3 The Manila Man

Starboard Sam’s tale interested us deeply, but we could make nothing out of it, and the next morning the preparations for our departure drove the matter out of our heads, for before going to bed we had decided that we must take a new start right away. It was time to stave off the lethargy that was creeping over us and numbing all our energies. We had no well concerted plan, but we would leave immediately for a new gold region, which, so it was reported, had been found in the foothills. We could make our preparations in one day and start on the following morning.

About noon Pike and I went out together to a general store to buy some provisions for the journey. On our way back we heard the tap-tap of light footsteps behind us. We paid no attention, thinking it was merely some ordinary pedestrian who happened to be going in the same direction we were, for we had no exclusive right to the streets of San Francisco. But presently a light hand was laid upon Pike’s arm, and as we faced around the hunter exclaimed:

“Wa’al, blame me ef it ain’t our little friend uv last night!”

Sure enough, it was the man who had shrunk and cowered so much in Halftrigger’s grasp. In the full light of day he looked smaller and yellower and more weazened than ever.

“I don’t know your name, my friend,” said Pike, “but ef thar’s any thin’ I kin do fur you, I’m at your sarvice.”

The little man smiled, rubbed his hands together, and said in fairly good English, though, he had talked in a foreign tongue the night before:

“Pedro not want any favor. Him come to do favor for you.”

“Do us a favor!” said Pike in surprise. “What kin you do fur us?”

“Perhaps more than you t’ink, Mr. Pike. Ah, you see I know your name. And I know that of your young frien’ too, Mr. Fielding.”

“Wa’al, you’ve sartinly hit us off right,” said Pike, “an’ ef you want to do us er sarvice we ain’t the boys to drive you away. We’re needin’ suthin’ uv that kind bad nuff just now. Whut is it?”

“I go with you to your room, your house. I tell you there. I no want any one to see me talkin’ with you on the street.”

The man looked all around him, like a rat caught in a trap, and again his whole form seemed to shrivel up with fear.

“Who are yer lookin’ fur?” asked Pike, impatiently. “Is it thet fellow, Halftrigger?”

The man nodded.

“Don’t be afraid uv him,” said Pike, “even ef he is erbout we’ll take keer uv yer.”

“Ah, I know that you not fear him,” said the little man. “Did I not behold how you held him back with your pistol last night? But I not want him to know at any time that I have been talkin’ with you an’ your frien’s.”

“Wa’al, come along,” said Pike, good-naturedly. “You kin go up to our room with us an’ tell us about this great favor you’re goin’ to do us.”

So we went to our room, the little man walking behind us, and looking uneasily about him all the time. When we arrived we found Henry, Sam and Bonneau there, making up our packs for the journey.

When the door was shut behind us and we were cut off from the observation of any one outside, the little man brightened up and the marks of fear passed out of his face.

“These are frien’s uv ours,” said Pike, waving his hand at Henry, Sam and Bonneau, “They belong to our party, an’ whut you say to us they’ll share.”

“It is very well,” said the man. “I also have seen them before, and what I say is for them, too.”

Starboard Sam looked attentively at the stranger, as if he were sizing him up.

“You’re a Manila man, I guess,” he said.

“Ah, it is right,” said the stranger. “Such I am. A sailor am I, too, and I came to California from Manila to hunt the bright gold.”

“Been in the Philippines myself,” said Sam, phlegmatically, “an’ I’ve seen your kind all through them islands an’ seas. Don’t make bad sailors, either, sometimes.”

The little man smiled at the compliment, and then sat down on a nail key that we tendered him.

“I come to tell you a great tale,” he began, without any preliminaries. “It be true tale, too, for I did see what I tell of. I came also to get your help, which will be of great profit to you. First, I ask that you will keep secret the great tale I tell you.”

“Oh, yes,” said Pike, lightly. “Now come along to the point, frien’.”

“Now,” said the Manila man, and for the first time his glance was direct and his face showed some spirit, “I, Pedro, of Manila, have foun’ a river full of gold, an’ I ask you to go with me an’ help get it.”

“What!” shouted Pike. “You say you’ve found a river full of gold?”

“Yes,” said the little man, and his form expanded. “I, Pedro, of Manila have foun’ the river full of gold, when so many others have not foun’ gold at all. Ah, it is there, heaps of it, plenty to make us all rich. An’ I will lead you there an’ we will divide it—Pedro of Manila and his new frien’s.”

