A THIEF’S EMBARRASSMENT
When the thief left Obed Stackpole’s cabin with his booty his heart
was filled with exultation. He had been drifting about for years, the
football of fortune, oftener down than up, and had more than once known
what it was to pass an entire day without food. And all this because
he had never been willing to settle down to steady work or honest
industry. He had set out in life with a dislike for each, and a decided
preference for living by his wits. Theft was no new thing for him.
Once he had barely escaped with his life in one of the Western States
of America for stealing a horse. He had drifted to Australia, with no
idea of working at the mines or anywhere else, but with the intention
of robbing some lucky miner and making off with the proceeds of his
industry.
Now, he had succeeded, and his heart was light.
“No more hard work for me,” he said to himself joyfully, “no more
privation and suffering. Now I can live like a gentleman.”
It never seemed to occur to him that a thief could by no possibility
live like a gentleman. To be a gentleman, in his opinion, meant having
a pocketful of money.
He would like to have examined the nugget, but there was no time, nor
was there light enough to form an opinion of it. Besides, Obed and
the two boys might at any moment discover their loss, and then there
would be pursuers on his track. He could not hide it, for it was too
large, and any one seeing what he carried would suspect its nature and
character.
The responsibility of property was upon him now. It was an unaccustomed
sensation. This thief began now to dread an encounter with other
thieves. There were other men, as well as himself, who had little
respect for the rights of property, and this he well knew.
“Where shall I go?” he asked himself in perplexity.
It would not do to stay in the neighbourhood of the mining camp. By
dawn, or as soon as tidings of the robbery should spread, there would
be an organised pursuit. In any mining settlement a thief fares hard.
In the absence of any established code of laws, the relentless laws of
Judge Lynch are executed with merciless severity. Beads of perspiration
began to form on the brow of the thief as he realised the terrible
danger he had incurred. What good would it do him after all to get
away with the nugget if it should cost him his life, and that was a
contingency, as his experience assured him, by no means improbable.
“If I were only in Melbourne,” he said to himself, “I would lose no
time in disposing of the nugget, and then would take the first ship for
England--or anywhere else. Any place would be better than Australia,
for that will soon be too hot to hold me.”
It was one thing to wish, and another to realise the wish. He was still
in the immediate vicinity of the mining camp, and there were almost
insuperable difficulties in the way of getting far from it with his
treasure safe.
The thief kept on his way, however, and after a while reached a piece
of woods.
“This will be a good place to hide,” he bethought himself. “I may be
able to conceal the nugget somewhere.”
His first feeling of exultation had given place to one of deep anxiety
and perplexity. After, he was not as happy as he anticipated. Only
yesterday he had been poor--almost destitute--but at any rate free from
anxiety and alarm. Now he was rich, or thought he was, and his heart
was filled with nervous apprehension.
He wandered about for two or three hours, weary and feeling great need
of sleep, but afraid to yield to the impulse. Suppose he should lose
consciousness, and sleep till morning: the first man who found him
asleep would rob him of the precious nugget, and then he would be back
again where he had been the day before, and for years back. The dream
of his life had been fulfilled, and he was in no position to enjoy it.
Oftentimes God grants our wishes only to show us how little they add to
our happiness.
At last he saw before him a cabin--deserted, apparently. It would
afford him a place to obtain needed repose, and there would be some
means of hiding his rich treasure.
He peered timidly into the cabin and found it empty. On the floor in
the corner was a pallet. He put the nugget under the upper part, thus
raising it and supplying the place of a pillow. It was hard enough, as
the reader will imagine, but it was better than nothing, and appeared
to combine safety with a chance to rest.
The thief fell asleep, and slept soundly. When he awoke it was
bright, and the morning was evidently well advanced. In an instant
consciousness came, and with anxious thought he felt for the nugget.
It was still there, as he realised joyfully. He was on the point of
examining the nugget, when a step was heard. He looked up startled, and
saw a man entering the cabin. This man was such another as himself--an
adventurer--and the tramp remembered to have seen him about the camp.
“Halloa!” the new arrival said, gazing with a little surprise at the
prostrate man.
“Halloa!” returned the other, surveying the new arrival with
apprehension.
“Is this your crib?”
“No, I’m only passing the night here.”
“Haven’t I seen you at the mines?”
“Yes, I have been there.”
“And now you are leaving, are you?”
“I haven’t made up my mind. I don’t know. I want to get away for one
thing.”
“So do I. Suppose we keep company, friend. Two are more social than
one, eh?”
This proposal gave the first man anxious thought. If he had a
companion, he could not hide for any length of time the fact that he
was in possession of the nugget. Yet he did not know how to refuse
without exciting suspicion. The new arrival noticed it, and it stirred
up anger in him.
“Perhaps I ain’t good enough for you?” he added, frowning.
“No, no, it isn’t that,” said the first eagerly.
“Don’t you want me to go with you?” demanded the new arrival bluntly.
“Yes or no.”
“Have you got any money?” asked the thief, “because I haven’t.”
“No more have I. We’ll be equal partners.”
“Then I’m afraid we won’t get very far.”
“You’ll get as far as I will. But I say, what is that under your head,
pard?”
The question had come at last. The thief trembled and answered
nervously:
“It’s--it’s--I am using it for a pillow,” he faltered.
“Let us see your pillow,” said the new arrival suspiciously.
The thief came to a sudden determination, suggested by necessity. Two
would make a stronger guard than one, and, though this man was not the
one he would have selected, accident had thrown them together, and he
would risk it.
“Look here, my friend,” he said, “it’s a great secret.”
“Oh, a secret, is it?”
“Yes, but I am going to make you my confidant. I am greatly in need of
a friend and partner, and I’ll make it worth your while to stand by me.
I’ll give you a quarter of--what I have here--if you’ll see me safe to
Melbourne.”
“What is it, pard? Out with it, quick!”
“It’s--a nugget, and the biggest one that’s been found at Bendigo since
they commenced mining.”
“A nugget! Great Jehoshaphat! Let me see it!”
The thief drew the bundle--still wrapped in Obed’s red bandanna--from
underneath the pallet, while his companion in intense excitement bent
over to catch a glimpse of the treasure.