The ladies now sought the deck of the "Hallena," and were soon followed by the gentlemen, who smoked their fragrant Havanas, enjoying every moment's vacation from business anxieties at home. The yacht, like a slender greyhound, in charge of the first officer was swiftly running towards the Isle of Elba, en route to Naples. The stars never shone more brilliantly in the Italian sky, and land breezes were mingling their rich odors with the salt sea air.
The spell of Columbus's great discovery stirred the soul of Harry Hall. Holding his half-smoked cigar, he repeated the familiar couplet,
"Man's inhumanity to manMakes countless thousands mourn."
"Man's inhumanity to manMakes countless thousands mourn."
"Strange that four centuries go by before even Genoa erects his monument, which we have admired to-day; though monuments to the memory of Columbus have been erected in many cities, yet, how tardy the world was to appreciate the value of Columbus's discovery, a third of the land of the globe. How pitiful the last days of Columbus, who, old and ill, returning in 1504 from his fourth voyage to the new world, found his patroness Isabella dying, and Ferdinand heartless. With no money to pay his bills, Columbus died May 20th, 1505, in poor quarters at Valladolid, his last words being, 'Into thy hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit.' It is now natural perhaps that many cities should claim his birth and his bones."
"Yes," said Lucille, "how encouraging some of the world's kind epitaphs would be if they were only spoken before death came. Two hemispheres now eagerly study the inspiring story of Columbus's faith, courage, perseverance, and success."
Henley said, "Captain Hall, you are young yet, but by the time you reach my age you will have little use for the sentiment young people so often indulge in. When New York tries her hand with expositions she will doubtless deal with facts. The truth is, Columbus was human like the rest of us, and followed in the wake of others for his own personal aggrandizement. He was not the first man to discover America. The Norsemen antedated him by five centuries."
"What if the Norsemen did first discover America?" said Colonel Harris. "The discoveries of the vikings were not utilized by civilization. It is held by the courts that a patent is valid only in the name of the inventor who first gives the invention a useful introduction. Columbus's discovery was fortunately made at a time when civilization was able with men and money to follow up and appropriate its advantages."
"The true discoverer of America," said Henley, "I believe to be Jean Cousin, a sea captain of Dieppe, France, who crossed the Atlantic and sailed into the Amazon River in 1488, four years before Columbus reached San Salvador. Then Spain, Portugal, the States of the Church, Ferdinand, Isabella, and Columbus attempted to rob Cousin of his bold adventure. In brief these are the facts: Jean Cousin was an able and scientific navigator. In 1487 his skill so contributed in securing a naval victory for the French over the English that the reward for his personal valor was the gift of an armed ship from the merchants of Dieppe, who expected him to go forth in search of new discoveries.[A]
"In January, 1488, Cousin sailed west out into the Atlantic, and south, for two months with Vincent Pinzon a practical sailor, second in command. He sailed up the Amazon River, secured strange birds, feathers, spices, and unknown woods, and returned to the coast of Africa for a cargo of ivory, oil, skins, and gold dust. Pinzon quarreled with the natives, fired upon them, and seized some of their goods, so that they fled and would not come back to him. He thus lost a valuable return cargo. At Dieppe the merchants were enraged; Pinzon was tried by court martial for imperilling the trade of Africa, and banished from French soil. He thirsted for revenge and went back to Palos to tell his brothers Alonzo and Martin, shipowners, of the mighty Amazon; often they speculated as to the vast lands which the Amazon drained.
"Columbus, discouraged, ridiculed, and begging his way, started out to meet at Huelva his brother-in-law and secure promised help, so that he could visit France. Suddenly he changed his route, stopped at the little convent La Rabida, met Juan Perez, who knew Queen Isabella, and Fernandez the priest, the latter a close friend of the three Pinzon brothers. Columbus got what he wanted at court, returned to Palos, and with the Pinzon brothers sailed west, with Vincent Pinzon, Cousin's shipmate, as pilot. The conclusion that Jean Cousin, and not Columbus first discovered America, seems irresistible. Pope Alexander VI., by Papal bull, had already divided all the new discoveries made, between Catholic Spain and Portugal. Dieppe and France were in the Pope's black books. What chance of recognition had Cousin against Columbus, the protégé of this Pope?"
"You seem to win your case," said Major Williams, "what romance in history will be left us? William Tell is now a myth, and Washington's little hatchet story is no more."
Lucille quieted Leo with a smile, cigars were thrown overboard, the light on the Isle of Elba was visible, and all retired for the night, while the alert yacht, like a whirring night-hawk, flew on towards Naples.
On the yacht "Hallena" early to bed and early to rise was an unwritten law. By six o'clock next morning, breakfast had been served, and the tourists were on deck with glasses, each anxious to discover objects of interest. During the night busy Leghorn on the coast, and Pisa, and Florence up the Arno, were left behind. Leo was proud of sunny and artistic Italy and he much desired that Lucille should see at Pisa the famous white marble leaning tower, with its beautiful spiral colonnades; its noble cathedral and baptistry, the latter famous for its wonderful echo, and the celebrated cemetery made of earth brought from the Holy Land. At Florence she should see the stupendous Duomo, with the Brunelleschi dome that excited the emulation of Michael Angelo; the bronze gates of Ghiberti, "worthy to be the gates of paradise," and the choice collections of art in the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi Gallery connected by Porte Vecchio. But Leo contented himself with the thought that when the yacht episode was over, and Harry Hall had passed out of sight, he could then take Lucille over Italy to enjoy a thousand-and-one works of art, including masterpieces by such artists as Michael Angelo, Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Guido, and others.
Lucille had studied art in Boston, and she was fond of Leo because he passionately loved art and could assist her. She began to comprehend what Aristotle meant when he defined art as "the reason of the thing, without the matter," or Emerson, "the conscious utterance of thought, by speech, or action, to any end."
During the night the yacht "Hallena" had steamed down through the Channel Piombino, and the Tuscan Archipelago, studded with islands, and had passed Rome, the Eternal City.
"Naples cannot be far off," thought Leo, for to the southeast is seen the smoking torch of Mt. Vesuvius, southwest is the island of Ischia with its extinct volcano, and beyond is Cape Miseno. The "Hallena" cautiously felt her way among the luxuriant islands that guard the broad and beautiful Bay of Naples and the Siren City. Her passengers had ample opportunity to study the attractions of this justly celebrated locality.
Vesuvius, reflected in the smooth waters of the bay, lifts high her peak, the ascending smoke coloring the white clouds above. At her feet lies ancient Hurculaneum, submerged on the 24th of August, A.D. 79, by a flood of molten lava.
