The Yale expositor., 1897-01-15
A Tale of
Three Lions
CHAPTER I.-(CoNrINurp.
BY
n. RIDER HACCARD


bought a mud of mealie meal at sixty
shillings for them to fill themselves
with, and then / went with my boy
Harry and sat on the edge OF the
laundering great hole that we had dug
in the hillside, and which we had in
bitter mockery named Eldorado. There
we sat in the moonlight with our feet
hanging over the edge of the claim, and
were melancholy enough for anything.
Presently 1 pulled out my purse and
emptied its contents into my hand.
There was a half sovereign, two forms,
nine pence in silver, mo- coppers, for
copper practically does not circulate in
South Africa, which is one of the
things that makes living so dear there,
in all exactly fourteen and nine pence.
There, Harry, my boy! l said,
that is the sum-total of our worldly
wealth. the internal hole has swallow
ed all the rest
" 'Graciousv said Master Harry. i
say, you and l shall have to let our
selves out to work with the Kafirs and
live on mealie pap and he giggled at
his unpleasant little joke.
But l was in no mood for joking,
for it is not a merry thing to dig like
mad for months and be completely
ruined in the process, especially if
you happen to hate digging like poison,
and consequently l resented Harry's
light-heartedness.
Shut up / said, raising my hand
as though to give him cuff, with the
result that the half sovereign slipped
out of it and fell in the gulf below.
Oh, confound it ALL said l, it's
gone.
There, dad said Harry; that's
what comes of letting your angry pas
sions rise; now we are down to four
and nine.
Il made no answer to these words
of wisdom, but scrambled down the
steep sides of the claim followed by
Harry, to hunt for my little all. Well,
We hunted and hunted, but the moon
light is an uncertain thing to look for
half sovereigns by, and there was some
loose soil about, for the Kafirs had
knocked off working at the very spot
a 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 l struck the sharp end
of the pick-ax down into the soil,
which was of very hard nature. To
my astonishment it sunk in right up
to the haft
Why, Harry said, this ground
must have been disturbed!
II 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, look and
he began to pull at one of the stones.
L say, dad he said, presently, al
most in whisper, it's precious heavy,
feel it, and he rose and gave me a
round brownish lump about the size of
very large apple, which he was hold
ing in both his hands. took it curious
ly and held it up to the light 1t was
precious heavy. The moonlight fell
upon its rough and dirt-incrusted sur
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 l scratched at it's
surface. Great heavens, it was soft!
Another secret and the secret was
out; We had found great nugget of
dc Of
It's gold, lad said, it's gold, or I'm
a Dutchman.'
Harry, with his eyes starting out of
his head, glared down at the long
cleaning yellow scratch that l had
made upon the virgin metal, and then
burst out into yell upon yell of eX.
ultation, that went ringing away
across the silent claims like the shrieks
of somebody being murdered.
Shut up, shut upp 1 said, do you
want every thief on the fields after
your
Scarcely were the words ont of my
mouth when / heard a stealthy foot
step approaching. / promptly put the
big nugget down and sat on il. as
though it had been an egg, and un-
commonly hard it was, and as l did
so l saw lean dark face poked over
the edge of the claim and a pair of
beady eyes searching us out. l knew
the face, it belonged to a man of very
bad character known as Handspike
Tom. having l understood been so
named at the Diamond Fields because
he had murdered his mate with hand
spike. He was now no doubt proving
about like a human hyena to see what
he could steal.
els that you, 'unter Quatermain? p
he says.
"'Yes, that's me, Mr.. Tom, /
answered, politely.
And what might all that there
yelling be?' he asked. L was walking
along, a-taking of the evening air and
a-thinking about my soul, when ears
'owl after owl
Well, Mr.. Tom / answered, that
is not to be wondered at, seeing that
like yourself they are nocturnal birds.