Comstock Lode (Nev.) -- Fiction; Miners -- Fiction; Virginia City (Nev.) -- Fiction
The bodies were carried to the shaft; each was wrapped in a blanket, and
that of Corrigan was placed upon the cage. The superintendent, with
Carlin and two other miners, stepped on the cage and it was hoisted to
the surface. It returned in a few minutes, and this time Brewster's body
was placed upon it, and Harding and Ashley, with two other miners,
accompanied it to the surface.
In the daylight the faces of the dead were both peaceful, as though in
sleep. The bodies were sent away to an undertaker, and as Brewster had
been heard to say, at Wright's funeral, that if he should die in the
West, he would want his body sent East to be buried beside that of his
wife, word was sent to the undertaker to try and get the coroner's
permission and then to embalm the body of Brewster.
The three remaining members of the Club were carried to their dreary
home. Besides their sorrow, they were terribly exhausted. Harding had
fainted once in the drift; Carlin was, besides being worn out, badly
bruised, and Ashley was so exhausted that upon reaching the surface he
was seized with chills and vomiting. The Professor, the Colonel and Alex
were at the hoisting works when they were hoisted to the surface. They
accompanied them home and remained, ministering to them until late in
the night, when at last all were sleeping peacefully.
With the morning the desolateness of their situation seemed more
oppressive than ever. Yap Sing had prepared a dainty breakfast, but when
they entered the dining room and saw only three plates where a few days
before there had been seven, it was impossible for them to eat a
mouthful. Each drank a cup of black coffee, but neither tasted food.
Returned to the sitting room, it was determined to examine the effects
of their dead friends. There was little in Corrigan's bundles except
clothing and a memorandum book. This book had $150 in greenbacks, and a
great many memorandums of stocks purchased, extending over a period of
three years. These, a few words at the bottom of the pages showed, had
almost all been sold either on too short margins or for assessments.
Corrigan's humor ran all through the book in penciled remarks. The
following are samples:
"I had a sure thing; was the only mon in the sacret. I was but one and I
caught it."
"I bate Mr. Broker mon. He bought for me on a fifty per cint margin, and
it broke that fast he could not get out from below it."
"This was a certain sure point. Bedad, I found it that same."
"I took the Scorpion to my bosom and, the blackguard, he stung me."
"I stuck to Jacket until I had not a ghoust of a jacket to me back."
"I made love to Julia. She was more ungrateful than Maggie Murphy."
But between these same pages was found the letter Corrigan had received
announcing his mother's death, and this was almost illegible because of
the tear stains upon it.
In Brewster's trunk everything was found in the perfect order which had
marked all his ways.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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