"I always thought your father was a gentleman," he cried. "Now I feel
sure as sure of it. Halves it is, and we won't tell a soul."
"But we must," I cried.
"What, and let some one come and get it all?"
"I should only tell some one who has a right to know: Mr Raydon."
"What right's he got to know?" cried Esau. "I say, don't go and throw
it all away."
"I consider that Mr Raydon, who has welcomed us here and treated us as
friends, has a perfect right to know."
"But it's like giving him a share in it."
"Well, why not?"
"But, don't you see, it will be thirds instead of halves, and he'll want
to bring some one else in, and it 'll make it fourths."
"Well, and if he did? Sometimes a fourth is better than a half. I mean
with the help of a clever man we should get more for our fourth than we
should if we had half apiece."
"Oh, all right. I s'pose you know," he cried; "but I wouldn't tell any
one else."
"Of course I'm right," I said, sharply.
"And we couldn't go on getting the gold here without his knowing it. So
you'd better tell him."
"That's a nice selfish way of looking at it, Master Esau," I said.
"Dessay it is," he replied; "but gold makes you feel selfish. I dunno
that I feel so glad now that we've found it."
And I don't think I felt quite so excited and pleased as I had a short
time before.
"It ain't my fault," said Dean; "it's your thinking I didn't want to
play fair."
"Don't talk like that," I cried, angrily. "Who thinks you don't want to
play fair? No, no; don't say any more about it. Now then: can we
recollect this spot exactly?"
"Why, you said that there must be gold all along."
"Yes, I know," I cried; "but Mr Raydon may want to see the place, and
we must bring him where we can find some and show him directly."
"Well," said Esau, "there's a clump of fir-trees on this side, and a
clump of fir-trees on that side."
"Oh, you old stupid," I cried, "when there are clumps of fir-trees
everywhere. That won't do."
"Well then, let's make a cross with our knives on those twisting ones."
"What, to tell people this is the very place? That wouldn't do."
"Well then," he cried, peevishly, "you find out a better way."
I stood thinking a few minutes, but no better way came. Then I thought
I had hit out the plan.
"Look here," I said, "we'll make the two crosses on the other side of
the trees. No one would notice them then."
Esau burst into a hoarse laugh.
"Of course they will not," he said, "nor us neither. Why, you keep on
coming to trees like these over and over all day long. We shan't find
'em again."
I felt that he was right, and thought of plan after plan--putting stones
in a heap, cutting off a branch, sticking up a post, and the like, but
they all seemed as if they would attract people to the spot, and then
induce them to search about and at last try the sand as Quong did, and I
said so.
"Yes," said Esau, "that's right enough. There ain't many people likely
to see 'em but Indians, and I s'pose they won't go gold-washing, nor any
other washing, for fear of taking off their paint."
"Well, what shall we do?" I cried. "We mustn't lose the place again
now we have found it, and we shall be sure to if we don't mark it. I've
seen hundreds of places just like this."
"Well then, why not make a mark?" said Esau. "Because whoever sees it
will be sure that it means something particular, for some one to stop
and search."
"Make a mark then on that big tree which will tell 'em to go on," said
Esau, grinning.
"But how?"
"I'll show you," he said; and he took out his big knife from its sheath.
"Let's look round again first."
We looked round, but the silence was almost awful, not even a bird's
note fell upon our ears. Once a faint, whistling sound came from the
far distance, that was all; and Esau went up to the biggest fir-tree
whose trunk was clear of boughs, and he was about to use his knife, when
we both jumped away from the tree. For from close at hand came a sharp,
clear tap, as if somebody had touched the ground with a light cane.
"What's that?" whispered Esau, with his eyes staring, and his mouth
partly opened.