41 Lure O Gold 1904

"
My
Burden is Resumed
I rose rather stiffly
when Yohara came with the box.
I opened the Doctor s black bag and took out the gold,
counting the buckskin sacks as I laid them affection
ately
in the box. The treasure seemed to have in
creased tenfold in value, although one of the sacks, from
which a few hundred dollars
worth of the dust had
been extracted, was a trifle light.
There was still
over forty thousand dollars worth of gold left, so that
what was missing seemed trivial to me.
Now I was a made man again. Now I could face
my father.
I breathed deeply two or three times and
the Doctor smiled down at me.
"
I think," said I, looking up
at him, one of the heavy
sacks in my hand, "that this belongs to you."
"
To me ? What are you thinking of ?
"
he grufFed
forth.
Do you suppose that I helped you as I did for
the sake of your gold ? No,
sir not for a moment !
It was because you were the son of William Morning,
and because you were my friend."
I saw that he was offended by my offer of the gift,
and so I did not press
it
upon him, but made a quiet
resolve that when we got ashore there should be some
sort of substantial recognition of
his services to me.
Bill was found toward evening in one of the empty
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