"'Well, now, did yer, my dear boy--did yer? Well, all I can say is that a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come to for to argify at ten o'clock of night, and what's more, my sweet youth, if ever I should 'ave the argifying of yer'--and he leered unpleasantly at Harry--'yer won't 'oller in quite such a jolly sort 'o way.And now I'll be saying good-night, for I don't like disturbing of a family party.No, I ain't that sort of man, I ain't.Good-night to yer, 'unter Quatermain--good-night to yer, my argified young one;' and Mr.Tom turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a human jackal, to see what he could thieve or kill.
"'Thank goodness!' I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold.'Now, then, do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has gone.' Harry did so, and reported that he had vanished towards Pilgrim's Rest, and then we set to work, and very carefully, but trembling with excitement, with our hands hollowed out all the space of ground into which I had struck the pick.Yes, as I hoped, there was a regular nest of nuggets, twelve in all, running from the size of a hazel-nut to that of a hen's 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 will be familiar.It turned out afterwards that the American who sold me the claim had in the same way made his pile--a much larger one than ours, by the way--out of a single pocket, and then worked for six months without seeing colour, after which he gave it up.
"At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after all I took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than Iput into it.We got them all out and wrapped them up in a handkerchief, and then, fearing to carry home so much treasure, especially as we knew that Mr.Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up our minds to pass the night where we were--a necessity which, disagreeable as it was, was wonderfully sweetened by the presence of that handkerchief full of virgin gold--the interest of my lost half-sovereign.
"Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before my eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came.Igot up and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the eastern sky, and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from mountain-top to mountain-top.I watched it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with a complete conviction which I had not felt before, that I had had enough of gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural life, and I then and there made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims'
Rest and go and shoot buffalo towards Delagoa Bay.Then I turned, took the pick and shovel, and although it was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and set to work to see if there were any more nuggets about.As I expected, there were none.What we had got had lain together in a little pocket filled with soil that felt quite different from the stiff stuff round and outside the pocket.There was not another trace of gold.Of course it is possible that there were more pocketfuls somewhere about, but all I have to say is I made up my mind that, whoever found them, I should not; and, as a matter of fact, I have since heard that this claim has been the ruin of two or three people, as it very nearly was the ruin of me.
"'Harry,' I said presently, 'I am going away this week towards Delagoa to shoot buffalo.Shall I take you with me, or send you down to Durban?'
"'Oh, take me with you, father!' begged Harry, 'I want to kill a buffalo!'
"'And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?' I asked.
"'Oh, never mind,' he said, gaily, 'there are lots more where I came from.'
"I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take him.