p the window, and entered
the room where Donald slept. Pointing a loaded revolver at his head, one
of the men roughly awoke him, and told him if he moved or cried out he
would blow out his brains and murder every one in the house. Donald was
too familiar with stories of camp crime to resist an attack so sudden,
and, though a loaded revolver was under his own pillow, he saw his
disadvantage and, for the sake of his wife and children, controlled
himself with a great effort.

[Illustration: POINTING A LOADED REVOLVER AT HIS HEAD]

'I want that little bit of metal of yours,' said the robber. Donald lay
perfectly quiet. 'Do you hear!' exclaimed the man, 'I want that gold.'

'Then you won't get it,' said Donald quietly.

'I believe he has sent it to the bank,' whispered the other man. 'Kill
him if he has.'

'Look here!' thundered the first, 'do you mean to say that nugget is
gone?'

Donald made no reply. If he said it was gone, the robbers would have
simply sneaked home, for Donald was known in these parts as a man who
never told a lie. Once more the robber asked him, but Donald remained
silent. This was enough. If it had really been gone Donald would have
certainly said so. So, while the first man stood with a revolver at his
ear, the second proceeded to search the house. Drawers, boxes, and
cupboards were opened and ransacked in quick succession; every corner of
the two rooms was examined; the very dishes on the shelf were turned
upside down, and the sugar-basin smashed to pieces with a blow, in case
it should have been hidden there.

'Let me try,' said the man with the revolver; 'you watch the old bear,
and see if I can't find it.'

Once more the house was ransacked from top to bottom, and the robber was
about to abandon the search, when a sudden thought occurred to him. On
the mantel-piece ticked a wooden American clock, about two feet high.
The man opened the door in the case, and fumbled about with his finger.
Next moment he had drawn out the nugget. He bent over the fire to get a
better look at it, and then proceeded to weigh it in the palm of his
hand, to see how much it was worth. The other robber, unable to restrain
his curiosity, moved likewise toward the fire, when the first checked
him with an angry cry, and sent him back to his victim's side to
continue his guard. Another moment, and Donald would have had his
revolver out, and the nugget would have been saved. But there was
another spectator of this sc