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oā€™ going to that swell Oriental, jest as if yeā€™d made a big strikeā€” and all the while ye wasnā€™t sleepinā€™ or eatinā€™ there, but jest wrastlinā€™ yer hash and having a roll down at the Good Cheer! Do you think I didnā€™t spy on ye and find that out? Oh, you long-eared jackass-rabbit!ā€

He laughed until the tears came into his eyes, and Uncle Billy laughed too, albeit until the laugh on his face became quite fixed, and he was fain to bury his head in his handkerchief.

ā€œAnd yet,ā€ said Uncle Jim, with a deep breath, ā€œgosh! I was frightedā€”jest for a minit! I thought, mebbe, you HAD made a big strikeā€”when I got your first letterā€”and I made up my mind what Iā€™d do! And then I remembered you was jest that kind of an open sluice that couldnā€™t keep anythinā€™ to yourself, and youā€™d have been sure to have yelled it out to ME the first thing. So I waited. And I found you out, you old sinner!ā€ He reached forward and dug Uncle Billy in the ribs.

ā€œWhat WOULD you hev done?ā€ said Uncle Billy, after an hysterical collapse.

Uncle Jimā€™s face grew grave again. ā€œIā€™d hevā€”Iā€™dā€”hev clā€™ared out! Out er ā€˜Frisco! out er Californy! out er Ameriky! I couldnā€™t have stud it! Donā€™t think I would hev begrudged ye yer luck! No man would have been gladder than me.ā€ He leaned forward again, and laid his hand caressingly upon his partnerā€™s armā€”ā€œDonā€™t think Iā€™d hev wanted to take a penny of itā€”but Iā€”thar! I COULDNā€™T hev stood up under it! To hev had YOU, you that I left behind, cominā€™ down here rollinā€™ in wealth and new partners and friends, and arrive upon meā€”and this shantyā€”andā€ā€”he threw towards the corner of the room a terrible gesture, none the less terrible that it was illogical and inconsequent to all that had gone beforeā€”ā€œandā€”andā€” THAT BROOM!ā€

There was a dead silence in the room. With it Uncle Billy seemed to feel himself again transported to the homely cabin at Cedar Camp and that fateful night, with his partnerā€™s strange, determined face before him as then. He even fancied that he heard the roaring of the pines without, and did not know that it was the distant sea.

But after a minute Uncle Jim resumed:ā€”

ā€œOf course youā€™ve made a little raise somehow, or you wouldnā€™t be here?ā€

ā€œYes,ā€ said Uncle Billy eagerly. ā€œYes! Iā€™ve gotā€ā€” He stopped and stammered. ā€œIā€™ve gotā€”aā€”few hundreds.ā€

ā€œOh, oh!ā€ said Uncle Jim cheerfully. He paused, and then added earnestly, ā€œI say! You ainā€™t got left, over and above your dā€”d foolishness at the Oriental, as much as five hundred dollars?ā€

ā€œIā€™ve got,ā€ said Uncle Billy, blushing a little over his first deliberate and affected lie, ā€œIā€™ve got at least five hundred and seventy-two dollars. Yes,ā€ he added tentatively, gazing anxiously at his partner, ā€œIā€™ve got at least that.ā€

ā€œJe whillikins!ā€ said Uncle Jim, with a laugh. Then eagerly, ā€œLook here, pard! Then weā€™re on velvet! Iā€™ve got NINE hundred; put your FIVE with that, and I know a little ranch that we can get for twelve hundred. Thatā€™s what Iā€™ve been savinā€™ up forā€”thatā€™s my little game! No more mininā€™ for ME. Itā€™s got a shanty twice as big as our old cabin, nigh on a hundred acres, and two mustangs. We can run it with two Chinamen and jest make it howl! Wot yer sayā€”eh?ā€ He extended his hand.

ā€œIā€™m in,ā€ said Uncle Billy, radiantly grasping Uncle Jimā€™s. But his smile faded, and his clear simple brow wrinkled in two lines.

