"'If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,' I went on, with my
politest air, although in agony from the nugget underneath--for I hold
it is always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a
handspike--'my boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and
I was enforcing my view of the matter upon him; that's all.'

"'Yes, Mr. Tom,' put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a
smart boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, 'that was it--I halloed
because father beat me.'

"'Well, now, did yer, my dear boy--did yer? Well, all I can say is
that a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come
to for to argify at ten o'clock of night, and what's more, my sweet
youth, if ever I should 'ave the argifying of yer'--and he leered
unpleasantly at Harry--'yer won't 'oller in quite such a jolly sort 'o
way. And now I'll be saying good-night, for I don't like disturbing of
a family party. No, I ain't that sort of man, I ain't. Good-night to
yer, 'unter Quatermain--good-night to yer, my argified young one;' and
Mr. Tom turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a
human jackal, to see what he could thieve or kill.

"'Thank goodness!' I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. 'Now,
then, do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has
gone.' Harry did so, and reported that he had vanished towards
Pilgrim's Rest, and then we set to work, and very carefully, but
trembling with excitement, with our hands hollowed out all the space
of ground into which I had struck the pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was
a regular nest of nuggets, twelve in all, running from the size of a
hazel-nut to that of a hen's egg, though of course the first one was
much larger than that. How they all came there nobody can say; it was