The Luminaries discussion

Staines buries it, and then its in Crosbie's cottage. So we can only assume that Crosbie excavated it. But how did he find it? Him finding it is never written about, and how he found it is never explained, right? Or am I forgetting?

It says in the last chapter preface that "Carver comes upon the excavated treasure"...and then doesnt elaborate. So I guess he was just in the right place right time.

Oh it says Carver comes upon it? But it was already dug up, sounds like. Hmmm. I recently had a thought that Te Rau was likely the one to find it and dig it up, since it is emphasized that it was buried on Maori land. Probably while he was hunting for those stones.

So Carver finds it outside where it was buried? Or he sees it inside crosbie's cottage? I will have to go back and read that preface again.

I think Crosbie dug up the gold as it explains near the end that Staines describes in good detail where he has buried it. This is when he went to inform Crosbie of Anna's miscarriage and how he wants to give her half the gold.

Oh ok, that would make sense. I really want to read it again and get the details that I missed the first time around.

I think Crosbie found the gold and hid it in his cabin. The reference to Carver coming upon the excavated treasure refers to
1. Actually finding the gold, and then leaving it there because he knows Lydia will inherit it. Although I don't believe Carver would leave the gold behind.
OR
2. Finding the document that leaves Anna two thousand pounds. This confirms that the gold is not lost, and Carver being the resourceful person he is, should be able to recover it.

Does Crosbie even know that it's his OWN gold, stolen by Lydia, sewn into the dresses, smelted by Ah Quee and marked (wrongly) as "Aurora," before being carried away secretly by Staines? Does Crosbie allow Staines to give half away, because legally, once it's stamped "Aurora," it does belong to Staines and Carver (half-share partners)? If Crosbie has dug it up, why hide it inside his cabin, instead of re-burying it on his own land? Or did Staines dig it up, some time between October and January (although he testifies that after October 11 he never saw Wells again--for what anyone's testimony is worth)?

The book doesn't answer the question explicitly so I think we can only guess. Here are some of my guesses...

Does Crosbie eve know that it's his own gold? I think he may suspect that it is indeed his gold (though I don't believe there is any way he could know about it being sewn into the dresses and smelted and all that); he did ask Staines the amount of "Staines'" bonanza, and I think recognizes that of course the amounts match. But he readily drew up and signed the deed, so despite any suspicions he may have had, it seems that he thought giving it over to Anna was a good idea.

As to how the gold got dug up... I thought what Samantha did, that Te Rau is the likely "finder" of the gold. Staines covers it with his a pattern of stones he's likely to recognize; we're told that Te Rau loves this land and knows it and cares for it. He would probably notice this human-manipulated pile of stones and investigate for curiosity's sake. I imagine him uncovering the gold and shaking his head and just walking away... we know he doesn't really care for gold... however... that doesn't entirely make sense because of how badly he wanted money earlier. Unless he was just terribly frustrated or thinking about what to do with it. I think it unlikely too that Crosbie would dig it up and just leave it sitting around his house, unless he was just curious or had a notion that it was his gold and he wanted it back (still—stuffed in all those weird places?). Or that Carver would leave it there if he found it--why leave that chance? The book says "Carver comes upon the excavated fortune." Hmm... Gail guesses that this could refer to Carver finding the document gifting Anna two thousand pounds. I did a search in my book, and it is notable how often the word "excavate" is used to refer to how Quee Long removes the gold from the dresses; Staines' buried gold is that "excavated fortune," so I do think that's a possibility. I just can't imagine a scenario in which Carver actually finds the gold itself and doesn't just take it all at that moment. What of the possibility of Carver finding that deed, going to burn it, and then heading off... Lauderback arrives, and I don't think the gold is in the cabin at that point either or someone in Lauderback's party would have noticed it, since wasn’t it poorly concealed? (I’m having a hard time locating the description of where exactly in Crosbie’s cottage it was.) Nilssen is the one to discover it, after the funeral, which makes me think that it is actually Staines who digs it up and puts it in Crosbie’s cottage, after having gone missing that night, in a “drugged confusion.”

