"No, sir. Owing to the death vacancies, I am now senior second lieutenant of the 9th Lancers, and might get my step any day. But the pay even of a first lieutenant will go but a very short way towards the expenses of a subaltern in a crack cavalry regiment, and even if I changed into the infantry, I could still hardly make ends meet. I came out here, as I frankly told you, in order to make money. My father's income as a clergyman will die with him; and above all things I am anxious to be able to assure the future of my mother and sisters."
"That you can do at present," Mr. Chambers said quietly.
Yorke looked at him in surprise.
"You do not suppose," the director went on, "that such services as you rendered to the company, and to myself and family, are to be passed over as if they had never occurred. I have taken all possible precautions to ensure the safety of the treasure, but I do not say that they would have sufficed had those twelve men had possession of the house for forty-eight hours. When they found that they could not bale out the water, they would naturally have supposed that it was fed from the cistern, or the pipe from the mine. They would have found out the latter, and by turning on the kitchen tap could have emptied the former; then they could have baled out the water and got at the top of the safe. They would have had trouble with it, but among desperadoes of that kind, and especially in a mining district, there would be sure to be several who would understand the use of dynamite; at any rate, sooner or later they would have blown it open and got at the gold.
"I have written a letter to the directors at home, saying that you have saved two hundred and fifty thousand pounds worth of gold in an attack made upon the house by a band of ruffians, with the connivance of my three male servants, who were cognizant of the existence of the store. I have recommended that at least five per cent of the sum thus saved to the shareholders shall be voted to you, a recommendation which I have no doubt whatever will be granted; especially as the very existence of this money is still unknown to them, as I have not ventured to say a word in my letters concerning it, because all of them were liable to be opened by the Boer authorities. I should say that if they are at all liberally inclined they will vote you a larger percentage; but at five per cent the sum would amount to twelve thousand five hundred pounds, which will, you see, enable you to ensure the future of those dear to you."
Yorke was silent with astonishment for half a minute, and then said earnestly: "It is too much, sir; it would be out of all reason. I had no thought of doing more than saving yourself and the ladies from those ruffians, and no thought of reward ever entered my head."
"That may be, Mr. Harberton, but that is no reason whatever against your accepting the money that you have fairly earned. It is not what you feel about it, but what the shareholders and I—as I am a very considerable shareholder myself—feel in the matter. There will be nearly two hundred and forty thousand pounds to divide between us—a sum wholly unexpected by them, and saved for them by you. It is a matter of only the barest justice, and I am sure they will feel as I do. I have, of course, written a full account of the affair—how, although an escaped prisoner and in danger every moment of detection, you went out of your way on hearing of this plot to hasten here; how you in the first place overpowered and disarmed my treacherous servants, and then warned me; how you and your two men killed no fewer than ten out of the twelve men who attacked us; and how without your interposition the ruffians would unquestionably have killed me, my wife, and daughters before ransacking the place for the treasure—a matter, by the way, that would have been a considerable inconvenience, to put it in no stronger form, to the company, as they would have found it difficult to replace me by anyone having at once so intimate a knowledge of the mine and so large an interest in its success.
"And now we come to my personal interest in the matter. I wish to make you an offer. I have no son, nor have I a nephew nor any near relative who could stand to me in the place of one. I propose, therefore, that you shall be trained up to take my place, so to speak, to act here as my assistant, to learn the business thoroughly, for which you would have ample opportunities, as I am inspector of several other mines, in which I have also interests. When matters have quite settled down, which may not be for another year or so, you can act as my locum-tenens, for I shall certainly go to England with my family for two or three years. I may return again for a year or so, and shall then finally retire. By that time you will be fully competent to fill my place here as managing director, and I shall transfer enough shares in the company to you to qualify you for the post.
"This is no new idea on my part. I have for some months past been thinking over returning to settle in England, but I have seen no way of doing so without seriously inconveniencing the company. I now see a way by which it can be managed. I have spoken of my plans to my wife, and she most cordially approves of them, and it now only awaits your decision. I may say that I hold twenty thousand shares in the company, and that I consider that as managing director you ought to hold at least five thousand, and that number I shall transfer to your name. I am perfectly confident that you will do full justice to my choice of you as my successor here, and you will not be long in acquiring the necessary knowledge. I shall regard you as an adopted son if you will allow me to do so, and I can answer that my wife and daughters will gladly accept you in that position. I may tell you that you will not be entirely cut off from your family, as you will be able to take three months' holiday every year if you like to do so, which will give you over six weeks at home, and perhaps you may bring one of your sisters out with you to keep house until you marry. What do you say to this?"