Project Gutenberg's A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready, by Bret Harte

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Title: A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready

Author: Bret Harte

Posting Date: October 28, 2008 [EBook #2280]
Release Date: August, 2000

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY ***

A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READY

by

BRET HARTE

JTABLE 4 7 1

PROLOGUE

There was no mistake this time: he had struck gold at last!

It had lain there before him a moment ago--a misshapen piece of
brown-stained quartz, interspersed with dull yellow metal; yielding
enough to have allowed the points of his pick to penetrate its
honeycombed recesses, yet heavy enough to drop from the point of his
pick as he endeavored to lift it from the red earth.

He was seeing all this plainly, although he found himself, he knew not
why, at some distance from the scene of his discovery, his heart
foolishly beating, his breath impotently hurried. Yet he was walking
slowly and vaguely; conscious of stopping and staring at the landscape,
which no longer looked familiar to him. He was hoping for some
instinct or force of habit to recall him to himself; yet when he saw a
neighbor at work in an adjacent claim, he hesitated, and then turned
his back upon him. Yet only a moment before he had thought of running
to him, saying, "By Jingo! I've struck it," or "D--n it, old man, I've
got it"; but that moment had passed, and now it seemed to him that he
could scarce raise his voice, or, if he did, the ejaculation would
appear forced and artificial. Neither could he go over to him coolly
and tell his good fortune; and, partly from this strange shyness, and
partly with a hope that another survey of the treasure might restore
him to natural expression, he walked back to his tunnel.

Yes; it was there! No mere "pocket" or "deposit," but a part of the
actual vein he had been so long seeking. It was there, sure enough,
lying beside the pick and the debris of the "face" of the vein that he
had exposed sufficiently, after the first shock of discovery, to assure
himself of the fact and the permanence of his fortune. It was t