he beautiful piece of goold wid me? and thin
perhaps ye'll belave without further words. But remember--one quarter is
mine."

We told Mike that we would stick to our word, and that he should have
his share even if he had found a lump as large as his body. The
assertion satisfied him, that we intended to deal honestly by him; and
leaving Mr. Critchet to tend the store, we walked towards our claim, the
purchase of which, on our part, had excited the ridicule of more than
one of our friends.

On our way, Mike related the manner in which he found his treasure. He
said that he had worked steadily for an hour or two, and had not found
the first sign of gold, and that he stopped for a while to rest and
smoke his pipe, and also to trim his lamp; that he fell asleep, and
slept for an hour or two, and dreamed that he was sitting on a nugget of
gold that was as large as his father's mud cabin in Ireland, and that he
was wondering how he could get it up the shaft, when he was awakened by
a drop of water which trickled from the ground overhead, striking him on
his nose.

He started up, and thought how pleasant it would be if his dream would
only come true; and rather by accident than design he let the point of
his pick fall into the earth where he had been sitting. The dirt gave
way, and he thought by the dim light of his lamp, that he saw something
glisten.

Once more he struck the ground, threw aside a little dirt, and then he
imagined that his dream had come true, for the bright gleam of gold was
before him.

"Me heart was in me mouth," Mike continued, "and I did not pretend to
use me spade or me pick for fear that the goold would vanish from me
sight. I threw myself upon me knees, and dug with me fingers, and hardly
dared to breathe for fear that I should lose it; and when I had freed it
from the dirt, and attempted to lift it up, O! didn't it seem good to
have it howld back, as though it didn't like being dragged from its bed
so early in the morning!

"I worked it clear of the soil; and then me heart was too full to stay
there any longer. I had to run to the store and ease me heart. But mind,
honeys! Fair play in the division, ye know. Mind the honor of an Irish
gentleman, who is too modest to spake for himself."

Mike's idea of modesty was about on a par with the natives of Australia,
who think they are in full dress when the only article of wearing
apparel that they can boast of is a hat, or a cast-off stocking, thro