Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-04-11

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 in the hill
SIDE and which we had in bitter mockery
| named Eldorado. There we sat in 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 empGed its contents into my hand.
There was half sovereign, two forms, nine
pence in s lver, no coppers-for copper prac-
tically does not circulate in South Africa,
which is one of the things that make living
30 dear therein all exactly fourteen and
ninepence.
There, Harry my boyp said, that is
the sum total Of our worldly wealth; that
hole has swallowed all the rest
"tBy George said Master Harry, Il say,
father, you and shall have to let ourselves
out to work with the Kafirs and live on
mealic pap and he siggered at his unpleas-
ant little joke.
'sBut was in no mood for Joking, for it 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 resented Harrys
nghtheartedneSs. .-' :
- BE quiet, boyrI said, raising my hand
tss though ogiyefhim . acaff, with the resule
that the half sovereign slipped out of it and
I fell into the gulf below.
"'Oh, bother said I, it's gone
"'There, dad said. Harry, that's what
comes of letting your angry passions rise;
now we are down to four and nine.'
ssI 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, we 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 kafirs had
knocked Off working at the very spot
couple Of hours before 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 1t
sunk in right up to the heft.
"'Wny, Harry I said, this ground must
have been disturbedn
"I don't think so, father he answered,
but we will soon see,' and he began to shovel
out the soil with his hands. oh! he said
presently, it's only some old stones; the pick
has gone down between them. Lookr And
be began to pull at one Of the stones.
"'I say, dad,' he said presently, almost in
a whisper, it's 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. I took it
curiously 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.
"sGive me your knife, Harry said.
"He did so; and resting the brown stone
on my knee I scratched at its surface Great
heavens, 1t was soft!
"Another second and the secret was out;
we had found great nugget Of pure gold,
four pounds of it or more. It's gold, lad,' I
said, it's gold, lad, or I'm Dutchman.'
Harry, with his eyes starting out of his
head, glared down at the long cleaning yell
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 youp
Scarcely were the words out Of my mouth
when heard stealthy footstep approach.
ing. promptly put the big nugget down
and sat on it, and uncommonly hard it was,
and as did so saw lean, dark face poked
over the edge Of the claim and a pair OF
beady eyes searching us out 1 knew tbs
face. 1t belonged to man Of very bad char.
acter known as Handspike Tom, who had,
understood, been so named at the diamond
fields because he had murdered his mate with
handspike He was now, no doubt, prowl-
ing about like human hyena to see what he
could steal
"'Is that you, 'unter QuatermainT he said.
"'Yes, it's I, Mr.. Tom,' answered po-
litely.
"tAnd what might all that there yelling
ber ba asked. Il was walking along, a-tak-
ing of the evening air and a-thinking on the
stars, when cars owl after owl
"'Well. Mr. Tom,' answered, that is not
to be wondered at, seeing that, like yourself,
they are nocturnal birds
"s'Owl after 'owl' he repeated sternly,
taking no notice Of my Interpretation, 'and I
stops and says, ''Thats 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 yeller pot, I'll
swear, and gone off lis 'ead in the sucking
Of them" Now, 'unter Quatermain, is
right? Is it nuggets? Oh, lori and he
smacked his lips audibly-'grcat big yellow
boys-is it them that you have just been and
tumbled acrossF
"'No,' said boldly, it isn't-thc cruel
gleam in his black eyes altogether ovcrcom-
ing my aversion to the untruth, for knew
that if he once found out what it was that
was sitting on-and, by the way, have
heard of rolling in gold being spoken Of as a
pleasant process, but I certainly do not rec
ommend anybody who values comfort to try
sitting on it-I should run q very good chance
of being 'handspiked' before the night was
over.
"'If you want to know what it was, Mr..
Tom,' went on, with politest air, although
in agony from the nugget underneath-for I
hold it always best to be polite to man who
is so ready with handspike-'my boy and I
have had slight difference of opinion, and 7
was enforcing my vicw Of the matter upon
him; that was ALL
"'Yes, Mr.. Tonl,' put in Harry, beginning
to weep, for Harry was smart boy, and saw
the difficulty we were in, that was it hal
locd because father beat me-
"'Well, now, did yer, my dear boy; did
yer? Well, oil can say is that played out
old claim is o wonderfully queer sort of place
to come to for to argify at 10 O'Clock OF night,
and what's more, my sweet youth, If ever
should ave the argifying of yer-and he
leered unpleasantly at Harry-'yer won't
'oller in such jolly sort O. way. And now
I'll be saying good night, for don't like dis
turbing of family party. No, l amt that
sort of a man, amt. Good night to yer,
'unter Quatermain; good night to yer, my
argified young one,' and Mr.. Tom turned
away disappointed, and prowled of else
where, like human jackal, to see what ne
could thieve or kill.
"'Thank goodness said, as slipped Off
the lump of gold. Now, then, do you get
up, Harry, and see if that consummate vii
lain has gone Harry did SO, and reported
that he had vanished toward Pilgrims Rest,
and then VIC set to work, and very carefully,
but trembling with excitement, with our
hands followed out all 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, running from the size Of
q hazelnut to that of q hens egg, though Of
course the first one was much larger than
that. How they all came there nobody can
say: it was one of those extraordinary
freaks, with stories of which, at any rate all
people acquainted with alluvial gold mining