Nearer the bay and only five miles from the volcano, is ancient Pompeii, which was overwhelmed by the same eruption of Vesuvius. Pompeii was buried, not with lava, but with tufa, ashes and scoriæ, and since 1755 has thus been the more easily and extensively uncovered. This ancient Roman city was enclosed by walls and entered by several gates. Its numerous streets were paved with lava. The traveler of to-day beholds uncovered the one story and terraced houses, shops, mansions, the market place, temples, theatres, and baths. In some of the houses were found furniture, statues, paintings, books, medals, urns, jewels, utensils, manuscripts, etc., all less injured than one would suppose.
Today more modern towns are located about the curved shore of this unrivaled bay. The sparkling waters, the winding shore, the bold cliffs, the threatening lava cone, the buried cities, all combine under the bluest skies to make the Bay of Naples a Mecca for worshipers of the beautiful.
On the deck of the "Hallena" stood the group of American tourists, enchanted with the picturesque environment of historic Naples. The city is built along the shore and up the sides of adjacent mountains. A mole, with lighthouse, projects into the bay and forms a small harbor.
The sun had climbed towards the zenith, and shone full upon this fair city, as the yacht entered the harbor. Many of the buildings are white, five or six stories in height, with flat roofs covered with plants and shrubbery. If the weather is favorable the inmates resort at sunset to their roof-gardens to enjoy lovely views and the cool breezes from the bay.
The Spiaggia, a popular thoroughfare, is adorned with statues, and extends along the shore to the Tomb of Virgil, and the mole. It is crowded every evening with Neapolitans in equipages, some elegant, and some grotesque.
Two or three days were spent in studying the palaces and art galleries of Naples. Of special interest is the national Museo Borbonico, which is remarkable for its collection of antiquities. In the palmy days of Borne, Naples was a luxurious retreat for emperors and wealthy citizens of the great empire. Naples was the scene of a most disgraceful outrage in May, 1848, when it was plundered by the Lazzaroni, or Begging Community, and fifteen hundred lives were lost.
When the sight-seeing in Naples was completed Captain Hall offered to take the Harrises in his yacht back to Rome, but his offer was declined. Good-byes were cordially exchanged and the "Hallena" steamed south to Palermo, en route to Athens and other Levantine cities, while the Harrises took the express for Rome.
Leo was glad to see the "Hallena" steam away, and to be with Lucille aboard a train moving towards Rome. When the station in the eastern part of the city was reached, a carriage conveyed the Harrises along the Corso which at the hour of their driving was enlivened by many vehicles and foot-passengers.
Leo told Lucille of the popular festivals at Rome, especially of the Carnival that extends over several days, which consists of daily processions in the Corso, accompanied by the throwing of bouquets and comfits; the whole concluding with a horse race from the Piazza del Popolo to Piazza di Venezia, upwards of a mile. On the last, or the Moccoli evening, tapers are lighted immediately after sunset. Balconies most suitable for observing these animated scenes are expensive, but always in great demand, especially by tourists.
Colonel Harris took his family and Leo to an excellent hotel on the Piazza de Popolo. The weather being uncomfortably warm, it was decided to spend only a few days in the city, and go as soon as possible to the country. Leo was very familiar with Rome, ancient and modern, and he felt that weeks were absolutely necessary to study and comprehend the grandeur of a city that for so many centuries had been mistress of the world. He agreed with Niebuhr, "As the streams lose themselves in the mightier ocean, so the history of the people once distributed along the Mediterranean shores is absorbed in that of the mighty mistress of the world."
Leo back again in Rome was in an ecstasy of joy. Here Greece had laid at the feet of Rome her conqueror, the accumulated art treasures of ages. Here Leo could have keenest delight, where he moved among the noblest examples of antique sculpture, which filled the galleries and chambers of the Vatican and Capitol. Most of the night he lay awake, planning how he could in so short a time exhibit to his American friends Rome and her wealth of art. At breakfast he said, "A whole day is needed to inspect the Forum Romanum, a day each, for the Capitoline Hill, the Appian Way, and many other historic localities in this seven-hilled city."
Leo, acting as guide, took his party to the Pincian Hill near the northern wall, a fashionable resort with fine boulevards and frequent band music. From the summit, he pointed out the yellow Tiber, which winds for seventeen miles to the sea. The larger part of modern Rome lies on the left bank of the Tiber, and covers three historic hills. Towering above the tops of the buildings are the domes and spires of nearly four hundred churches of which the dome of St. Peter's is the most imposing. In sight beyond are the Capitol, the ruins of the Colosseum, and ancient tombs along the Appian Way. To the west on the Palatine Hill are the ruins of the palace of the Cæsars, and outside the walls, on the broad Campagna, are the remains of several aqueducts converging on the city, some of which, restored, are in use to-day.
The day's ride included a visit to Agrippa's Pantheon, now denuded of its bronze roofing and marble exterior. A circular opening in the huge dome admits both light and rain. Leo standing with Lucille by the tomb of Raphael in one of the recesses, for a moment was silent. Then he said, "Lucille, it is impossible to fully appreciate the many and beautiful works of this 'prince of painters.' He was born on Good Friday, 1483, and lived exactly thirty-seven years. He was of slight build, sallow, and had brown eyes. Over nine hundred prints of his works are known. Besides his works in fresco at the Vatican, for a time he had charge of the construction of St. Peter's, and he also painted masterpieces now at Bologna, Dresden, Madrid, Hampton Court, and executed numerous commissions for Leo X.; and Madonnas, holy families, portraits, etc., for others. Raphael stands unrivaled, chiefly in his power to portray lofty sentiments which persons of all nationalities can feel, but few can describe. He also excelled in invention, composition, simplicity and grandeur. For moral force in allegory and history, and for fidelity in portrait, Raphael was unsurpassed. His last and most celebrated oil picture, the transfiguration, unfinished, stood at his head as his body lay in state."
Colonel Harris was interested in the restored Triumphal Arch of Titus erected to commemorate the defeat of the Jews A.D. 70, also in the beautiful Arch to Severus. At the end of the Rostra, or Orators' Tribune was the Umbilicus Urbis Romae, or ideal center of Rome and the Roman Empire. True it was that all roads led to Rome. Leo and Lucille visited by moonlight the ruins of the great Colosseum, and the lights and shadows in the huge old stone and brick amphitheater, made it look all the more imposing and picturesque.