But Carver doesn't know that the "Aurora" gold is originally 'his' (stolen from Crosbie), does he? And in any case, half of it is now his legally, because of his half-share deal with Staines. I agree that it's hard to imagine Carver just leaving the gold there: more likely he drugs Crosbie's drink, then makes a quick getaway. I prefer the idea that Staines dug the gold up, either before January 14, or some time in the following day(s) while he was hiding out at Ah Sook's, not too impossibly drugged? [We don't ever know how he makes it back to Crosbie's cabin, weeks later, wounded from Anna's shot, to be found by Te Rau, do we?] I have only a foggy idea of how far he'd have to walk, unobserved, to do this; the ONE thing this wonderful book lacks is a map! The "Te Rau hypothesis" also works: Te Rau finds it and gives it to his friend Crosbie, who salts it away in his flour bin, etc. The stamped bars would be a liability to Te Rau. And if he'd buried them---plot problem!

I do not think that Crosbie recognizes that the gold is his own gold. The only two people who knew that the Aurora claim was a "duffer" were Mannering and Quee Long. Emery Staines thought the gold came from the Aurora claim because it was deposited by Quee Long at the camp station, (also the gold had been retorted into bars and stamped with the name "Aurora"). Emery then told Crosbie that the gold came from the Aurora claim, and that he wanted Anna to have Carver's share. If Crosbie had any idea that the gold was actually his, he would not have drawn up the agreement which gave Anna half the gold.
Carver does not know that the gold in Crosbie's cabin was the same gold that had been sewn into Anna's dresses. Only Quee Long knew that the gold came from Anna's dresses. Quee Long's motive for moving the gold from Anna's dresses to the Aurora claim, was that he would get a percentage of the profit.
I I am also not convinced that Carver actually found the gold in Crosbie's cabin. First of all, I cannot believe that such a vile character as Carver would leave behind any gold. Also, the gold bars were stamped with the name "Aurora" - half of the gold legitimately belong to Carver, so why not just take it (half legitimately, all of the gold illegitimately)? Carver did not know that the Aurora claim was a duffer. Also, the book says "Carver comes upon the excavated fortune" - it does not specifically mention gold. To me, the excavated fortune referred to the money (two thousand pounds - again not gold), left to Anna.
I am not sure how the gold got into Crosbie's cabin. Only two people knew that the gold was buried on Maori land - Crosbie and Emery Staines. I doubt that Emery Staines dug up the gold - he thought it was safe where he originally buried it. Which leaves Crosbie, or Te Rau as per Samantha. I thought it was plausible that Crosbie would hide the gold in his cabin - remember he was described as a hermit, so besides Te Rau, he did not have any visitors, (except for Emery Staines at the end), and so the gold would have been safe. Especially since Te Rau did not have any interest in gold.

P. - I doubt he knows that Carver knows the Aurora gold is the same he stole from Crosbie, although I don't think that would prevent him from taking it. He's willing to do all kinds of underhanded stuff to steal stuff from people, both gold and ships, so if he saw any gold unguarded, I think he's just snatch it and not wait for rights or inheritance to come into play.

Gail, you said "The only two people who knew that the Aurora claim was a "duffer" were Mannering and Quee Long." But I thought Staines knew too? He had a conversation with Mannering, towards the end of the book. I think he explicitly wants a duffer so that Carver doesn't get anything from it, since he gets half shares on Staines's first claim. I found the conversation and here it is:
"Which is considered to be the more grievous?"
"Depends on what you call grievous," said Mannering, swiping away a vine. "Salt a claim and get caught, you might get murdered in your bed; cry a duffer and get caught, you're liable to get lynched. Cold-blooded, hot-blooded. That's your choice."
Staines smiled. "Am I to do business with a cold-blooded man?"
"You can decide for yourself," said Mannering, throwing out his arm. "Here it is: The Aurora."
They surveyed the land together. Staines perceived a Chinese man, squatting some thirty yards distant, his panning dish loose in his hands.
"What's the opposite of a homeward-bounder?" said Mannering presently. "A never-going-homer? A stick-it-to-Mr.-Carver?"
"Who's that?" said Staines.
"That's Quee," said Mannering. "He'll stay on."
Staines dropped his voice. "Does he know?"
Mannering laughed. "'Does he know?'" What have I just told you? I'm not keen on getting murdered in my bed, thank you."