The man’s emphasis and evident sincerity excited us all. I felt the gold fever bubbling with renewed vigor in my veins.

“Why have you come to us, who are strangers, with this secret?” asked Pike cautiously.

“I must have help,” said Pedro. “The place is far. There be many dangers on the way. Then I cannot get the beautiful yellow gold out by myself. An’ if I could get it out, I could not bring it away; just one man. I must have friends, a strong party, or I can do nothing. I come to you and ask you to go with me.”

“But I don’t see why you picked us out,” said Pike, doubtfully. “You never saw us but once, an’ that wuzn’t under circumstances that was calkylated to extend our acquaintance.”

“Ah!” said Pedro, “I know but one other in all California, an’ I not like him at all. You help me once. I see you be brave. I need men who be brave to help me, so it natural that I come to you. I not know other to come to.”

“Wa’al that does stan’ to reason,” said Pike, “though this is kinder suddint, as the man said when the bull tossed him over the fence. You said thar was one other man that you knowed. Is thet man Halftrigger?”

“Yes,” said Pedro, shivering.

“You’re afeard uv him, ain’t you?” said Pike bluntly.

The Manila man bowed.

“He’s got some kin’ uv a hold on you, hezn’t he?”

“I be afraid of him,” said the Manila man simply.

“Wa’al,” said Pike, “we’ll drop Halftrigger fur the present an’ git back to that river full uv gold. The gold is a blamed sight more interestin’ subject ter me, an’ I ’xpect it is to the boys here, too. Whar did you say all thet gold is?”

“Many miles from here,” said Pedro, who recovered his courage when the subject of Halftrigger was dropped, “one, two, three, four, six, ten days’ journey. Cannot tell exactly, but can lead you there. Now, you look an’ I draw lines on paper here, which show you, so.”

And he drew a pencil and a sheet of paper from his pocket, and while we looked on he drew a rude diagram something like this:

“This straight line that run off to the southeast,” he said, “be the journey from San Francisco. It go across hill, valley, plain, mountain, take two weeks, three weeks for man ridin’ mule; then come to river runnin’ through narrow valley. Right there another but little river run into this river. Go up second river half-day’s journey, and there come to river bed dry in summer time. When rain comes water run down this bed into the second little river. Go up dry bed one, two, three miles and there you come where it curve right aroun’ rocky hill. Half-mile beyond rocky hill dig down in dry river bed an’ there we fin’ gold, beautiful gold, much of it, nuggets an’ grains, plenty for all of us.”

Route to the Mine

The man’s yellow, shrivelled face was transformed as he spoke. He had a case of the gold fever worse than any of ours.

“Now,” said Pike, who was still a doubting Thomas, or at least pretended to be, “all this is mighty interestin’, but how do you know the gold is thar? Thet is whut we want to find out.”

“I have seen the gold with these eyes,” said Pedro, putting a finger on each eye.

“You’ve seen it, ah?” said Pike. “Wa’al, will you tell us how thet happened?”

“It is this,” said Pedro. “I hear away off in my own country about the beautiful gold in California, an’ I come across the ocean to fin’ it, too. I go out with others sometimes, and sometimes alone, an’ I hunt for the beautiful gold. Men say it is often foun’ in the dry river beds, an’ one day when I alone I dig in the dry river bed, where I tell you, an’ there I fin’ the beautiful gold, much of it. But I see other men, bad men, not far away, an’ I fear if I tell them what I fin’ they kill me. So I say nothin’. But they watch me an’ think I fin’ something an’ I not able to go to my gold any more unless they see. At last I come back here, and then in week or two I see them here, too, an’ I know they not fin’ my gold. Nobody else have foun’ it either. It waitin’ there for me and my frien’s. You come go with me.”

“Wa’al whut yer say sounds purty straight,” said Pike. “It’s got ther right sort uv ring to it. Fur my part I kin say I believe you, Pedro.”

“And I,” said Henry.

“Certainelee! Certainelee!” said Bonneau.

“Gospel truth,” said Sam.

“I believe it too,” said I.

“Thar,” said Pike, “you kin hear what all the boys think about you.”

The Manila man bowed with exaggerated Oriental politeness, and his face expressed much gratification.

“I be proud,” he said, “to know that you and your frien’s believe my words.”

“Now,” said Pike, “we want to clear up all the groun’ as we go erlong. So we’ll go back to thet feller Halftrigger. We want to understan’ you. We want you to understan’ us. Why’re ye afraid uv him? What sort uv power hez he got over yer.”

