burying alive--it has all been too much
for me."

"Go on--go on."

"Yes, yes, I will. I told you the idea came, but I didn't say a word to
my cousin for fear he should think it mad; and as to hinting at such a
thing to the dear old aunt, I felt that it would half kill her. I made
up my mind that she should not know till I was gone.

"Well, I went straight to the `Hard Nut'--that's Uncle Morgan. We
always called him the nut that couldn't be cracked--the roughest,
gruffest old fellow that ever breathed, and he looked so hard and sour
at me that I wished I hadn't gone, and was silent. `Well,' he said, `I
suppose you two boys mean to think about something besides cricket and
football now. You've got to work, sir, work!'"

"Hah!" sighed the listener.

"`Yes, uncle,' I said, `and I want to begin at once.'

"`Humph!' he said. `Well, that's right. But what do you want with me?'

"`I want you to write me a cheque for a hundred pounds.'

"`Oh,' he said, in the harsh, sneering way in which he always spoke to
us boys; for he didn't approve of us being educated so long. He began
work early, and made quite a fortune. `Oh,' he said, `do you? Hadn't I
better make it five?'

"`No,' I said. `I've thought it all out. One hundred will do exactly.'

"`What for?' he said with a snap.

"`I'm off to Klondike.'

"`Off to Jericho!' he snarled.

"`No, to Klondike, to make a fortune for the poor old aunt.'

"`Humph!' he grunted, `and is Dallas going with you to make the second
fool in the pair?'

"`No, uncle,' I said; `one fool's enough for that job. Dal will stop
with his mother, I suppose, and try to keep her. I'm nobody, and I'll
take all risks and go.'

"`Yes, one fool's enough, sir,' he said, `for a job like that. But I
don't believe there is any gold there.'

"`Oh, yes, there is, sir,' I said.

"`What does Dallas say?'

"`Nothing. He doesn't know, and he will not know till aunt gets my
letter, and she tells him.'

"`As if the poor old woman hadn't enough to suffer without you going
off, sir,' he said.

"`But I can't stop and live upon her now, uncle.'

"`Of course you can't, sir. But what about the soldiering, and the
scarlet and gold lace?'

"`Good-bye to it all, sir,' I said with a gulp, for it was an awful
knockdown to a coxcomb of a chap like I was, who had reckoned on the
fine feathers and spurs and the rest of it.

"`Humph!' he grunted, `and you think I am going to give--lend you a
hun