'It Is True,' He Admitted, 'that We Cannot Get
Through As We Are Going Now; The Provisions Will Not Hold Out
Another Month, And It Is Useless To Attempt To Control The
Men.
But there are two ways out of the difficulty:
We can
reach Salt Lake City and winter there; or, if you are bent on
going to California, why shouldn't we take Jacob and Nelson
(the Canadian), pay off the rest of the brutes, and travel
together, - us four?'
Whether 'das ewig Wirkende' that shapes our ends be
beneficent or malignant is not easy to tell, till after the
event. Certain it is that sometimes we seem impelled by
latent forces stronger than ourselves - if by self be meant
one's will. We cannot give a reason for all we do; the
infinite chain of cause and effect, which has had no
beginning and will have no end, is part of the reckoning, -
with this, finite minds can never grapple.
It was destined (my stubbornness was none of my making) that
I should remain obdurate. Fred's last resource was an
attempt to persuade me (he really believed: I, too, thought
it likely) that the men would show fight, annex beasts and
provisions, and leave us to shift for ourselves. There were
six of them, armed as we were, to us three, or rather us two,
for Samson was a negligible quantity. 'We shall see,' said
I; and by degrees we dropped asleep.
CHAPTER XXIV
BEFORE the first streak of dawn I was up and off to hunt for
the horses and mules, which were now allowed to roam in
search of feed. On my return, the men were afoot, taking it
easy as usual. Some artemisia bushes were ablaze for the
morning's coffee. No one but Fred had a suspicion of the
coming crisis. I waited till each one had lighted his pipe;
then quietly requested the lot to gather the provision packs
together, as it was desirable to take stock, and make some
estimate of demand and supply. Nothing loth, the men obeyed.
'Now,' said I, 'turn all the hams out of their bags, and let
us see how long they will last.' When done: 'What!' I
exclaimed, with well - feigned dismay, 'that's not all,
surely? There are not enough here to last a fortnight.
Where are the rest? No more? Why, we shall starve.' The
men's faces fell; but never a murmur, nor a sound. 'Turn out
the biscuit bags. Here, spread these empty ham sacks, and
pour the biscuit on to them. Don't lose any of the dust. We
shall want every crumb, mouldy or not.' The gloomy faces
grew gloomier. What's to be done?' Silence. 'The first
thing, as I think all will agree, is to divide what is left
into nine equal shares - that's our number now - and let each
one take his ninth part, to do what he likes with. You
yourselves shall portion out the shares, and then draw lots
for choice.'
This presentation of the inevitable compelled submission.
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