Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/80

72

Well, we stood him for a month until he wellnigh drove us mad. And as jeering couldn't penetrate his hide We fixed a little scheme for to dissipate his dream, And sicken him of mining till he died. We got a likely-looking bit of quartz and faked it up    With dabs of golden paint; then called him in. Oh, he went clean off his head; it was gold for sure, he said, And if we'd sell our claim he'd raise the tin.

But we weren't taking any—not at least till later on; For we reckoned that we'd string him on a while. When he wanted information of the reef's exact location We would meet him with a knowing sort of smile.

At last we dropped a hint that set him pegging out a claim, And we saw that we were coming in for sport; For the next account we heard was when Hawkins passed the word He was fetching up an expert to report.

When we heard that expert's verdict we were blown clean out of time, And absorbed the fact that we had fallen in. The gold, he said, would run 'bout four ounces to the ton; With traces, too, of copper, zinc and tin.