Happily Uncle Jim did not notice it. ā€œNow, then, old pard,ā€ he said brightly, ā€œweā€™ll have a gay old time tonightā€”one of our jamborees! Iā€™ve got some whiskey here and a deck oā€™ cards, and weā€™ll have a little game, you understand, but not for ā€˜keepsā€™ now! No, siree; weā€™ll play for beans.ā€

A sudden light illuminated Uncle Billyā€™s face again, but he said, with a grim desperation, ā€œNot tonight! Iā€™ve got to go into town. That frenā€™ oā€™ mine expects me to go to the theayter, donā€™t ye see? But Iā€™ll be out to-morrow at sun-up, and weā€™ll fix up this thing oā€™ the ranch.ā€

ā€œSeems to me youā€™re kinder stuck on this frenā€™,ā€ grunted Uncle Jim.

Uncle Billyā€™s heart bounded at his partnerā€™s jealousy. ā€œNoā€”but I MUST, you know,ā€ he returned, with a faint laugh.

ā€œI sayā€”it ainā€™t a HER, is it?ā€ said Uncle Jim.

Uncle Billy achieved a diabolical wink and a creditable blush at his lie.

ā€œBilly?ā€

ā€œJim!ā€

And under cover of this festive gallantry Uncle Billy escaped. He ran through the gathering darkness, and toiled up the shifting sands to the top of the hill, where he found the carriage waiting.

ā€œWot,ā€ said Uncle Billy in a low confidential tone to the coachman, ā€œwot do you ā€˜Frisco fellers allow to be the best, biggest, and riskiest gamblinā€™-saloon here? Suthinā€™ high-toned, you know?ā€

The negro grinned. It was the usual case of the extravagant spendthrift miner, though perhaps he had expected a different question and order.

ā€œDey is de ā€˜Polka,ā€™ de ā€˜El Dorado,ā€™ and de ā€˜Arcadeā€™ saloon, boss,ā€ he said, flicking his whip meditatively. ā€œMost gents from de mines prefer de ā€˜Polka,ā€™ for dey is dancing wid de gals frown in. But de real prima facie place for gents who go for buckinā€™ agin de tiger and straight-out gamblinā€™ is de ā€˜Arcade.ā€™ā€

ā€œDrive there like thunder!ā€ said Uncle Billy, leaping into the carriage.

 

ā€¦ ā€¦

 

True to his word, Uncle Billy was at his partnerā€™s shanty early the next morning. He looked a little tired, but happy, and had brought a draft with him for five hundred and seventy-five dollars, which he explained was the total of his capital. Uncle Jim was overjoyed. They would start for Napa that very day, and conclude the purchase of the ranch; Uncle Jimā€™s sprained foot was a sufficient reason for his giving up his present vocation, which he could also sell at a small profit. His domestic arrangements were very simple; there was nothing to take with himā€”there was everything to leave behind. And that afternoon, at sunset, the two reunited partners were seated on the deck of the Napa boat as she swung into the stream.

Uncle Billy was gazing over the railing with a look of abstracted relief towards the Golden Gate, where the sinking sun seemed to be drawing towards him in the ocean a golden stream that was forever pouring from the Bay and the three-hilled city beside it. What Uncle Billy was thinking of, or what the picture suggested to him, did not transpire; for Uncle Jim, who, emboldened by his holiday, was luxuriating in an evening paper, suddenly uttered a long-drawn whistle, and moved closer to his abstracted partner. ā€œLook yer,ā€ he said, pointing to a paragraph he had evidently just read, ā€œjust you listen to this, and see if we ainā€™t lucky, you and me, to be jest wot we airā€”trustinā€™ to our own hard workā€”and not thinkinā€™ oā€™ ā€˜strikesā€™ and ā€˜fortins.ā€™ Jest unbutton yer ears, Billy, while I reel off this yer thing Iā€™ve jest struck in the paper, and see what dā€”d fools some men kin make oā€™ themselves. And that theer reporter wot wrote itā€”must hev seed it reely!ā€

Uncle Jim cleared his throat, and holding the paper close to his eyes read aloud slowly:ā€”

