[Dan De Quille, The Big Nevada Nugget, Salt Lake Tribune, January 1, 1891]

 

THE BIG NEVADA NUGGET.

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THE STORY OF A TWENTY-FOUR POUND LUMP OF GOLD.

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Tribulations of the Man Who Found and Stole the Golden Mass — In the Hands of "Birds of a Feather" — A Terrorized and Penitent Thief — The Restitution and a New Start in Life.

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            In the spring of 1872 was found at the Osceola placer mine, White Pine County, the largest single lump of gold ever discovered in the state of Nevada. The Osceola mine, whence the big nugget came, is situated on the western slope of Mount Wheeler (formerly Jeff Davis Peak) a mountain 12,309 feet in height, and the culminating point of the Snake River. The placer at Osceola is the only deposit of auriferous gravel in Nevada approaching in depth and magnitude the great hydraulic mines of California. However, unlike the California digging, it is not a deposit formed by an ancient river, now dead, nor beneath the rolling waves of the ocean in the ages of the past, but is of local origin, being an accumulation of debris washed down from the slopes of Mount Wheeler. On the sides of this mountain are many large veins of auriferous quartz, more or less decomposed, and from these doubtless came the gold now found in the Osceola placer mine.

            In the early days of its discovery this placer was worked by men of small means and with an inadequate supply of water. Though there was an abundance of water twenty-five miles off, to bring it to the mine would involve the expenditure of over $130,000, owing to the engineering difficulties to be overcome. The owners of the mine being men of moderate means, they were obliged to content themselves with the amount of water resulting from the melting snowbanks on the summit of the peak and obtainable at small cost. Thus they were able to sluice the gravel of their mine during a period of three or four months in spring and summer. In this way there was taken from the mine by the old owners in about fifteen years a total of $50,000, and very little impression was made upon the main mass of the deposit.  Now this mine at Osceola is owned by men in the East, principally of New York. Professor Maynard is, I believe, the directing spirit of the new company. This year a great ditch has been completed, and this season they have been able for the first time to work the placer after the manner of the great mines of California. They are equipped with monitors, have an abundant supply of water, and by means of electric lights are able to run day and night.

HOW THE WONDERFUL NUGGET WAS FOUND AND STOLEN.

            At the time the big nugget was found, a Mr. Verzan was superintendent and principal owner of the mine. He had a small ditch which brought in sufficient water to run the sluices during the spring and summer months, and employed a small force of miners. One of these miners, whose name has never been made public, found the golden mass and stole it. With his find the thief found no end of trouble and distress of mind, and but for his final repentance it would never have been known that Nevada had produced so large a nugget.

            The nugget as found weighed twenty-four pounds avoirdupois, and as it contained but a small amount of quartz, its actual coin value is supposed to have been at least $4,000. Such a lump of almost pure gold was a glittering ball of old Plutus that sent out a hundred rays to pierce the heart of its finder. The sight of the mass of gold almost took away the poor man's breath, and trembling in every joint he yielded to the suggestions of the special bit of Satan implanted in his brain.

            A quick glance showed him that no one was near enough to see the shining mass. Lifting it along with a large fragment of rock that covered and hid it from sight, he bore it to the waste dump above the sluices, unobserved by Verzan or any of his fellow workers. Having succeeded in hiding the gold on the waste dump beneath the flat stone carried out with it, the thief felt a brief glow of satisfaction, and then his troubles began.

            After a time the man who had thus stolen the lump of gold left the employ of Mr. Verzan, saying he was going out into the mountains to prospect on his own account. He was honestly paid his wages and sent away with a "Godspeed."

            Though it came out after a time that such a mass of gold had been stolen by a miner from the Osceola diggings, and afterward given up by the conscience-stricken thief, who had received a full pardon, little more than bare mention of the fact has ever been published. The man who was tempted by old Satan and Plutus to steal the gold was an old friend of Mr. Verzan, and a man who had always before led a strictly honest and honorable life, though poor as the god of poverty could make him. Therefore Verzan, seeing him at his feet, bathed in the tears of a true penitent, promised that his name should never be made known in connection with the affair. Though the whole story of the thief was known to Mr. Verzan and his partners, it was not made public for the reason that various circumstances would have pointed out the guilty man had all come out at any time within a year or two, as the movements of individuals are closely followed and long remembered in thinly settled places.

            It is only at this late date — about eighteen years after the event — that the story of the penitent thief and the true history of the big Nevada nugget has been told. I have the story from a man who was one of Mr. Verzan's partners at the time the theft occurred. In a confession made to Verzan, the thief gave a full history of his troubles from the time he first laid eyes on the lump of gold until he restored to the rightful owners that part of it which still remained in his possession. In giving back to his partners their share of the gold, it of course became necessary for Mr. Verzan to make some explanation. After pledging them to secrecy, he thereupon told them the whole story. Though the name of the man who stole the nugget is still withheld, the story of his adventures with the precious lump can no longer harm anyone. Also, the story contains a good lesson, as it shows how quickly a theft leads a man into the clutches of desperate characters almost in spite of himself. He does not find the new path into which he has turned destitute of travelers.

