A TALE OF THREE LIONS
Page: 5

sometimes as high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it
did not take long to run through our banking account.

"At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as
usual, and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to
fill themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the
edge of the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we
had in bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight
with our feet over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough
for anything. Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents
into my hand. There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in
silver, no coppers--for copper practically does not circulate in South
Africa, which is one of the things that make living so dear there--in
all exactly fourteen and ninepence.

"'There, Harry, my boy!' I said, 'that is the sum total of our worldly
wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.'

"'By George!' said Master Harry; 'I say, father, you and I shall have
to let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,'
and he sniggered at his unpleasant little joke.

"But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig
like anything for months and be completely ruined in the process,
especially if you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I
resented Harry's light-heartedness.

"'Be quiet, boy!' I said, raising my hand as though to give him a
cuff, with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and
fell into the gulf below.

"'Oh, bother,' said I, 'it's gone.'

"'There, Dad,' said Harry, 'that's what comes of letting your angry
passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.'

"I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the
steep sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little
all. Well, we hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain
thing to look for half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil
about, for the Kaffirs had knocked off working at this very spot a
couple of hours before. I took a pick and raked away the clods of