CHAPTER XIVBAFFLED CUPIDITY
A
AN expression of surprise and dismay, almost ludicrous, appeared on the faces of the two adventurers as the contents of the handkerchief were revealed.
“Why, it’s nothing but a rock!” exclaimed the new-comer, with an oath.
The thief stared at him in helpless consternation, and was unable to utter a word.
“What does all this mean?” asked the new-comer sternly. “If you are humbugging me, I’ll——” and he finished the sentence with an oath.
“I don’t know what it means,” answered the thief, in a disconsolate tone. “I’m just as much surprised as you are.”
“Where did you get it? How came you to make such a fool of yourself?” demanded the new-comer, frowning heavily.
“You know that Yankee and the two boys who have a claim next to Pickett’s?”
“Well?”
“Last night I was coming from the Hut”—that was the local name of the cabin devoted to gambling purposes—“when I saw them coming from their claim. The Yankee had this—rock tied up in yonder handkerchief. Of course, I supposed it was a nugget. No one would suppose he was taking all that pains with a common rock.”
“Go on! Did you follow them?”
“Yes; that is, I kept them in sight. They entered their cabin, and I waited, perhaps three-quarters of an hour, till they had time to fall asleep.”
“Were you near the cabin all the time?”
“No; I didn’t care to be too near for fear I should be observed. I wanted the nugget, but I didn’t want to run any risk.”
“I have no doubt you were very prudent,” said the second, with an unpleasant sneer. Doubtless he would have done the same, but his disappointment was so great that he could not resist the temptation of indulging in this fling at the man who had unintentionally contributed to it.
“Of course I was,” said the first, with some indignation. “Would you have had me enter the cabin while they were all awake, and carry it off under their very eyes? That would be mighty sensible.”
“At any rate, then you would have got the genuine nugget.”
“What do you mean? Do you think there was a nugget?”
“Of course I do. It’s as plain as the nose on your face, and that’s plain enough, in all conscience. They’ve played a trick on you.”
“What trick?”
“It appears to me that you are mighty stupid, my friend. They hid away the real nugget, and put this in its place. That Yankee is a good deal sharper than you are, and he wasn’t going to run no risks.”
“Do you believe this?” asked the thief, his jaw falling.
“There’s no doubt of it. They’ve had a fine laugh at you before this, I’ll be bound.”
“Just my luck!” ejaculated the thief dolefully. “After all the pains I’ve taken, too.”
“Yes, it is hard lines on a poor industrious man like you!” said the new-comer cynically. “You’re not smart enough to be a successful thief.”
“I suppose you are,” retorted the other resentfully.
“Yes, I flatter myself I am,” returned the other composedly. “When I take anything, at any rate I have the sense to take something worth carrying away—not a worthless rock like this. You must have had a fine time lugging it from the mines.”
“It nearly broke my back,” said the thief gloomily.
“And now you don’t know what to do with it? Take my advice, my friend, and carry it back to the original owner. He may find it handy another time.”
“I’ll be blessed if I do,” growled the unhappy thief.
“I doubt that,” said his companion dryly. “However, do as you please. It don’t interest me. I don’t think on the whole I will accept your offer of a partnership. When I take a partner I want a man with some small supply of brains.”
The first looked at him resentfully. He did not like these taunts, and would have assaulted him had he dared, but the new-comer was powerfully built, and evidently an unsafe man to take liberties with. He threw himself back on the pallet and groaned.
“Well,” said the second after a pause, “when you’ve got through crying over spilt milk, will you kindly tell me where I can get something to eat?”
“I don’t know.”
“Humph! that’s short and to the point. It is something I would like very much to know, for my part. I feel decidedly hungry.”
“I have no appetite,” said the luckless thief mournfully.
“You will have, after a while. Then you can’t think of any cabin near by where we could get a breakfast?”
“There’s Joe’s.”
“Are you acquainted with Joe?”
“Yes.”
“Is your credit good with him?”
“I think he would trust me for a breakfast.”