VERZAN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE NUGGET THIEF.

            About two months after the time when the nugget was stolen, Mr. Verzan went to Ward, Nye County, on some business connected with mining. In Ward he met the man who had left the Osceola mine ostensibly to go on a prospecting trip. Now, the finder of the nugget was a man who had in times past been under great obligations to Mr. Verzan. We are always more pleased to meet those we have befriended than those who have befriended us, therefore Verzan greeted his old employee most cordially.

            Perceiving that the man looked sad and troubled, Verzan suspected that he had prospected himself out of funds — that he was dead broke. He therefore offered to assist him in any way he might wish.

            At this the nugget thief looked more troubled than ever. The more Mr. Verzan urged the fellow to accept from him any money he might need, the more pale and haggard he became. At last, when Mr. Verzan tried to thrust a handful of gold into the man's pocket, he burst into tears and took to his heels.

            Verzan stood gazing after his old friend in astonishment. He was pained to see the man in such a state of mind. He believed him to be utterly destitute, yet too proud to accept assistance. The next morning the man came to Verzan on the street. He was still haggard, but quite composed. He asked Verzan to go with him to some room where they could converse undisturbed.

            When they were alone, the man told Verzan that he had a confession to make. He said he had long enough passed restless days and sleepless nights. He would now confess everything.

            Verzan began to suspect that his old friend was suffering from mental derangement of some kind, but soothingly requested him to state his troubles, pledging himself to secrecy.

            At last the man turned to his old employer, and gulped out: "I am a thief — a robber. I have robbed you!"

            "Crazy, luny — mad as a March hare," thought Verzan. "Nonsense!" cried he, bursting into a hearty laugh. "If that is your only trouble, make yourself easy. If you had ever robbed me, I most assuredly must have been aware of the fact. Ha! Ha! Robbed me; that is a good joke. You are heartily welcome to all that you ever robbed me of."

            "O, but you do not know; you could not know, for you never saw the gold; still I robbed you. I stole out of your mine a lump of gold that weighed twenty-four pounds!"

            "Poor devil," thought Verzan, "he is as crazy as a loon"; then turning to his old employee, he cried: "Twenty-four devils! Why, there was never a nugget found in the mine that weighed one pound, not to speak of twenty-four!"

            "That was just what it weighed as it came out of the ground," said the thief, "but of course some quartz came out of the mass when it was cut up and run into small bars. I have brought you all the bars I have left, and I want you to take them; I want to eat one meal that is not bought with stolen gold."

            So saying, the penitent thief began to empty the pockets of his coat. He dropped bar after bar of solid gold into the hands of Verzan, who sat staring at the cubes of bright yellow metal in speechless astonishment. Bars to the value of $2,500 were laid in his hands and piled on his knees.

            "What are you doing?" at last cried Mr. Verzan, as he saw his old friend thus emptying his pockets of the golden bars. "I don't understand this at all!"

            "No," said the man who was ridding himself of the bars as though they were red hot. "No, but you will understand it perfectly well when I have told you my story."

            "We shall see; we shall see," said Mr. Verzan; "let me hear the story of your wonderful nugget."

            "You shall hear everything. I have come to you to make a clean breast of the business. You shall be told all; that is, all but the names of parties who assisted me in making the bars. I have solemnly sworn never to reveal their names."

            "That is all right," said Verzan; "let the names go."

            The man then proceeded to tell how he found the nugget, his sudden temptation, and the hiding of the gold as already related. What follows is the fellow's story of his tribulations and adventures as told to Verzan.

THE CONFESSION OF THE MAN WHO STOLE THE BIG NUGGET.

            "Almost as soon as I had hidden the lump of gold by placing on top of it the big flat rock, my troubles began. I feared that some one of the men would remove the rock, that the gold would be seen, and that I would be accused of having stolen and secreted it. I dreaded seeing anyone go to throw an armful of rocks on the waste dump. I felt almost sure that the stone would be knocked off before night. I was in agony during the remainder of the day. Out of the corners of my eyes I watched every man that went near the dump. So it went on until we knocked off work in the evening, and my gold was still safe.

            "I lingered a little behind as the men left the diggings in order to mark well the spot where the nugget lay, for that night I must get it away. I feared that if I left it on the dump it would be covered up and lost.

            "About midnight that night, I crept out of my cabin with a sack in my pocket and hastened to the mine. I started at every sound and at times I trembled violently. However, quaking and bathed in perspiration, I secured the nugget in my sack and fled from the spot as rapidly as possible, for on a sudden it occurred to me that secretly a man might be employed at the mine of nights to guard against the sluice boxes being robbed.

