Latest / Gold Hunters / 16 - Gold Hunters by James Oliver Curwood

Transcript

16 - Gold Hunters by James Oliver Curwood · Gold Hunters

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Roger Moline, Chapter sixteen, John Ball and the Mystery of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the Gold. Mukoki, hearing Rod's cry, hurried to the pool,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: but before he reached the spot where the white youth
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: was standing with the yellow nugget in his hand, Wabigowan
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: had again plunged beneath the surface. For several minutes he
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: remained in the water, and when he once more crawled
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: out upon the rocks, there was something so strange in
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: his face and eyes that for a moment Rod believed
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: he had found the dead body of the madman. He
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: isn't in the pool, he panted. Mukoki shrugged his shoulders
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and shivered dead. He grunted, he isn't in the pool.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Wabigowan's black eyes gleamed in uncanny emphasis of his words,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: he isn't in the pool. The others understood what he meant.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Mukoki's eyes wandered to where the water of the pool
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: gushed between the rocks into the broader channel of the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Chasm stream. It was not more than knee deep. He
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: no go out there. No then where he shrugged his
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: shoulder suggestively again and pointed into the pool body slip
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: under rock. He there try it, said Wabigowan tersely. He
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: hurried to the fire, and Rod went with him to
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: gather more fuel while the young Indian warmed his chilled body.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: They heard the old pathfinder leap into the water under
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the fall as they ran. Ten minutes later, Mukoki joined them. Gone,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: bad dog man, No there he stretched out one of
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: his dripping arms, gold bullet he grunted. In the palm
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of his hand lay another yellow nugget, as large as
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: a hazel nut. I told you, said Wabi softly, that
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: John Ball was coming back to his gold, and he
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: has done so. The treasure is in the pool. But
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: where was John Ball dead or alive? Where could he
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: have disappeared? Under other conditions? The chasm would have rung
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: with the wild rejoicing of the gold seekers. But there
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: was something now that stilled the enthusiasm in them. At last,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the ancient map had given up its secret, and riches
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: were within their grasp. But no one of the three
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: shouted out his triumph. Somehow it seemed that John Ball
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: had died for them, and the thought clutched at their
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: hearts that if they had not cut down the stub,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: he would still be alive. Indirectly, they had brought about
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the death of the poor creature, who, for nearly half
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: a century had lived alone with the beasts in these solitudes,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and that one glimpse of the old man in the rock,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the prayerful entreaty in his wailing voice, the despair which
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: he sobbed forth when he found his tree gone, had
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: livened in them something that was more than sympathy. At
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: this moment the three adventurers would willingly have given up
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: all hopes of gold. Could sacrifice have brought back that sad,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: lonely old man who had looked down upon them from
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the wall of the upper chasm. I am sorry, we
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: cut down the stub, said Rod. They were the first
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: words spoken, so am, I replied Wabi, simply beginning to
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: strip off his wet clothes. But he stopped and shrugged
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: his shoulders. What well we're taking it for granted that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: John Ball is dead. If he is dead, why isn't
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: he in the pool by day? George, I should think
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that Mukoki's old superstition would be getting the best of him.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I believe he is in the pool, declared Rod. Wabi
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: turned upon him and repeated the words he had spoken
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to the old warrior half an hour before try it.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: After the attempts of the two Indians who could dive
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: like Otter, Rod had no inclination to follow Wabi's invitation. Mukoki,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: who had hung up a half of his clothes near
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the fire, was fitting one of the pans to the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: end of a long pole which he had cut from
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: a sapling, and it was obvious that his intention was
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: to begin at once the dredging of the pool for gold.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Rod joined him, and once more the excitement of treasure
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: hunting stirred in his veins. When the pan was on securely,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Wabi left the fire to join his companions, and the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: three returned to the pool. With a long sweep of
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: his improvised dress edge. Mukoki scooped up two quarts or
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: more of sand and gravel and emptied it upon one
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: of the flat rocks, and the two boys pounced upon it, eagerly,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: raking it out with their fingers and wiping the mud
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: and sand from every suspicious looking pebble. The quickest way
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: is to wash it, said Rod, as Mukoki dumped another
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: load upon the rock. I'll get some water. He ran
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: to the camp for the remaining pans, and when he
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: turned back he saw Wabi leaping in a grotesque dance
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: about the rock, while Mukoki stood on the edge of
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the pool, his dredge poised over it, silent and grinning.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: What do you think of that? Cried the young Indian.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: As Rod hurried to him, What do you think of that?