“He knows that I have foun’ the river full of gold,” said Pedro.

All of us uttered exclamations of mingled surprise and annoyance. We foresaw a formidable antagonist in Halftrigger.

“Does he know where the gold is?” I asked.

“Not the very place,” said Pedro. “He not be able to go there without I lead. All he know is that it be off yonder.”

He made a sweeping gesture in the direction in which the treasure lay according to his description.

“How happens it that he knows of your discovery?”

“Ah, I foolish,” he replied, “I tell him. Very sorry now. But can’t help it.”

“How wuz it,” asked Pike. “Spin us the yarn.”

“It long story,” said the Manila man shrinking still further down on the nail keg, until he looked in the sputtering light of our single tallow candle like a frightened ape. “I know him over there (gesturing in the direction of the East Indies) long time ago. Work on same ship with him. He be bad, very bad man. He carry a long knife and people fear him, for he kills. Meet him here again when come back to city after I fin’ the gold. He know me and ask me what I doin’ here. I tell him somethin’ and he not believe me. He taps knife in his belt and say he kill me if I no tell truth. Then Pedro grow frightened and tell Halftrigger he foun’ gold, but not tell ’xactly where. Then Halftrigger follow him roun’ all time to make him tell very place.”

“And you have refused to tell?” I asked.

“Not tell him,” replied Pedro shrewdly, “an’ he not kill me because if he kill me secret of gold perish, too.”

“Well, that’s certainly sound reasoning!” exclaimed Henry.

“When he fin’ I not tell him,” continued Pedro, “he say go with me and we divide gold, but I not do that. Because we get gold, and then Halftrigger kill me. He want it all.”

“Your reasoning on that point is as sound as ever,” said Henry, “or, at least, I think so from what we have seen of this man Halftrigger.”

Pike leaned his great head on his hand and for a few moments was in deep meditation apparently. Then he spoke up:

“You’re afeared, now, Pedro, ain’t you, thet this Halftrigger who ’cordin’ to all accounts an’ ’cordin’ ter his look, too, is a reg’lar cutthroat, will foller yer erbout an’ ef he fin’s you’ve gone pardners with us, will stick er knife in yer?”

Pedro nodded.

“I don’t think,” resumed Pike, “thet any uv us five is afeared uv Halftrigger. We’ve fit Injuns and bars an’ starvation and purty nigh everythin’ else, an’ we ain’t ter be stood off by a critter like him. Now, we want ter do this thing in reg’lar business-like fashion an’ know jest whar we stan’. Boys, you’ve heard Pedro’s tale about the gold. You’ve all said you believed it. You’ve also heard what he said about Halftrigger. You know he’s a bad chap. He may get a gang an’ try to lay us out. Shall we j’ine with Pedro, become pardners with him an’ help him git thet gold, or shall we keep clear uv the hull thing?”

“We’ll go with him!” all of us exclaimed, instantly.

“You hear ’em?” said Pike, with a satisfied smile. “No flinchin’ about this crowd uv mine, I tell you.”

The Manila man nodded his head again and again to show his pleasure.

“We must ratify our treaty!” exclaimed Henry, with enthusiasm. “Draw your pistols, boys!”

Influenced by the fever for gold and Henry’s romantic enthusiasm, we drew those necessary implements, and following his lead, waved them, around our heads with magnificent flourishes. Then we clicked all five muzzles together as men click their glasses at a banquet when they are going to drink a toast.

“Now,” said Henry, “hurrah! for Pedro and his river full of gold, and may good luck be ours!”

We repeated the words after him, and then, when this somewhat boyish burst of enthusiasm had subsided, we sank into our accustomed seats on the nail kegs. Pedro seemed to comprehend the nature of our compact.

“Ah, we stick together!” he said. “We divide the trouble. I take you to the gold, and you do the fighting, if fighting must be done.”

There was a general laugh at this, and Pike said, good-humoredly:

“All right, old fellow. We’ll take that part uv the job on our hands. Fightin’ don’t seem to be in your line uv business.”

Pedro was not at all offended at this frank remark. In fact he made no pretensions whatever to courage.

Pedro said he slept in a little cuddy hole in a back street, and we decided to escort him home, as he seemed to see Halftrigger’s shadow everywhere. But before going we arranged he should join us early in the morning, and then, our preparations having been completed, we would start at once for the gold.

Starboard Sam, Bonneau and I undertook to see Pedro safe in his own home.