            "As soon as I was well away from the mine arose the question of where to hide the nugget. I could think of no good hiding place, and so, still walking on, I came almost to my cabin. My mind was in such a whirl that I could not think of any prominent or peculiar landmark, and at last, when near to my cabin, I went a few steps from the trail, and, scratching a hole with my hands beneath a big sagebush, there buried sack and all. I could not sleep till near morning for thinking of my gold, and as soon as I was up I took a walk past the sagebrush to see if the ground at its roots had been disturbed. No sooner had I done this, however, than I began to scold myself for having made so many tracks about the spot where the treasure lay.

            "While at work that day, it came into my head that there had been bacon in the sack in which I had buried the gold. The sack being greasy, a coyote or a hungry dog might dig it up and drag into sight the big nugget. This thought worried me all day.

            "That night I took the gold out of the sack and buried it beside a big rock, but no sooner had I got into bed than it occurred to me that I was a great fool. People always buried treasure at the side of some big rock, therefore it was about such rocks that persons would go prowling in search of valuables and money. I arose, dressed, and moved the gold to the root of a small cedar tree. During the three weeks that I remained at the mine after the gold came into my possession, I for one reason and another almost nightly carried it to a new hiding place, until at last I thought of burying it in front of my cabin and covering the spot with a bucket of ashes. This done, I could see at a glance each morning and evening that my treasure was safe.

            "When I had bought my donkey and was packing him to start out on my pretended prospecting expedition, I had the nugget in a sack and hid it in a big roll of blankets, well bound round at each end with cords. I suspected everyone that came near of knowing that I had stolen the nugget, and had several frights when neighbors put their hands on the blankets in assisting me to pack the donkey, a business at which I was awkward.

            "I felt much relieved when I at last got away and was all alone on the road. Soon, however, I began to think of robbers and thieving Indians. Of nights I feared to lodge in houses, and when camping out was constantly uneasy, though I hid the lump of gold in the ground while leveling off a place for my bed. Even to myself I made a pretense of leveling the ground on which to spread my blankets, as an excuse for taking into my hands a shovel with which to fashion a secret sleeping place for my nugget.

            "When I reached Ward, a place I had never before been in, I still had trouble, and thought everyone in the camp watching me, but as soon as I had bought a cabin well out in the suburbs of the little town I buried the gold in front of it, and covered the spot with ashes taken hot from my stove. I thought this safer than anyplace in the cabin or beneath its floor; besides, I could see at a glance in passing in and out of my home whether the ashes were disturbed.

            "My greatest trouble, however, came when my ready money was all gone and I had to think of disposing of a portion of the stolen nugget. I could not cut off and sell pieces of it without exciting curiosity and perhaps suspicion. It would therefore be necessary to melt it down and mold it into small bars. In order to get the gold into the shape of bars I would require the use of a blacksmith's forge; also would need a crucible and proper mold.

            "I spent some days in prowling about the camp in search of a blacksmith shop near some unworked mine in an out-of-the-way place. At last I found what I wanted. Half a mile from any house I discovered a forge, charcoal, and a lot of tools, in a blacksmith shop near a small mine in which work had been discontinued. The shop was a small frame shanty, the door of which was fastened with a padlock. While peering into the place through various chinks I saw what looked like a small plumbago crucible. In order to make sure that I had discovered such a treasure, after looking about to see if the coast was clear, I pried up a window at one end of the shop, and managed to clamber inside.

CAUGHT IN A TRAP.

            "I found that the crucible was just what I wanted. With it in my hands I went about the shop looking for cold chisels with which to cut up the nugget. I was planning to visit the shop at night to melt my gold and mold my bars, pouring the metal into molds cut out in firebrick. I thought that in two or three nights I could work up the whole mass of gold.

            "While going about busy with my plans, my head down, picking up and looking at tools in search of a good chisel, I was startled by a gruff voice crying: `So, my fine fellow, I've caught you at last! You're the duck that's been stealing tools out of my shop!'

            "Lifting my head, I saw a rough-looking fellow, bearded almost to the eyes, staring in at the window.

            I told the fellow that I had no intention of carrying anything out of the shop.

            "'All very fine, but I see that you have a crucible under your arm and both hands full of tools at this very moment."

            "I said I was only looking at the things and had no thought of carrying them away. Then I told the fellow I did not believe he was any more owner of the shop than myself.

            The man gave a snort of wrath at this, and ran round to the door. "That I have a key to the shop and can open the door shows that I have some right to it, doesn't it?' and in a moment he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

            The instant the fellow was inside he leveled a six-shooter at my head and said I would have to march to town with him; that he had been robbed long enough; more than fifty dollars' worth of mining and other tools had been stolen out of the shop; he'd been laying for the thief for three months; I must "walk chalk."

            Again I declared that I had no intention of carrying away a single tool; that the only thing that had induced me to enter the shop as I did was the sight of the crucible.

