By the Great Horn Spoon!

In By the Great Horn Spoon!, Jack and Praiseworthy’s quest in California begins as a hunt for physical wealth, for the “color” that drew many thousands of would-be millionaires to the goldfields in the mid-1800s. However, it is not greed that motivates Jack and Praiseworthy, but an urgency to keep their family together. Chipping flecks of gold out of rocks and dirt becomes, for them, a symbol of their love for Arabella, and for each other; their shared dangers, triumphs, and sacrifices gradually chip away at the butler’s professional “distance,” until he and Jack are like father and son. At the same time, Praiseworthy gains the confidence to be his own man, worthy of proposing to Arabella. This is the “gold” the pair discover on their quest. When Praiseworthy asks Arabella to marry him, her eyes “sparkle” with tears: This echoes the sparkle of gold in the sluices and streams near Sutter’s Mill, revealing gold to be a symbol of love—which often requires confidence, patience, and hard work. Significantly, the actual gold that Jack and Praiseworthy find is lost in a shipwreck; the monetary wealth it embodies is no longer needed to keep them together. The fact that the heavy gold almost drags them down foreshadows Arabella’s revelation that her luxurious house, and the wealth and position it represented, was a “curse” that kept her from doing what she wanted.