On the morning of the second day Leo Colonna guided his friends down the Via di Ripetta, stopping at the Mausoleum of Augustus, which in the middle ages was used by the Colonnas as a fortress. Then continuing down the left bank of the Tiber, the Ponte S. Angelo was reached. This ancient bridge of five arches leads directly to the Castello S. Angelo, the citadel of Rome, which originally was a tomb erected by Hadrian for himself and successor. The tomb is 240 feet in diameter, and must have been very beautiful, as it was once encrusted with marble. Statues stood around the margin of the top, and above all a colossal statue of Hadrian himself. Later the Goths, veritable iconoclasts, converted this tomb of the emperors into a fortress, hurling the marble statues down on the besiegers. For centuries this castle-tomb was used as a stronghold by the party in power to maintain their sway over the people. In 1822 Pius IX. refortified the castle. In it was seen the gloomy dungeon where Beatrice Cenci and others were incarcerated.
The Harrises drove down the Borgo Nuovo to the church of St. Peter. Its approach is through a magnificent piazza ornamented on the right and left by two semicircular porticoes of 284 columns, which are surmounted by an entablature, and 192 statues, each eleven feet in height. It is claimed that the origin of the Cathedral of St. Peter is due to the impulse given by Pope Julius II. who decided to erect a grand monument for himself in his life-time, and the new edifice was needed to shield it. St. Peter's was begun in 1506 and dedicated in 1626.
Bramante's wonderful plans were accepted, and both Michael Angelo and Raphael aided in its construction. From a Greek cross rises a gigantic dome, which is one of the boldest and most wonderful efforts of architecture. Lucille recalled Byron's description,
"The vast and wondrous dome,To which Diana's marvel was a cell."
"The vast and wondrous dome,To which Diana's marvel was a cell."
Entering this mighty cathedral, Colonel Harris was bewildered with its grand and harmonious interior. The height from the pavement to the cross rivals the height of the Washington monument. The nave is 607 feet in length, and the transept is 445 feet. St. Paul's at London covers only two acres, St. Peter's five acres. The cost of the former was $3,750,000, the cost of the latter from $60,000,000 to $80,000,000.
The Harrises visited St. John Lateran, the mother-church of the Eternal City, where Popes were crowned, and where on Ascension Day, from one of its balconies, the Pope's benediction to the people is pronounced.
They also visited the restored St. Paul's Church outside the walls. Its interior is of vast dimensions. It was built of valuable materials, and the whole is very imposing. Especially was Lucille impressed with the long series of portrait medallions of all the Popes from St. Peter to Leo X. worked in mosaic above the polished columns.
Many monuments in St. Peter's were erected to the memory of several of the famous Popes. The Vatican, the largest palace in Europe, is where the Popes came to reside after their return from Avignon, France, in 1377, for here they felt much security in the vicinity of the Castle S. Angelo, with which it communicated by a covered gallery. For a time the Popes vied with each other in enlarging and embellishing the Vatican, which covers an immense space, and is a collection of separate buildings; the length is 1150 feet, and the breath 767 feet. The Vatican is said to contain 20 courts, and 11,000 halls, chapels, salons, and private apartments, most of which are occupied by collections and show-rooms, while only a small part is set apart for the papal court.
The Harrises visited the most celebrated portions of the Vatican; the Scala Regia, covered with frescoes of events in Papal history, the Sistine Chapel, adorned with fine frescoes by Michael Angelo, including the Last Judgment. Here the Cardinals meet to elect the Pope, and here many of the most gorgeous ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church are performed.
Equally enthusiastic were Leo and Lucille over Raphael's superb frescoes in the Loggie, and in the chambers adjoining. The few pictures in the gallery are scarcely surpassed. The museum contains some of the noblest treasures of art, including the Laocoon, and Apollo Belvidere. The library is very valuable. The superb palace of the Quirinal has beautiful gardens.
Besides the several elegant public palaces in Rome, there are in and near the city over sixty private palaces or villas; the finest of which is the Barberini Palace. Several of the villas are located above terraces amid orange and citron groves, and they are ornamented with statues and fountains. Leo with pride took his friends to see the Colonna Palace, which contained many old portraits of his family.
After dinner a drive was taken outside the Porta del Popolo to the magnificent Villa Borghese and the Pincian Hill. It was planned to visit on the morrow the gallery Borghese, next to the Vatican, the most important in Rome. It was dark as Leo returned with his party to the hotel. The landlord handed him a gentleman's card which read,
Mr. Ferdinand Francisco Colonna.Piazza Colonna, Rome.
Mr. Ferdinand Francisco Colonna.Piazza Colonna, Rome.
The landlord said that this gentleman was waiting for Leo in the reception-room. Leo at once recognized the card as that of his cousin, who was an attorney in Rome, and he hurried to meet his relative. They grasped hands warmly, and soon were in earnest conversation.
Ferdinand, taking a large official envelope from his pocket, opened it and began reading what he called a very important paper. It was a copy of the will of their rich uncle, who had just died, while inspecting his possession in Sicily. Leo Colonna bore the name of this uncle, his father's oldest brother, who was fond of art, and who was never married. He had always been attached to Leo, his nephew, and in his will Leo was made his sole heir. Great was Leo's surprise to learn that he was now not only the owner of a fine palace southeast of Rome, but of large possessions in Rome, Sicily, and South America.
Leo leaned back in his chair, his eyes closed, his face changed color and the muscles of his hands and face twitched as if he were in pain. Suddenly he recovered possession of himself and said, "Ferdinand, you almost paralyze me by the news you bring. Am I dreaming, or not?"
"No, no, Leo. This is a copy of the will of our uncle. The original will is in my safe. By this same will I am to have 100,000 lira for assisting you. I am now at your service."
"Ferdinand, you bring sad and glorious news. What is your advice?"
"That we file the original will at once in the proper court, and that you proceed with me immediately to Marino to take possession there of your palace and property."
"Agreed, Ferdinand. We will leave Rome for Marino at noon tomorrow. Meet me here, as I may have friends to join us."
Leo hastened at once to tell the good news to the Harrises, who were nearly as much elated as himself, and it was agreed that all would join Leo in his proposed trip. It was late that night when Leo and Lucille separated in the parlor below. Each had dreamed of castles in Spain, but now it looked as if Leo and possibly Lucille, might actually possess castles in Italy.
That night Leo told Lucille much about the princely Colonna family of Italy, which originated in the 11th century. Pope Martin V., several others who took part in the contest between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, and many others of the Colonna family had attained to historical and literary distinction.
Lucille was interested in the story of the great naval battle of Lepanto in which Marc Antonio Colonna aided Don Juan of Austria to gain a world-renowned victory for Christianity against the Turks, the first effective triumph of the cross over the crescent. Leo recited the story of the life of the illustrious Vittoria Colonna, pictures of a bust of whom Lucille had seen that day in Rome.