            "Ha, the crucible!" cried the fellow, eyeing me sharply. "And what did you intend to do with the crucible?" "Melt something in it, perhaps," said I; "make an assay of some ore." "Not likely. You've been in the mountains long enough to know that assays are not melted in a blacklead crucible. You know well enough that such a crucible is used for melting metals. Ha, you change color! I can guess what you wanted that crucible for — I can see it in your eye. It was to make something like this," and the fellow held up a silver dollar.

            "Nothing of the kind," said I. "It was gold that — " Then I stopped short, for I had spoken without thinking, in my anxiety to deny that I was a counterfeiter.

            "Ah! Oho! Gold, eh? Better yet," cried the man, his face lighting up. "Come now, own up, pard — own up that you intended to do a little work in the queer line. Own up, pard, and I'll let you off."

            "No, I know nothing of such business. I'm an honest — " Here I stuck again, for I remembered that I was the worst kind of a thief, having robbed my benefactor.

            "Ah, ha! Why don't you finish and say thief? Yes, good; you are like myself an honest thief. Come now, are you not a thief?"

            "I don't recognize your right to question me in that way," said I.

            "No, not when I catch you making free with my property. But honor among thieves, say I, so I'll not march you into town. However, you must be friendly. Now, you've as good as told me why you were hooking onto that crucible, so I don't mind telling you that I'm pretty good at this stuff (showing a handful of silver), but if you can tackle the yellow boys you are ahead of me — you're an artist. I must take some lessons from you. You shall be as much at home in this shop as I am, night or day. Come, shake hands, pard."

            I dare not refuse to take his hand; and as soon as we had shaken hands, he cried: "Good! Now we understand each other. The new firm can now begin to think of business. You just tell me what you want; I'll get all the stuff if you'll agree to let me see you work."

            This was getting along too fast, I was being adopted as a brother counterfeiter almost without a word of consent on my part. It was a condition of affairs in which I could not silently acquiesce; yet in declining the honor I must be careful not to arouse the ire of the man into whose clutches I had fallen. He was a powerful, broad-chested six-footer, with long, muscular arms and fists like those of a prizefighter at the ends of his great hairy wrists.

            It was with infinite trouble that I at last convinced this hairy giant that I knew nothing about the useful art of manufacturing false coin; but he finally gave up the point, though only to besiege me more closely than ever as to my intended use of the crucible. I had said I was going to melt gold in it. Surely that meant something rather aside from the quiet routine of business pursued by men engaged in the ordinary pursuits of life. Was I thinking of making a few neat little bars?

            At this I started, but the fellow went on to say that if such were my intentions he could give me a few useful points. I gave up and let the man talk on, which he did quite enthusiastically, it appearing that counterfeiting and imitating the precious metals was his hobby. Indeed, he believed he was almost on the point of finding the philosopher's stone, therefore thought the business he was engaged in as honest as any other.

            At last we left the shop and started toward the town. On the way the man who had on so short an acquaintance adopted me as his full partner renewed his efforts to gain possession of my secret, and so insisted upon knowing the business I had in hand, and made so many promises to deal on the "dead square" with me that I told him to come to my cabin that evening, when we would have further talk and might come to such an understanding as to do a little work together.

            "You're a cautious one, but I like you all the better for that," said the giant as we parted. "I feel too much confidence in my strength to beat much about the bush; I want to push all out of my way and go straight to my mark. That is my great fault. You are just the other way, so we will make the right kind of a team to work together."

            I did not at all relish this kind of talk. It was evident that because I had shaken hands with the fellow, he considered all settled between us and a partnership fully agreed upon. However, I thought that I would be able easily to escape the fellow when done with him.

THE COUNTERFEITER'S VISIT— THE BIG NUGGET DUG UP.

            That night my man was promptly on hand, with a hearty "Good evening, pard!"

            After some preliminary skirmishing, in which the fellow renewed his promises of secrecy and good faith, I said to him: "Suppose, now, for instance, that a friend of yours should happen to have in his possession a considerable number of pounds of gold — not bogus gold, but as good gold as ever was dug out of the ground — which he desired to smelt and mold into small bars, could you assist him in the work?"

            "Could I! Yes; and wouldn't I? No matter where or how he got it. If you have anything like that to do, I'm the very man you want. The good God above, who does all things for the best, must have sent you to me. Why, do you know that we are this moment fully prepared for the work? Yes; we have everything that will be required. I once did a little in bogus gold bricks, and I had made some molds of various small sizes, mostly for bricks of the value of $25, $50 and $100. These are the kinds that small miners — those working with arastras and hand mortars — generally have to sell. I have punches with letters and figures on them to stamp weight, fineness, value, and all else if we need that work. But, after all, I never did a great deal in that line, for in towns assay offices are too handy. The trick can only be worked on the small ranchers and station keepers on the stage and wagon roads in out-of-the-way places in the mountains of California or other such regions. Even then you must be all the time traveling, and to make it pay you must once in a while trouble a stage driver to stop and hold up his hands. Ah! now it pops into my head why you were looking at the cold chisels. You have a big bar to cut up. By the holy poker! I begin to understand. You have done a good stroke of business up in Idaho or Montana, where the stages carry gold bricks, one of which is a small fortune?"