“And me? You can introduce me as a friend of yours.”
“You haven’t been talking like a friend of mine,” said the first resentfully.
“Perhaps not. However, you must make allowances for my natural disappointment. You led me into it, you know.”
“If it comes to that, I have done you no harm. Even if the nugget wasn’t real, you had no claim to it.”
“You excited my hopes, and that’s enough to rile any man—that is, when disappointment follows. However, there’s no use crying over spilt milk. I have an idea that may lead to something.”
“What is it?” asked the thief, with some eagerness.
“I will tell you—after breakfast. My ideas don’t flow freely when I am hungry. Come, my friend, get up, and lead the way to Joe’s. I have an aching void within, which needs filling up. Your appetite may come too—after a walk.”
Somehow this man, cool and cynical as he was, impressed his fellow adventurer, and he rose obediently, and led the way.
“I wish I knew what was your idea,” he said.
“Well, I don’t mind telling you. I believe the Yankee did find a nugget.”
“Well?”
“You haven’t got it, but you may get it—that is, we may get it.”
“I don’t see how. He will be on his guard now.”
“Of course he will. I don’t mean that we should repeat the blunder of last night. You may be sure he won’t keep it in his cabin another night.”
“Then how are we to get it?”
“Follow him to Melbourne. He’ll carry it there, and on the way we can relieve him of it.”
“There’s something in that.”
“We shall be together, and he won’t take me in as readily as he did you. After breakfast, if we are lucky enough to get any, we must go back to the camp, and find out what we can about his plans. Do you think any one saw you last night when you were in the cabin?”
“No.”
“That is well. Then you won’t be suspected. But I can’t say a word more till I have had breakfast.”
After half-an-hour’s walking—it was only half a mile, but the soil was boggy, rendering locomotion difficult—they reached a humble wayside cabin, which was in some sort a restaurant, and by dint of diplomacy and a promise of speedy payment, they secured a meal to which, despite their disappointment, they did ample justice.
Breakfast over, they resumed their fatiguing walk, and reached the mining camp about ten o’clock.
Fatigued by their exertions of the previous days and the late hours they had kept, Obed and the boys rose at a later hour than usual. About eighto’clock Obed opened his eyes, and noticed that his two young companions were fast asleep.
“It’s time to get up, boys,” he said, giving them a gentle shake.
The boys opened their eyes, and realised, by the bright sunshine entering the cabin, that the day was already well advanced.
“What time is it, Obed?” asked Harry.
“Past eight o’clock. We shall be late at our work.”
He smiled, and his smile was reflected on the faces of the boys. Their success of the day before made it a matter of indifference whether they accomplished a good day’s work or not.
“What are we going to do about the nugget, Obed?” asked Harry.
“After breakfast we will carry it to the office of the commissioner, and get his receipt for it.”
“I shall be glad to get it out of our hands,” said Jack.
“If that is the case, Jack, suppose you give your share to me,” said Harry, in joke.
“I didn’t mean to get rid of it in that way,” said the young sailor.
“You would be as ready to give it as I to accept it,” said Harry. “No, Jack, I want you to have your share. I am sure you will have a use for it.”
After breakfast the three emerged from the cabin, bearing the precious nugget with them. They did not meet any one on their way to the office of the commissioner, for all the miners had gone to their work. This suited them, for until they had disposed of the nugget, they did not care to have their good luck made public.
The royal commissioner was a stout Englishman with a red face and abundant whiskers of the samecolour. He chanced to be at the door of the office as the party appeared.
“Well, can I do anything for you?” he asked.
“Yes, sir; you can give us a receipt for this nugget.”
“Nugget!” ejaculated the commissioner, fixing his eyes on the burden which Mr. Stackpole carried. “You don’t mean to say that you have found a nugget of that size!”
“That’s just what we’ve done,” answered Obed.
“When did you find it?”
“Well, we took it from the mine about midnight. We found it in the afternoon, but calculated we’d better take possession when there wasn’t so many lookin’ on. I say, Mr. Commissioner, I don’t think it would agree with me to be a rich man. I got broken of my rest last night, from havin’ the nugget in the cabin.”
