Speaker 1: This is section sixteen of The Gilded Age. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age, A
Speaker 1: Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and Seedy Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen. While Ruth was thus absorbed in her new
Speaker 1: occupation and the spring was wearing away, Philip and his
Speaker 1: friends were still detained at the Southern Hotel. The great
Speaker 1: contractors had concluded their business with the state and railroad
Speaker 1: officials and with the lesser contractors, and departed for the East,
Speaker 1: but the serious illness of one of the engineers kept
Speaker 1: Philip and Henry in the city and occupied in alternate watchings.
Speaker 1: Philip wrote to Ruth of the new acquaintance they had made,
Speaker 1: Colonel Sellers, an enthusiastic and hospitable man, very much interested
Speaker 1: in the development of the country and in their success.
Speaker 1: They had not had an opportunity to visit at his
Speaker 1: place up in the country yet, but the Colonel often
Speaker 1: dined with them, and in confidence con divided to them
Speaker 1: his projects, and seemed to take a great liking to them,
Speaker 1: especially to his friend Harry. It was true that he
Speaker 1: never seemed to have ready money, but he was engaged
Speaker 1: in very large operations. The correspondence was not very brisk
Speaker 1: between these two young persons so differently occupied. For though
Speaker 1: Philip wrote long letters, he got brief ones in reply,
Speaker 1: full of sharp little observations, however, such as one concerning
Speaker 1: Colonel Sellers, namely that such men died at their house
Speaker 1: every week. Ruth's proposed occupation astonished Philip immensely, but while
Speaker 1: he argued it and discussed it, he did not dare
Speaker 1: hint to her his fear that it would interfere with
Speaker 1: his most cherished plans. He too sincerely respected Ruth's judgment
Speaker 1: to make any protest, however, and he would have defended
Speaker 1: her course against the world. This enforced waiting at Saint
Speaker 1: Louis was very irksome to Philip. His money was running away,
Speaker 1: for one thing, and he longed to get into the
Speaker 1: field and see for himself what chance there was for
Speaker 1: a fortune or even an occupation. The contractors had given
Speaker 1: the young men leave to join the Engineer Corps as
Speaker 1: soon as they could, but otherwise had made no provision
Speaker 1: for them, and in fact had left them with only
Speaker 1: the most indefinite expectations of something large in the future.
Speaker 1: Harry was entirely happy in his circumstances. He very soon
Speaker 1: knew everybody, from the governor of the state down to
Speaker 1: the waiters at the hotel. He had the Wall Street
Speaker 1: slang at his tongue's end. He always talked like a
Speaker 1: capitalist and entered with enthusiasm into all the land and
Speaker 1: railway schemes with which the air was thick. Colonel Sellers
Speaker 1: and Harry talked together by the hour and by the day.
Speaker 1: Harry informed his new friend that he was going out
Speaker 1: with the Engineer Corps of the Salt Lick Pacific Extension,
Speaker 1: but that wasn't his real business. I'm to have with
Speaker 1: another party, said Harry, a big contract in the road
Speaker 1: as soon as it is let and meantime I'm with
Speaker 1: the engineers to spy out the best land and the
Speaker 1: depot sites. It's everything, suggested the colonel in knowing where
Speaker 1: to invest. I've known people throw away their money because
Speaker 1: they were too consequential to take sellers advice. Others again
Speaker 1: have made their pile on taking it. I've looked over
Speaker 1: the ground. I've been studying it for twenty years. You
Speaker 1: can't put your finger on a spot in the map
Speaker 1: of Missouri that I don't know as if I'd made it.
Speaker 1: When you want to place anything, continued the colonel confidently,
Speaker 1: just let Mariah Sellers know. That's all. Oh. I haven't
Speaker 1: got much in ready money I can lay my hands
Speaker 1: on now. But if a fellow could do anything with
Speaker 1: fifteen or twenty thousand dollars as a beginning, I shall
Speaker 1: draw for that. When I see the right opening. Well,
Speaker 1: that's something that's something fifteen or twenty thousand dollars, say
Speaker 1: twenty as an advance, said the colonel reflectively, as if
Speaker 1: turning over his mind for a project that could be
Speaker 1: entered on with such a trifling sum. I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what it is, but only to you, mister Brierly, only
Speaker 1: to you. Mind. I've got a little project that I've
Speaker 1: been keeping. It looks small, looks small on paper, but
Speaker 1: it's got a big future. What should you say, sir,
Speaker 1: to a city built up like the Rod of Aladdin
Speaker 1: had touched it built up in two years where now
Speaker 1: you wouldn't expect it any more than you'd expect a
Speaker 1: lighthouse on the top of Pilot Knob, and you could
Speaker 1: own the land. It can be done, sir, It can
Speaker 1: be done. The colonel hitched up his chair, close to Harry,
Speaker 1: laid his hand on his knee and first looking about him,
Speaker 1: said in a low voice, the Salt Lick Pacific Extension
Speaker 1: is going to run through Stones Landing. The Almighty never
Speaker 1: laid out a cleaner piece of level prairie for a city,
Speaker 1: and it's the natural center of all that region of
Speaker 1: hemp tobacco. What makes you think the road will go there?
