Chapter 27 The Eleventh Thirst for Gold

The gold mine was discovered on the morning of March 6th. There were several people, among them Edward.Lordes, originally planning to go hunting, left Liberia early one morning and came to a place twenty kilometers to the southwest, at the foot of the San Tribox Mountains at the western end of the Arte peninsula, stretching deep primitive In the forest, Horst's beasts are usually cougars and jaguars. Because they ate countless sheep, they were almost wiped out, and the rest fled to this forest to hide. The hunters scoured the forest and killed two pumas on the road; when they spotted one, they went to the rapids of the creek.Edward.Rhodes fired a single shot within range and hit the leopard on the left side, but did not mortally wound it. It let out an angry roar, jumped over the stream, and fled into the forest without a trace.

Edward.It was too late, and he fired a second shot, but missed the leopard, but hit a rock, and the gravel splashed to his feet. Curious about the special appearance of the rock, he picked it up and took a closer look; Going to leave this place. This is a piece of quartzite with the nature of quartz veins, and small gold particles can be seen at a glance from inside. Edward.Lordes was very excited about this discovery, gold!There's gold beneath the surface of Khost Island!This rock is proof. Is there any fuss?Were there not precious deposits of metal found in Penta Arras, Tierra del Fuego, in Magellan's Patagonia?Is it not the fact that in four centuries men have extracted forty-five billion francs from the mountains where gold was hidden?

Edward.Lordes understood the importance of this discovery. He wanted to keep it a secret, and only told his father, and then passed it on to Le Corgi. However, all their hunters looked at the rock carefully, so it was impossible to keep it secret. That same day, the whole island knew, hope and desire for the discovery arose, and the news spread like wildfire from Liberia to the other towns. However, this season is not suitable for mining. The autumnal equinox will be a few days later, and the cold winter is coming. It is impossible to carry out mining operations in the Khost field, and they will not have immediate results.

The summer passed in a pleasant climate. This year is the tenth year since the establishment of the colony with a bumper harvest. In addition, a new sawmill has opened in the swamp of the island. One uses steam power, the other uses waterfalls to generate electricity. The canned food was fully loaded and the ship departed from the port, with a total of 37,275 tons of canned food shipped out. With the onset of winter, works such as erecting lighthouses, building halls, and installing engines are in progress. Although Orle Island is far away, about 75 kilometers from the Alti Peninsula, materials must be passed through the sea full of hidden reefs. But the work is still satisfactory, and soon winter will come, and the work must be terminated.

If, as usual, there are hurricanes and heavy rains, the temperature generally does not exceed minus ten degrees. The residents of Liberia are no longer afraid of winter. Every family has enough food and clothing to live and work in peace and contentment. No one suffers from hunger here anymore, and crimes and disturbances to public order rarely occur. There are only a few civil disputes, which are generally resolved through negotiation. . If gold had not been found, there would have been no trouble, and the gold would have made people dizzy, with potentially serious consequences. Le Corgi was right. After hearing the news, he made the worst judgment. After thinking over and over again, he felt that the future was more dire. When the first meeting was held, he made no secret of his worries.

At this time, he said, it is the time for us to accomplish our great cause, as long as we pick the fruits of our hard work, this gold mine discovered by accident will do us no good, it will bring us a lot of trouble, even destruction . My friend, you speak so frighteningly, Ali.Rhodes interrupted him. He was not pessimistic about the matter. If it was possible to cause trouble, he said it would be ruined! Yes, destruction!Le Corgis emphatically affirms that the discovery of gold leaves nothing but destruction! However, Ali.Lords protested that gold, like everything else, was a commodity It is the most useless thing!

