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to where the afternoon sun was beginning to glow into sunset。  I

gazed for a moment at her face; white; plump; tiny; and implacable;

and gave her up。



〃How do you account for such a mass of gold being there?〃 I queried

of Julian Jones。  〃A solid…gold meteor that fell out of the sky?〃



〃Not for a moment。〃  He shook his head。  〃 It was carried there by

the Indians。〃



〃Up a mountain like that … and such enormous weight and size!〃 I

objected。



〃Just as easy;〃 he smiled。  〃I used to be stumped by that

proposition myself; after I got my memory back。  Now how in Sam

Hill … ' I used to begin; and then spend hours figuring at it。  And

then when I got the answer I felt downright idiotic; it was that

easy。〃  He paused; then announced:  〃They didn't。〃



〃But you just … said they did。〃



〃They did and they didn't;〃 was his enigmatic reply。  〃Of course

they never carried that monster nugget up there。  What they did was

to carry up its contents。〃



He waited until he saw enlightenment dawn in my face。



〃And then of course melted all the gold; or welded it; or smelted

it; all into one piece。  You know the first Spaniards down there;

under a leader named Pizarro; were a gang of robbers and cut…

throats。  They went through the country like the hoof…and…mouth

disease; and killed the Indians off like cattle。  You see; the

Indians had lots of gold。  Well; what the Spaniards didn't get; the

surviving Indians hid away in that one big chunk on top the

mountain; and it's been waiting there ever since for me … and for

you; if you want to go in on it。〃



And here; by the Lagoon of the Palace of Fine Arts; ended my

acquaintance with Julian Jones。  On my agreeing to finance the

adventure; he promised to call on me at my hotel next morning with

the letters of Seth Manners and the railroad; and conclude

arrangements。  But he did not call。  That evening I telephoned his

hotel and was informed by the clerk that Mr。 Julian Jones and wife

had departed in the early afternoon; with their baggage。



Can Mrs。 Jones have rushed him back and hidden him away in

Nebraska?  I remember that as we said good…bye; there was that in

her smile that recalled the vulpine complacency of Mona Lisa; the

Wise。



Kohala; Hawaii;

MAY 5; 1916。









STORY:  LIKE ARGUS OF THE ANCIENT TIMES









IT was the summer of 1897; and there was trouble in the Tarwater

family。  Grandfather Tarwater; after remaining properly subdued and

crushed for a quiet decade; had broken out again。  This time it was

the Klondike fever。  His first and one unvarying symptom of such

attacks was song。  One chant only he raised; though he remembered

no more than the first stanza and but three lines of that。  And the

family knew his feet were itching and his brain was tingling with

the old madness; when he lifted his hoarse…cracked voice; now

falsetto…cracked; in:





Like Argus of the ancient times;

We leave this modern Greece;

Tum…tum; tum…tum; tum; tum; tum…tum;

To shear the Golden Fleece。





Ten years earlier he had lifted the chant; sung to the air of the

〃Doxology;〃 when afflicted with the fever to go gold…mining in

Patagonia。  The multitudinous family had sat upon him; but had had

a hard time doing it。  When all else had failed to shake his

resolution; they had applied lawyers to him; with the threat of

getting out guardianship papers and of confining him in the state

asylum for the insane … which was reasonable for a man who had; a

quarter of a century before; speculated away all but ten meagre

acres of a California principality; and who had displayed no better

business acumen ever since。



The application of lawyers to John Tarwater was like the

application of a mustard plaster。  For; in his judgment; they were

the gentry; more than any other; who had skinned him out of the

broad Tarwater acres。  So; at the time of his Patagonian fever; the

very thought of so drastic a remedy was sufficient to cure him。  He

quickly demonstrated he was not crazy by shaking the fever from him

and agreeing not to go to Patagonia。



Next; he demonstrated how crazy he really was; by deeding over to

his family; unsolicited; the ten acres on Tarwater Flat; the house;

barn; outbuildings; and water…rights。  Also did he turn over the

eight hundred dollars in bank that was the long…saved salvage of

his wrecked fortune。  But for this the family found no cause for

committal to the asylum; since such committal would necessarily

invalidate what he had done。



〃Grandfather is sure peeved;〃 said Mary; his oldest daughter;

