about midnight
This worthy woman told another , and in twenty-four hours the fame of Donald 's nugget was spread from end to end of the valley . This would not have mattered in most places , but mining districts are peopled by criminals and adventurers of all kinds , and among these were some lawless characters whose chief business was to get gold in some other way than by working for it . Two of these men , brothers , who lived with their families at the lower end of the valley , determined that they should possess themselves of Donald 's nugget . Covering their faces with black masks , and armed with revolvers , they set off about midnight for the miner 's cabin . The family were fast asleep , and the robbers noiselessly pushed up the window , and entered the room where Donald slept . Pointing a loaded revolver at his head , one of the men roughly awoke him , and told him if he moved or cried out he would blow out his brains and murder every one in the house . Donald was too familiar with stories of camp crime to resist an attack so sudden , and , though a loaded revolver was under his own pillow , he saw his disadvantage and , for the sake of his wife and children , controlled himself with a great effort .