Yellow Fever
By Ray Drayton
“A very good story about gold mining in Australia and New Zealand and how the Chinese endured endless persecution from the Europeans.
No holds barred, told how it was.
Great read.”
Synopsis:
‘YELLOW FEVER.’
“Gold!!!” A cry heralding the precious yellow metal sets men’s hearts racing with anticipation of untold riches. Countless men proclaim the yellow metal is worth more than human life, including their own.
Like insects scurrying across a corpse searching for elusive treasure, mankind throws himself upon the ground in a feeding frenzy…
The man standing in front of the diminutive Chinaman and his burly companion is a giant of a man. His luxuriant red beard and piercing blue eyes are menacing.
“So you want to get to the Otago Goldfields?” A deep voice rumbles from the towering Blacksmith. “You’d be a long way from home, Chinee man!” A booming laugh accompanies a hand thrust out the size of a dinner plate. “ Silas Early, at your service.”
The Irishman steps forward, grinning. “Conner Magee and my friend, Wu Lee.”
A bottle of whisky appears on a large anvil they are seated around. “We can’t do business with parched throats.” Silas pours whisky into three tin mugs. “It is wild country to reap your fortune from.” He watches them shrewdly. “ It is a land of opportunity where a man can find his fortune, or lose his life. The country is big and only men with big hearts and stout minds deserve to win it’s spoils.” His red beard twitches with a grin. “Now tell me, my Irish friend – are you and your companion such men?”
Old timber walls of the barn appear to listen silently as though waiting for a reply. Wu Lee is aware of a powerful silence. Smells of hay, horse sweat and coal dust hovers in the air charged with electricity.
“That we are, Silas Early.” Connor Magee raises his mug, “ that we are.”
“Then you deserve the opportunity to make your fortune, or to die trying.” Silas has a twinkle in his eye.
“Do people die in the camps, Mister Early?” Wu Lee asks fearfully.
“There are more dead men walking around the camps than live ones, Chinee man!” Silas roars with laughter…
Silas runs a weather eye across the rock wall in front of him. A steady flow of water is running off the adjoining slope, threatening to destabilize the dam if the torrential rain returns. He sets to work with pick and shovel to steer the flow away from the wall. Before Silas hears the wall collapsing, he is pushed to his knees and twists to see the grey sky disappear under tons of moving rock and water. “Jesus, God. No! No!!” Neither Jesus nor God hear his screams. In a futile effort to live, He tries to deflect falling rocks with his bare hands. A boulder brushes his arms aside while another boulder takes his head off.
“How did he die?” Mary Martha’s eyes are swollen with grief.
“He was caught in a rock dam burst up in the Moonlight Valley.” Conner Magee watches her closely, aware she is on the verge of collapse.
“I told the big ox to be careful up there.” Her tearful laugh is cut off by a sob. “Many miners have drowned in the Shotover Gorge.” Now the tears flow….
Mary Martha’s mind is crystal clear as she holds the horse to a canter when she approaches the Moonlight Valley. The realization haunts her that she had never told Big Silas Early she loved him. She dismounts and leads the horse up a steep track to the miners’ cave above the dam.
A sensation of madness overcomes her as she pulls a heavy pistol from her bag.
“I love you Silas Early, you big ox!!”
The single sound of a gunshot echoes through the valley, causing miners far below in the river to pause and look up. To a man they stand waiting for more shots. There is nothing, only the sound of water rushing over their boots. Life, like the river at their feet, flows on. There is gold to be found and fortunes to be made – made in this lifetime, not the next…
The thin coating of ice shatters when Wu Lee levers rocks out of the creek bed. The Chinaman stares in fascination at the handful of small nuggets amongst slivers of gold. Even in the gloom of the forest the gold sits bright and heavy amongst frozen gravel. He falls to his knees and removes the gold with frozen fingers. His excitement builds when he realizes the amount of gold is his passage back to China.
Wu Lee is too preoccupied to notice a figure in the shadows quietly watching his every move. The stranger is determined the Chinaman will never live to enjoy his good fortune. A sly grin spreads across his unshaven face. He will let the Chinaman retrieve all the gold and then relieve him of his burden…
THE GOLD IS NOT IMPORTANT ANYMORE – IT NEVER WAS.
