CHAPTER LXXIII.
“DON'T keep staring at it so, farmer, it is an ugly sight. You will see him in your sleep if you do that. Here is something better to look at—a letter. And there I carried it and never once thought of it till the sight of his hand made me feel in my pocket, and then my hand ran against it. 'Tis from Mr. Levi.”
“Thank you, Jem. Tom, will you be so kind as read it me while I work?”
“Yes, give it me. Work? Why, what are we going to work at in the bush?”
“I should think you might guess,” replied George quietly, while putting down his pickax and taking off his coat. “Well, I am astonished at both of you. You ought to know what I am going to do. Humph! Under this tree will be as good a place as any.”
“Jem, as I am a sinner, he is going to bury him.”
“Bury what? The nugget?”
“No, Jem, the Christian.” *
* In Berkshire, among a certain class, this word means “a
human being.”