This was what he said, and Harry understood at once.
“Let us go and take a walk, my lad.”
Harry eagerly complied with his invitation, and they wandered away till they were out of earshot of any one.
“Now tell me all about it,” said he.
“It was about the middle of the afternoon,” said Bush; “the day was nearly gone, and I began to think what a fool I was to place such dependence upon a dream, even if it were three times repeated. However, it was only the loss of three days, and that wasn’t much; so little harm was done, if all came to nothing. Of course I wasn’t going to give up till the day was over. Just as I was thinking this, suddenly I struck against something hard. I kept on, not hoping much, till I brought out a nugget,—a stunner, I tell you.”
“How much would it weigh?” asked Harry.
“I hefted it,” said Bush, “and it doesn’t weigh an ounce less than twenty-five pounds.”
Twenty-five pounds! Harry held his breath in astonishment and delight. He performed a rough calculation hastily in his head, and it dawned upon him that the nugget must be worth at least five thousand dollars!
That was pretty good for one day’s work.