| Dan and the Rock (Fiction) Wull I�ll tellya said the old man rocking back and forth emphasizing or pointing out a child or direction with his pipe stem. Travis the old storyteller was at it again. Seems this here feller got an ichin to get some ah thet thur gold he�d been hearin about so he come west. Now this here feller never done no prospectin afore and was downright ignert about the fact. He stood around a few days wachin others an lisnin to ther braggin an some was cryin bout not a gittin nuthin. He figgered he had the jist of it now an set his self off towards the hills. Twern�t no markers nearby he could see so he set about pichin camp. he�asa bout tah lay claim when an ole codger mosied by an ask him whut he wasa doin? The city slicker said: well I wasa bout tah lay claim tah this here piece ah property. The ole codger said: well ah recon thet�s yer biness but ah�ll tellya right off. ther ain�t no gold here. But ya might as well go ahead cause ther ain�t no more claims tah be had wher ther is gold. Done all took up. Alla luck to ya he said as he wandered off. He called out over his shoulder as he wasa leavin. "ya git tard ah diggin drop by sometime". "Ah jist live up ther a piece" and he pointed off the trail a bit ahead. Ole Travis pointed out an imaginary place with his pipe as the kids all turned to see where it was. Dan (the city slicker) set tah layin claim and looked over his new domain. The next few days was gatherin supplies and buildin camp. sumwhat satisfied he begin makin a flume. A flume is a kinda water troff brangs water down. He made his outa some ole boards he found at an abandoned shack in the hills. Everthang was fine ceptin the water after it left the flume took a natural coarse down the hill alrighty till it come tah this here big rock. Then it went helter skelter all over the place. Made a big mess. Dan stopped an thunk it over. Hmmmm. Looks like ah might be able tah dig around it. He�d already tried movin it but it was a bigun an he never budged it an inch. Satisfied now the water had a trail to foller Dan went back tah sluicin. Now sluicin is the same as a flume cept they call it ah sluice. He carried the ore to the sluice after crushin it an looked for flake or nuggets in the water mix after it drained off. he shoveled dirt n rocks fer weeks with nary a sign ah gold. Leanin against the rock down the hill tah wipe the sweat off his face he felt the rock move a tad. He turned an shore nuff it moved. The water path he dug had washed away the soil under one side and the rock tilted now. since the water path would be straighter with the rock out of the way Dan put his back into it and it toppled over. Now he said: thet�s better�n ah figgered. That night Dan lay exhausted after the days empty rewards. He heard a voice callin into camp. Hey! Ya want some java called the ole codger? Dan got up from his bedroll and lit a lantern while he welcomed the ole man down. They sat an visited quite a while chawin bout the ole days afore the rush. Dan lissened intently while the ole codger rattled of tale after tale. Finally after several hours the ole man got up tah leave. He tole Dan: now iffin ya want ya can come by tamorry round noon an have some vittles with me or even inna mornin ya a mind to fer breakfus, lessin ya got other plans. Dan replied: nope. None other�n breakin my back and they both laffed. The ole codger wasa leavin when he said: whut�s thet ther shinin down by the crik? Dan looked around an said: I dunno? And they both set off to invesygate Dan bringin the lantern. It came from just below the face of the rock he�d moved earlier. Bringin the lantern down for a closer look they both squinched down and yelled. LORDY LORDY!!!!!!!!! LAWDY LAWDY !!!!! exclaimed the two. It was GOLD. A BIG GOLD ROCK. The biggest nugget either one had ever seen or even heard about. Wull ther was no sleepin thet night ah becha said Travis. The next mornin Dan was the first one at the assay office. He had a small chunk of the nugget for the clerk. The clerk unmoved by the nugget unlike Dan�s enthusiasm went about testing and weighing the ore. He came back from the desk and told Dan: she weighs out good an 80% pure. But ah thought the gold was pure. It was kinda soft an looked all gold. The clerk said: yeah, the gold is. But see that there white shale deposit? Dan said: yeah. Well that takes off the purity as ore. It�s not 100% gold. Ohhhhhh! Ah see said Dan. How much she werth then Dan asked? Ohhhh, I�d say ummm round 8. $800 Dan exclaimed jubilantly. Nooooooo said the clerk. $8,000. Oh My God Dan exclaimed. Dan left the assay office with over $8,000 in cash and headed back toward the diggins. After arriving he decided ta go see the ole man and tell him what he found out. shore nuff the ole man was there. He busied hisself an lissened ta Dan explain everything while he finished preparing breakfus. After settin the table with catheads, grits, an molasses he sat down and between bites they both jawed about the future. CATHEADS YUCK, said one of the boys and others chimed in EWWWWW. Travis said:catheads is biscuts boy, doncher ma ever fix catheads outa sourdough? The boys never said another word, they just looked at one another and giggled. The ole man told Dan how he hit a small strike early on but it petered and out he put back all he got out. It wasn�t a large fortune but he could live on it if he was careful the rest of his life he figgered. He studied a few min in silence the Dan asked him what he was thinkin. The ole man said: son, ah know ya got enough gold in that one nugget ta make you a rich man, but. If what I�ma thinkin is right you could be the richest man in the world ah recon. How�s thet Dan asked. Well iffin ya make me a partner in whatevers ahead ah�ll tell ya. You keep the nugget and we�ll share in all thet comes after that. Dan scratched his head and thought. Ok, but what if ther ain�t nuthin else? The ole man said: well, that�s life. Just a chance ah gotta take, ain�t got nothin ta lose cept time an maybe a little soreness from the werk. Dan said: ok and they shook on it. The ole man said if he wanted they could fix the place an he could stay with him if he wanted. Was plenty of room and be better�n livin