Speaker 1: It's twenty miles on the map off the straight line
Speaker 1: of the road. You can't tell what is the straight
Speaker 1: line till the engineers have been over it between us.
Speaker 1: I have talked with Jeff Thompson, the division engineer. He
Speaker 1: understands the wants of Stone's Landing and the claims of
Speaker 1: the inhabitants who are to be there. Jeff says that
Speaker 1: a railroad is for the accommodation of the people and
Speaker 1: not for the benefit of gophers. And if he don't
Speaker 1: run this to Stone's Landing, he'll be damned. You ought
Speaker 1: to know Jeff. He's one of the most enthusiastic engineers
Speaker 1: in this western country and one of the best fellows
Speaker 1: that ever looked through the bottom of a glass. The
Speaker 1: recommendation was not undeserved. There was nothing that Jeff wouldn't
Speaker 1: do to accommodate a friend, from sharing his last dollar
Speaker 1: with him to winging him in a duel. When he
Speaker 1: understood from Colonel Sellers how the land lay at Stone's Landing,
Speaker 1: he cordially shook hands with that gentleman, asked him to drink,
Speaker 1: and fairly roared out, why God bless my soul, Colonel.
Speaker 1: A word from one Virginia gentleman to another's nuff said
Speaker 1: there stones Landing been waiting for a railroad more than
Speaker 1: four thousand years, and damned if she shan't have it.
Speaker 1: Philip had not so much faith as Harry in Stone's
Speaker 1: Landing when the latter opened the project to him, But
Speaker 1: Harry talked about it as if he already owned that
Speaker 1: incipient city. Harry thoroughly believed in all his projects and inventions,
Speaker 1: and lived day by day in their golden atmosphere. Everybody
Speaker 1: liked the young fellow, for how could they help liking
Speaker 1: one of such engaging manners and large fortune. The waiters
Speaker 1: at the hotel would do more for him than for
Speaker 1: any other guest, and he made a great many acquaintances
Speaker 1: among the people of Saint Louis, who liked his sensible
Speaker 1: and liberal views about the development of the western country
Speaker 1: and about Saint Louis. He said it ought to be
Speaker 1: the National Captain. Harry made partial arrangements with several of
Speaker 1: the merchants for furnishing supplies for his contract on the
Speaker 1: Salt Lick Pacific Extension, consulted the maps with the engineers,
Speaker 1: and went over the profiles with the contractors, figuring out
Speaker 1: estimates for bids. He was exceedingly busy with those things
Speaker 1: when he was not at the bedside of his sick
Speaker 1: acquaintance or arranging the details of his speculation with Colonel Sellers. Meantime,
Speaker 1: the days went along and the weeks, and the money
Speaker 1: in Harry's pocket got lower and lower. He was just
Speaker 1: as liberal with what he had as before. Indeed, it
Speaker 1: was his nature to be free with his money or
Speaker 1: with that of others, and he could lend or spend
Speaker 1: a dollar with an air that made it seem like
Speaker 1: ten at length. At the end of one week, when
Speaker 1: his hotel bill was presented, Harry found not a cent
Speaker 1: in his pocket to meet it. He carelessly remarked to
Speaker 1: the landlord that he was not that day in funds,
Speaker 1: but he would draw on new York, and he sat
Speaker 1: down and rode to the contractors in that city a
Speaker 1: glowing letter about the prospects of the road, and asked
Speaker 1: them to advance a hundred or two until he got
Speaker 1: at work. No reply came. He wrote again, in an
Speaker 1: unoffended business like tone, suggesting that he had better draw it.