The night was rather clear and though it was late, we passed many men in the streets, some sober, some drunk, some quiet, some noisy.

“Ef on our way to your place we should meet your frien’ Halftrigger,” said Sam to Pedro, “I guess we kin take keer uv you.”

Pedro uttered something that sounded like a prayer. Sam’s remark was wholly in jest, but as we turned a corner into the narrow little street or rather alley in which Pedro lived, a large man sauntered out of the shadow of some buildings and, standing at the edge of the sidewalk, looked fixedly at us. Then he cocked his head defiantly on one side and sang:

Pedro shivered with dread and shrank back behind us

“Eh! ye’er thar, Pedro, are ye?” said Halftrigger sneeringly. “I see ye’re gittin’ new frien’s in this country an’ are a-desartin’ yer old ones. Now, Pedro I say, it’s mighty onkin’ in yer to treat an old an’ faithful shipmate like me in this slightin’ manner. What do you mean by it anyway, Pedro?”

Pedro did not reply. Indeed, I think the man was too much frightened, to utter a word. But Sam spoke up:

“I don’t see whut business uv yours it is, Mr. Halftrigger, ef Pedro leaves his old fren’s an’ gits new ones. You see Pedro’s taste is risin’.”

“Oh, it’s you, one of that hunter’s gang, is it?” said Halftrigger. “When I left you last night I was a-hopin’ it would be the last time I’d ever see any of you. My taste is a-risin’, too.”

I thought it was time to put in a word, and I said:

“Come on, Sam. What this man does is nothing to us, and what we do is nothing to him. There is no need for us to waste time here.”

“Them’s fine words uv yours, my gay cocksparrer,” said Halftrigger, “but they don’t go down with me. I’m afraid you’re a-leadin’ my frien’ Pedro inter wickedness. An’ ez I’m his guardeen, seein’ he’s so fur from home I kain’t trust him in the hands uv sech tough sinners ez you be, beggin’ yer pardin, gen’lemen, for sech plain speakin’, seein’, however, ez it is necessary under the sarcumstances. Come along o’ me, Pedro, an’ I’ll take you home to your mother.”

He leered viciously at Pedro, who shrank still further back behind us.

“Come along, Pedro,” continued Halftrigger, with the same malicious grin, “’cos ye’re out mighty late.”

“Never mind him, Pedro,” said I, taking a step forward. “You’re going with us.”

“Oh, so he’s j’ined your gang, hez he?” said Halftrigger. “I guessed ez much when I saw yer comin’ up. He’s told yer about thet little fin’ o’ gold he’s made, hez he? An’ he’s taken this crowd inter partnership, a-leaving me out in the cold. Now, Pedro, I wouldn’t a thought that uv ye. Goin’ back on an old shipmate in thet sort o’ fashion. Pedro, how could ye a-done it?”

Halftrigger laughed and hummed another line of his song, as if the whole matter were the merest trifle. But his covert glance at us was murderous.

“You seem to be frank at least,” I said.

“Ain’t I right,” he replied. “Hezn’t he told you about the gold?”

“Yes, he hez,” said Sam, “but I don’t see how that consarns you.”

“It consarns me jest this much,” said Halftrigger. “Half uv thet gold is mine, ’cos I wuz Pedro’s fust pardner, an’ in course it huts me mightily to hev to give it up. But sense you gen’lemen hev took my place, I guess I must give in.”

His whole appearance belied his words, for he had set his fist, and certainly none of us believed him for a moment. He gave us a deep bow and moved for us to pass on, saying:

“Gen’lemen, I wish you luck, an’ I hope thet Pedro an’ all o’ ye won’t furgit Hank Halftrigger, a poor fellow, who ye hev cut out o’ his fortin’. Come on, Pete. This is Spanish Pete, gen’lemen, a friend o’ mine, who feels about this thing ez I do.” As he spoke these words a short, thick, dark man walked out of the shadow and joined him. I noted the new-comer well. Halftrigger bowed to us again.

I interpreted his bow as a menacing gesture, but said nothing, and we walked on and left them there, and the last we heard from them, as the darkness shut them out, was the defiant words of Halftrigger’s pirate song.

We went on to Pedro’s door, but we found the little man too much frightened to be left there alone. So, after a short consultation, we decided to take him back with us to our quarters and keep him there. We returned by another route in order to avoid Halftrigger, not on our own account, but for the sake of Pedro. We saw nothing of him, and when we reached our place we gave Pedro a pallet in the corner, and soon were asleep.

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