Royce with a Choice
By Xavier 5KV
Royce with a Choice
By Xavier (5KV)
“ Oi, get up boy. You work now,” said an elderly man by the name of Wang. ”Eugh”, Royce groaned as he hopped out of bed and slowly began to lace up his worn down boots. “Ah, come now”, Wang chuckled. “Be happy like me”. “Not much to be thankful for Wang, horrible conditions out”, Royce reasoned with him. It was freezing cold, wet and the morning fog was so thick you couldn’t see more than a metre ahead. The condensed soil was proving to be incredibly difficult to puncture in this weather. “Yes, me have some good news, eh?” Wang grinned cunningly. “I hear new landmine been discovered in place called Orange. It very big and a lot of gold”, Wang said, perfectly displaying his poor English. “Orange hey?” Royce inquired curiously.
As Royce made his way out of his tepee and to goldfields, all he could hear anyone talking about was this mysterious place Orange. The buzz around the minefield was everywhere. The departure rate is sky high and everybody is seeking riches. He walked away around the empty shafts until he found a promising spot, when Royce started chipping away.
Royce's earlier predictions were correct. The mud was like rock. But it was always like this in the depressing Stawell gold mines, but if it didn’t have to be, this could change. He decided he wanted to take a risk, like all the other miners, a risk for better or for worse. But he needed to get there first.
On his lunch break he scouted out any possible groups that were going to Orange, but he had no luck. He went and sat down at the carved out mud table and tried to enjoy some sloppy apple porridge when the people next to him were talking. A small group of people talking about Orange! He listened in carefully, trying to find the perfect time to butt into their conversation. Then it came! They started talking about the journey and how they need members so that when they arrived they would mine in groups and all become rich. “If you need members I am here?” Royce said. “I mean like, you know, can I come with you?” Royce cringed at his awkward request. The six dudes looked at each other sceptically, then the big one stood up. “Name?” He ordered. Royce swallowed nervously and then repeated his full name “Royce Dale Smith”. Royce was trying to be as confident as he could considering the intimidating characters he was facing. The man thrust his hand towards Royce and the men shook hands vigorously. “Welcome to our group Royce. We are leaving tomorrow so pack your stuff and don’t get hurt in the meantime. My name is Ludo Weston. This is my right hand man Ruben Lee, and the rest of my crew.”
The rest of Royce’s shift went by like a whirlwind. He had butterflies in his stomach and was caught out daydreaming plenty of times by his fellow co-workers. But as nightfall crept, he was released from the mines and sent back to his precious tepee. Packing his belongings was the easiest part. Some clothes, a pan and a toothbrush. Royce felt disheartened saying goodbye to his home, it may not have been the best place in the world but it will always have a place in his heart. Royce stood outside of his tent, took a deep breath, and was ready to start a new chapter in his life, when Wang came up behind him. “Where are you going my friend?” He questioned me. ”Orange”, I replied somewhat teasingly, not fully expecting Wang’s response. “I come” he said. “My child is on the way! I make no money here.” Royce did not know how to answer him. He felt a bit taken aback by Wang's response. “ Since when were you married?” Royce asked confusedly.” "He come from China, he on boat, he be here soon eh.” he explained “Very well then, but don’t you need your stuff?” “
Eeh, I don’t need” came Wang’s response without a flinch.” Me have nothing”
As they arrived and met up with the group, Royce felt bewildered. He had just brought a foreigner into the group. In this country they were not appreciated. It was not a good look considering he had just joined. But none of them seemed to care or notice. Royce felt relieved to have been spared the confrontation. The leader lined us up with our bags. ”This will be the line we will be walking in along the journey, any questions?” Ludo began “No? Great. Our guide will be here any minute now”, he said in a jolly way. As the others joked around Royce started to get to know the man in front of him. His name is Eli and he is an illegal immigrant from Finland. He informed Royce about the line, and how it was an order. An order of importance, hence, why they were at the back. They simply were not important. Royce dwelled on the thought, when he got interrupted by the frantic arrival of a supposed guide. ”Hurrah”, yelled Ludo. “He has arrived. How are you? Good sir?!” He asked in his politest possible voice. The guide stared at him coldly and ordered them to put the bags in the back. “That guide must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed” Royce whispered to Wang, who didn’t fully understand what he meant. They came up to the back of the guide's carriage when he realised that the man had a pet iguana. When Royce was a kid he used to love being in nature, growing up in the bush. But his family had sent him off to the mines to make them some extra money. “Nice iguana you got there, what’s his name?” Royce asked. The man looked at the seat next to him where the limp iguana sat and shrugged “ I just found him on the side of the road and thought it would make a good meal”, he replied smugly. Royce was disgusted by his response and walked to the back of the line as fast as he could to get away from that creep. The horses connected to his carriage started trotting away and the great trek to Orange commenced.
The gravel under their feet gave way with every step, as time flew by in silence for about an hour when finally they reached a small town called St Arnaud. The guide had told them to wait there as he went to get supplies. The ‘important’, people as Eli would like to call, them went to chat about the plan to get rich quick when they get there, whilst he, Wang and Eli had to source dry firewood for a quick fire. As soon as the ashes started forming the guide came back with a purse full of money and very drunk. Royce started having mixed thoughts about this guide when he ordered them to get up.
