, 1888-12-06
out of. The American gentleman had se

high as e4 a bag. YOU viii understand that
it did not take long TO run through our bank
ing account.
AT last the crisis came. On Saturday
night l had paid the men as usual, and
bought 4 muid Of mealie meal at Gs- Tor
them TO fill themselves with, and then Went
with my boy Harry and sat on the edge OF
the great hole that we had dug III the hill
side. and which we had i'll bitter mockery
named Eldorado. There we sat i'll the moon
light with our feet hanging over the edge OF
the claim, and were melancholy enough for
ANYTHING. Presently pulled out my purse
and emptied its contents into my hand
There was half sovereign, two fiorins, 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 ali exactly fourteen and
niDepence
L" There, Harry my boyr I said, that is
the sum total of our worldly wealth; that
hole has swallowed all the rest
80 BY George said Master Harry, i say,
father, You and shall have to let ourselves
out TO work with the Kafirs and live on
mealic pap and lie sniggered at his unpleaS-
ant little joke.
but was in no mood for Joking, for it is
not a 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 | resented Harry's
HghtheaTtedness.
BE quiet, boyr l said, raising my hand
as though to give him n cI.ff, with the result
that the half sovereign Slipped out of 1t and
FELL into the gulf below
"'Oh, bother said l, its gone
'''There, dad said Harry, that's what
ions rS4
now we are down to four and nine
Il made no answer TO these words of Wis
dom, but scrambled down the deep sides of
the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for
my little all Well, VIC hunted and We hunt
ed, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing
to look for half sovereigns by, and there was
some loose soil about it, for the Hairs had
knocked off working at the very spot
couple of hours before / took pick and
raked away the clOdS OF earth with 1t, in the
hope of finding the coin, but all i'll vain. AT
last, in sheer annoyance, l struck the sharp
piclSax down into the soil, which was of
very hard nature. To my astOuishment it
sunk in right up to the heft.
"'Why, Harry said, this ground must
have been dIsturbedn
- 4 don't think so, father, he answered,
but we will soon sec, and lie began TO shovel
out the soil with his hands. 'Ohn he said
presently, it's only some old stones; the pick
has gone down between them. Look' And
he began to pull at one of the stones.
- L say, dad,' he said presently, almost il
a whisper, its precious heavy; feel it,; and
he rose and gave me round, brownish lump
about the size of very large apple, which
ne was holding in both his hands. took it
euriously 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
De sure
% Give me your knife, Harry said.
'He did so; and resting the brown stone
on my knee l scratched Et its surfuce. GregIt
heavens, 1t was soft
ssAnother second and the secret was out;
We had found great nugget of puTc gold,
four pounds of it or more. It's gold, lad,' /
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 shrielks of somebody
being murdered.
'' BE quiet l said, do you want every
y
HScarcely were the words out of my mouth
when heard a stealthy footstep approach
ing. promptly put the big nugget down
and sat ON it, and uncommonly hard it was,
and as did so 1 saw lean, dark face poked
over the edge of the claim and pair Of
beady eyes searching us out. knew the
face. 1t belonged to a man of very bad char
acter known as Handspike Tom, who had, ]
understood, been 50 named at the diamond
fields because he had murdered his mate with
q handSpike. He was now, no doubt, prowl
ing about like human hyena to see what he
could steal
"'Is that you, 'unter Quatermainp ? he said
eyes, it's l, Mr.. Tom | answered po-
litely.
"'And what might all that there yelling
be-! he asked. L was walking along, a-tak-
ing of the evening cir and a-thinking ON the
stars, when ears owl after owl
"'Well. MIR. Ton,' l answered, that is not
to be wondered at, seeing that, like yourself.
they are nocturnal birds
"'Owl after 'owlr he repeated sternly,
taking no notice of my Interpretation, and
stops ana says, That's murder and listens
again and thinks, mo, it amt; that owl is
tho 'owl of hexultation; some ones been and
got his fingers into Summy yeller pot, III
swear, and gone off is 'ead i'll the sucking
of them.n Now, 'unter Quaterinain, is ]
rights Is it nuggets! Oh, lorn and he
smacled his lips audibly-'i5reat big yellow
boys-is it them that you have just been and
tumbled acrossn
"'No,' said 1 boldly, 1T isn't-thc cruel
gleam in his black eyes altogether overcom-
ing my aversion to the untruSh, for knew
that if he once found out what it WAS that ]
was sitting on-and, by the way, l have
heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as q
pleasant process, but l certainly do not rec
ommend anybody who values comfort TO try
sitting on i'll shouldr run a very good chance
of being 'handspiked before the night wGl:
over.
III you want to know what it was, Mr.
Tom,' went on, with politeSt air, although
in agony from the nugget undcrneath-for
hold it always best TO be polite to n man who
is SO ready with n handspike-'my boy and ]
have had slight difference of opinion, and
was enforcing my view of the matter upoG
him; that was ALL
s' Yes, Mr.. Ton,' put in Harry, beginning
to weep, for Harry was smart boy, and saw
the difficulty We were in, that was it-I hal
loed because father beat me-
''Well, now, did yer, my dear boy; did
yer! Well, all can say is that n played oui
old claim is 4 wonderfully queer sort Of placs
to como to for to argify at 10 o'clock of nighs
and what's more, my sweet youth, if ever
should ave the argifying of yer'-and he
Ieered unpleasantly at HaTTy-'yer won't
'oller in such a jolly sort o. way And now
I'll be saying good night, for 1 don't like dis
turbing of family party. No, amt that
sort of man, I amt Good night TO yer,
unter Quatermain; good night to yer, my
argified young one,' and Mr.. Tom turned
away disappointed, and prowled off else
where, like human jackal, to see what be
could thieve or kill.
'''Thank goodnessr said, as l slipped OF
the lump of gold. Now, then, do you get
up, Harry, and see if that consummate viz
lain has gone' Harry did so, and reported
that he had vanished toward Pilgrims Rest,
and then we set to work, and very carefully,
but trembling with excitements with our
bands followed out ali the space Of ground
into which Ihad struck the pick Yes, as
had hoped, there was a regular nest Of mug
gets, twelve in all, runIsing from the size Of
, hazelHut to that of hens egg, though Of
course the first one was much larger than