Vittoria, and the son of the Marquis of Pescara, when children four years old, were affianced, and in their seventeenth year they were married. The young bride bravely sent her husband to the wars with a pavilion, an embroidered standard, and palm leaves, expressing the hope that he would return with honors, for she was proud of the Colonna name.
Vittoria full of genius and grace, idealized her young showy cavalier, who was gallant and chivalrous. Her brave knight Pescara, among other victories, won the battle of Pavia, and finally died of his wounds in Milan before she could reach his side. Vittoria Colonna buried her love in Pescara's grave at Naples. Her widowhood was a period of sorrow, song, friendship, and saintly life. She was tall, stately, and dignified; of gracious manners, and united much charm with her culture and virtue. She is considered the fairest and noblest lady of the Italian Renaissance.
Vittoria Colonna was on intimate terms with the great men and women of her day, and in close sympathy with the Italian reformers. Michael Angelo was warmly her friend. His strong verses full of feeling to Vittoria were replied to in gentle, graceful strains. She died as the sun sank in the Mediterranean on the afternoon of February 25, 1547, Michael Angelo regretting as he saw her, lying on her death-bed, that he had not kissed her forehead and face as he had kissed her hand.
As Lucille retired that night she felt the force of Vittoria's noble life, and longed to emulate one so related to her friend Leo. She felt her own heart drawing nearer to Leo's, and in the silent hours of the night, she sometimes wondered if she should ever bear the honored name of Colonna.
Next day at 12 o'clock promptly, Leo's cousin came, and the Harrises and Leo took the Rome and Naples line for Marino, located sixteen miles southeast of Rome, where Vittoria Colonna had lived, and where Leo expected to find and take possession of his own palace and property.
The Roman tombs of the Via Appia on the right were soon left behind. A dozen miles out and Frascate a summer resort was conspicuous with its many lovely villas. Later the party left the train and enjoyed a beautiful drive of three miles to Marino, a small town famous for its wine, and located on the Alban Mountains. In the middle ages, the Orsini defended themselves here in a stronghold against their enemies the Colonna, but the latter under Martin V. captured Marino, which with the surrounding country has remained a fief of the Colonna family to the present day.
Ferdinand had already attended to much of the detail at Marino, so that Leo, as owner of the vast Colonna estate, was loyally received by the villagers, the tenants, and the old servants. Leo made his friends, the Harrises, most welcome at his unexpected and palatial home. The Harrises were delighted at what they saw. Leo and Lucille took several drives together over the large estate. Once they drove along the shady roads, commanding extensive views, through the beautiful park of Colonna, and down a well wooded valley to the clear waters of the Alban Lake. Often Leo wished that Alfonso had accompanied him.
For some time before leaving Rome, Lucille had complained of a dull headache and chills at night. In France Mrs. Harris was fearful that the summer trip to Italy was not wise, but Leo and her family thought the yacht voyage to Naples would be charming. On the morning of the third day at Marino, Lucille was unable to leave her bed. Leo hastily called a physician who found her pulse very low. She experienced great thirst and nausea, and the heat of her body was much increased. When the doctor learned that Colonel Harris's daughter had slept in Rome with the window open, he at once declared to the family that Lucille had Roman fever, that dreaded malaria which is engendered in summer months near the marshes of Italy. Leo summoned to Marino the ablest physicians of Rome, who were in constant attendance, and heroic treatment was adopted.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Harris were half crazed with the fear of losing their beautiful daughter, and Leo himself was nearly frantic. Lucille grew rapidly worse. Her strength and courage failed her, she became unconscious, and as the tall white lily in the midday sun loses its beauty and life, so Lucille passed from earth, her agonizing mother holding the dead daughter's slender white hands.
Leo fell insensible and was removed from the death-chamber by his servants. Womanly courage returned to the mother after a few moments of intense grief, and aided by others the necessary preparations were made for the removal of Lucille to America.
Captain Harry Hall with his yacht en route to Athens had called at Brindisi to get a reply from a most important letter of his mailed to Lucille at Palermo. As he stepped ashore a telegram was handed him announcing the sudden death of the woman he loved. He was so shocked that his friends were alarmed. After a short conference Harry wired Colonel Harris the use of his yacht to carry back to America the remains of beautiful Lucille.
While Colonel Harris was writing an acceptance of Captain Hall's services, a second telegram came announcing the death, by drowning, of his only son Alfonso in the Zuider Zee at Amsterdam. How true that misfortunes never come singly!
Beneath the pillow on which Lucille died, were found two unanswered letters, proposals of marriage, one from Leo and one from Captain Hall. The broken hearted mother took charge of these letters, and before the metallic coffin was sealed, the unanswered letters were placed in Lucille's white hand, over the heart that could not now decide.
Later the casket was put on board the yacht "Hallena" at Rome, and Captain Hall with his flag at half-mast steamed towards America with the woman, who could never on earth accept the tribute of his heart. Leo, now Marquis Colonna, true chevalier that he was, insisted that he be permitted to accompany Colonel Harris to Amsterdam in search of his son Alfonso.
The honeymoon of George and Gertrude included not only the two delightful weeks in Switzerland, but also the ten or twelve days on a slow steamer returning to New York. The weather at sea was all that could be desired. The longer a smooth sea-voyage, the better lovers are pleased. Return ocean passages usually furnish the much needed rest after a so-called vacation abroad. Overworked Americans need, not so much an entire cessation of activities, as a change of occupation, which usually, brings the desired results.
George and Gertrude made but few acquaintances on the steamer. The thought that each possessed the other was enjoyment that satisfied, and both were happy. Each lived as in dreamland, and scarcely observed even the daily runs made by the steamer. The death by accident of a sailor, and his strange burial at sea, served only for a brief time to arrest a happiness made complete by each other's voice and presence. The two weeks on the ocean came and went as softly as flowers unfold and disappear. Thus far, married life had been ideal.
It was after eleven o'clock, and anxious passengers were pacing the decks, hoping to sight native land before retiring. Suddenly the officer on the bridge discerned the dim Fire Island Light, bearing north by west, twenty miles distant. Ten minutes later, five points on the port bow, a pilot boat was sighted. Her mast-head light was visible, also the torch, which soaked in turpentine, burnt brightly at intervals.
