CHAPTER LXXI.
In the mountains the end of summer was always a beautiful season, for
the meadows lying at the foot of the hillside forests, already yellow,
were purple with crocuses. Then, too, the vintage commenced and lasted
for about fifteen days,--days of enchantment for us.
We now spent most of our time in the shady nooks of the woods and
meadows in the neighborhood of the Peyral vineyards; there we had
play-dinners consisting of candy and fruits. We would spread out on
the grass what we considered a most elegant cloth, and this we
decorated, after the old fashion, with garlands of flowers, and we put
on it plates made of yellow and red vine leaves. The vintagers brought
us the most luscious grapes, bunches chosen from among a thousand;
and, with the heat of the sun to aid, we sometimes became a little
tipsy, not, however, made so by sweet wine, for we had drunk none, but
by the juice of the grapes merely, in the self-same fashion as did the
wasps and flies that warmed themselves upon the trellises. . . .
One morning at the end of September, when the weather was rainy and it
was chilly enough for me to realize that melancholy autumn was near at
hand, I was attracted into the kitchen by the bright wood fire that
leaped gayly in the high, old-fashioned chimney-place. And as I stood
there, idle and out of sorts, because of the rain, I amused myself by
melting a pewter plate and plunging it, in its liquid state, into a
pail of water.
The result was a shapeless, bright, and silvery-gray lump which very
much resembled silver-ore. I looked at the mass thoughtfully for some
time: an idea germinated, and there and then I planned a new amusement
which became our most delightful pastime during those last days of
vacation.
That same evening we held a conference on the steps of the great
stairway, and I told the Peyrals that from the aspect of the soil and
the plants I had come to the conclusion that there were silver mines
in this part of the country. As I spoke I assumed the knowing and bold
airs of one of those venturesome scouts, who is usually the principal
personage in old-fashioned stories of American adventure.
Searching for mines fell well into line with the abilities of my
little band, for often, armed with pick and shovel, they had set out
to discover fossils or rare stones.
The next day, therefore, half way up the mountain, when we arrived at
a path chosen by me for its appropriateness, for it was lonely and
mysterious, shut in by forest trees and embedded between high, moss-
grown, rocky banks, I stopped my little band peremptorily, as if I
were endowed with the keen scent of an Indian chief. I pretended that
I had here recognized the presence of precious ore-beds; and, in
truth, when we dug in the place I indicated we found the first
nuggets, the melted plate that I had buried there the day before.
These mines occupied us constantly until the end of my stay. The
Peyrals were convinced and full of amazement, and although I spent
some time each morning in the kitchen melting plates and covers to
feed our vein of silver, I very nearly deluded myself into believing
in the reality of the mine.
The isolated silent spot, so exquisitely beautiful, where these
excavations took place, and the melancholy but enchanting serenity of
the end of summer, gave a rare charm to our little dream of adventure.
We were, however, most amusingly secret and mysterious in regard to
our discovery; we considered it a tribal secret, and we cherished it
as such.
Our riches, mixed in with some of the red mountain soil, we hoarded in
an old trunk in my uncle's attic as if the latter were an Ali Baba's
cave.
We pledged ourselves to leave it there during the winter, until the
next vacation, at which time we counted on making additions to our
treasure.
