Evening star., 1924-09-21

came towards me, walking loose
Jointedly like massive obedient ape
Yes, Chief?" he asked. hiding tn,
nugget in his huge clenched paw.
LET me see the gold"
He unclenched his fist and held out
the lump of gold to me. 1t was Sc
pure that it felt like soft soap against
my fingers. l handed it to Dudley
Lewis. my companion in adventure.
Dudley turned the glittering metal
over and over in his palm. He was
silent, but | felt distinctly that he
was thinking. even as | have thought
so many times when | have looked
at treasure that belonged to other
men, Can it be possible that | am
going to find such a beautiful thing
as this?" The nugget was of purest
yellow. like the limpid glow that
comes from smoldering sun just
before the cool hour of twilight 1t
weighed about 10 ounces-l0 ounces
that were like so many tons of fuel
for the fires of our imaginations, our
hopes. our desires.
Where did you find the gold?"
asked the black man.
"Top- side Mazaruni Ribber. Chief"
he exclaimed. His eyes grew large
and the white eyeballs CLEANED
through the semi darkness. His
Ieetn mdICneQ tnelT NnlleneSS as ne
bent confidentially over me and whis-
pered eagerly: Chief, dey got awful
lots of gor in yonda. Got one creek,
call it Mearu. me work two days,
catch so ounces fine gols, two big
nuggets one little damon
"Dia1Snd?" Dudley interrupted.
Where is it,"
Me lose. Chief So little bit. Me
go fo show one time. Fall on ground,
lost, TO can find
That's what they all say" Dudley
commented skeptically. Down in
Georgetown | heard a lot about dia-
monde in the Interior but no one had
any proofs to show. 1t was always
either hearsay, or else the man had
lost the diamond. Believe me, if ]
once find diamond it isn't going to
get lost
I ALLOWED myself to drift off for
few minutes of retrospection.
j reviSiOned the ocean voyage,
scarcely a week ago, when we had
come fresh from the ice bound States
across the warm blue waters of the
Caribbean Sea, in quest of adventure.
We had touched the South American n
continent first at Georgetown, the
capital and only city Of British Gui-
the vast continent of South America
We had planned to journey along the
eastern coast southwark to Buenos
Aires, and there take a tramp steam
er to South Africa.
But we had paused in Georgetown
only a day when our interest was
aroused by the stories that came to
us of the interior. The inhabitants
of the capital city called the jungle
the Bush, and spoke of it hesitat-
ingfy, and with quite apparent awe
We listened to accounts of the many
men who had ventured into the jun
gle and who had never been heard
of again.
recalled how the height OF
this interest, naturally, had beer
reached when some blacks who hat
Just come to Georgetown showed
US small cloth sack filled with
10 pounds of pure gold in small
nuggets. They had dug it out OF
a small creek that had dried up
The creek was named Eping, they
told us, and was about 200 miles
away. where the Mazaruni River bent
sharply to the left. They declared
there was much more gold there.
The town Immediately became full
~f gossip akout vast fortunes in the
interior.
That settled 1t. We would go at
Snce into the interior of British
Guiana and look for gold.
So we had begun hastily to collect
the necessary equipment. We pur-
chased hardware and some mining
tools, a well selected food supply
hacked in large tins and complete
.-.~n,ping outfits that we were able
to buy at the local stores. Then we
engaged from a local boatbuilder a
4S-foot canoe that he had just made
from heavy green heart planks. For
the sum of $40 a month he let US
have the boat and its full equipment
of paddles and hauling ropes. We
hired as our pilot and guide an old