Page:The Overland Monthly, volume 1, issue 1.djvu/42



ultimate success than he had of his own existence. "Ifthe Lord spares my life, and I know He will," the hopeful little doctor would say, "I shall yet show the world that this dream of mine is not altogether a dream. And when I have made diamonds I shall be satisfied, unless," he added, as new possibilities seemed to shine before him, "unless I shall enter through my diamond gates into other mysteries of nature."

His patients complained of neglect and his practice dwindled somewhat; but this never disconcerted him; wealth and fame were just within his grasp, and he would soon be beyond the harassments of his profession. Wealth was not so much an object to him as the fame which he would secure by a scientific success that should electrify the world. He was willing that his friends, who had given him latterly the pecuniary assistance which he needed, should have the larger share of the profits that would arise from the success of his search after the great mystery; nay, more, he would by locking up the secret, when found, prevent the process from being common, or his own work from being so often repeated that the precious gem should be cheapened. The agents of the California Diamond Company should quietly put upon the market, in different quarters of the world, large and flawless stones of rare brilliancy and pure water; but none would know the parentage of these wonderful gems, and only his fame as a scientist should mark his whereabouts or his occupation.

Near Barnard's house was a huge mass of granite which had been left there by a bankrupt stone worker; on this the restless eyes of the experimenter were fixed. He bought it, and after clamping it about with rough masses of wrought iron, drilled a hole into its heart, placed his chemicals in a hollowed chamber in the bottom of the drilled channel, and then, having closed up the opening with some metallic com position, introduced through another minute channel the poles of a large galvanic battery and let on a terrific charge. The mass of stone and iron flew into a thousand fragments, and in the general disturbance which followed, the broadside of a neighboring house was blown in, to the consternation of a large family of Missourians, the paternal protector of whom, not appreciating the labors and necessities of science, had the doctor arrested for a misdemeanor forthwith. The appearance of the philosopher in the Sacramento police court was a signal fora rally of his friends, who had their good-natured laugh at his expense, as he pleaded his case and explained his novel schemes, and yet helped him out of his troubles with genuine Californian generosity. The Missourian was wroth, and swore vengance on the disturber of his peace, and the doctor agreed that he would try no more experiments inside the city limits.

On the restoration of peace, Barnard, who had supposed his experiment was an unquestionable failure, looked curiously at the cavity in the rent granite, now exposed to the light of day, as one looks at the inside of a work which has cost many weary days of labor under difficulty to perfect, when his eye was attracted by a grayish powder in a little scooping fissure; he scraped it up and rubbed it in his palm, and saw, gleaming in the sunlight, a few sparkling grains of diamond dust! there was no mistaking it. His eyes filled with strange moisture, as he thought of the brilliant future before him, now to begin at last; he thought of his beloved wife and friends, of the wealth which should be theirs and the comfort that should now repay their long endured suspense and anxiety. As he stood gazing in his palm, in which lay the precious dust, a great lump swelled in his throat, anda thousand wonderful visions thronged up the long vista which his imagination opened to him.