etter for his duty, as seems to be the case with a great many
men; and if any one had come to console him in his grumbling, never
would he have gone away again.

It would have been reckless of me to pretend to say what any body ought
to do; from the first to the last I left every thing to those who knew
so much better; at the same time I felt that it might have done no
harm if I had been more consulted, though I never dreamed of saying so,
because the great gold had been found by me, and although I cared for it
scarcely more than for the tag of a boot-lace, nobody seemed to me able
to enter into it quite as I did; and as soon as Firm's danger and pain
grew less, I began to get rather impatient, but Uncle Sam was not to be
hurried.

Before ever he hoisted that rock of gold, he had made up his mind for me
to be there, and he even put the business off, because I would not come
one night, for I had a superstitious fear on account of its being my
father's birthday. Uncle Sam had forgotten the date, and begged my
pardon for proposing it; but he said that we must not put it off later
than the following night, because the moonlight would be failing, and
we durst not have any kind of lamp, and before the next moon the hard
weather might begin. All this was before the liberal offers of his
friends, of which I have spoken first, although they happened to come
after it.

While the Sawyer had been keeping the treasure perdu, to abide the issue
of his grandson's illness, he had taken good care both to watch it and
to form some opinion of its shape and size; for, knowing the pile which
I had described, he could not help finding it easily enough; and indeed
the great fear was that others might find it, and come in great force to
rob him; but nothing of that sort had happened, partly because he
held his tongue rigidly, and partly, perhaps, because of the simple
precaution which he had taken.

Now, however, it was needful to impart the secret to one man at least;
for Firm, though recovering, was still so weak that it might have killed
him to go into the water, or even to exert himself at all; and strong
as Uncle Sam was, he knew that even with hoisting-tackle, he alone could
never bring that piece of bullion to bank; so, after much consideration,
he resolved to tell Martin of the mill, as being the most trusty man
about the place, as well as the most surly; but he did not tell him
until every thing was ready, and then he took him str