into it, and before the
astonished eyes of the onlookers lay a heap of yellow gold.

They stared, and were speechless.

From about his waist Scarlett untied a long leather belt, which proved
to be lined with gold. But the soup-plate would hold no more, and so the
lucky digger poured the residue in a heap upon the polished table. Next,
he went out to the verandah, and undoing his swag, he returned with a
tin canister which had been wrapped in his blankets. This also was full
of gold, and taking off its lid, he added its contents to the pile upon
the table.

"And there's some left in camp," he said. "I couldn't carry it all to
town."

"Well, well," said Sartoris, "while I've been boxed up in that stinking
plague-ship, I might ha' been on God A'mighty's earth, picking up stuff
like this. Well, well, what luck!"

"There must be a matter o' two thousand pound," said the Pilot. "Two
thousand pound!"

"More," said Jack. "There should be about 800 ozs., valued at something
like L3000; and this is the result of but our first washing-up."

"Good lord, what luck!" exclaimed the Pilot. "As I always have said, it
comes in streaks. Now, Jack, here, has had his streak o' bad luck, and
now he's got into a new streak, and it's so good that it's like to turn
him crazy before he comes to the end of it. If you want to know the real
truth about things, ask an old sailor--he won't mislead you."

But all that Rose said was, "How nice it must be to meet with such
success."

"By George, I was almost forgetting our bargain," exclaimed Scarlett. He
took from his pocket a little linen bag, which he handed to Rose. "Those
are the nuggets you wanted--glad to be able to keep my promise."

The girl untied the neck of the small bag, and three heavy pieces of
gold tumbled on the table.

"I can't take them," she exclaimed. "They're worth too much. I can't
make any adequate return."

"I hope you won't try. Pilot, she _must_ take them."

"Take 'em? Of course. Why, Rosebud, his luck would leave him to-morrer,
if you was to stop him keeping his promise. You're bound to take 'em."

Rose weighed the bits of virgin gold in the palm of her little hand.

"Of course, I never really meant you to give me any of your gold," she
said. "I only spoke in joke."

"Then it's a joke I should make pretty often, if I were you," said
Sartoris. "You don't seem to know when you're well off."

"I take it under compulsion; hoping that you'll find so much more