The coming of two circuses in succession had taken the interest of the boys
away from Pop during August and part of September. Now they turned again to
him for amusement. First they besieged the abandoned stable to which he had
conveyed his goods, and in which he slept,--for he had not found will to
betake himself from the town he had so long inhabited, and his shanty in
the field remained unoccupied. His purchase of the land had betrayed to
general knowledge the location of his treasure, of which he continued to
bring in new specimens.
One October day he had just come from vainly attempting to induce the
postmaster to join him in the enterprise of exploiting his gold-field.
In front of the post-office, he was met by some boys coming noisily from
school. They surrounded him and demanded to see the gold in his basket. As
the town policeman was sauntering up the street, Pop felt safe in refusing.
The boys, also observing the officer of the law, contented themselves with
retaliating in words only,
"Say, Pop," cried one of them, "you'd better keep an eye on your
gold-field. Nick Hennessey knows where it is, and he's gittin' up a diggin'
party to take a wagon out some night and bring away all your gold.
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