Page 146 - In A New World

"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