            Here I stopped the fellow, who was in such high feather that he rattled on incessantly from one thing to another. I told him that he was wrong; that the gold I had was a lump just as it came out of the bowels of the earth — a mass of gold that the eyes of no living being except myself had ever seen.

            The fellow's jaw dropped. Placing his elbow on my table and resting his chin in his hand, he gazed at me with a most puzzled expression of countenance, gruffly grunting "Um, um!" At last, after sharply studying my face for full three minutes the coiner said: "Ah, well! Now, how big is this lump of gold you tell of?"  Said I, "It weighs twenty-four pounds."

            "Pard," said the giant, rising, drawing himself to his full height and fixing his keen gray eyes upon me, "Pard, I hope that you are in your right senses and on the square, but d—n me if you don't pile it on pretty thick — a little too thick. Now, I don't just exactly know whether you are a little luny on gold and the big nugget business or whether you are one of those infernal sneaks calling themselves detectives, who go about the country prying into the business of people much more honest than themselves. If you are on the detective lay I've told you a little too much for your future welfare, and I'd as well settle with you at once, seeing that I'll never have a better opportunity.'

            Before I could open my mouth to reply a cocked revolver was at my head. "You are either the one thing or the other," cried the desperado; "you either have something you believe to be gold or you are a sort of bungling detective. Now, show me that lump of gold at once or out go your brains!"

            I felt that I was caught again. "If I show it to you you'll rob me of it," stammered I; "you'll kill me and take it."

            "No," said the rogue, reseating himself; "No: I'll not harm a hair of your head. I am ready to swear to that. I'll only take what you agree to give me for my assistance, but I hope you'll be liberal. What, now, will you give me to mold your big lump of gold into bars?"

            "It is a thing in which you run no risk at all, but still I'll give you $300," said I.

            "Make it $500, pard, and it goes," cried the fellow.

            "Well, then, $500," said I.

            "Now show me your gold," cried my man, rising to his feet and again assuming a hostile look, "or I'll have to put a bullet through your head. You see I've got to be serious with you. You've wormed so much out of me with making me believe you a counterfeiter, a stage robber, or some such person as would be sure to do business on the square, that I feel a good deal ashamed and affronted, I assure you, at finding you nothing of the kind, but merely a sort of I don't know what — a fellow of no reputation."

            During this long, threatening harangue I had regained control of my nerves and wits. I reminded the fellow that as he had not yet sworn to neither rob nor harm me, he could not expect me to produce the nugget.

            "That is true," said the fellow, cooling down at once. He then took a solemn oath which I dictated, and in turn I took the same myself, swearing never to name or betray him.

            "Ah, now, this is business!" cried the fellow. "Shake, pard!" and he nearly crushed the bones of my hand in his viselike grasp.

            I then told him to remain quietly in the cabin for a few minutes and I would go out and bring in the lump of gold.

            "No, you don't!" cried the ruffian, his old suspicions again instantly aroused. With the muzzle of his cocked pistol at my head, he hissed: "No, my chicken, you don't go out of here to make your signals and bring your hellhounds to catch me like a rat in a trap!"

            "How, then, am I to get the gold?"

            "Where is it?"

            "Buried in the ground outside."

            "Far from the cabin?"

            "Not two rods."

            "Can you find it in the dark?"

            "With my eyes shut."

            "With a pistol at the back of your head?"

            "Yes; but remember your oath."

            "True, there is the oath. Are you sure you are bound by it?"

            "As much as by a thousand."

            "May I go with you to get your lump of gold?"

            "Why, of course. If I trust you to see the gold, what is the empty hole left behind in the ground?"

            "Pard, after all, I believe you are on the square. Now I'm only afraid that you've all along been fooling yourself with some lump of base metal. Lead the way and I'll follow, only asking to take my pistol along for fear of accidents."

            "Take it in welcome, but keep it away from my head."

            "All right, pard, I'll hold it down so, and guard you against surprise while you dig."

THE BIG NUGGET BY LAMPLIGHT.

            Without further parley, I led the way out of my cabin, the hairy giant following with his cocked pistol. There was no moon, but all the stars were shining brightly. I went directly to the pile of ashes, and, scraping it aside with my feet, got down upon my knees and began delving in the ground with my hands.

            I was a long while at this work, for the gold had been buried in a hole dug with a pick and shovel, and was much deeper than I had thought it.

            Meanwhile my ruffian "guard" was on nettles. Every moment he was asking: "Do you feel it?" or "Have you got it?" stooping lower and lower in his anxiety. At last he got down on his knees beside me and tried to peep into the hole.

            "I see you don't find it! Could anyone have taken it?" he whispered.