No, the most useful thing, since it can be exchanged for other things. Nonsense, Le Corgi retorted excitedly, then, in order to obtain, one must pay, and most of the gold diggers have a tragic ending in their lives. As for the few successful ones, the sudden wealth overnight will make them dizzy and even more difficult to satisfy their desires. When they are ruined by material enjoyment, they will be helpless. According to social terms, they can be called rich people. In fact, they have nothing but money, and they don't even belong to human beings. I agree with Le Corgi.Germain.Li Weili said, this is not enough. If people give up their farmland, the loss of food will be irreparable. What should we do if we have gold but are hungry?So I am very worried that our people will not be able to resist this fatal temptation!Who knows if these people will have farmers abandoning their fields and workers abandoning their factories to run after gold?

gold!gold!Thirst for gold!There is no more terrible catastrophe to destroy our country, cried Le Corgis! Ali.Rhodes was shocked. Can we prevent this catastrophe while acknowledging that you have a point? Yes, my dear Lordes, replied Le Corgis, it is possible to fight an epidemic and to control it; but it is impossible to fight this golden dream!This is the most destructive thing. In the Old and New Worlds, in Australia, in South Africa, in California where gold was found, useful works are abandoned, and cities and villages are emptied of people.Thousands of people own gold mines, they are insatiable, and because they are easy to get, they start to squander a lot, and even become insane until they have nothing.

Le Corgi narrated with great excitement and showed great concern! Not only internal dangers, but also external dangers, he added, all the adventurers, the dregs of society will flock to this country with gold mines, like a landslide, everything will be wiped away Wucun, alas!Why is our island subject to such a disaster? Have we no hope?Ali.Lords said excitedly, as long as the news does not spread, I think it can be prevented. Impossible, said Le Corgi, it is too late now, think about it, this kind of thing, it will spread like a contagious plague, which is often difficult for the strongest and most sane Don't be infected, and can't resist the temptation to enter the water.

Resting without taking any decision is actually unnecessary, as Le Corgi said, people cannot wrestle with the desire for gold, and it is not yet a loss. To determine this theme, we have to wait until the ice and snow on the island melt. When the first spring breeze came, Le Corgi's fears were beginning to emerge, and those impatient and adventurous immigrants began to leave Liberia and became gold prospectors to dig for gold. The gold mine was at the Golden River where Edward shot People flocked there impatiently, and it was useless to dissuade Le Corgi and his friends. People followed suit, and more and more people left. From November 5th, thousands of Howth The special residents, thinking of gold, flock to the gold mines, wandering in the mountains, looking for gold sand or natural gold nuggets.

