"Where is it—where is it? Let's go there now, before some one else steals it away! Come on; thunder and lightning, man, why don't you come?" muttered Tyrrel, half-angrily.
"Easy, Jack," and Duplin calmed his exultation by a desperate effort. "Do you want the whole train after us? No, no; we must work more cunningly than that. I've planned it all; listen, and I'll tell you what we must do."
"Wait, Paley," quietly interrupted Burr. "Begin at the beginning and tell it all. First, how came you to find this pocket?"
"You know I went out hunting, early this morning. Well, I had no luck, and it was past noon before I got a shot. Then I dropped a 'bighorn,' after an hour's work sneaking over the rocks. It fell down a precipice, and pretty soon I found a pass by which I could follow after. It was hard work, though, and I no sooner reached the valley, or basin, rather, than I began hunting for water.
"Half a mile distant, I saw what looked like the bed of a creek, and set off toward it. Such it proved, in fact, though the water was missing. I set off up its bed, hoping to find a water-hole or something of the kind. Nearly a mile further up, the bed began to spread and grow more shallow. Then I knew that if I found water, it must be by digging for it.
"I did dig, in a dozen places, but all was dry. At one spot, I kept digging until I made a hole nearly shoulder deep, as the sand felt cool and damp. My knife struck on what seemed to be a pebble, and I pulled it out with one hand and flung it aside. As I did so, the sunlight glittered from its side, where my knife had struck. I looked—it was the lump you have, Wythe—and saw that it was gold!" and pausing, Duplin hurriedly brushed the sweat from his brow, though the night air was cool and bracing.
"Great Lord! go on—hurry up!" muttered Tyrrel, excitedly.
"One glance told me what it was. It was what I had journeyed over fifteen hundred miles in search of, and there it lay, in my hand. I tell you, boys, it nearly killed me—and I haven't got over it yet. I half believe now that I am asleep and only dreaming all this; I do, honestly.
"I did then, too. I sat there for a full hour, almost afraid to move, looking first at the hole, then at the nugget. I told myself over and over again, that I was a fool—that this was only a stray lump that had been dropped here by some Indians, years ago. And yet, even as I said so, the top sand seemed to melt away showing to me great masses of gold, pure and yellow, looking like petrified sunshine. Actually, for a time I believe that I was mad—gold crazy."
"Look here, Paley Duplin," muttered Jack Tyrrel, suspiciously, as the young man paused in his speech. "Better mind what you're about. If this is a joke—if you are making this all up just to have a laugh at us, I'll lick you clean out o' your boots! If I don't, then it's no matter!"