human
Hello! What has happened?
gpt
Robbed, Dickson answered sententiously.
human
Robbed and the mine has played out.
gpt
Yes, robbed of all but about fifty dollars' worth of gold-dust that we took out this afternoon before the mine gave out, and Mrs. Dickson's voice trembled.
human
And not a thing to tell us who did the robbing. Robbed of a good forty thousand dollors' worth of gold-dust! Enough to have taken us both back to New York state and enabled us to have lived the rest of our lives in comfort,
gpt
Robbed! Robbed of all your gold!
human
When?
gpt
How?
human
Who did it?
gpt
Sometime this afternoon, answered Mr. Dickson,
human
And we had it so well hidden, mourned Mrs. Dickson,
gpt
Wal, it shore is tough luck, Leetle Woman, sympathized Ham.
human
But we've got tew take th' tough luck with th' tender an' make th' best on it. Now, supposin' we have a look around. Maybe we can find some clue that you missed, you being some excited. It'll go mighty hard with th' robbers, if we catch them, and Ham's face hardened.
gpt
Now jest show us where you had th' gold hidden,
human
We had the gold hid right there, under that stone, and Dickson pointed to an upturned flat stone, about a foot square, that lay near a small hole, excavated in the bed of the fireplace, which the stone had evidently covered over and concealed.
gpt
When we got in to-night there was not a suspicious sign anywhere; and it was not until I lifted the stone off the hole to put the gold in that we'd taken out since noon that we discovered that we had been robbed. I reckon there is no use of trying to find the robbers. A hundred men could hide themselves in these mountains in a couple of hours where ten thousand could not find them, and the look of despair settled back on his face.
human
Nobody saw them come and nobody saw them go and nobody has the least idea who did the robbing. So, I guess, it is just up to Mollie and me to buckle down to hard work and hard living again.
gpt
Now, don't git discourage. Maybe thar's better luck in store for you than you dream of, and Ham's face lighted up, as if a pleasant idea had suddenly come to him.
human
I want tew have a talk with th' rest of th' members of th' Never-Give-Up California Mining Company; an' then, may be we'll have a propersition tew make tew you, an', ag'in, maybe we won't,
gpt
Come on, fellers, let's git tew th' office of th' Never-Give-Up California Mining Company; an' go intew secret session tew consider important matters,