            "No," said I, "it must be deeper. Let me get at the ground with my knife," and I reached back to my hip for my sheath-knife. Instantly my man was on his feet and had his pistol leveled. "You don't catch a weasel asleep!" said he. "If you have anything in that hole, get it out and be quick about it, too. You don't slip any knife into me, my fine fellow!"

            "Ah! Now I feel it — it's all right!" cried I, paying no attention to the suspicious rascal.

            I had touched the nugget at almost the first thrust of my knife and soon I had it in my hands and hugged it in my arms.

            I ran at once to the cabin with my treasure, leaving the robber to follow or clear out, as he pleased. He was close at my heels, you may be sure, and by the time he entered the cabin I had the big nugget in a bucket of water and was washing away the soil that had clung to it.

            My man had now put up his pistol and was becoming near almost consumed with curiosity. In anticipation of the best and fear of the worst, he was speechless. Having washed the mass of gold till it glittered in every part, I placed it on my table without a word and turned up my lamp to full height.

            "The Great Eternal!" cried the desperado, as he dropped into a chair before the mighty nugget. Then, lifting the golden mass, holding it up to the lamp, and turning it about to catch the gleam of the metal from a dozen different points, he cried: "Yes, by the Eternal! it is gold — good solid gold as ever was dug, and by the gods it is placer gold! It is gold from a grand mine."

            "You are right," said I.

            "Pard, I did you a great wrong to suspect you of being a sneak and playing false. Here is solid proof of your truthfulness and worth!" And again he held up and viewed the nugget with greedy and sparkling eyes. Then, dropping the gold and rushing upon me he cried: "Pard, you're a jewel! D—n me I've got to hug you!" And in a moment I was in a clasp compared with which that of a grizzly bear would have been gentle.

            The fellow was almost beside himself with joy. He danced about the room and in spite of my protests tried to repeat his hateful hug, saying he loved me so well he could "break every bone in my body."

            I had hard work to bring him to talk of my business, the molding of the mass of gold into bars, but at last he said we would begin the work the very next night. So often did the fellow return to and lift and fondle the huge nugget that I began to fear that he would take my life in order to possess the whole of it; in one of his hugs he might slip a knife into my heart.

            Fortunately, he at last began to burn to learn where I got the big lump of gold. It could have come from no place in Nevada; therefore, I must have stolen it in California, Idaho, Montana, or some other place where were big placer mines. "Where did you get it?" he at last squarely asked.

            "That is my secret," said I.

            "Of course; but if you came by it honestly, why should you not openly sell it?"

            "Would not the offering of such a mass of gold excite great curiosity and make a great noise? Would not everyone ask as you have done, 'Where did you get it?'"

            "O, I suppose so — yes, of course."

            "Well, that is just what I am not ready to tell. Suppose that you were out in the wilds of the mountains prospecting and should stumble upon a gravel deposit, and while digging in it should not only find plenty of small gold, but in addition such an immense nugget as this, would you not wish to preserve your secret until you had examined the country thoroughly in order to find out how you could get water to your placer, and also to see if you could find the quartz vein that had shed such quantities of gold? Suppose you had been obliged to strike into the settlements for provisions after only two day's work in your wonderful placer; would you want to have the whole country dogging your steps day and night as would be the case were you to go openly and aboveboard and sell a mass of gold like that?"

            "You are right; it wouldn't do."

            "Of course it wouldn't, and that is why I am willing to make almost any sacrifice to keep my secret till I can go back well supplied with provisions to make a long stay. Then I can make sure of water, the quartz vein, wood, and all I want."

            "So you have made such a discovery?"

            "Of course. Where else would I get such a mass of gold? If I had stolen such a wonderful nugget, would there not long ago have been a great howl about it in all the papers? Have you heard such a howl anywhere on the Pacific Coast?"

            "No. I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll turn honest if you'll trust me and let me go with you to your mine. All I ask is the second chance. You shall take all your claims first. I will stand by you as a brother; I swear it. I will fight for your rights, and I'm a terror in a fight. I'll defend you and your rights with my life if you will but take me with you."

            "I will consider the matter," said I. "I had sworn to myself before I met you to go back by myself; to let no living man into the secret. But by accident you surprised me in that infernal old shop when I went to look for the crucible. Curse the shop, and curse the rotten old crucible!"

            "Oh, my friend, my pard, do not take on in that way. It was the will of God that we should meet there and in that way. Yes, I feel that it was so; the good God above wished to reform me. It was for that He brought us together. I am already a changed man. That lump of gold is now as nothing in my sight — nothing at all. And only to think that a few minutes ago I was gloating over it; was even thinking — I may now freely confess it since I have become your sworn brother — was even thinking of sticking my knife into you in order to get possession of the valuable nugget. But now God has changed my heart. He means for me to go with you, my brother, to your big gold mine, there to stand up and fight for your rights."