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: He held out his hand, and in it there gleamed
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: a third yellow nugget, fully twice as large as the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: one discovered by Mukoki. Rod barely gasped. The pool must
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: be full of em He half filled his pan with
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the sand and gravel and ran knee deep out into
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: the running stream. In his eagerness, he splashed over a
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: part of his material with the wash, but he excused
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: himself by thinking that this was his first pan, and
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: that with the rest he would be more careful. He
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: began to notice now that all of the sand was
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: not washing out, and when he saw that it persisted
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: in lying heavy and thick among the pebbles, his heart
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: leaped into his mouth. One more dip, and he held
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: his pan to the light coming through the rift in
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the chasm. A thousand tiny glittering particles met his eyes.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: In the center of the pan, there gleamed dully a
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: nugget of pure gold, as big as a pea. At last,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: they had struck it rich, so rich that he trembled
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: as he stared down into the pan, and the cry
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: that had welled up in his throat was choked back
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: by the swift, excited beating of his heart. In that
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: moment's glance down into his treasure laden pan, he saw
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: all of his hopes and all of his ambitions achieved.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: He was rich in those gleaming particles. He saw freedom
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: for his mother and himself, no longer a bitter struggle
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: for existence in the city, no more pinching and striving
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and sacrifice that they might keep the little home in
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: which his father had died. When he turned toward Wabigowan,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: his face was filled with the ecstasy of those visions.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: He waded ashore and held his pan under the other's eyes.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Another nugget, exclaimed Wabi excitedly. Yes, but it isn't the nugget,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: it's the He moved the pan until the thousand little
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: particles glittered and swam before the Indian's eyes. It's the dust.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: The sand is full of gold. His voice trembled, his
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: face was white from his crouching posture. Wabi looked up
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: at him, and they spoke no more words. Mukoki looked
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and was silent. Then he went back to his dredging.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Little by little, Rod washed down his pan. Half an
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: hour later he showed it again to Wabigouwan. The pebbles
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: were gone. What sand was left was heavy with the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: gleaming particles, and half buried in it all was the
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: yellow nugget. In Wabi's pan, there was no nugget, but
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: it was rich with the gleam of fine gold. Mukoki
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: had dredged a bushel of sand and gravel from the
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: pool and was upon his knees beside the heap which
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: he had piled on the rock. When Rod went to
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: that rock for his third pan of dirt, the old
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: warrior made no sign that he had discos covered anything.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: The early gloom of afternoon was beginning to settle between
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the chasm walls, and at the end of his fourth pan,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Rod found that it was becoming so dark that he
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: could no longer distinguish the yellow particles in the sand,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: with the exception of one nugget. He had found only
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: fine gold. With Wabi's dust were three small nuggets. When
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: they ceased work, Mukoki rose from beside the rock, chuckling, grimacing,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: and holding out his hand. Wabi was the first to see,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: and his cry of astonishment drew Rod quickly to his side.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: The hollow of the old warrior's hand was filled with nuggets.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: He turned them into Wabigouan's hand, and the young Indian
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: turned them into Rod's, and as he felt the weight
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of the treasure he held, Rod could no longer restrain
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the yell of exultation that had been held in all
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: that afternoon. Jumping high into the air and whooping at
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: every other step, he raced to the camp and soon
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: had the small scale which they had brought with them
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: from Wabinosh house. The nuggets they had found that afternoon
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: weighed full seven ounces, and the fine gold, after allowing
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the deduction of a third for sand, weighed a little
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: more than eleven ounces eighteen ounces and a quarter. Rod
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: gave the total in a voice tremulous with incredulity, eighteen
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: ounces at twenty dollars an ounce three hundred and sixty dollars.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: He figured rapidly by George. The prospect seemed too big
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: for him, and he stopped less than half a day's work,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: added Wabi, we're doing better than John Ball and the Frenchman.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: It means eighteen thousand dollars a month, and by bottom
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: began Rod. He was interrupted by the inimitable chucking laugh
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: of Mukoki and found the old warrior's face a map
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: of creases and grimaces in twenty thousand moon make him
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: how much? He questioned in all his life. Wabigawan had
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: never heard Mukoki joke before, and with a wild whoop
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: of joy, he rolled the stoical old pathfinder off the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: rock on which he was sitting, and Rod joined heartily
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: in Wabi's merriment, and Mukoki's question proved not to be
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: so much of a joke after all, as the boys
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: were soon to learn. For several days, the work went
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: on uninterrupted. The buckskin bags in the balsam shelter grew
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: heavier and heavier each succeeding hour, added to the visions
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: of the gold seekers. On the fifth day, Rod found
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: seventeen nuggets among his fine gold, one of them them
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: as large as the end of his thumb. On the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: seventh came the richest of all their panning, But on
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the ninth a startling thing happened. Mukoki was compelled to
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: work ceaselessly to keep the two boys supplied with pay
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: dirt from the pool. His improvised dredge now brought up
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: only a handful or two of sand and pebbles at
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: a dip. It was on this ninth day that the
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: truth dawned upon them. All the pool was becoming exhausted
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: of its treasure, but the discovery brought no great gloom
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: with it. Somewhere near that pool must be the very
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: source of the treasure itself, and the gold hunters were
