A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready
by Bret HARTE
Prologue
Cette fois, on ne pouvait s'y tromper: he had struck gold at last! It had lain there before him a moment ago-un morceau difforme of brown-stained quartz, interspersed with dull yellow metal; assez mou pour have allowed the points of his pick to penetrate its honeycombed recesses, yet assez lourd pour drop from the point of his pick comme il s'efforçait de lift it from the red earth.
Il voyait tout ça très distinctement, although he found himself, il ne savait pas pourquoi, at some distance from the scene of his discovery, his heart foolishly beating, sa respiration s'accéléra malgré lui. Yet he was walking slowly and vaguely; conscious of stopping and staring at le paysage, which no longer looked familiar to him. He was hoping for some instinct or force of habit pour le ramener à lui; yet when he saw a neighbor at work dans une concession adjaçante, he hesitated, and then turned his back upon him. Pourtant only a moment before il avait pensé of running to him, saying, "By Jingo! I've struck it," or "D...n it, old man, I've got it"; mais ce moment avait passé, and now il lui semblait qu'il pourrait à peine raise his voice, or, if he did, the ejaculation apparaîtrait forced and artificial. Il ne pouvait pas non plus go over to him coolly and tell his good fortune; and, partly from this strange shyness, and partly avec l'espoir que another survey of the treasure might restore him to natural expression, il retourna to his tunnel.
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