            "We shall see; we shall see," said I; "but the first thing to do is to get through the work nearest our hands. Even this lump of gold is not to be despised, as it will furnish the means to secure whole mule loads as good, if not as big. Yes, when I go again, I shall take at least five, and perhaps ten mules."

            "Is it far, brother?"

            "Not so far, my man — less than three hundred miles — but it is wild; awful piles of rocks, gorges, mountain wastes, roaring waters, and dark and deep valleys."

            "So much the better, brother. In all these things I delight. It will be a paradise; I always feel nearer my God when in such lonely wilds."

            It was growing late, and having agreed to meet at my cabin the next evening to go to the old shop and begin our molding, my desperado was taking his departure. As he was on his way to the door, he turned back and, glancing at the nugget, said, "By the way, what will you do with the nugget tonight? You can't leave it there, you know."

            "Oh as to that," said I, "it don't much matter. I'll chuck it under the bed or dump it down under the floor."

            "Would it be safe? You know, brother, that ten mules and an outfit will cost some money."

            "True," said I, picking up the gold, "and if you think you can keep it more securely than I can, take it along and take care of it till tomorrow night," and so saying I placed it in the hands of the cutthroat.

            "No, no, brother! Do not trust me. I fear God has not yet made me sufficiently strong," then he dropped into a chair and, covering his face with his hands, sobbed aloud. "Oh, my brother, such confidence goes to my heart. God is doing his work in me. He means to give you a strong and faithful defender when you go to your great gold mine. No, I will not touch the gold; hide it away yourself," and so saying he bounded to his feet and rushed from the house.

            As soon as he was gone, I bolted and barred my cabin, got my pistol handy, put the nugget into my stove, and built a fire on it that would make it red hot, then went to bed. I feared that my friend might have made a wrong diagnosis of his case when he said God was working in him — it was more likely to be the ruler of the brimstone regions.

            It was a lucky thought flashed into my brain that caused me to invent the story of my great gold mine. It so excited the greed of the ruffian who had got me in his clutches that he looked upon the nugget as a trifle. It saved my life and would keep me safe as long as the fellow believed I could guide him to such an El Dorado as I had pictured. When, in view of immensely greater gain, the fellow decided not to murder me for the nugget, he doubtless did feel such a change of heart as to think God was working in him, and that at last he was one of the pure in heart. No more need to rob, steal, counterfeit, and murder when he would soon possess a mountain of gold.

APPEARANCE OF THE "PARTNER LEVI."

            The next night my saintly ruffian was promptly on hand. During the day he had been at the old blacksmith shop and put it in order for work. He had surrounded the forge with curtains made of old canvas, pieces of blankets, and an old tent — stuff that had been stowed in a corner of the shop and which had no doubt done duty before when a different kind of work was in progress. The object of thus curtaining the forge was to prevent the light of its fire from being seen through the old shell of a shop in case of anyone through some accident passing that way.

            That night we cut up the nugget and made one melt in the crucible, molding several small bars. One of these I gave to the brother who had adopted me. The others and the remains of the nugget we carried back to my cabin.

            All the night my ruffian was very kind and affectionate, and again and again assured me that through the change God had wrought in his heart he felt himself a new man; his sins had all been wiped away and he was beginning a new life, as innocent as in the days of his childhood. He assured me that he had made up his mind to make an offering to the Almighty out his $500 — almost his first honest money. He said he would give five dollars to the poor preacher who came to Ward once a fortnight to hold service. Then, his heart warming as his mind was turned to matters of religion, he placed his huge right hand upon my shoulder, his face all aglow and looking like one inspired. "Brother," cried he, "soon we shall be in possession of the millions of our golden mountains; then, by G—d, we'll buy this preacher and start a church of our own!"

            The great hairy giant was as earnest and honest in this charitable thought as a schoolboy meditating his first Christmas present to a loved teacher. The good fellow was continually making bids for my admiration.

            The next night we were again at our work and made rapid progress. My giant was in excellent spirits. He would have roared out a song if he had dared venture upon such an exhibition of the joy that filled his breast. While we were in the midst of our melting and molding, the tattered curtains surrounding the forge parted and a strange face peered in upon us. I gave the giant a gentle hint upon one of his shins with the toe of my boot. He turned and stared at the face, his countenance expressive of the most unbounded astonishment, but stood with open mouth without uttering a word.

            "Why, hello, old pard, what is all this?" cried the intruder, passing within the curtained space. "What is all this?" continued he. "Doing a stroke of business without me? I am cast aside, eh? Your education is completed, I suppose, and you have taken a new partner and set up in business on your own account? But, my dear old chum, you should have said a word to me before opening at the old stand; it, you know, is still our common property."

            While the stranger was thus talking, my giant pretended to be terribly confused and nonplussed. But turning to me, he managed to stammer that the man before me was his pard and one of the best and sharpest fellows in the world. He had not let him into the affairs of the nugget because he thought it my secret and my own private business. He had no right to divulge a thing he had sworn to keep a secret. However, since his partner had stumbled in upon us, he would be answerable for his honesty and good faith. He would explain to his partner, who would be sworn and all would then be well.