Speaker 1: Three days A short answer came to this, simply saying
Speaker 1: that money was very tight in Wall Street just then,
Speaker 1: and that he had better join the engineer Corps as
Speaker 1: soon as he could. But the bill had to be paid,
Speaker 1: and Harry took it to Philip and asked him if
Speaker 1: he thought he hadn't better draw on his uncle. Philip
Speaker 1: had not much faith in Harry's power of drawing, and
Speaker 1: told him that he would pay the bill himself. Whereupon
Speaker 1: Harry dismissed the matter then and thereafter from his thoughts,
Speaker 1: and like a light hearted good fellow as he was,
Speaker 1: gave himself no more trouble about his board bills. Philip
Speaker 1: paid them, swollen as they were, with a monstrous list
Speaker 1: of extras. But he seriously counted the diminishing bulk of
Speaker 1: his own hoard, which was all the money he had
Speaker 1: in the world. Had he not tacitly agreed to share
Speaker 1: with Harry to the last in this adventure, and would
Speaker 1: not the generous fellow divide with him if he Philip
Speaker 1: were in want and Harry had anything. The fever at
Speaker 1: length got tired of tormenting the stout young engineer who
Speaker 1: lay sick at the hotel, and left him very thin,
Speaker 1: a little sallow, but an acclimated man. Everybody said he
Speaker 1: was acclimated now, and said it cheerfully what it is
Speaker 1: to be acclimated to Western fevers. No two persons exactly agree.
Speaker 1: Some say it is a sort of vaccination that renders
Speaker 1: death by some malignant type of fever less probable. Some
Speaker 1: regard it as a sort of initiation, like that into
Speaker 1: the oddfellows, which renders one liable to his regular dues thereafter.
Speaker 1: Others consider it merely the acquisition of a habit of
Speaker 1: taking every morning before breakfast a dose of bitters composed
Speaker 1: of whiskey and asephetida out of the acclamation drug. Jeff
Speaker 1: Thompson afterwards told Philip that he once asked Senator Atchinson,
Speaker 1: then acting Vice President of the United States, about the
Speaker 1: possibility of acclamation. He thought the opinion of the second
Speaker 1: officer of our great government would be valuable on this point.
Speaker 1: They were sitting together on a bench before a country tavern,
Speaker 1: in the free converse permitted by our democratic habits. I suppose, Senator,
Speaker 1: that you have become acclimated to this country, well, said
Speaker 1: the Vice President, crossing his legs, pulling his wide awake
Speaker 1: down over his forehead, causing a passing chicken to hop
Speaker 1: quickly one side. By the accuracy of his aim, and
Speaker 1: speaking with senatorial deliberation, I think I have I've been
Speaker 1: here twenty five years, and dash, dash, my dash to dash.
Speaker 1: If I haven't entertained twenty five separate and distinct earthquakes
Speaker 1: one a year, the Negro is the only person who
Speaker 1: can stand the fever and ag you of this region.
Speaker 1: The convalescence of the engineer was the signal for breaking
Speaker 1: up quarters at Saint Louis, and the young fortune hunters
Speaker 1: started up the river in good spirits. It was only
Speaker 1: the second time either of them had been upon a
Speaker 1: Mississippi steamboat, and nearly everything they saw had the charm
Speaker 1: of novelty. Colonel Sellars was at the landing to bid
Speaker 1: them good bye. I shall send you up that basket
Speaker 1: of champagne by the next boat. No, no, no thanks,
Speaker 1: you'll find it not bad in camp, he cried out
Speaker 1: as the plank was hauled. In my respects to Thompson,
Speaker 1: tell him to sight for stones. Let me know, mister Brierly,
Speaker 1: when you are ready to locate. I'll come over from Hawkeye.
Speaker 1: Good Bye, And the last the young fellow saw of
Speaker 1: the colonel. He was waving his hat and beaming prosperity
Speaker 1: and good luck. The voyage was delightful and was not
Speaker 1: long enough to become monotonous. The travelers scarcely had time, indeed,
Speaker 1: to get accustomed to the splendors of the great saloon,
Speaker 1: where the tables were spread for meals, a marvel of
Speaker 1: paint and gilding. Its ceiling hung with fancifully cut tissue
Speaker 1: paper of many colors, festooned and arranged in endless patterns.
Speaker 1: The whole was more beautiful than a barber's shop. The
Speaker 1: printed bill of fare at dinner was longer and more
Speaker 1: varied the proprietors justly boasted, than that of any hotel
Speaker 1: in New York. It must have been the work of
Speaker 1: an author of talent and imagination, and it surely was
Speaker 1: not his fault if the dinner itself was, to a
Speaker 1: certain extent a delusion, and if the guests got something
Speaker 1: that tasted pretty much the same whatever dish they ordered,
Speaker 1: Nor was it his fault if a general flavor of
Speaker 1: rose in all the dessert dishes suggested that they had
Speaker 1: passed through the barber's saloon. On their way from the kitchen,
Speaker 1: the travelers landed at a little settlement on their left bank,
Speaker 1: and at once took horses for the camp in the interior,
Speaker 1: carrying their clothes and blankets strapped behind the saddles. Harry
Speaker 1: was dressed as he was seen once before, and his
Speaker 1: long and shining boots attracted not a little the attention
Speaker 1: of the few persons they met on the road, and
Speaker 1: especially of the bright faced wenches who lightly stepped along
Speaker 1: the highway, picturesque in their colored kerchiefs, carrying light baskets,
Speaker 1: or riding upon mules and balancing before them a heavier load.
