‘Now, Stephaans, I want you also to promise me never to tell anyone of the gold on my farm, unless I give you permission to do so.’
‘Of course, Oom Hans, if it will spoil your chance of getting a good price for the mineral rights, I will say nothing about it. But what is the good of keeping it secret? You ought to make it known as much as possible, then you will be able to get the highest offer.’
‘Stephaans, you do not seem to understand. I do not want to sell the mineral rights of my farm, nor the farm itself. I only wish to live quietly and at peace on my farm.’
‘But why so, Oom Hans? Consider the price you could get for a farm with quartz on it like this?’ said Steve, taking out a piece of the quartz he had put in his pocket in the morning. ‘You could buy a dozen other farms for the money, and have still enough left to live on to the end of your days.’
‘I do not want any more riches than I have. I have enough to live on, and enough to leave my children when the Lord should take me away. Why should I sell my farm? My father and mother lived and died here. They are buried here, and here I wish to be buried when I die. It is not good for us to have too much of the riches of the world.’
‘But, Oom Hans, God has placed the gold there to be used, and it would be sinful to leave it there, buried under ground, or the Lord might say to you when the time of reckoning comes, “I have given you so many talents of gold to work with, and to do good with, and to win other talents with; but ye buried it under ground and used it not as I directed ye, ye bad and unfaithful servant, go forth into the outer darkness.” Consider, Oom Hans?’
The old man shook his head.
‘No, Stephaans, we do not see the matter in the same light. When I feel that the Lord wishes me to leave my farm, and let the gold be dug, I will tear from my heart the love I have for my home and my birthplace, and leave it. But I do not feel so yet. No one will lose by it; I shall be the only loser; but the loss I consider gain, so long as I can keep my home unpolluted by the drunken, the profane, the blasphemer, the canteen-keeper. These you know are always to be found where gold is being dug.’
And no amount of arguing or talking on the part of Steve could induce the conservative old farmer to change his views. He again made Steve promise not to tell of the gold, lest the Government should take the bit in its own mouth and proclaim his farm as public gold diggings.