"Why, a nugget. And, boys, it is six pounds weight if an ounce."
The excitement of the three young fellows now knew no bounds. They shook each other by the hand; they shouted aloud for joy, and then, while honest Viking capered around them, they raised their voices in song, Duncan leading in an old song, sung by the gold-diggers of California in days long, long gone by.
But a right cheery one it was.
"Pull away, cheerily, Not slow and wearily, Rocking the cradle,[1] boys, swift to and fro.
Working the hand about, Sifting the sand about, Looking for treasures that lie in below."
[1] The machine used for washing the "pay-dirt".
"Hurrah! Hurrah!"
Another and a truly British cheer. The savages far down below heard it and trembled.
"Plaps," said Carrambo, "dey tink all de debbils was let loose now foh tlue."
"Here, Carrambo, hurry down with a bottle of goo-goo to the old king, and tell him we are his friends now, and if an enemy comes we will help to fight him."
Carrambo came back the same evening rejoicing, but laughing his wildest.
"Plenty much fun!" he cried. "De fat king he dlunk, ebber so much dlunk. He do nuffin" now. Jus" lie on him back and sing. Ha! ha! ha!"
The boys went back to their fort to dine. Carrambo would be their friend, though to the savages he pretended not to be so. He was even entrusted with a revolver, and thus a right happy man was he.
Well, when Duncan talked about the invasion of an enemy he might have been speaking for speaking sake; but one evening a runner brought the alarming intelligence that a rich neighbouring tribe were preparing to fall upon and extirpate the inhabitants of these glens and hills.
"And a jolly good job too," said Frank. "We"ll stand by and look on, won"t we, Duncan?"
But Duncan shook his head.
"A promise even to a savage is sacred, Frank, and we must fight."
The Umbaloomi, as the invading tribe was called, did not keep the tribe long waiting.
They came in force on the very next day. The king himself marched along with his warriors, mounted on a huge elephant, while behind him, on another, rode his two favourite wives. The Umbaloomi potentate had promised them a great treat, and many heads with which to decorate their huts.
Now Duncan had determined that Goo-goo, as the fat king had come to be called, should attack the invaders first. If he failed to conquer, then Duncan, with Frank, Conal, and Carrambo, meant to give them a startler, and something like a surprise.
This was all as it should be, and the fight, as seen from the bush where our heroes lay _perdu_, was a fearful one.
What a horrible melee! What a murderous ma.s.sacre! No wonder that the wild birds rose in screaming clouds, or that the echoes of the forest were awakened by the bedlam shrieks and howlings of the gorillas!
"Now for it, lads!" cried Duncan, as he noticed that Goo-Goo"s side was losing. "Steady aim. Give "em fits, but don"t fire until I tell you."
Nearer and nearer to the foe they crept under cover of the mimosa bushes.
"Fire!"
At the word a rattling volley was poured into the very midst of the foe.
Another and another, for the rifles were repeaters.
"Hurrah!" shouted Carrambo, "the fire-debbils have come!"
Whether the enemy understood him or not I cannot say, but they were staggered, and backward now they reeled in a confusion which is indescribable.
The elephants waxed wild, and, instead of flying, charged right towards the Goo-Goo tribe.
And the invading king, with both his wives, were instantly slain.
That completed the victory.
But after victory came the rout, the slaughter, and utter extermination of the invaders.
With the details of the fearful feast that followed, I should be sorry, indeed, to sully my pages.
So the curtain drops on a sadder scene than ever I trust any of my readers shall ever behold.
There was another feast, however, of a somewhat less terrible kind. For on the slain that night the beasts of the forest held high revel.
And thus ended the invasion of King Goo-Goo"s land.
CHAPTER VII.--THE MYSTERIOUS STONE.
For the first time since their arrival Goo-Goo paid the boys a visit of ceremony, on the day after the battle.
Carrambo had apprised them of the honour they were about to be the recipients of, and they stayed at home in consequence.
Goo-Goo was very pompous--and precious little else.
He was elated with his victory, but did not hesitate to admit that Duncan and his comrades had contributed a little to the turn of the tide of battle.
Goo-Goo was even boastful
Goo-Goo was also very thirsty.
So Duncan invited him to come inside.
He refused. Not even a whole bottle of his favourite sherry would have tempted him to cross the threshold of the fort, because--as he explained through Carrambo--"plenty much debbil lib (live) in one hole below de floor".
But he made very small work of a nut-sh.e.l.l of goo-goo that Duncan presented to him with his own hand.
Then he explained why he had come. It was to offer to our heroes the two tame elephants that had been captured in battle.