Speaker 1: Harry sang fragments of operas and talked about their fortune.
Speaker 1: Philip even was excited by the sense of freedom and adventure,
Speaker 1: and the beauty of the landscape, the prairie, with its
Speaker 1: new grass and unending acres of brilliant flowers. Chiefly, the
Speaker 1: innumerable varieties of flocks bore the look of years of cultivation,
Speaker 1: and the occasional open groves of white oaks gave it
Speaker 1: a park like appearance. It was hardly unreasonable to expect
Speaker 1: to see at any moment the gables and square windows
Speaker 1: of an Elizabethan mansion in one of the well kept groves.
Speaker 1: Towards sunset of the third day, when the young gentlemen
Speaker 1: thought they ought to be near the town of Magnolia,
Speaker 1: near which they had been directed to find the engineer's camp,
Speaker 1: they decried a log house and drew up before it
Speaker 1: to inquire the way. Half the building was store and
Speaker 1: half was dwelling house. At the door of the latter
Speaker 1: stood a negress with a bright turban on her head,
Speaker 1: to whom Philip called, Can you tell me, Auntie, how
Speaker 1: far it is to the town of Magnolia? Why bress you, chin,
Speaker 1: laughed the woman you's dere Now it was true. This
Speaker 1: log house was the compactly built town, and all creation
Speaker 1: was its suburbs. The engineer's camp was only two or
Speaker 1: three miles distant. He's bound to find it, directed Auntie.
Speaker 1: If you don't care nothin about the road and go
Speaker 1: for the sundown. A brisk gallop brought the riders in
Speaker 1: sight of the twinkling light of the camp, just as
Speaker 1: the stars came out. It lay in a little hollow
Speaker 1: where a small stream ran through a sparse grove of
Speaker 1: young white oaks. A half dozen tents were pitched under
Speaker 1: the trees. Horses and oxen were corraled at a little distance,
Speaker 1: and a group of men sat on camp stools or
Speaker 1: lay on blankets about a bright fire. The twang of
Speaker 1: a banjo became audible as they drew nearer, and they
Speaker 1: saw a couple of Negroes from some neighboring plantation breaking
Speaker 1: down a juba in approved style amid the high highs
Speaker 1: of the spectators. Mister Jeff Thompson, for it was the
Speaker 1: camp of this redoubtable engineer, gave the travelers a hearty welcome,
Speaker 1: offered them ground room in his own tent, ordered supper,
Speaker 1: and set out a small jug a drop from which
Speaker 1: he declared necessary on account of the chill of the evening.
Speaker 1: I never saw an Eastern man, said Jeff, who knew
Speaker 1: how to drink from a jug with one hand. It's
Speaker 1: as easy as lying, so he grasped the handle with
Speaker 1: the right hand, threw the jug back upon his arm,
Speaker 1: and applied his lips to the nozzle. It was an
Speaker 1: act as graceful as it was simple. Besides, said mister
Speaker 1: Thompson setting it down, it puts every man on his
Speaker 1: honor as to quantity. Early to turn in was the
Speaker 1: rule of the camp. And by nine o'clock everybody was
Speaker 1: under his blanket, except Jeff himself, who worked a while
Speaker 1: at his table over his field book, and then arose,
Speaker 1: stepped outside the tent door, and sang in a strong
Speaker 1: and not unmelodious tenor the star spangled banner. From beginning
Speaker 1: to end, it proved to be his nightly practice to
Speaker 1: let off the unexpended steam of his conversational powers. In
Speaker 1: the words of this stirring song, it was a long
Speaker 1: time before Philip got to sleep. He saw the firelight,
Speaker 1: he saw the clear stars through the tree tops. He
Speaker 1: heard the gurgle of the stream, the stamp of the horses,
Speaker 1: the occasional barking of the dog which followed the cook's wagon,
Speaker 1: the hooting of an owl. And when these failed, he
Speaker 1: saw Jeff standing on a battlement mid the rockets, red
Speaker 1: Glear and heard him sing, Oh say can you see?
Speaker 1: It was the first time he had ever slept on
Speaker 1: the ground. End of Chapter sixteen.