e light enough to form an opinion of it. Besides, Obed and the
two boys might at any moment discover their loss, and then there would
be pursuers on his track. He could not hide it, for it was too large,
and anyone seeing what he carried would suspect its nature and
character.

The responsibility of property was upon him now. It was an unaccustomed
sensation. This thief began now to dread an encounter with other
thieves. There were other men, as well as himself, who had little
respect for the rights of property, and this he well knew.

"Where shall I go?" he asked himself in perplexity.

It would not do to stay in the neighborhood of the mining camp. By dawn,
or as soon as tidings of the robbery should spread, there would be an
organized pursuit. In any mining settlement a thief fares hard. In the
absence of any established code of laws, the relentless laws of Judge
Lynch are executed with merciless severity. Beads of perspiration began
to form on the brow of the thief as he realized the terrible danger he
had incurred. What good would it do him after all to get away with the
nugget if it should cost him his life, and that was a contingency, as
his experience assured him, by no means improbable.

"If I were only in Melbourne," he said to himself, "I would lose no time
in disposing of the nugget, and then would take the first ship for
England--or anywhere else. Any place would be better than Australia, for
that will soon be too hot to hold me."

It was one thing to wish, and another to realize the wish. He was still
in the immediate vicinity of the mining camp, and there were almost
insuperable difficulties in the way of getting far from it with his
treasure safe.

The thief kept on his way, however, and after a while reached a piece of
woods.

"This will be a good place to hide," he bethought himself. "I may be
able to conceal the nugget somewhere."

His first feeling of exultation had given place to one of deep anxiety
and perplexity. After, he was not as happy as he anticipated. Only
yesterday he had been poor--almost destitute--but at any rate free from
anxiety and alarm. Now he was rich, or thought he was, and his heart was
filled with nervous apprehension.

He wandered about for two or three hours, weary and feeling great need
of sleep, but afraid to yield to the impulse. Suppose he should lose
consciousness, and sleep till morning: the first man who found him
asleep would rob him of the precious nugget,