herself a grandmother; when her father quit smoking。



All he had retained for himself was a span of old horses; a

mountain buckboard; and his one room in the crowded house。

Further; having affirmed that he would be beholden to none of them;

he got the contract to carry the United States mail; twice a week;

from Kelterville up over Tarwater Mountain to Old Almaden … which

was a sporadically worked quick…silver mine in the upland cattle

country。  With his old horses it took all his time to make the two

weekly round trips。  And for ten years; rain or shine; he had never

missed a trip。  Nor had he failed once to pay his week's board into

Mary's hand。  This board he had insisted on; in the convalescence

from his Patagonian fever; and he had paid it strictly; though he

had given up tobacco in order to be able to do it。



〃Huh!〃 he confided to the ruined water wheel of the old Tarwater

Mill; which he had built from the standing timber and which had

ground wheat for the first settlers。  〃Huh!  They'll never put me

in the poor farm so long as I support myself。  And without a penny

to my name it ain't likely any lawyer fellows'll come snoopin'

around after me。〃



And yet; precisely because of these highly rational acts; it was

held that John Tarwater was mildly crazy!



The first time he had lifted the chant of 〃Like Argus of the

Ancient Times;〃 had been in 1849; when; twenty…two years' of age;

violently attacked by the Californian fever; he had sold two

hundred and forty Michigan acres; forty of it cleared; for the

price of four yoke of oxen; and a wagon; and had started across the

Plains。



〃And we turned off at Fort Hall; where the Oregon emigration went

north'ard; and swung south for Californy;〃 was his way of

concluding the narrative of that arduous journey。  And Bill Ping

and me used to rope grizzlies out of the underbrush of Cache Slough

in the Sacramento Valley。〃



Years of freighting and mining had followed; and; with a stake

gleaned from the Merced placers; he satisfied the land…hunger of

his race and time by settling in Sonoma County。



During the ten years of carrying the mail across Tarwater Township;

up Tarwater Valley; and over Tarwater Mountain; most all of which

land had once been his; he had spent his time dreaming of winning

back that land before he died。  And now; his huge gaunt form more

erect than it had been for years; with a glinting of blue fires in

his small and close…set eyes; he was lifting his ancient chant

again。



〃There he goes now … listen to him;〃 said William Tarwater。



〃Nobody at home;〃 laughed Harris Topping; day labourer; husband of

Annie Tarwater; and father of her nine children。



The kitchen door opened to admit the old man; returning from

feeding his horses。  The song had ceased from his lips; but Mary

was irritable from a burnt hand and a grandchild whose stomach

refused to digest properly diluted cows' milk。



〃Now there ain't no use you carryin' on that way; father;〃 she

tackled him。  〃The time's past for you to cut and run for a place

like the Klondike; and singing won't buy you nothing。〃



〃Just the same;〃 he answered quietly。  〃I bet I could go to that

Klondike place and pick up enough gold to buy back the Tarwater

lands。〃



〃Old fool!〃 Annie contributed。



〃You couldn't buy them back for less'n three hundred thousand and

then some;〃 was William's effort at squelching him。



〃Then I could pick up three hundred thousand; and then some; if I

was only there;〃 the old man retorted placidly。



〃Thank God you can't walk there; or you'd be startin'; I know;〃

Mary cried。  〃Ocean travel costs money。〃



〃I used to have money;〃 her father said humbly。



〃Well; you ain't got any now … so forget it;〃 William advised。

〃Them times is past; like roping bear with Bill Ping。  There ain't

no more bear。〃



〃Just the same … 〃



But Mary cut him off。  Seizing the day's paper from the kitchen

table; she flourished  it savagely under her aged progenitor's

nose。



〃What do those Klondikers say?  There it is in cold print。  Only

the young and robust can stand the Klondike。  It's worse than the

north pole。  And they've left their dead a…plenty there themselves。

Look at their pictures。  You're forty years older 'n the oldest of

them。〃



John Tarwater did look; b

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