on the ground. Dan said: ah jist might do thet soon as ah git thet nugget outa here. Fer now ah�m gonna be sleepin with it and they both laffed. Dan asked the ole man. You said ther was more? Jist wher would thet be? The ole man said: well if my calkylations are right ah�d say right up the hill. But ah done washed thet an got nuthin. The ole man said. Son, ya need to go into the hill. Thet ther white rock nugget isn�t any ordinary rock. It�s lime deposit. And lime comes from seepage, and seepage comes from caves. Thet ther gold nugget was once in a cave somewhere and got water drippins from the cave and got covered. Then it come out somehow cause ah shore as hell don�t think no one drug it ther. Must be a cave covered up ther somehwere or disturbed enuff it collapsed after the lime covered nugget rolled out. Thet ther cave might be plum full ah nuggets. Maybe some bigger yet or at least more gold ther. Dan just let out a whoop and jumped around dancin and huggin the ole man. After settlin down they begin plannin. The next few days was laborious gettin thet rock moved an ready ta load. Dan got a team and a wagon and they built a hoist to lift the rock so they could load it in the wagon. After a small effert they knew they couldn�t load it any other way and to try and break up such a large piece would be even more difficult. Finally after breaking several timbers and ropes they got it loaded. At the assay office it was pure pandemonium. The whole town was ther. Extra deputies was signed on to guard the rock. It assayed out at over 3 million dollars. And even the a special scale had to be brought in to weigh it. At first it was thought to bring in a train car to carry it back east to a bank but later the bank president decided to buy it himself and leave it ther for the time being. He had a huge pit dug and a saloon built over it and the nugget after all the lime was removed and it was polished as best it could be in it�s rough state. He planned on chargin patrons for viewing the nugget and his biness boomed. He sold more likker ther than anyone else had ever sold and the line was long most all the time fer a chance ta see the nugget. People come from all over once werd got out. Dan now a rich man finally got the ole man to axcept a token of his appreciation fer helpin him and all. The ole man stubornly refused but finally relented an took $10,000. Far less than Dan had offered him. more men were hired to dig the huge task ahead. After almost a month the cave was uncovered. Dan laid off the workers under the disguise it was a lost cause to keep on jist to keep from being murdered if what lay ahead panned out. he an the ole man stayed away from the dig for almost a week to keep from raisin suspicion and both wer chompin at the bit ta go explorin ther new discovery. It was possible the cave found was the rear end of it and the front had collapsed and whatever had been there was covered under tons of fill. The ole man had marked off more of the hill for himself and some more between the two of them to be legal. So now there were 3 claims together, surely enuff to control the expected find. The day arrived both had waited for. They decided enuff time had gone by to go ahead and explore the cave. It had been over a week since they had any visitors and none of the men that had werked there had returned to question them. The town talk was the claim had died. With lanterns in hand they walked into the still musky cave. At first glance it looked to be jist an empty hole but after scratchin the dust an grime off places it looked promising. More gold was discovered in pockets and veins here and ther. Dan an the ole man boarded up the entrance and quietly slipped out of town. Taking the wagon several towns away and then by stage they went off to New York. They found the bank and the president and he lissened closely as they told of the discovery and how it came about thru the ole mans notion. Clasping his hands before him the bank president pondered. Finally he made an offer "iff" the tale were true and there was sufficient gold to further his investment. No money was to exchange hands until it was inspected by mining engineers and proved werthy of excavation. Dan, the ole man, and the Bank president shook hands after a contract was drawn up and the 3 would divide the profits equally and the bank would furnish all funds and equipment to process the ore. Dan and the ole man knew this was a good deal. They neither one had to lift a finger or invest any more as they knew they both had great fortunes now and the bank was glad to get 1/3 of a surly plentiful gold mine simply for the investment of machinery and labor. No money would be lost as none would be invested until it was proven the claim was real and it did contain what the two had promised. The town and claim were armed to the teeth now after mining engineers discovered it was the richest claim ever to be unearthed. Ther was millions in gold on the surface of the cave it�s self not countin what wadn�t uncovered. Dan and the ole man were happy. Really happy. It�d take a team of strong mules to pull the smile off their faces now. The 2 richest men in the world now didn�t have a worry in the world. Every paper in the country from the west coast to the east carried the news. It traveled across the oceans as well. Queens and rulers the world over invited Dan and the ole man who by the way finally gave his name away after signing all the documents. Chester B. (Bernard) Rockafeller who later married and started his family to share his fortune. Denver became quite the little town after that. And Dan. Daniel Wadsworth Hunt went on to start a small line of produce and other foods and food services though he needn�t have done so as he never had to worry about money for the rest of his life and could never spend what he had in his lifetime. The Bank president went his merry way retiring on an island somehwer in the South Pacific srounded by beautiful native girls. He had more than the comforts of home and lived the remainder of his life there. He named his island St. Thomas after himself, Sir Thomas of Skaker Flats. The Masked Writer � 2002 T Lovett |
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