“Gold!!!” A cry heralding the precious yellow metal sets men’s hearts racing with anticipation of untold riches. Countless men proclaim the yellow metal is worth more than human life, including their own.
Like insects scurrying across a corpse searching for elusive treasure, mankind throws himself upon the ground in a feeding frenzy…
The man standing in front of the diminutive Chinaman and his burly companion is a giant of a man. His luxuriant red beard and piercing blue eyes are menacing.
“So you want to get to the Otago Goldfields?” A deep voice rumbles from the towering Blacksmith. “You’d be a long way from home, Chinee man!” A booming laugh accompanies a hand thrust out the size of a dinner plate. “ Silas Early, at your service.”
The Irishman steps forward, grinning. “Conner Magee and my friend, Wu Lee.”
A bottle of whisky appears on a large anvil they are seated around. “We can’t do business with parched throats.” Silas pours whisky into three tin mugs. “It is wild country to reap your fortune from.” He watches them shrewdly. “ It is a land of opportunity where a man can find his fortune, or lose his life. The country is big and only men with big hearts and stout minds deserve to win it’s spoils.” His red beard twitches with a grin. “Now tell me, my Irish friend – are you and your companion such men?”
Old timber walls of the barn appear to listen silently as though waiting for a reply. Wu Lee is aware of a powerful silence. Smells of hay, horse sweat and coal dust hovers in the air charged with electricity.
“That we are, Silas Early.” Connor Magee raises his mug, “ that we are.”
“Then you deserve the opportunity to make your fortune, or to die trying.” Silas has a twinkle in his eye.
“Do people die in the camps, Mister Early?” Wu Lee asks fearfully.
“There are more dead men walking around the camps than live ones, Chinee man!” Silas roars with laughter…
Silas runs a weather eye across the rock wall in front of him. A steady flow of water is running off the adjoining slope, threatening to destabilize the dam if the torrential rain returns. He sets to work with pick and shovel to steer the flow away from the wall. Before Silas hears the wall collapsing, he is pushed to his knees and twists to see the grey sky disappear under tons of moving rock and water. “Jesus, God. No! No!!” Neither Jesus nor God hear his screams. In a futile effort to live, He tries to deflect falling rocks with his bare hands. A boulder brushes his arms aside while another boulder takes his head off.
“How did he die?” Mary Martha’s eyes are swollen with grief.
“He was caught in a rock dam burst up in the Moonlight Valley.” Conner Magee watches her closely, aware she is on the verge of collapse.
“I told the big ox to be careful up there.” Her tearful laugh is cut off by a sob. “Many miners have drowned in the Shotover Gorge.” Now the tears flow….
Mary Martha’s mind is crystal clear as she holds the horse to a canter when she approaches the Moonlight Valley. The realization haunts her that she had never told Big Silas Early she loved him. She dismounts and leads the horse up a steep track to the miners’ cave above the dam.
A sensation of madness overcomes her as she pulls a heavy pistol from her bag.
“I love you Silas Early, you big ox!!”
The single sound of a gunshot echoes through the valley, causing miners far below in the river to pause and look up. To a man they stand waiting for more shots. There is nothing, only the sound of water rushing over their boots. Life, like the river at their feet, flows on. There is gold to be found and fortunes to be made – made in this lifetime, not the next…
The thin coating of ice shatters when Wu Lee levers rocks out of the creek bed. The Chinaman stares in fascination at the handful of small nuggets amongst slivers of gold. Even in the gloom of the forest the gold sits bright and heavy amongst frozen gravel. He falls to his knees and removes the gold with frozen fingers. His excitement builds when he realizes the amount of gold is his passage back to China.
Wu Lee is too preoccupied to notice a figure in the shadows quietly watching his every move. The stranger is determined the Chinaman will never live to enjoy his good fortune. A sly grin spreads across his unshaven face. He will let the Chinaman retrieve all the gold and then relieve him of his burden…
THE GOLD IS NOT IMPORTANT ANYMORE – IT NEVER WAS.