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: confident of finding it. Besides, they had already accumulated what
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: to them was a considerable fortune, at least two thousand
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: dollars apiece. For three more days the work continued, and
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: then Mukoki's dredge no longer brought up pebbles or sand
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: from the bottom of the pool. The last pan was
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: washed early in the morning, and as the warm weather
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: had begun to taint the caribou meat, Mukoki and Wabigawan
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: left immediately after dinner to secure fresh meat out on
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: the plains. While Rod remained in camp, the strange, thick
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: gloom of night, which began to gather in the chasm
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: before the sun had disappeared beyond the plains above, was
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: already descending upon him. When Rod began preparations for supper.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: He knew that the Indians would not wait until dark
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: before re entering the break between the mountains, and confident
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: that they would soon appear, he began mixing up flour
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and water for their usual batch of hot stone biscuits.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: So intent was he upon his task that he did
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: not see a shadowy form creeping up foot by foot
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: from the rocks. He caught no glimpse of the eyes
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: that glared like smoldering coals from out of the half
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: darkness between him and the fall. His first knowledge of
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: another presence came in a low, whining cry, a cry
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: that was not much more than a whisper, and he
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: leaped to his feet, every nerve in his body once
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: more tingling with that excitement which had possessed him when
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: he stood under the rock talking to the madman a
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: dozen yards away, he saw a face, a great white,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: ghostlike face, staring at him from out of the thickening shadows,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and under that face and its tangled veil of beard
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and hair, he saw the crouching form of the mad hunter.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: In that moment, Roderick Drew thanked God that he was
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: not afraid. Standing full in the glow of the fire,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: he stretched out his arms as he had once before,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: reached them out to this weird creature, and again, softly, pleadingly,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: he called the name of john Ball. There came and
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: rep a faint, almost unheard sound from the wild man,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a sound that was repeated again and again, and which
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: sent a thrill into the young hunter, for it was
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: wondrously like the name he was calling, john Ball, john Ball,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: john Ball. And as the mad hunter repeated that sound,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: he advanced foot by foot, as though creeping upon all fours.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And rod saw then that one of his arms was
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: stretched out to him, and that in the extended hand
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: was a fish. He advanced a step, reaching out his
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: own hands eagerly, and the wild creature stopped, cringing, as
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: if fearing a blow. John Ball, john Ball, he repeated.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: He thought of no other words but those, and advanced
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: bit by bit as he called them gently again and again.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Now he was within ten feet of the old man,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: now eight. Presently he was so near that he might
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: have reached him in a single leap. Then he stopped.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: The mad hunter laid down his fish. Slowly he retreated,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: murmuring incoherent sounds in his beard, then sprang to his feet,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: and with a wailing cry, sped back toward the pool.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Swiftly Rod followed. He saw the form leap from the
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: rocks at its edge, heard a heavy splash, and all
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: was still. For many minutes. Rod stood with the spray
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: of the cataract dashing in his face. This time, the
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: madman's plunge into the cold depths at his feet filled
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: him with none of the horror of that first, insane
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: leap from the rock above. Somewhere in that pool, the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: old man was seeking refuge. What did it mean? His
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: eyes scanned the thin sheet of water that plunged down
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: from the upper chasm. It was a dozen feet in
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: width and hid the black wall of rock behind it
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: like a thick veil. What was there just behind that
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: falling torrent? Was it possible that in the wall of
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: rock behind the waterfall there was a place where John
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Ball found concealment. Rod returned to camp, convinced that he
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: had at last guessed a solution to the mystery. John
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Ball was behind the cataract. The strange murmurings of the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: old man, who for a few moments had crouched so
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: close to him, still rang in his ears, and he
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: was sure that in these half articulate sounds had been
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: John Ball's own name. If there had been a doubt
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: in his mind before it was wiped away. Now the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: mad hunter was John Ball, And with that thought burning
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: in his brain, Rod stopped beside the fish the madman's
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: offering of peace, and turned his face once more back
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: toward the black, loneliness of the pool. Unconsciously, a sobbing
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: cry of sympathy fell softly from Rod's lips, and he
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: called John Ball's name again, louder and louder, until it
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: echoed far down the gloomy depths of the chasm. There
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: came no response. Then he turned to the fish. John
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Ball wished them to be friends, and he had brought
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: this offering in the firelight. Rod saw that it was
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: a curious looking, dark colored fish, covered with small scales
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: that were almost black. It was the size of a
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: large trout, and yet it was not a trout. The
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: head was thick and heavy, like a sucker's, and yet
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: it was not a sucker. He looked at this head
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: more closely, and gave a sudden start when he saw
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: that it had no eyes. In one great flood, the
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: truth swept upon him, the truth of what lay behind
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the cataract of where john Ball had gone. For he
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: held in his hands an eyeless creature of another world,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: a world hidden in the bowels of the earth itself,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: a proof that beyond the fall was a great cavern,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: filled with the mystery and the sightless things of eternal night,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: and that in this cavern john Ball found his food
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and made his home. End of Chapter sixteen. Recording by
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Roger Moline