“What do you mean? Do you think there was a nugget?”
“Of course I do. It’s as plain as the nose on your face, and that’s plain enough, in all conscience. They’ve played a trick on you.”
“What trick?”
“It appears to me that you are mighty stupid, my friend. They hid away the real nugget, and put this in its place. That Yankee is a good deal sharper than you are, and he wasn’t going to run no risks.”
“Do you believe this?” asked the thief, his jaw falling.
“There’s no doubt of it. They’ve had a fine laugh at you before this, I’ll be bound.”
“Just my luck!” ejaculated the thief dolefully. “After all the pains I’ve taken, too.”
“Yes, it is hard lines on a poor industrious man like you!” said the new-comer cynically. “You’re not smart enough to be a successful thief.”
“I suppose you are,” retorted the other resentfully.
“Yes, I flatter myself I am,” returned the other composedly. “When I take anything, at any rate I have the sense to take something worth carrying away—not a worthless rock like this. You must have had a fine time lugging it from the mines.”