In principle, the development of gold mines is not very difficult. In order to dig out the rocks along the veins and smash the stones to get the gold out, this is generally the way of mining. It is easy to say, but it is not easy in practice. Sometimes the veins are buried In rocks, it cannot be seen at all; at present, there is no scientific advanced method that can easily detect where the ore veins are buried deep underground.Or you need to open a mine, spend a lot of effort to find it, and you have to buy equipment and hire labor. For a single worker, it is impossible. Only those capitalists or large companies with a lot of money and a lot of labor can do it. benefit from it. Therefore, people think that gold hunters or gold diggers are fortunate enough to discover gold mines, and they can only be satisfied with obtaining mining rights or transferring them to banks or operators as soon as possible. There are also some people who invest and develop by themselves. They will only use water for years and years near the gold-bearing rocks. On the weathered stones, they will use water to wash out the gold fragments. This will make it easier to separate the gold grains from the soil. This method is relatively simple. Of course, the Khost people used this primitive method to pan for gold, and the first results were encouraging. On the bank of the Jinhe River, which was several kilometers long and 200 to 300 meters long, there was a layer of eight-foot-thick mud layer, one cubic meter There can be nine to ten trays of mud and sand within a foot, and the gold reserves are abundant, and gold grains can be panned out from each tray, but the gold is as fine as dust.The gold diggers here are not to be compared with those elsewhere, but even so, they feel rich to those less fortunate, and they salivate, work like hell, and get little so far. If some rules and regulations are not adopted for these gold diggers, it is the incompetence of the government. Gold mines should be the property of the collective and should be transferred to individuals by the government. Therefore, Le Corgi put forward some measures according to the administrative measures. After many conversations, he will My own thoughts infiltrated into various decisions during the conversation, and finally determined that three goals are the most important, namely: limit the number of gold diggers in Horst as much as possible; allow all personnel to enjoy the underground treasures taken; If so, try to drive away the foreigners who flock from all over the world. At the end of winter, the stipulated clauses were posted. The clauses firstly require the acquisition of a land management certificate before they have the right to mine; the operating area of ​​the land is limited; The local government; only those who have lived here for more than one year and meet the conditions set by the governor can obtain a mining license. The law has been promulgated, let's see how it will be implemented. At the beginning, they encountered a lot of troubles. People were indifferent to many favorable aspects of the law, but they were very sensitive to the obligations they were required to fulfill. They had to spend money to buy a business license. Is it necessary, digging the ground, cleaning the river? Panning for gold in the sand is just a matter of little effort, isn't it the right of human beings?Since it is a natural power, why should we hand over part of the fruits of labor to those who have not done anything?In fact, Le Corgi agrees with these views in his heart, but under the current situation, he has to give up this idea and his past principles, and the most important thing at present is to encourage those who are sensible and voluntarily leave their jobs to work at home , to ensure that they can also get a point, of course less, but there will definitely be. But everyone is still not convinced, so they have to be a little compulsive. Le Corgi had only fifty career officers in Liberia, but there were another nine hundred and fifty Khorsts on the list; and with age the children grew up, and the manhood of the year old age; the goal is to raise an armed army of one thousand men, and so the conscription begins. In the end, only 750 people were recruited, and 200 deserters went to dig for gold, and they all fought on the Jinhe River. Le Corgi divided his army into two, and five hundred people went to guard the beach. The task was to stop the illegal gold diggers. In addition, according to the situation, they were divided into twenty squads to lead them to the beach. The small armed force crossed the peninsula, came to the foot of the San Triboc, and continued north, sweeping everything beyond it, and any gold diggers they encountered along the way were mercilessly driven away, or at least made to obey the rules. At the beginning, some effects were received. Some people had to spend all their money to buy mining licenses, and then people strictly marked the places they chose. Others had to give up because they had no money to buy land development licenses, so the number of people mining was greatly increased. reduction. But the situation changed again. Those who did not get the permit bypassed Le Kegui's troops at night and returned to the bank of the Jin River. As soon as this kind of action spread, batch after batch of imitators entered the mine, like a plague. It has spread to the whole island, not only in Jinhe, but throughout the whole island. Because it is believed that not only Saint Tribok has gold, but Host Island also has gold. According to geological conditions, gold may also be found along the banks of the river, so people walk from the Alti Peninsula to the top of the Bath Peninsula. Darwin Strait. A small number of gold diggers have already harvested, which makes everyone more excited. The charm of gold is above all, and there is no resistance to madness. After a few days, Liberia has been empty. Women and children have gone to pan for gold. A large amount of gold, made a fortune overnight.People work day and night, most of them are wasting time, but they are not discouraged. All the people from factories, commercial