ā€œā€˜A scene of excitement that recalled the palmy days of ā€˜49 was witnessed last night at the Arcade Saloon. A stranger, who might have belonged to that reckless epoch, and who bore every evidence of being a successful Pike County miner out on a ā€œspree,ā€ appeared at one of the tables with a negro coachman bearing two heavy bags of gold. Selecting a faro-bank as his base of operations, he began to bet heavily and with apparent recklessness, until his play excited the breathless attention of every one. In a few moments he had won a sum variously estimated at from eighty to a hundred thousand dollars. A rumor went round the room that it was a concerted attempt to ā€œbreak the bankā€ rather than the drunken freak of a Western miner, dazzled by some successful strike. To this theory the manā€™s careless and indifferent bearing towards his extraordinary gains lent great credence. The attempt, if such it was, however, was unsuccessful. After winning ten times in succession the luck turned, and the unfortunate ā€œbuckerā€ was cleared out not only of his gains, but of his original investment, which may be placed roughly at twenty thousand dollars. This extraordinary play was witnessed by a crowd of excited players, who were less impressed by even the magnitude of the stakes than the perfect sang-froid and recklessness of the player, who, it is said, at the close of the game tossed a twenty-dollar gold-piece to the banker and smilingly withdrew. The man was not recognized by any of the habitues of the place.ā€™

ā€œThere!ā€ said Uncle Jim, as he hurriedly slurred over the French substantive at the close, ā€œdid ye ever see such God-forsaken foolishness?ā€

Uncle Billy lifted his abstracted eyes from the current, still pouring its unreturning gold into the sinking sun, and said, with a deprecatory smile, ā€œNever!ā€

Nor even in the days of prosperity that visited the Great Wheat Ranch of ā€œFall and Fosterā€ did he ever tell his secret to his partner.

SEE YUP

I donā€™t suppose that his progenitors ever gave him that name, or, indeed, that it was a NAME at all; but it was currently believed thatā€”as pronounced ā€œSee UPā€ā€”it meant that lifting of the outer angle of the eye common to the Mongolian. On the other hand, I had been told that there was an old Chinese custom of affixing some motto or legend, or even a sentence from Confucius, as a sign above their shops, and that two or more words, which might be merely equivalent to ā€œVirtue is its own reward,ā€ or ā€œRiches are deceitful,ā€ were believed by the simple Californian miner to be the name of the occupant himself. Howbeit, ā€œSee Yupā€ accepted it with the smiling patience of his race, and never went by any other. If one of the tunnelmen always addressed him as ā€œBrigadier-General,ā€ ā€œJudge,ā€ or ā€œCommodore,ā€ it was understood to be only the American fondness for ironic title, and was never used except in personal conversation. In appearance he looked like any other Chinaman, wore the ordinary blue cotton blouse and white drawers of the Sampan coolie, and, in spite of the apparent cleanliness and freshness of these garments, always exhaled that singular medicated odorā€”half opium, half gingerā€”which we recognized as the common ā€œChinese smell.ā€

Our first interview was characteristic of his patient quality. He had done my washing for several months, but I had never yet seen him. A meeting at last had become necessary to correct his impressions regarding ā€œbuttonsā€ā€”which he had seemed to consider as mere excrescences, to be removed like superfluous dirt from soiled linen. I had expected him to call at my lodgings, but he had not yet made his appearance. One day, during the noontide recess of the little frontier school over which I presided, I returned rather early. Two or three of the smaller boys, who were loitering about the school-yard, disappeared with a certain guilty precipitation that I suspected for the moment, but which I presently dismissed from my mind. I passed through the empty school-room to my desk, sat down, and began to prepare the coming lessons. Presently I heard a faint sigh. Looking up, to my intense concern, I discovered a solitary Chinaman whom I had overlooked, sitting in a rigid attitude on a bench with his back to the window. He caught my eye and smiled sadly, but without moving.

ā€œWhat are you doing here?ā€ I asked sternly.

ā€œMe washee shilts; me talkee ā€˜buttons.ā€™ā€

ā€œOh! youā€™re See Yup, are you?ā€

ā€œAllee same, John.ā€

ā€œWell, come here.ā€

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