The steamer signals, "We want a pilot," by burning a blue light on the bridge, and bears down on the pilot schooner. The moon reveals enormous figures, with a heavy dot beneath, on the mainsail of the schooner. Over the rail goes the yawl, followed by the oarsman and pilot, whose turn it is to go ashore. The pilot carries a lantern, which in the egg-shaped yawl dances on the white wave crests up and down like a fire-fly. The yawl is soon under the steamer's lee, and a line from the big ship pulls the little boat to the ladder, and the pilot nimbly climbs to the steamer's bridge, bringing the latest papers. The schooner drifts under the steamer's stern, takes in the yawl, and again sails to the eastward in search of another liner.
The entrance to the port of New York is patrolled night and day by a pilot-fleet of thirty boats, which cost from $10,000 to $20,000 each. They are staunch and seaworthy, the fastest schooners afloat. Often, knocked down by heavy seas, for a moment they tremble, like a frightened bird, then shaking the water off their decks, they rise, heave to, perhaps under double reefed foresail, and with everything made snug, outride the storm, and are at their work again. Pilots earn good pay, and this they deserve, as they often risk their lives in behalf of others.
Sandy Hook Light was now in sight, and long before the sun began his journey across the heavens, the steamer lay at anchor at quarantine, waiting for a certificate from the health officer. As the steamer proudly sped through "The Narrows," a jubilant crowd of passengers on the promenade deck sang,
"My country 'tis of theeSweet Land of Liberty,Of thee I sing;Land where my fathers died;Land of the pilgrim's pride;From ev'ry mountain sideLet freedom ring."
"My country 'tis of theeSweet Land of Liberty,Of thee I sing;Land where my fathers died;Land of the pilgrim's pride;From ev'ry mountain sideLet freedom ring."
The hymn was sung to the tune of "God Save the Queen," and several enthusiastic Englishmen joined with their kith and kin.
On Bedloe's Island Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty waved her torch, outward bound steamers exchanged salutes, the Brooklyn Bridge and all the ferries were thronged with people hurrying to the labor marts of the metropolis, as the steamer with George and Gertrude aboard moved up the harbor and was safely docked on the North River.
In the lead down the gangway Gertrude hastened George to secure a carriage for their hotel, so anxious was she to reach rooms on American soil, where she might honorably break the seal of her father's mysterious big blue envelope. It had rarely been out of her mind since the day of her wedding in Paris.
After breakfast, served in true American style, the Ingrams glanced at the big morning papers crowded with American news, and wondered why European papers printed so little about the States. Then they retired to their rooms to break the seal of the blue envelope.
George was all attention as his young wife with the flush of health and excitement in her cheeks tore apart the envelope, and stepping to the window for better light, she began to read Reuben Harris's letter.
Paris—Dear George and Gertrude,—The accumulation of my fortune, now largely invested in prime securities, has been a surprise and often a burden to me, and with it came, as I now clearly see, great responsibilities.Money is power, and most people zealously seek it. Many fail to get it, and often those who do succeed, fail to keep it. Wealth unsought comes only to a few, while others, with perhaps hereditary financial instincts, pursue with certainty of success the golden fleece.My early experiences with poverty, and now with wealth, and my late extensive observations have impressed upon me, as never before, the common brotherhood of mankind. The great problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relations. What shall be the laws of accumulation and distribution? To decide this wisely the discretion of our present and future legislators will be heavily burdened.The condition of many races is better to-day on the foundations on which society is built, than on the old ones tried and abandoned. What were yesterday's luxuries are to-day's necessities. The poor enjoy to-day what yesterday even the rich could not afford. Mankind always has exhibited great irregularities. In every race some are born with an energy and ability to produce wealth, others not. Invention and discovery have replaced scarcity and dearness with abundance and cheapness. The law of competition seems to cheapen comforts and luxuries.Both labor and capital are organizing, concentrating, competing. The idealist may dream of what is attainable in the future, but our duty is plainly with what is practicable now. My prayer is for wisdom and ability to administer wisely our wealth, during my life-time. I am therefore resolved to act as follows:—1st. To retain for my family only what will provide modestly for them all. I do not wish to leave much property for my relatives to use prodigally, or to quarrel over.2nd. I plan not to wait till I die and then leave behind for public purposes money which I cannot take with me. I shall consider myself as an agent, or trustee, in charge of certain surplus funds to be expended in behalf of my poorer brethren.On our return to America, Mrs. Harris and I will make our wills in accordance with the above. It is our desire that, when you reach home, you both enter at once upon the development of your plans, of a cooperative manufacturing corporation, in accordance with the views which you have so frequently mentioned. In the execution of these plans, you may use, if necessary, five millions. With best wishes for your happiness.Your father,Reuben Harris.
Paris—
Dear George and Gertrude,—
The accumulation of my fortune, now largely invested in prime securities, has been a surprise and often a burden to me, and with it came, as I now clearly see, great responsibilities.
Money is power, and most people zealously seek it. Many fail to get it, and often those who do succeed, fail to keep it. Wealth unsought comes only to a few, while others, with perhaps hereditary financial instincts, pursue with certainty of success the golden fleece.
My early experiences with poverty, and now with wealth, and my late extensive observations have impressed upon me, as never before, the common brotherhood of mankind. The great problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relations. What shall be the laws of accumulation and distribution? To decide this wisely the discretion of our present and future legislators will be heavily burdened.
The condition of many races is better to-day on the foundations on which society is built, than on the old ones tried and abandoned. What were yesterday's luxuries are to-day's necessities. The poor enjoy to-day what yesterday even the rich could not afford. Mankind always has exhibited great irregularities. In every race some are born with an energy and ability to produce wealth, others not. Invention and discovery have replaced scarcity and dearness with abundance and cheapness. The law of competition seems to cheapen comforts and luxuries.
Both labor and capital are organizing, concentrating, competing. The idealist may dream of what is attainable in the future, but our duty is plainly with what is practicable now. My prayer is for wisdom and ability to administer wisely our wealth, during my life-time. I am therefore resolved to act as follows:—
1st. To retain for my family only what will provide modestly for them all. I do not wish to leave much property for my relatives to use prodigally, or to quarrel over.
2nd. I plan not to wait till I die and then leave behind for public purposes money which I cannot take with me. I shall consider myself as an agent, or trustee, in charge of certain surplus funds to be expended in behalf of my poorer brethren.
On our return to America, Mrs. Harris and I will make our wills in accordance with the above. It is our desire that, when you reach home, you both enter at once upon the development of your plans, of a cooperative manufacturing corporation, in accordance with the views which you have so frequently mentioned. In the execution of these plans, you may use, if necessary, five millions. With best wishes for your happiness.
Your father,
Reuben Harris.
The writing of this letter gave Colonel Harris more pleasure than any act of his life; in fact it was for him the beginning of a new life; a life for others.
