CHAPTER III

GOLD BEYOND THE DREAM OF AVARICE--DESPISED

The following day Steve and Fritz went for another walk, farther this time, but alone. Van der Tromp was still occupied in digging out prickly pear thorns.

During the night a heavy thunder storm had raged; the air was pure and fresh, so that the young men walked far out into the veld, as they enjoyed the bright face Nature had put on after the storm.

When they had walked some distance, they met a herder herding some sheep belonging to Fritz’s father. He came up to them, and showed Fritz a bar of metal two feet long and about one inch in diameter, more or less, as it was of irregular thickness.

‘See, baas, what a nice piece of brass I found. The rain of last night had washed it clean, so that I saw it shining amongst the rocks.’

Steve took it from him and examined it closely, and felt the weight of it.

‘Where did you get this, boy?’ he asked.

‘I found it sticking to two rocks, baas. Each end of it was fast on to a rock, so that it was a sort of little bridge between the two pieces of rock.’

‘Come and show me and Baas Fritz the place.’

The boy went on ahead to show the place as requested.

‘Do you think it is gold, Steve?’ asked Fritz.

‘I am sure of its being gold. There must be lots of it, too, if it can be picked up in this way,’ was the answer.

The boy stopped and pointed to some rocks which were lying in the cleft of a low hill. The cleft was a little rivulet when it rained, as the sides of the hill sloped down to it, thus causing all the water to run towards it, and so form a temporary stream.

The boy pointed to two masses of quartz forming the two banks of the cleft or ravine. He showed them the marks where he had broken off the bar of gold.

The young men examined the masses of rock or quartz closely. Steve took a large stone and knocked two small pieces off the quartz, and looked at the freshly-broken surface. It was interlaced with gold! They examined an outcrop of quartz further on, and found it to be as rich as the other. Fully twenty-five per cent. of the quartz seemed to be gold.

Fritz had whispered to Steve not to let the boy know what it was. He had to put forth great self-control to restrain his excitement.

They turned quietly back and walked home.

‘I say, Fritz, this means that you are going to be one of the richest men in the country. There is not another such mine of gold in the world as this one is going to be.’

‘Wait and hear what the old man says about it first,’ said Fritz.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Steve.

‘Wait,’ was the laconic reply.

They arrived home and found the old man superintending the planting of some _shade_ trees near the house. They went up to him, and showed him the bar of gold discovered by the boy.

‘See, father, what April found,’ said Fritz.

‘What is it?’

‘Gold,’ said Steve.

The old man stood looking at them for fully a minute, then asked for an explanation. He was told all that had taken place.

He did not say a word, but Steve could see that he was by no means pleased. In the evening, when the herds were all safely in the kraal, Steve, Fritz and the old farmer were sitting on the stoep smoking. In front of the stoep half-a-dozen cows and heifers were standing. The old man had ordered them to be driven out of the herd, and to await his further orders.

April the herder, and discoverer of gold, was sent for. He came.

‘April,’ said the farmer, ‘I believe your time is up at the end of the week?’

‘Yes, baas.’

‘Do you intend going home then?’

‘Yes, baas!’

‘I owe you three heifers for your time of service, do I not?’

‘Yes, baas!’

‘Well, there are six. Three in payment for your service, and three if you will leave to-morrow morning early without saying a word to anyone, and I want you never to come on my farm again. You must also promise me never to tell anybody about the copper you found on the stone to-day. Do you promise?’

The Kaffir was amazed. To receive double his salary, and to go before his time was up, with an order never to return again, was incomprehensible to him. However, he gave the promise required, and left.

Steve could hardly make out the drift of the old man. He simply stared in surprise at his host.

‘Now, Stephaans, I want you also to promise me never to tell anyone of the gold on my farm, unless I give you permission to do so.’

‘Of course, Oom Hans, if it will spoil your chance of getting a good price for the mineral rights, I will say nothing about it. But what is the good of keeping it secret? You ought to make it known as much as possible, then you will be able to get the highest offer.’

‘Stephaans, you do not seem to understand. I do not want to sell the mineral rights of my farm, nor the farm itself. I only wish to live quietly and at peace on my farm.’

‘But why so, Oom Hans? Consider the price you could get for a farm with quartz on it like this?’ said Steve, taking out a piece of the quartz he had put in his pocket in the morning. ‘You could buy a dozen other farms for the money, and have still enough left to live on to the end of your days.’

‘I do not want any more riches than I have. I have enough to live on, and enough to leave my children when the Lord should take me away. Why should I sell my farm? My father and mother lived and died here. They are buried here, and here I wish to be buried when I die. It is not good for us to have too much of the riches of the world.’

‘But, Oom Hans, God has placed the gold there to be used, and it would be sinful to leave it there, buried under ground, or the Lord might say to you when the time of reckoning comes, “I have given you so many talents of gold to work with, and to do good with, and to win other talents with; but ye buried it under ground and used it not as I directed ye, ye bad and unfaithful servant, go forth into the outer darkness.” Consider, Oom Hans?’

The old man shook his head.

‘No, Stephaans, we do not see the matter in the same light. When I feel that the Lord wishes me to leave my farm, and let the gold be dug, I will tear from my heart the love I have for my home and my birthplace, and leave it. But I do not feel so yet. No one will lose by it; I shall be the only loser; but the loss I consider gain, so long as I can keep my home unpolluted by the drunken, the profane, the blasphemer, the canteen-keeper. These you know are always to be found where gold is being dug.’

And no amount of arguing or talking on the part of Steve could induce the conservative old farmer to change his views. He again made Steve promise not to tell of the gold, lest the Government should take the bit in its own mouth and proclaim his farm as public gold diggings.