They walked deep into the night as the psycho guide had been talking and giggling to himself. Eventually they found a pond near Boort which they set up beside. With the ‘supplies’ the guide had brought, Ruben cooked up a delicious meal of rabbit hind stew and Royce gulped down every last drop of it. He and Wang had set up a tent and planned to sleep together because they had lost the backup tent on the way, keeping in mind Wang was a late arrival. Morning came and the guide was keen to get moving. He informed Ludo that the border was a pain to get past due to the extensive border patrol. They were handed an apple each and started through the woodlands of Appin South. They passed a small town by the name of Kerang and then the border approached by lunch. They walked up to the guard with intentions to get past but were disappointed to find that it cost money to cross. Money they just didn’t have. What little money they carried on them was needed for food, but in order to get past they had to pay up. They paid their fees but as they were walking past the man stopped them.” Hey!” The man yelled.” No Asian people allowed through”. Royce couldn’t believe his ears. His greatest companion was being held back and he was inflicted with a choice. “Do I stay back with Wang and give up the chance of living a prosperous life?” He reluctantly chose to continue with the group and say farewell to Wang. Wang understood. “Goodbye friends!” He called out cheerily. “I wish you luck!” Royce was so saddened that it took him a while before he could find the words, “Goodbye Wang, we shall miss you”.
Wang waved his goodbye and walked the other way as the group looked in disbelief. “Ahh, come on what did you expect? Oh no! boo hoo! Let's go! We have gold to find”, the guide said mockingly. The group lined up soberly behind him and moved on. Royce felt empty with the sudden removal of Wang, and so did the rest of the group (mainly because they had no one else to pick on).
After a while they stopped off at a pretty creek in Wanganella. Royce found the name fitting due to Wang’s name being at the start of the name. Eli had made a traditional Finnish dish called Lihapullat over the fire. It was just fancy meatballs but they tasted alright. Royce set up his tent and got a wave of sadness having shared it with Wang the past couple nights. He couldn’t fall asleep at night so he got up and tended to the fire. The fire calmed Royce and he ended up falling asleep on the ground next to it.
In the morning they all skipped breakfast and went straight to hiking up the rocky terrain, because today was the day they might reach the minefield. Every small civilization they passed made them feel giddy with excitement, the dream was about to come true. They just needed to do a couple of hours worth of walking. They found out the hard way that the NSW weather was going to eat them alive. It was a blistering sun and climbing over the steep inclines wasn’t easy work. They had just overcome one of the larger hills when they had a bit of a break at the top, When over the horizon they saw a sight none of the 6 men will ever forget. It was a minefield. A familiar one. It was the Minefield. ORANGE! O-R-A-N-G-E. They had made it. The men jumped around in glee as they walked down to what they truly believed would be their newfound riches.
The men sure were foolhardy! What they learned was that nothing came easily. After a few months slogging away, day after day, the rest of the gang had decided to move on. Royce was beginning to lose faith. “What had he done? Why did he leave Wang at the border? These thoughts haunted him daily, if only he could turn back time. The conditions proved to be worse than Stawell. The constant searing sun made the red earth dry, cracked and impossible to penetrate. His hands were covered in bloodied blisters. One day he decided that at the end of the week he would return home to his disappointed parents with nothing but empty hands.
The next day he tried his luck at panning in the Orange River. His hands were too bloodied to hold his pick axe. He moved further down stream from other groups and decided to pan on his own. After an hour or so he found a quiet nook and began panning. To his surprise he saw tiny flecks of gold in his pan. He started collecting the fine pieces. “These will get me a few decent meals'”, he pondered to himself. As he started to move more soil, the pieces got bigger. Finally he brought up the courage, grabbed his pickaxe and started digging deeper and deeper but was careful not to draw unwanted attention to himself. There was no way he would share his gold. And then bang! His axe hit something hard. “It’s probably a rock, '' he thought to himself. The chunk of earth floated away to reveal a huge, shiny nugget of gold. Royce’s eyes lit up. He couldn’t believe his luck. It had to be at least 1-2 kilos of pure gold. He wrapped it in a towel and hid it quickly in his knapsack.
Royce had sold the little pieces for a train ticket and later that night he caught a train back to Stawell. He had unfinished business to attend. “Wang, it’s you!” Royce had exclaimed “Hey friend!” Wang was just as surprised to see Royce. “Hey Wang, I'm sorry that I left you behind at the border. I’m about to make it up to you”. Royce took him into the tent and revealed the huge nugget from his knapsack. “OHH you got big one. Good on ya mate!” Wang said, showing off his Australian slang “Yes Wang, I want to share it with you. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have found it”
Royce sold the nugget and split the money. Wang bought a farm and lived happily with his family. Royce gave his share of the money to his parents, finally an achieved son. Royce decided to return to gold mining with a new found confidence, although he never did strike it rich again.