The reading of the letter also gave George and Gertrude much happiness, for it furnished them abundant means for the execution of their beneficent plans, which had been thoroughly considered by the Harris family. This important letter was returned to the blue envelope and given to Gertrude for safe keeping, and it was agreed to leave for Harrisville next day at 1 o'clock on the Chicago Special.
Among the personals in the Harrisville Sunday paper appeared the following:
Arrived from Europe Saturday morning, Mr. and Mrs. George Ingram. It is needless to say that their many friends will give them cordial welcome. Colonel and Mrs. Reuben Harris, their son and daughter, Alfonso and Lucille, will remain in Europe for several weeks.
Arrived from Europe Saturday morning, Mr. and Mrs. George Ingram. It is needless to say that their many friends will give them cordial welcome. Colonel and Mrs. Reuben Harris, their son and daughter, Alfonso and Lucille, will remain in Europe for several weeks.
This notice, though brief, was of much interest to rich and poor in Harrisville. Society, of course, was interested in the marriage of Gertrude, business men in the return of so skilled a manufacturer as George Ingram, and many workmen, still unemployed, hoped that their old superintendent whom they loved would find or make positions for them.
The continued absence of Colonel Harris the financier aided George Ingram in certain important negotiations which he proceeded quietly to make, viz., the purchase in the suburbs of Harrisville, in fifty parcels, of 4,000 acres of contiguous land, that had both a river and a lake front. While these purchases were being made, agents were dispatched into several Ohio counties, and more than 20,000 acres of well tested coal lands were secured. When it was learned that all these lands were bought in the name of George Ingram, and paid for in cash, the wisacres of the city began to say, "I told you so; these monopolists having visited England have adopted foreign ideas, and now they have returned to buy and hold our valuable lands." George Ingram was reticent, as most successful business men are, for he gave attention to business. "Talkers are no great doers," wrote Shakespeare.
The offices of the old Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. had been rented to other parties, so a suite of rooms near by was occupied by George Ingram and his five assistants. It had leaked out, however, that Ingram had given orders for twenty millions of brick and a large quantity of structural iron and copper tubes, all to be delivered within four months. The order for copper tubes puzzled even the wisest in Harrisville. Later, when a thousand laborers were set at work on the river front of his purchase, building extensive foundations, it dawned upon the expectant that a gigantic plant for some purpose was to be erected near Harrisville. Newspaper reporters found it difficult to reach George Ingram, even with a card, which would be returned with the reply "Busy to-day. Please excuse me."
In the meantime Harrisville agreed to create a more available harbor, and to establish dock lines, not less than 500 feet apart, and in three years to dredge the river to a depth of 25 feet for five miles back from the lake.
George Ingram in his own mind had settled three vital points; that Harrisville was one of the most favorable producing and distributing centers in America; that he would so design and build a manufacturing plant as to minimize the cost of production; that he would attempt to harmonize capital and labor. Important provisions of the Company's charter were:
ARTICLE IIIThe capital stock of this Corporation shall be Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000) to be divided into Five Hundred Thousand Shares at Ten Dollars each, fully paid, and non-assessable.ARTICLE VIThe private property of stockholders shall be exempt from any and all debts of this Corporation.
ARTICLE III
The capital stock of this Corporation shall be Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000) to be divided into Five Hundred Thousand Shares at Ten Dollars each, fully paid, and non-assessable.
ARTICLE VI
The private property of stockholders shall be exempt from any and all debts of this Corporation.
Two thousand of the four thousand acres purchased were set apart for manufacturing purposes. Most of the land sloped gradually, and the surface-water naturally drained into the river. George Ingram's plans for an enormous steel-plant had been most carefully worked out in detail. Night and day the construction went forward. In eight months the plant was in full operation. He had obtained the latest important labor-saving devices and improved facilities in use throughout America and Europe. The whole was supplemented by the inventions already perfected by his father and himself.
The Harris-Ingram Steel Co. was provided with every modern device that could in any manner contribute economy and rapidity from the time the ores left the ship, till the finished product was loaded for market. All ores and limestone were delivered on a tableland of the same height, and adjacent to a series of several enormous blast-furnaces. The melted iron from the blast-furnaces was tapped into ladles mounted on iron cars, and provided with mechanism for tipping the ladles. The molten iron of the cars was next transferred to improved converters in an adjoining building, constructed entirely of iron. Nearby were the spiegel cupolas. The greatest possible accuracy was thus attainable in delivering definite quantities of molten iron into the converter for a given blow, also of spiegeleisen. This was easily accomplished by standing the ladle cars upon scales.
The metal was cast into ingot moulds, standing upon cars, and then transferred to the mould stripper; afterwards the ingots were weighed and sent to the soaking-pit furnaces. After a "wash heat" the ingots, or blooms, entered the rolls, and were drawn and sized in shape to fill orders from every part of the world.
The marvel at the Harris-Ingram Steel Co.'s mills was that electricity, developed in vast quantities at the coal mines and conveyed on patented copper tubes, furnished all the power, heat, and light used in the entire plant. Electricity hoisted and melted all the ores; it worked Sturtevant fans and blowing engines, which supplied necessary air for cupolas and converters. Electricity furnished all the power requisite to handle innumerable cranes and cars. As easily as a magnet picks up tacks, electricity also handled ingots or finished steel. Five thousand tons of finished steel per day were made and the labor and fuel account had been reduced over one-half.
While the huge steel plant at Harrisville was being constructed, a large force of men were building a conduit to protect copper tubes, from the steel plant to the coal fields. At the mines hundreds of miners were set at work, several shafts were sunk, and tunnels, levels, and winzes were developed.
George Ingram believed that all the force in the world available for man's use was derived from the sun; so he heroically resolved to hitch his wagon, if not to a star, to the mighty sun. With this purpose in view, he had bought the 20,000 acres of coal land. Half of this area was located in Jefferson, Harrison, and Belmont counties on the Ohio River, and thus title was secured to vast quantities of fossil power in the upper coal measures, which ignites quickly and burns with a hot fire. The other 10,000 acres were valuable because nearer to Harrisville. This coal came from lower measures or seams.
George Ingram had made a thorough study of coal, or fossil fuel, its formation and value. The coal of the carboniferous age is derived almost entirely from the family of plants calledLycopods, or club mosses, and the ferns, which back in high antiquity attained gigantic size. The microscope has clearly developed this vegetable origin of coal. The great Appalachian and other coal fields are without doubt, the long continued and vigorous forest growths, and subsequent fossilization of the same in the marginal swamps of ancient gulfs or seas.
