Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1888-02-04

u AN ANNON1
@:peid away Al, or vtry near all, rnas
was Left Of q little capital in wages and
food for tho Kafrs and ourselves. When I
tell you that Boer meal was sometimes a.
high as 81 q bag. you will understand that
it did not take long to run through our bank.
ing account.
night I had paid the men ns usual, and
bought . mud Of mealie meal at 6Oa for
them to I'll Themselves with, and then I went
the great hole that we had dug in the hill
side, and which wo had In bitter mockarv
named Eldorado. There NO sat In the moon.
light With our feet hanging over the edge Of
the claim, and ware melancholy enough for
anything. Presently I pulled out my purse
and emptisd its contents into my hand.
There was q half sovereign, two forms, nine
pence in silver, no coppsre-for coppsr prac.
tically does not circulate In South Africa.
which 10 one Of the things TINT make living
70 dear therein all exactly fourteen aud
ninepenoe.
"'There, Harry my boyr I said, that Is
the sum total Of our worldly wealth; that
hole has swallowed all the rest
"'By George said Master Harry, 4 say,
father, you and I shall have to let ourselves
out to work with tho Kafrs and live on
mcaiic pap and be sniggared at bis unplsas-
ant little joke.
"But I was In no mood for Joking, for it is
not q merry thing to dig like anything for
! months and be completely ruined in the pro
cess, especially II you happen to dislike dig
ging, and consequently I resented Harry's
ightheartedness.
"'Bs quiet, boyrl said, raising my hand
as though to give him a CUT, with the result
shat tho half sovereign slipped out Of it and
fell Into the gulf below.
"'Oh, bother saidiI, its gone
"'There. dad said. Harry, that's what
comes of letting your angry passions rise;
now we ars down to four aud nine.'
II 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. We'll, We hunted and we hunt.
ed, but the moonlight ts an uncertain thing
to look for half sovereigns by, and there was
come loose soil about 1t, for tho Kafrs had
Knocked of working at the very spot q
couple OF hours before. I took q pick and
raked away the clods Of earth with it, in tho
hope of finding tho coin, but all in vain. AZ
last, In sheer annoyance, I struck the sharp
pickax down into tho soil, which was Of a
very hard nature. To my establishment 1t
sunk in right up to tho heft.
"'Why, Harry I said, this ground must
have been disturbedn
"'I o think SO, father he answered,
but We will soon see,' and he began to shovel
out tho soil with his hands. 'Ohp he said
presently, it's only some old stones; tho pick
hos gone down between them. Loohp Aud
he began to pull at ono Of the stones.
"tI say, dad,' he said presently, almost in
q whisper, 'it's precious heavy; feel it, and
he roso and gave me q round, brownish lump
about tho stzo Of a vury large apple, which
OK was holding in both his hands. took it
curiously and hold it up to tho Light. II was
very heavy. Tho moonlight fell upon its
rough and filth encrusted surface, and as I
looked curious little thrills Of excitement
began to pass through me. But I could not
be sure.
"'Give me your knife, Harry I said.
"Ho did SO; and resting tho brown stone
on my knee I scratched at its surface. Grpat
heavens, 1t was softi
Another second and the secret was out;
we had found u great nugget of puro gold,
four pounds of it or more. IT'S gold, lad,' I
said, it's gold. lad, or I'm q Dutchman.'
Harry, with his eyes starting out Of his
lead, glared down at tho long cleaning yei
low scratch that l had made upon tho virgin
metal, and then burst out into yell upon yelI
OF oxultation, that went ringing away across
the silont claims like tho Shricks Of somebody
being murdered.
- "'De quiet l said, do you want every
thief III tho field after your
"Scarcoly wsro tho words out OF my moutl
when l heard q stealthy footstep approach
ing. promptly put tho big nugget dow
and sat on it, and uncolnmonly hard it was
and as l did so l saw u lean, dark face poket
over tho edge Of tho claim and O pair Of
bcady eyes searching us out. l knew ths
face. It belonged to q man Of very bad char
actcr known as IIandspiko Tom, who had, ]
understood, boon 80 named ut the diamond
fields because no had murdered his mate with
q handspike. lie was now, no doubt, prowl.
ing about like q human hyeua to SEQ what he
could steal.
"'Is that you, 'untor QuatcrmainF ho said.
"'Yes, it's l, ilr. Tonl,' l answered po-
litely.
"'And what might oil that there yelling
boz he asked. 4 was walking along, n-tak.
ing of the evening dir and a-thinking GA the
stars, when ! ears 'ow after owl
"'Woll. Mr.. Tom,' / answered, that IL no:
to 10 wondered ut, seeing that, like yourself,
they are nocturnal birds
"''Owl after 'owlr he repeated sternly
taking no notice Of my Interpretation, and
stops and says, "That's murder" and I listens
again and thinks, "No, it amt; that owl Il
tho owl Of hcxultation: some ones been and
got his fingers into u :llnrly yeller pot. III
swear, and gone OIL is cad In tho sucking
of them" Now, 'uuter Quatermain. Is
right Il it nuggetsi Oh, lori and hi
smacked his lips audibly-'groat big yellow
boys-is it them that you huvo just been ant
tumbled acrossf
"'No,' said l boldly, it isn't'-tho crue
CLEAN in his black eyes altogether overcom
ing my aversion to the untruth, for l knew
that if he once found out what it was hat
was sitting on-and, by tho way, I have
heard Of rolling in gold being spoken Of as ,
pleasant process, but l certainly do not rec
ommend anybody who values comfort to trJ
sitting On i'll should run a very good chanc,
Of bong 'handspiked' before tho night wa.
ovor.
"If you van to know what it was, Mr.
Tom,' I went on, with politest dir, although
in agony from tho nugget underneath-for
hold it always best to 10 polite to a maj VIII
u SO ready with a handspike-'my boy and
havo bad a slight difference of opinion, and
was enforcing my view Of the matter upor
him; that was all'
"'Ycs, Ilr. Tonu,' put In Harry, beginning
10 weep, for Harry was o smart boy. and saw
the difficulty wo wero In, that was i'll bal
!ocd bcca;oc father beat me-
"'Vcll, row, did yer, my dear boy; die
vert Well, oil 1 can say ia that a played on
old claim Is a wonderfully queer sort Of plao'