firms, and fishing villages in the villages and towns on the island have come here. The magic of gold has made people irrational.In the end, there were only a hundred or so immigrants left in Liberia who stayed at home honestly. They were people who had experienced a series of incidents, and their jobs were reliable. The result was regrettable, and he saw that of the remaining inhabitants, only the native Indians remained where they were, indifferent to those actions, without any benefit.These people did not give up fishing and farming.They were honorable and simple, and were born loyal, and gold could not tempt them, and they still listened to the advice of the benefactor, who had rescued countless times in their thoughts, and must not be ungrateful. There are many other things. The crew who anchored here also began to follow those harmful examples. The number of deserters increased. The gold made them forget everything. They abandoned the ship and went to the island. After the cargo was unloaded, they hurriedly lifted the anchor and sailed. They didn't want to take this risk. There will never be a ship docking on Khost Island in the future! Gold tempts anyone. The defensive army organized by Le Corgi gradually disbanded. It consists of 500 people. Now there are less than 20 people sticking to their posts. Those who desert are not only at night but also during the day. He directly commands The number of people reduced from more than 300 to less than 50. Even though Le Corgi tried his best, there was nothing he could do. Because he had been isolated from the world for so long, and because he had a kind heart, he returned to this chaotic human being. Everything in the Heart Blood organization has collapsed, only because a speck of gold jumped out of the broken rock, and this small colony was destroyed in one fell swoop. He can't even fight it anymore, the people he thought were most loyal have left him, he has no army anymore, others may abandon him tomorrow, and he wants to save them from their ruin. Le Corgi returned to Liberia again, and he was at his wit's end, as if the flood had flooded the island, he had to bide his time and hope that the rain would clear and the bad luck would be lifted. In mid-December, half a month after Le Corgi returned to the government, several Liberian people began to return to the capital, and then more and more people returned gradually. Some people went out later, so they had to return , Dejectedly return to the old business. There are two reasons for this, one is that gold is not easy to find, digging mountains and opening rocks, washing sand all day long, unless those who are eager to make a fortune can bear it, some people are lucky to be on their heads , they got rich all of a sudden, but tens of thousands of people have hardly gained anything. It is time to cool down the nonsense that gold is easy to pick up. It's starting to get discouraged now. In addition, due to the slow progress of trade, agricultural development has almost stopped. The consequences can be imagined. Although there is no shortage of anything now, the prices of daily necessities are soaring. There is a lot of poverty, and for some people, although they have picked up a few grains of gold, it is not enough to cover their usual wages. So these limited numbers of people returned, for this reason, and only those who were poor and physically weak, and within a few days, the phenomenon of returning to the city also stopped. Le Corgi did not feel unemployed, because he had never had illusions about the return of large numbers of people, and believed that there was still a new crisis. He had already seen that the crisis was not only not over, but was just beginning. Now the trouble was within the Khost people, but The situation will not be like this forever, and people from all over the world have flocked here after hearing the news about the gold mines. On January 17th, the first group of gold diggers who came to New Town, about 200 people, disembarked from a large ship. They were carrying big knives, and a pistol protruded from the tattered trouser pocket. They were carrying a gun or a tattered bag, and the sound of metal collisions from bowls, kettles, and plates continued. Le Corgi watched sadly as they landed, the adventurers, the first in a series that would put Khost Island to their death. From then on, batch after batch of gold seekers came here. Some law-abiding people first went through the formalities with the government, but thought the asking price was too high, so they reassessed the situation and asked around for information. , It soon became known that the Khost government had been paralyzed. Since the locals ignored the law and were not sanctioned, they also put the law behind them. Liberia Street was crowded with people. For two days, They left and went straight to the gold without going through any formalities. But when winter came, the mining work had to be stopped, and there would be no more crowds. On March 20, the last ship of gold diggers left New Town. At that time, there were more than 2,000 adventurers on the island. What this ship brought to all parts of the world was the mining decree issued by the Khost government. Le Keji was heartbroken when he saw the invaders. This shows that the Khost people are overpopulated and will use force to prevent outsiders from entering. Will this measure work?It will be understood in the future, but Le Corgi doubts, because the charm of gold is too great to stop them. The disaster has happened, the Khost people have defied the world, ignored the law, and now they have to starve and suffer, the invasion of this adventurous mob has brought all the evils of the world, this is a catastrophe . In this regard, people can only wait for death, catch them with their hands up, and wait for the opportunity, if possible, until the clouds clear and the sun rises. The only people around Le Corgi are Alji, Calori, Altre Corgi, Ali and Edward ．Lords, Dick, Li Willie and more than 30 other people, these are the last loyalists. They fought alone, against the enemy, and watched their work results go to waste with nothing to do!