A Tail of Gold
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A Tail of Gold
Guest Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:04 am
A Tail of Gold
by
David Hennessey
He handed Joe a letter; it was from Will Monckton. It told of the death of Major Smart, and that by the Major's will, recently made, he had been left £1,000; and also that out of the earnings of the 'Good Fortune Gold Mine,' Mrs. Madge Maguire had paid for him to Lieutenant Monckton another £1,000. Will congratulated him on his good fortune, and told him that the money had already been paid to his credit in the Reefton Bank.
Joe slipped the letter into the breast pocket of his coat, which he had hung near by upon a bush, without a word; then slowly filled his prospecting dish with wash dirt, and stooping down to the water, filled it, stirred it with his hand, and gathered out the larger stones. Then with both hands he shook it roughly, so that any heavy particles might settle to the bottom of the dish, then allowed sand and gravel to flow with the water over the lip of the dish into the stream.
Tears were in the man's eyes, for he had been deeply moved by his unexpected good fortune; it would make his lonely old age more comfortable. Again he lifted the dish and shook it roughly, puddled in it with his fingers to break up a lump of clay, and again panned the dirt and sand into the stream.
He was more careful now, for the residue was getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller, as the water with the gentlest motion of the man's experienced hand washed sand and dirt away.
At last he stood erect and held the steel dish sideways to the sun, in the light of which there glittered, on its side, a tiny nugget of the precious metal, with, as though streaming from it, a thin tail of golden dust left upon the side of the dish by the action of the water.
The man's eye brightened as he looked at it, but his thoughts were otherwhere. 'Dirt, dirt!' he mused, 'mostly dirt; but God Almighty has panned them out, for no one else could have done it, and bad as I thought them, He must have found in the prospecting dish a tail of gold.'
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks11/1100541h.html#ch-37
by
David Hennessey
He handed Joe a letter; it was from Will Monckton. It told of the death of Major Smart, and that by the Major's will, recently made, he had been left £1,000; and also that out of the earnings of the 'Good Fortune Gold Mine,' Mrs. Madge Maguire had paid for him to Lieutenant Monckton another £1,000. Will congratulated him on his good fortune, and told him that the money had already been paid to his credit in the Reefton Bank.
Joe slipped the letter into the breast pocket of his coat, which he had hung near by upon a bush, without a word; then slowly filled his prospecting dish with wash dirt, and stooping down to the water, filled it, stirred it with his hand, and gathered out the larger stones. Then with both hands he shook it roughly, so that any heavy particles might settle to the bottom of the dish, then allowed sand and gravel to flow with the water over the lip of the dish into the stream.
Tears were in the man's eyes, for he had been deeply moved by his unexpected good fortune; it would make his lonely old age more comfortable. Again he lifted the dish and shook it roughly, puddled in it with his fingers to break up a lump of clay, and again panned the dirt and sand into the stream.
He was more careful now, for the residue was getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller, as the water with the gentlest motion of the man's experienced hand washed sand and dirt away.
At last he stood erect and held the steel dish sideways to the sun, in the light of which there glittered, on its side, a tiny nugget of the precious metal, with, as though streaming from it, a thin tail of golden dust left upon the side of the dish by the action of the water.
The man's eye brightened as he looked at it, but his thoughts were otherwhere. 'Dirt, dirt!' he mused, 'mostly dirt; but God Almighty has panned them out, for no one else could have done it, and bad as I thought them, He must have found in the prospecting dish a tail of gold.'
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks11/1100541h.html#ch-37
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