shoes and frock, and she tried to cover her feet with the hem of her dress.

“These are trifles,” she bravely said, pointing to them; “but what I should like would be more schooling.”

“You shall go to school, and before I get any gold either. I know a way to fix it.”

“Don’t anger Mr. Hodges, will you, Ben?” She turned an anxious face toward him.