I'm not sure what he thought when he saw the gold in the bank--maybe that the Aurora's luck had just turned, or maybe he figured it wasn't really from the Aurora. Crosbie probably believed that it came from the Aurora, or at least that it was Staines's, since everyone thought he was super lucky. But even if he suspected it was his, I'm not sure he would have made a fuss... after all, it would only have been a suspicion, and calling out his friend on it may not have seemed worth it over some vague inkling. He seemed to have made his peace with losing it the first time and be working on something else, too.

Staines pre-January 14th thought that it was safe where it was, but after he hits his head and goes off in a drug-induced craze... when Te Rau found him, he kept babbling about having to find his tree. I found the description of where the gold was in Crosbie's cabin (it took forever!): "And then, wedged into the flour canister, the powder box, the meat safe, the bellows, the cracked basin of an old commode--and all of it glistering, heavy, and soft." The flour canister seems like an okay hiding spot, but the bellows? The commode? Kind of sounds like the work of someone unhinged. Crosbie was probably planning on using his meat safe and bellows again so it doesn't make a ton of sense for him to hide anything there.

Anyway...this is all pretty exciting to think about, haha :) I loved this book...

Paige wrote: "P. - I doubt he knows that Carver knows the Aurora gold is the same he stole from Crosbie, although I don't think that would prevent him from taking it. He's willing to do all kinds of underhanded ..."
Excellent points! I no longer have the book with me, so I might just be confused, but where exactly IS Staines between 14 and 27 January (the day when he's aboard the Godspeed and gets shot)? In court he says he's with Ah Soonk--but he lies about being behind the curtain in Anna's room, too. He seems to have fallen into the crate that ships out on the Godspeed on January 14--but TWO WEEKS nailed into that box? Even if he's getting mystically nourished by Anna (which actually seems not to happen until after the 27th, when she goes to live with Lydia), that does strain credulity. If he's at Ah Sook's, though, how does he get aboard the Godspeed? [N.B. Even if there's no good answer, I'm not looking to find flaws: I think the novel is a masterpiece. I just want to stop waking up at 4 AM mulling over these questions!]

Thank you for the insight Paige! I agree that Emery Staines also knew that the Aurora was a duffer. Although I am perplexed by the second last sentence in this chapter, "He (Quee) must think this a terribly poor enterprise." Why? The Aurora was being salted by Mannering to the tune of 20 pounds per week. That seems to me like a good yield for 1865.

P, I think Emery Staines was in the crate on the Godspeed between January 14 and 27. I guess you could call it "magical realism" that he and Anna were mystic soulmates. After Cowell Devlin asked Walter Moody to be the defence attorney for Anna and Emery, Moody insisted on being able to speak to both Anna and Emery, and stated "We shall have to ensure first and foremost that both sides of the story agree." So, I think the part about Emery staying at Ah Sook's was part of the "story", especially convenient since Ah Sook could not confirm it, as he was dead.

It is hard to know which characters to believe in this novel - an excellent example of the unreliable narrator. But I think we can believe the epigrams at the beginning of each chapter.

Doesn't Ah Quee actually recognize that the gold he keeps panning is the same bits, salted there? I can't find the reference, but I thought he somehow recognized the deceit (since Mannering was scattering the same nuggets over and over)--and that's why he decides to smelt and mark the gold from the dresses, so that he gets his fair share?
And I reluctantly concede that Staines must have been in the crate for two weeks, though Anna doesn't start to "dwindle" until later (and the opium has surely worn off after a day or two, so what keeps him there? Oh, wait: is he getting drugged when Anna takes the opium? E.g. when Anna claims to have eaten the rest of the lump, but isn't affected? But does she go on taking opium after that last bit? I thought not. Wish I had the book here!)

Have recently read the book coping my best with all the convolutions but haven't worked out where the gold finally ended up. Would appreciate receiving an reply! Thank you

I'm thinking:

1. Crosbie found it.
2. Staines actually already took the gold from the hiding location and stored it at Crosbie's. He forgot about that, and that's why he returned to the cottage.