The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-02-03

and enptied its contents into my hand.
There was half sovereign, two Horins, nine
pence in silver, no coppers-for copper prac-
tically does not circulate in South Africa,
which is one of the things that make living
SO dear therein all exactly fourteen and
ninepence
There, Harry my boyr said, that is
the sum total of our worldly wealth; that
hole has swallowed all the rest
by George said Master Harry, Il say,
father, you and shall have TO let ourselves
out 10 work with the Kaflrs and live on
mealic pap and he sniggered at his unpleas-
ant little joke
"But was in no mood for Joking, for II is
not merry thing to dig like anything for
months and be completely ruined in the pro-
cess, especially If you happen to dislike dig
ging, and consequently l resented Harry's
iightheartedness.
"'Be quiet, boyp said, raising my hand
as though to give him a cuff, with the result
that the half sovereign slipped out Of it and
fell into the gulf below.
"'Oh, bother, said l, its gone
"'There, dad said Harry, that's what
comes of letting your angry passions rise;
now we are down to four and nine.'
81 made no answer to these words of wis
dom, but scrambled down the deep sides of
tho claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for
my little all. Well, we hunted and we hunt
ed, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing
to look for half soverelg0s by, and there was
some loose soil about il, for the kafirs had
knocked Off working at the very spot
couple of hours before. l took a pick and
raked away the clods of earth with it, in the
hope of finding the coin, but all in vain. At
last, in sheer annoyance, struck the sharp
pickax down into the soil, which was of a
very hard nature. To my astonishment it
sunk in right up to the heft.
"'Why, Harry, said, this ground must
have been disturbedp
"'I don't think so, father he answered,
but we will soon see, and he began to shovel
out the soil with his hands. 'Ohr he said
presently, it's only some old stones the pick
has gone down between them. Lookr And
no began to pull at one of the stones.
90 Il say, dad he said presently, almost in
whisper, it's precious heavy; feel it,; and
he rose and gave me round brownish lump
about the size of a very large apple, which
ne was holding in both his hands. l took it
curiousy and held it up to the light. 1t was
very heavy. The moonlight fell upon its
rough and filth encrusted surface, and as
looked curious little thrills of excitement
began to pass through me. But could not
be sure.
"'Give me your knife, Harry said.
'He did so; and resting the brown stone
on my knee | scratched at its surface. Great
heavens, 1t was softl
"Another second and the secret was out;
we had found great nugget of pure gold,
four pounds of it or more. ITS gold, lad l
said, it's gold, lad, or I'm Dutchman.'
Harry, with his eyes starting out Of his
head, glared down at the long cleaning yel-
low scratch that had made upon the virgin
metal, and then burst out into yell upon yell
Of exultation, that went ringing away across
the silent claims like the shrieks Of somebody
being murdered.
"'Be quiet I said, do you want every
thief on the field after your
Scarcely were the words out of my mouth
when heard a steGlthy footstep approach
ing promptly put the big nugget down
and sat on it, and uncommonly hard it was,
and as did SO saw a lean, dark face polxed
over the edge Of the claim and pair of
beady eyes searching us out. l knew the
face. 1t belonged TO man of very bad char
acter known as Handspike Tom, who had, l
understood, been SO named ut the diamond
fields because he had murdered his mate with
handspike. He was now, no doubt, prowl-
ing about like a human hyena to see what he
could steal
"'Is that you, 'unter Quatermainf he said.
"'Yes, it's /, Mr.. Tom,' l answered po-
litely.
"'And what might all that there yelling
ber he asked. Il was walking along, a-tak-
ing of the evening air and a-thinking on the
stars, when ears owl after OWL
"'Well, Mr. Tom, answered, that is not
to be wondered at, seeing that, like yourself,
they are nocturnal birds
Gsfnxu1 off inyylN ha ta1 starp1y
taking no notice of my Interpretation, 'and
stops and says, That's murder and listens
again and thinks, "No, it amt; that owl is
the owl of hexultation; some ones been and
got his fingers into gummy yeler pot I'll
swear, and gone off is cad in the sucking
of them" Now, 'unter Quatermain, IS
righti Is it nuggets' Oh, lori and he
smacked his lips audibly-'great big yellow
boys-is it them that you have just been and
| tumbled acrossr
"'No,' said l boldly, lit isnt'-the crue
| CLEAN in his black eyes altogether overcom
| ing my aversion to the untrush, for knew
! he once found out what it was that
ting on-and, by the way, l have
T.. Of rolling in gold being spoken of us G
pleasant process, but l certainly do not rec
ommend anybody who values comfort to try
sitting on it-I should run a very good chance
| of being 'handspiked before the night wa
over.
| "'If you want to know what it was, Mr.
| Tom went on, with politest air, although
in agony from the nugget underneath--for
| hold it always best to be polite to man wh'
| is so ready with "A handspi!;e-'my boy and
| have had slight difference of opinion, and
| was eaforcing my view of the matter upol
him: tint was all
| "'Yes, A-r. Tom,' put in Harry, beginning
to weep, for Harry was smart boy, and say
| the difficulty we were in, that was it-l hal
loed because father beat me-
| "'Well, now, did yer, my dear boy; L..
| yeri We'll all | can say is that played OF
old claim is a wonderfully queer sort of pl7''
to come to for TO argify at 10 o'clock of night
| and what's more, my sweet youth, II ever
should ave the argifying of yer'-and h
luered unpleasantly at HarTy-'yer won'
'ollcr in such a jolly sort o way. And nov
I'll be saying good night, for | don't Ike dis
turbing of Il family party. No, | amt tina
sort of a man, | amt. Good night TO yer
'unter Quatermain; good night to yer, IN.
argiled young one and Mr.. Tom turne,
away disappointed, and prowled of else
where, like human jackal, to see what b
could theve or kill.
| "'Thanll goodnessr said, as slipped OF
the lump of gold. Now, then, do you sc
up, Harry, and see if that consummate vii
lain has gone.' Harry did so, and reporte
that he had vanished toward Pilgrims Rest
and then we set 10 work. and very carefully
but trembling with excitement, with on
hands followed out all the space of groun
into which had struck the pick. Yes, as
had hoped, there was regular nest Of mug
gets, twelve in all, running from the size Q
a hazelnut TO that of hens egg, though c
course the first one was much larger tina
that. How they all came there nobody ca
say it was one of those extraordinar
freaks, with stories of which, at any rate, a
people acquainted with alluvial gold minin
will be familiar, 1t turned out afterwar
that the American who had sold me the clail
had in the same way made his plea muc
larger one than ours, by the way-out OF
single pocket, and then worked for six montl
without seeing color, after which he gay
itup.
"At any rate, there the nuggets were,
the value, as it turned out afterward,
about 81 $50, so that after all took out
that hole e450 more than put into it, "
got them all out and wrapped them up in
handkerchief, and then fearing TO carr
home SO much treasure, especially as v
knew that Handspike Tom was ON the prov
made up our minds to pass the night whe
we were--a necessity which, disagreeable
it was, was wonderfully sweetened by Il
presence of that handkerchief full Of virg