            The newcomer was a man about thirty years of age, was of slender build, had hands as small and white as those a lady, sported a carefully trimmed and trained moustache, and was neatly dressed. He presented the appearance of a mining-camp sport. After my giant had made a full explanation of the business in which we were then engaged, and had dilated upon the piles of golden nuggets to be had in the El Dorado I had discovered, Arthur, as I shall call the new man, refused to take the oath of secrecy unless he received the same sum as his partner. As there were now to be three in the firm, all should start out on an equal footing. He squarely demanded $500.

            "'O, brother," said my giant, "I was wrong not to tell you of this pard of mine, a friend of my soul, and submit to you the question of taking him into the firm. There I was wrong, my brother; but since he has come to us by chance, let us give him the $500. What is such a trifle to us? Say the word and, like three brothers, we will proceed with the work now before us."

            Arthur stood by, scowling as though he felt that he had been greatly slighted and wronged. He was determined to have $500 out of the nugget. He felt nothing of the change of heart that had tamed my shaggy giant.

            I saw plainly enough the trick of the pair, but could not help myself. I agreed to give Arthur the sum he demanded, but stipulated that no more members should be brought into the firm. If more men were brought in, I declared that I would not guide the party to my secret mine.

            The pair agreed to everything, and swore to do all I might require of them. As soon as Arthur was sure of his $500, he dropped his sullenness. He became another man. He was all smiles and activity. He pushed the giant aside and himself took charge of the crucible and the molding of the bars. It at once became evident that he was an old hand at the business of managing metals. He searched about the back of the forge and pretended to find some fluxes, which I was sure he took from his pocket, and did more work in one hour than the giant had been able to do in four. Indeed, he so expedited the business that two hours before daylight we left the shop. The big nugget had been transformed into bars, and a division of these had been made that was pronounced satisfactory.

            On the way back to town, Arthur gave us a glimpse of some molds for silver coin, as he said, and told a very smooth story about his going to the old shop to do a little work on his own account; his great astonishment at finding the shop occupied and the forge in full blast, with sparks pouring from the chimney. He then laughingly bandied us for our carelessness in not fastening the door on the inside, and so managing the fire as to prevent sparks. Indeed, he was very jolly and agreeable. At parting he announced that he and the giant would call on me some evening during the week to talk over plans for an expedition to my secret mine. I soon discovered that Arthur was the brain and the big man the muscle of the odd partnership.

A BIRD THAT CAN SING, BUT WILL NOT, MUST BE MADE TO SING.

            I need not relate what was said on the occasion of the visit of the two worthies to my cabin that week, and on several other occasions; suffice it to say that nothing was talked of but my pretended gold mine, which I was made to describe again and again. Soon my partners, as they persisted in styling themselves, had spent and gambled away the money I had given them. Then they became urgent in regard to the trip to the secret mine, giving me hardly a single night's rest. By a cunning trick (doubtless planned by the brain of the firm) the giant so planned that we one night caught Arthur at making false silver coin. This was made to appear to me as a great joke. Being asked to hold and to handle certain tools and other things while in the shop, it was soon after asserted that I had assisted in the work of counterfeiting; then this, and a dozen other things, was brought to bear upon me to induce me to lead the way to my supposed gold mine. But for the loads of gold they expected to get out of this mine, the pair would long ago have robbed and, perhaps, murdered me.

            I am at my wits' end for excuses for delay in leading them to my supposed mine. I am now constantly watched by the pair, as they fear that I intend to steal away from them. Recently they have become threatening. They have given me to understand that if I do not soon go with them of my own accord, they will force me at the muzzles of their pistols to lead them to my mine. I am bad enough, but I have fallen into the hands of rascals who are the bane of my life — men who will either murder me or land me in the state prison.

            Here the purloiner of the big nugget ended his confession, and with many tears begged Mr. Verzan to assist him in making his escape from the desperados into whose clutches he had fallen. Feeling that his old friend had received a lesson that would last him to the end of his days, Mr. Verzan gave him $250 and planned his escape from his rascally partners.

            By Verzan's advice the penitent went to Mexico, carrying with him a letter that procured him employment in a silver mine. From Mexico he went to South Africa. There, within two years, he found in diamonds almost as great wealth as he had pictured to exist in his pretended gold mine.

            Now the man who was tempted to appropriate gold not his own is an esteemed and envied citizen of a beautiful town in a state east of the Mississippi. There he dwells in peace in the midst of his children and grandchildren. Doubtless he delights the latter with many wonderful stories of big diamonds, but it is not probable that he has much talent for tales of big nuggets of gold.

            With Verzan and his old partners in the Osceola the case is different, for each wears a beautiful South African diamond that constantly reminds him of Nevada's twenty-four-pound nugget.

DAN DE QUILLE.