Part 24 (1/2)
Chapter XX.
”My boy, it is a sad day for us all when you leave the home nest. We shall miss you more than I can express,” said the colonel at length.
”Ah! I had hoped to see you settled near us in our old age in this grand country. Clifford, I have seen a great many regions on this continent famous for their beauty and fertility, but this is the only place that I have ever seen where I would be perfectly content to live and die. You have yet to learn that 'distant hills' are no greener than those of home, and you will travel the wide world over and find no other place to compare with this, my son. I have been thinking to-day, Clifford,”
continued his father, as he pushed his plate of untasted food back on the table and folded his napkin--”that if I had only a t.i.the of the fortune that I once lost on this spot, it might be enhanced an hundred-fold at the great land-sale Monday; for I learn by to-day's _Times_ that the Mastodon Bank has failed, carrying down in its collapse all the parties who had the lands condemned for sale, so now they are unable to bid at the auction, and hundreds of thousands of acres will be sold at a few cents an acre without compet.i.tion. Oh, I realize that it is bitter, indeed, to be poor, my boy, for it is only your ambition that drives you from us,” and, rising, he paced back and forth with bowed head, while Mrs. Warlow's tears flowed unchecked as she thought of the long, dreary years that might drag on before her beloved boy returned.
The Warlow family were never demonstrative. There was always a matter-of-fact regard for each other; but this moment of sorrow brought to the surface a depth of family affection of which Clifford had never dreamed, and, as his father proceeded, he became more deeply affected than he ever had been before.
He thought, ”The old days of trial and poverty are over forever,” and as the realization of the great change, and his narrow escape from the misery, of self-exile flashed upon him, he leaned his head upon his hands, and a great sob shook his frame, while hot tears--yes, tears, which danger and the despair of a hopeless love had failed to wring--now fell in a torrent, as the storm of emotion, new and strange, surged in his breast.
”Oh, Clifford--Clifford! I thought you were not going,” cried Maud, white with anguish.
”Cliff, I can't bear to see you leave,” sobbed Robbie, while he clung to Clifford with the desperation born of his grief at the very thought of parting with his only brother.
”Clifford, what does this mean?” said Maud, seized by a nameless dread; but Clifford only answered by pus.h.i.+ng back the table, the cover of which swept the floor and had concealed the object that was now revealed in the lamp-light.
”Gold! gold!” cried Maud in amazement, as her eyes caught the glitter of doubloons heaped upon the floor.
”Oh G.o.d!--my lost fortune!” said the colonel in a hoa.r.s.e whisper, as he knelt beside the half-emptied sacks, which he remembered at a glance.
”My brother--Clifford--you are a grand hero,” shrieked Maud, wild with excitement and relief, and then ensued a contest between herself and mother who should first strangle our young friend in their embraces.
”Hero, nothing!” said Rob, who had just blown his nose upon the table-cloth with a snort like a porpoise, and who was still blubbering in a suspicious manner; ”heroes don't drip at the nose like a hydrant; but all the same he is a d.a.m.n good fellow,” he added, with a vigorous slap on his brother's back.
”I have something else to show you over at my dwelling,” said Clifford, recovering from his emotion, and smiling up at Rob; ”and, if you will drive around there, I will row ahead and light the lamps;” then, without waiting to explain, he hurried out into the night. Although they were devoured by curiosity, they soon concealed the gold, and were driven rapidly up to the corral.
”I bet my boot-heels that Cliff has got that old spook chained up here, feeding him like a pauper,” said Rob, in a tone of confidence, to Maud--a remark which elicited no reply, however, for she was puzzling over the strange discovery which she knew Clifford had made.
When they arrived at his dwelling he met them at the door, which he closely locked behind them; then, going to the sunken chest, he threw back the lid, and a wavering glare of gems and red gold flashed out with a splendor which dazzled and almost blinded the astonished group.
”The treasure of Monteluma!” exclaimed the colonel, in a tone of deep emotion.
”Oh, those frosty, glimmering pearls!” said Maud, exulting in the splendor of the jewels that she loved so well, and had always dreamed of owning.
”What a pile of lucre!” cried Rob, dancing about in delight. ”Lordy! if I owned all this tin, I'd make the shekels fly for awhile, you bet!
First, I'd swap that slow, flea-bitten broncho for Ed Porter's white pony, if I had to give even _twenty dollars_ to boot; then next I'd have me a brand-new hat--a broad brim, too--none of your flimsy old wool things, but an eight-dollar sombrero, thick as a board, with a leather band an inch wide; then two cravats--and--”
”And?” said Clifford with a quizzical smile, as Rob began to show signs of an embarra.s.sment of riches.
”Well, that's all, unless it is a pair of high-top boots, like Johnnie Russell's--with stars and new moons of red and yellow leather on 'em.”
”You are a reckless spendthrift, Rob. Thirty-five dollars gone already!”
said Clifford, laughingly, as his young brother's eyes continued to gloat over the million of heaped-up riches in the chest.
”Clifford, my son, how did you find all this treasure? It seems like enchantment,” Mrs. Warlow asked, in an anxious tone.
”Mother, it is too long a story to relate now; but when I return from Abilene I'll give all the particulars. It is ten now,” he said, glancing at his watch, ”and we must start at six sharp, in the morning, so there is but little time to spare.”