“You ran very little risk. No one could have found out that you had it in your possession,” remarked the commissioner.
“That’s where you are mistaken, commissioner. We came near being robbed of it only an hour after we brought it home.”
“Bless my soul! How did that happen?”
“A pesky thief sneaked in, and carried it off, as he thought.”
“How could he think he carried it off when he did not?”
Upon this Obed explained the trick to which he had resorted, and the commissioner laughed heartily.
“Do you know the man—the thief, I mean?” he asked.
“Yes, it is a man that has been prowlin’ round the camp for some weeks, not doin’ anything, but watchin’for a chance to appropriate the property of some lucky miner. I’d like to see the fellow’s face when he opens the handkerchief this morning, and finds the rock.”
“It appears you have lost a handkerchief, at any rate,” said the commissioner, with a smile.
“He’s welcome to it,” answered Obed, “if it will comfort him any. I brought it away from home two years ago, and now I can afford to buy another.”
By this time the nugget had been carried into the office and exposed to view.
“It is a splendid specimen,” said the commissioner admiringly. “It is certainly the largest that has been found in this camp.”
“Have any been found before?” asked Harry.
“Yes; six months ago a Scotch miner named Lindsay found one weighing twenty-two pounds and some ounces.”
“Is he here now?”
“Yes, and without a shilling.”
“Didn’t his nugget benefit him any then?” asked Harry.
“It became a curse to him. He obtained some hundreds of pounds for it, and all went in three months.”
“How did he get rid of it?”
“In drinking and gambling. Two months since he drifted back to the camp in rags. He did not have money enough to buy a claim, but being a good practical miner he got a chance to work a claim on shares for another man, who had just come out from Melbourne, and who knew very little of mining. I hope you will make better use of your money. Are these boys your partners?”
“Yes, Mr. Commissioner, they are equal partners. What’s one’s luck, is the luck of all.”
The commissioner then weighed the nugget, the three awaiting the result with great interest.
“It weighs seventy-four pounds and four ounces,” he announced. “My friend, it will be famous in the annals of Australia. If I am not mistaken, when it is known it will create a stampede to our mines.”
“About how much do you think it will realise?” asked Obed.
“At a rough guess, I should say three thousand pounds. It may be more and it may be less.”
Obed Stackpole’s rough face was fairly radiant.
“I say, boys,” he remarked, turning to Harry and Jack, “that’s a pretty good day’s work, isn’t it?”
“I should say so, Obed.”
The commissioner made out a receipt, which Obed put away carefully in his pocket.
“That’s better than carrying the nugget round,” he said.
“I suppose you will go to Melbourne,” said the commissioner.
“Yes, we shall start in a day or two.”
Here Obed paused, for it occurred to him that there were practical difficulties in the way of carrying out his plan.
“That is,” he added slowly, “if we can raise the money. I suppose we can’t borrow on the nugget?”
“No, but I can suggest a way out of your difficulties. You can sell your claim. It will realise a good round sum, as the one from which the nugget has been taken.”
“That’s so, Mr. Commissioner. Thank you for the suggestion. Boys, there is still some business beforeus. We’ll realise something extra, it seems. I don’t care how much, if it’s only enough to take us to Melbourne.”
Just then a miner entered the office, and, seeing the nugget, instantly made it his purpose to report the lucky find throughout the camp. The effect was instant and electrical. Every miner stopped work, and there was a rush to the commissioner’s office to see the nugget. All were cheered up. If there was one nugget, there must be more. Confidence was restored to many who had been desponding. Obed and the two boys were the heroes of the hour, and the crowd came near lifting them on their shoulders, and bearing them off in triumph.
Obed felt that this was a good time to sell the claim.
“Boys,” he said, “we struck it rich and no mistake. How rich I don’t know. There may be other nuggets where this came from. But I and my partners want to go back home. The claim’s for sale. Who wants it?”