The agency of transfer for solar energy is the vegetable kingdom. The vegetable cell has the surprising property through the sun's agency of being able to live and multiply itself on air alone. The carbon of carbonic acid, a constituent of the atmosphere, is so liberated and appropriated, as to become fixed in the forming tissues of plants. Thus the plant is a storer of light and heat, a reservoir of force. It mediates between the sun's energy and the animal life of the world. Thus coal seams are the accumulations of the sun's energy for thousands of centuries, requiring the patient growth and slow decay of hundreds of immense forests. One secret of the unprecedented late growth of cities is discovered in the steam engine, or the coal which feeds it.
A pound of good coal, used in a good engine, stands for the work of six horses for an hour; a ton of coal for the work of thirteen hundred horses for a day of ten hours; ten thousand tons of coal, used in a day by single lines of railways, stand for the work of thirteen million horses, working ten hours a day. In 1894 the English mines produced 188,277,525 tons of coal. In Great Britain alone, coal does the work of more than a hundred millions of men, and adds proportionately to the fabulously increasing wealth of those fortunate islands.
The Ingrams had solved two important problems, and on their practicable application depended the success of the great Harris-Ingram experiment. The more important of the two was the unlocking of the sun's stored energy, electricity, at the coal mines. The second was a device for conveying this energy from the mines to the steel plant, and it had been patented to protect it.
Since electricity possibly travels on the surface of wires or metals, the Ingrams patented a valuable device of small corrugated copper tubes, strengthened in the center by steel wires, and thus the carrying capacity of electricity was greatly increased, and the amount of costly copper much decreased. These corrugated tubes enclosed in cheap glass, and surrounded with oil, were laid in properly prepared conduits of vitrified fire-clay sewer pipes. Without the intervention of the steam engine, by a surprisingly simple process, electrical force was liberated chemically at the mines and transferred for multiple uses at the steel plant. Expensive coal-freights were thus saved. All the slack coal was utilized, and instead of the waste of nine-tenths of the stored energy of the coal, only one tenth was now lost. To husband properly the fruits of so great a discovery, it was decided not to patent this latter invention, which if disclosed would give too great publicity to the details.
The electrical works at the mines were constructed of safe-steel walls and roof, and so built that the operations of generating electricity directly from coal were conducted in secret in several separate apartments, so that no single operator without the knowledge of all the initiated employees would be able to successfully work the inventions. The dozen initiated employees had made life long contracts with the company in consideration of liberal and satisfactory rewards. The Harris-Ingram Steel Co. thus equipped began operations.
Alfonso Harris was content to leave his friends to continue their journey, as they were willing that he should return to the Netherlands, or to Amsterdam, where lived the beautiful woman who had won his heart.
Christine de Ruyter cordially welcomed Alfonso back to study art as he expressed it to her on the first evening after his arrival. Alfonso was much in Christine's society, at art exhibits, in carriage drives, and on pleasure boat excursions down the bay. Weeks went by before he could summon courage enough to ask Christine's hand in marriage.
In the game of hearts Alfonso thought himself an able combatant. He had studied Christine in action and in repose, in society, and when alone under his protection at Scheveningen, and at home, and he prided himself that he knew at least one woman thoroughly. She loved art, flowers, music, and fine dress, and was very ambitious. The latter trait was doubtless inbred from her distinguished naval relatives.
Christine had many acquaintances among the best families of Holland. Her beauty, coupled with the fact that she was an heiress, made her the object of much attention from artists and members of clubs, but possibly her love, or affection for art, might have sprung from the desire to gain more knowledge of how to make herself attractive in dress, manner, and conversation. Christine was not offensively vain, but she was passionately fond of admiration. Alfonso had never dreamed that Christine was not genuine at heart. She appeared to him to make much of her American acquaintance, introducing him to her many friends, young ladies as well as young gentlemen, and always seemed to prefer his company to others.
She manifested even tenderness for him, expressed her strong liking for America, and Alfonso believed that Christine was truly fond of him. No arguments or persuasions could have convinced him otherwise. The contrary wishes of his own family, the eloquence of a Webster, winds from the poles, all combined, could not have cooled his ardor. Alfonso had firmly resolved to wed Christine, come what would.
He had often dreamed of her smiles, her pretty blue eyes, and her fleecy hair floating in the breezes of the Zuider Zee. He had also dreamed of a brilliant wedding in Holland, of a large reception at Harrisville, and had even heard the plaudits of his fellow artists in New York, as they lauded his master piece "Admiral De Ruyter's Great Naval Victory."
Fortified with these proofs of Christine's devotion, he sought the company of his blond sweetheart on a balcony that overlooked the moon-lit harbor of Amsterdam.
Here Alfonso offered his hand and heart—to a coquette—who rejected him. He was astonished, almost stunned. Recovering from his dazed condition, she again chilled his heart by the utterance, "You have not learned in this practical world of ours that gold marries gold; that society plays for equivalents. You once admitted to me that your father wanted you at the head of his large business, and disapproved of your choice of a profession. As an artist you seek fame. How can you divide it with me? In asking my hand you seek to divide my gold, thus securing both fame and gold. Alfonso we have enjoyed each other's company as friends."
"Yes, Christine, though you have been cruel we can separate as friends. Sometime I may be able to match gold with gold. Till then, adieu."
Saying this Alfonso left the De Ruyter mansion all the more resolved, however, to win Christine. For a moment her deceptive heart rebuked her as she watched Alfonso's departure. In the papers of the following evening an announcement frightened Christine. The head lines read: "Mr. Alfonso Harris, a young American artist, drowned this morning in the harbor."
Later the police brought to the De Ruyter home detailed news. Christine gave instructions to use every possible effort to recover Alfonso's body, and at once sent her servant with a telegram for Colonel Reuben Harris, Grand Hotel, Paris, the only address she knew.
The next day, with her mother, she accompanied the police to Alfonso's room, where she gathered up several of her love letters. A new suit of clothes hung in the closet, a package of returned laundry lay on the table, also pen, ink and paper. Evidently Alfonso expected to return soon to the hotel. His clothes, watch, and money had been found in the boat that drifted ashore.
Christine concluded that Alfonso had gone for a boat-ride and swim, as was his custom; very likely this time to free his mind, if possible, from recent trouble, and was seized with cramp and drowned before aid could reach him. Vigorous search in the harbor and along the shore instituted by the police department and the American consul failed to locate his body or to furnish further facts to Christine as to the cause of the accident.
Alfonso Harris meant all he said to Christine in his last words, "Sometime I may be able to match gold with gold." He might be blind in love matters, but his mind after a storm always righted itself. That night when Alfonso reached his hotel, he planned to leave the impression on Christine's mind that he was dead. To make the deception complete, his trunk and all effects in his room were left as found by Christine. Even his watch, pocket book and clothes were left behind in the little pleasure boat, while he donned an extra suit. A Norwegian captain, who was about leaving Amsterdam with a cargo for Canada, agreed for fifty dollars to pick up Alfonso down the harbor and to land him in Quebec.
Fine family, beauty, and gold were powerful incentives to effort to an ambitious young man like Alfonso, and he was resolved, incognito, to explore the Great West in search of riches, and once found, he would lay all at Christine's feet, and again claim her hand.
Jans Jansen, the Norwegian captain, was a jolly good ship-master, and the fair weather voyage across the Atlantic proved enjoyable. Alfonso always took his meals with the captain. Jans Jansen's wife and children lived in Christiania, and his constant talk was that he hoped some day to get rich and quit the sea. Alfonso made a warm friend of Captain Jansen, who pledged secrecy as to his escape from Amsterdam.
The captain was robust and his big flowing red beard, blue eyes, and bravery made him a worthy successor of the ancient vikings of the Norseland. Jans Jansen enjoyed his pipe, and with his good stories whiled away many an hour for Alfonso, so that when the ship, under full sail, entered the Strait of Belle Isle and sailed across the Gulf towards the River St. Lawrence, both the captain and young Harris regretted that their sea-voyage was so soon to close.
The entrance of the St. Lawrence River is so broad that the navies of the world abreast might enter the river undiscovered from either bank. Two hundred miles up the river, Trinity House, an association of over three hundred pilots, put aboard a pilot, and at noon next day Captain Jansen docked his vessel at Quebec.
This old French city is located on a high promontory on the left bank of the St. Lawrence. Its citadel, one of the strongest fortresses in America, commands a varied and picturesque beauty. Alfonso walked up to the obelisk, which stands in one of the squares of the Upper Town, in joint memory of the brave generals Wolfe and Montgomery.
Next morning he was off on the Canadian Pacific Railway for Duluth, the zenith city. Thence the journey west was through. Dakota in sight of occasional tepees, where the brave Sioux patiently waits his call to join the buffalo in the happy hunting grounds. Alfonso did not agree with the popular sentiment, "The best Indian is a dead Indian," for the Sioux seemed to him to belong to a noble race of red men.
Alfonso's enthusiasm for mining was greatly quickened by a fellow traveler, who was the owner of a large block of stock in the famous Homestake Mining Co. of Lead City, Black Hills, So. Dakota. This company possesses one of the largest gold mines and mills in the world. The ore bodies show a working face from two to four hundred feet in width, and sink to a seemingly inexhaustible depth. The Homestake has produced over $25,000,000 in bullion, and has divided over six millions in dividends to stockholders.
Three days' journey brought young Harris to Montana, an inland empire state, which lies on both sides of the Rocky Mountains. The Pacific Express was laden with a motley crowd of men and women in search of fame and fortune. Alfonso soon caught their enthusiasm, and visions of castles with gilded domes floated in his imagination.
It was 1:35 P.M. when No. 1, the Pacific Express, pulled into thrifty Helena, capital of Montana, a commercial metropolis metamorphosed from a rude mining camp of twenty-five years ago.
The electric cars carried Alfonso to the Hotel Helena on Grand St., which he thought quite as good as any in his own city. Here he was fortunate in meeting Mr. Davidson, a gentleman of large experience as owner, organizer, and locator of some of the best gold and silver properties in Montana and adjoining states. Irrigating canals and water-rights were a special branch of Mr. Davidson's business. He never failed to make the round of the leading hotels after the arrival of the Overland. In this way he met Alfonso Harris. Davidson knew when to tell a good story, and when to be serious. He took Alfonso to the Club, located in elegant quarters, and the secretary gave him a complimentary visitor's card. Davidson quickly discerned that Harris needed a week's rest, and so took him on the motor line two miles out to the Hotel Broadwater and Natatorium. No wonder the citizens of Helena take pride in their fine health resort, the Helena Hot Springs.
Mr. Davidson introduced Alfonso to Colonel Broadwater, who extended the hospitalities of his hotel on which he had expended a fortune. The verandas were long and wide, the park was dotted with fountains, and the interior of the hotel was luxurious in all its furnishings. The mammoth plunge bath was the largest in the world under a single cover. Curative mineral waters, steaming hot, flowed in abundantly from the grotto. In the natatorium fun-loving men and women slid down the toboggan planks, or jumped from the spring boards, while spectators in the gallery enjoyed the aquatic sports. Elegantly appointed bathrooms in the hotel offered at one's pleasure the double spray plunge, vapor, and needle baths.
Alfonso was not prepared to find in the mountains elegance surpassing what he had seen abroad. Here he luxuriated for a week, and recovered his health, which had been somewhat impaired by the unfortunate experiences in Amsterdam, and the long journey from Holland.
Davidson visited Harris every day. At first he only sought to entertain and awaken enthusiasm. He recited the familiar story of the Last Chance Gulch, how in 1864, four half-starved and disheartened miners, on their homeward journey from a prospecting tour among the gulches of the Blackfoot country in search of the precious dust, had settled down to work their last chance to make a stake, and had found gold in abundance.
Davidson said, "Here, where to-day runs the main street of Helena, was the 'Last Chance Gulch,' and the output of its placers was not less than fifteen millions. From 300 feet square, where now stands the Montana Central Railway depot, two miners took out over $330,000." Davidson told of the great successes at the "Jay Gould," and "Big Ox Mine," and, that in five years the output of the Drum Lummon Mine was six millions.
All this pleased young Harris, and whetted his appetite for mining investments. Finally, as a result of several trips to examine prospects and mines, Alfonso bought two prospects one hundred miles west of Helena at a place called Granite.
At Drummond west of Helena, a line branches south of the Northern Pacific to Rumsey. From Rumsey, Alfonso rode four miles to Granite, which was located high up among huge granite boulders. Here, for a year he isolated himself and labored hard for silver that was to be exchanged into gold and laid at the feet of Christine. His mines had been named "Hidden Treasure" and "Monte Christo." Possibly these mystical names influenced Alfonso to make the purchase, and no doubt they often renewed his courage.
The United States patents for his two lode mining claims finally came, and were examined by legal experts, who pronounced them perfect. In the purchase of the properties and in the development work, Alfonso and his two associates expended $50,000. On the showing, which the development made, together with the Annual Report of the adjacent Granite Mountain Mining Company, young Harris hoped to form a syndicate and profitably work his mines.
The facts in the report which Alfonso emphasized, were that the Granite Mining Co. had paid dividends as follows: