"That's too thin, sir. From what I have heard, all your horses returned home of their own accord this morning. In any case, if you have a complaint to make, the public street is not a court house."
A suppressed cheer broke from some of the bystanders, who had no cause to love Macguire. He scowled fiercely at them as he climbed back to his seat.
"I'll get even with you, you young thief, when there are no interferin' Wardens about," he cried as he drove away, glaring with impotent rage at the object of his exceeding wrath.
The Shadow smilingly waved him a polite adieu.
It was three days after the Shadow's departure. The sun was shining fiercely on Golden Flat, and its scintillating rays reflected from the white mullock heaps at the various workings caused the eyes of the miners when they came to the surface to quiver and close painfully. The air was filled with dancing sand particles, and they shimmered kaleidoscope-like in the intense heat haze which rose and fell on the surface of the land like the waters of a boundless ethereal sea. The regular thud, thud of picks resounded loudly from the end of the lead where Nuggety Dick and his brawny compatriots were doggedly digging out the golden gravel, and away at the other end of the field Macguire's satellites made noisy din as they busied themselves sinking several shafts over the supposed trend of the mysterious channel.
The weather had been excessively hot since the Shadow left, and this fact had done much to restore the spirits of the gang, for, judging from their own feelings, they considered that the energy of Mackay's messenger would be spent long before he could hope to reach the township. At the Golden Promise the windlass was deserted, and the red symbol hung limp overhead. But it was not lack of energy that had occasioned thisapparent lapse of duty. Mackay and Jack had been in the tent all morning watching Bob's final experiments with the refractory clay formation which were to decide whether or no the great bulk of the Flat's treasure could be saved to them. Bob's head was now quite better, but prolonged study in a clime which is not adapted for acute mental effort had made his young face appear drawn and haggard, yet his eyes shone with the light of enthusiasm as he busied himself with his rather crude appliances and set them in order for a last conclusive test. Mackay had hastily constructed a small vat for him, made from the hardest wood to be found in the bush, with an overflow tap some halfway up its height. This the young chemist now quarter filled with the crushed compound to be tested, and made up the level with water, to which he afterwards added some salt.
"It will ensure its conductivity," he explained; but neither Mackay nor Jack were much enlightened, so they held their peace. Next a rubber tube, with an oddly-conceived wooden shield on its exposed extremity was thrust into the receptacle, then a small bottle containing some liquid which bubbled and effervesced alarmingly, was brought forward, and its loose nozzle connected to the free end of the tube.
"A simple method of generating hydrogen," said Bob dreamily, "just iron pebbles and very dilute sulphuric acid." Mackay ventured a non-committal grunt, but Jack's face now showed keen appreciation. Lastly the two wires of a very small electric battery—Bob's own manufacture—were connected to corresponding metallic sheets lining the opposing ends of the vat. "That is merely as an added assistance to help the decomposing of the stuff into itselements," muttered Bob; then he fixed the nozzle of the hydrogen generator tightly and stepped back.
At once a gurgling boiling sound arose from the vat, and its contents swelled up in bubbling circles of slime and soapy ooze. Mackay, obeying a motion from Bob, hastily pulled out the overflow tap, and so caused the more solid matter within to subside. Again Bob loaded the vat, and again Mackay allowed the foaming mass to overflow, and never a word was spoken. The operation was repeated until fully a hundredweight of the refractory substance had been utilized, and by this time the floor of the tent was aswim with the dense oily scum let loose.
"That should be enough to calculate on," said Bob. "And now comes the crucial point." He undid all connections and handed the muddy box to Mackay, who took it silently, and emptied the coarse sandy residue into an awaiting gold-pan.
"It's lost its puggy nature, anyway," he commented, pouring on it some water from a kerosene tin. He gave the pan a rapid swirl, then an oblique turn, and gasped. The bottom of the basin was literally covered with a thin film of the finest imaginable golden grains, which blazed and sparkled in the penetrating sunlight!
Bob looked and heaved a sigh of profound thankfulness. Jack looked, and celebrated his joy by whooping like a red Indian. Mackay looked and looked, indeed, he did not once take his eyes off the dazzling spectacle. Bob guessed his fears, and at once dispersed them.
"It's the genuine article this time," he said with assurance. "If it was going to melt away it would have done so in the acid solution; but the fact is it has justbeen set free from the solution, and so is now as stable and tangible as the sands of the desert."
The rough, horny handed pioneer set the pan down on the floor, and wiped the beaded perspiration from his forehead, then he reached out his great fist and took Bob's hand in a fervent grasp.
"It's no' often I have to acknowledge a better man than mysel'," he said grimly; "but I must admit you've knocked the wind clean out o' me wi' this grand process o' yours. Why, my laddie, it means fortune for you in the years to come, an ever growin' fortune, for ye can charge what ye like for your discovery. An' you little mair than a youngster, too! Man, Bob, you've got a held that any professor might well envy."
Bob laughed right heartily as he returned the elder man's grip. The tension on his nerves had gone, and he felt almost constrained, like Jack, to shout in his gladness.
"If it means fortune, I shall refuse to take more than my third of it," he said, with grave emphasis. "This is a partnership affair. I'd rather break the whole concern up now than make a halfpenny that you two didn't share." Then he gave utterance to a firm, fixed belief, which had done much to sustain him during his intricate studies of the deceptive formation. "As for my youth," he continued, with a smile, and addressing himself more directly to Mackay, "I won't allow that that should entitle me to any credit, for the same brain is with us always, and, surely, when it is young, and fully developed, it should be able to grasp and evolve theories which, when older, it would hesitate to accept. The beaten track is so hard to forsake when one grows old in text-book experience. If the ordinary science professor came along here now andexamined my theories concerning this stuff and its treatment, without being shown their proof in practice, he would call them absurd and irrational. And why? Because I have gone wide of all precedent and text-book knowledge, and treated the compound for gold in an unstable state, and in that unstable state it is not supposed to exist." The young man spoke clearly and logically, yet with an unusual twinkle in his keen blue eyes.
When he had finished, Mackay ventured a word of admonition.
"Too much study when the brain is young, Bob," said he, "is vera dangerous indeed, though I quite agree wi' you in your line o' argument. Young genius, hooever, blossoms an' dees like the flowers of the spring—they never reach their summer; so the auld fossilized, follow-my-leader blockheads exist and flourish an' are aye wi' us. But I'll see that ye dinna work oot any more scientific problems for a bit. It'll be a grand relaxation after this for you to study the beauties o' Nature as shown in the Never Never country back here." He laughed sardonically, and waved his hand towards the unknown east.
"I'll be with you whenever you are ready," answered Bob, eagerly.
"And I'll bet you won't shake me out of it," spoke up Jack; and Mackay was comforted.
The sound of approaching footsteps was now heard outside the tent. Mackay hastily seized the gold pan, and placed it out of sight.
"Not a word aboot the discovery," he advised. "It will keep for a bit, until we hear what Macguire's tactics are."
A second more, and Emu Bill popped his head inside."Hang ye, Mac," said he, "I've nearly burst myself hollerin' down that shaft o' yours. I didn't think you'd be loafin' round at this time o' day, I didn't."
"What's that you've got in your fist?" asked Mackay, evading all explanations, and glancing at a huge, greyish fragment which Emu Bill was carrying abstractedly about.
"Oh—that? That's another specimen I wanted to show ye. The gold in it fairly howled at me down the shaft; but there ain't enough in it now to fill a muskittie's eye. All my wash has made into the humbuggin' stuff now. I'll have to give it best, boys, I will."
The resigned melancholy of his voice worked strangely on the feelings of Bob and Jack, and they gazed questioningly at Mackay, who nodded.
"Ay, show it to him, Bob," said he. "I think the Emu kens well enough hoo to haud his tongue."
"My goodness, mates," faltered Bill, in an awed whisper, when he saw the pan, "that is an almighty fine prospect. I reckon it must be twenty-ounce stuff. Where in thunder did ye get it?"
"It came from your shaft, Emu," said Bob. "It's the same deceiving miradgy humbugging material as that you've got in your hand. I've just found out how to bring back the gold after it fades away."
Emu Bill stared in amazement. "Will somebody kindly kick me?" he murmured feebly. "Is my sight goin' back on me again, or is it a real honest fact that hits me on the optic nerve?"
But he was soon led to understand that the gold in the pan was no delusion of the senses—that it was indeed a solid, substantial quantity.
"I takes off my hat to you, Bob," he said, with a little catch in his usually strong voice; and he suited the action to the word. "This'll mean new life to the whole Flat; an' I hope it'll spell fortune to you, my lad. What a pity Macguire's crowd got hitched on alongside the Golden Promise. They'll hit it every time, most likely; an', hang me! if they deserve it."
"We'll keep quiet aboot this discovery until we see how the bold Macguire tackles on to the mirage," said Mackay. "The meeserable thief may have jumped our ground in the Warden's office, for a' we know."
Emu Bill grasped the situation at once. "I'm a thick-head," said he. "Of course that bounder doesn't know; an' he won't know from me nuther. Mums the word, it is; an' what a howlin' joy it will be to see Macguire clutch on to the mirage. But I'll bet my boots, Mac, that the Shadow has busted up his claim-jumping game. I knows the young beggar, I does."
"An' so do I," said Mackay. "But I'll no blame him all the same if he canna accomplish the impossible."
It was now well after midday, and Emu Bill departed to prepare his lunch.
"I guess it's about time we had something to eat too," said Jack, who had been of that opinion for over an hour, and the three sallied out.
Jack was an expert at boiling the billy and making tea, and Mackay had a wonderful knowledge of the art of bush cookery, so that between them they always contrived to make a fairly palatable repast, notwithstanding the unvaried nature of their stores. Bob generally carried the water, or unearthed from their hiding-place the few enamelled cups and plates necessary; but, as he saidhimself, his assistance in matters culinary would never have been missed. On this occasion he amused himself taking altitudes of the sun with his cherished sextant, while his companions attended to the more practical affairs. In one direction—slightly north of west from the camp—the open desert could be traced without interruption in the shape of scrub or hillocks, until it merged into the distant horizon. Bob had discovered this two days before, when he first endeavoured to make use of Mackay's gift, and he knew that it was just about one o'clock in the afternoon that the sextant reflectors would bring the sun down to this level line, and so give a true declination without the use of an artificial horizon. He ogled away in this direction now, keeping time by Mackay's old but trusty chronometer which lay on the sand before him, until Jack's call of "tucker"—which is the bush synonym for all sorts and conditions of meals—caused him to seek his wonted place at the open-air table.
"There is a dot or speck on the sky-line which I can't make out," he said, placing the sextant down carefully at his side. "I don't remember of it being there yesterday."
"Perhaps it's a tree grown up like Jonah's gourd," laughed Jack. "Have some more tea, Bob; and you'll see two trees next time you look!"
A little later Mackay lolled back in lazy satisfaction. "I believe," he said with a chuckle, "that I'm just in the mood to gie ye another verse o' 'The Muskittie's Lament.' I see Jack's no feenished, so I'll be sure o' him listening to my masterpiece this time." He lifted up his voice and sent forth a doleful wail as a preliminary; then, noting the grieved countenances of his audience,he relented. "I'll get my flute an' play ye a bit frae the 'Bohemian Girl' instead. I'm no' so sure that I could tackle that high note in 'The Muskittie's Lament' on a fu' stomach."
He arose and walked to the tent, returning almost immediately with his instrument. But before he sat down his eye happened to glance over the unbroken track towards the west, and a frown settled over his features.
"Your obstruction on the sky-line was a man on horseback, Bob," said he; "I hope he's no' another professional fighter, wha wants me to chastise him into a humbler spirit."
Since the arrival of Macguire's party a further influx from the outside world had been daily expected, for news of gold "strikes" travels quickly, and the sudden exodus of nearly a dozen men from a comparatively small centre could only be construed in one way. Therefore, little more than passing interest was paid to the approaching horseman, who was yet a considerable way off, and Mackay, squatting down on the sand, blew at his flute right merrily, and promptly forgot all about him. The boys, too, quickly became enthralled with his melody, though with them there was always the shivering dread that the flautist would burst into song, and so break the spell that bound them. Many and various were the airs he played, but at last he sought solace in the old Scotch song, "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon," and the feeling which he managed to infuse into the instrument was simply wonderful.
"Ay, my lads," said Mackay, when he had finished, "there's naething like the auld Scots sangs for awakenin'kindly memories o' the land we're aye so glad to get away from. I'm no so sure, mind you, that it isna good fur us whiles to have a wholesome, tender sentiment gruppin' at the strings o' oor cauld hearts, an' playing strange music thereon; it straightens oor backs, an' gies us a grander sympathy——"
He ceased his flow of eloquence, and assumed a listening attitude of intense eagerness. Faintly over the plains had come the sound of a voice raised in cheerful song.
"Our visitor seems in a happy mood," said Bob, turning to look.
Mackay grunted, Jack laughed outright, for distinctly through the still air came the staccato refrain—
"A—bright—wee—muskittie—sat—on—a—tree."
"A—bright—wee—muskittie—sat—on—a—tree."
"A—bright—wee—muskittie—sat—on—a—tree."
"A—bright—wee—muskittie—sat—on—a—tree."
The horseman was coming forward at an easy trot, jerking out the plaintive strains of Mackay's pet ditty to the novel time of his steed's clattering hoof-beats. As yet he was too far distant to be plainly distinguishable, but the song was enough for Mackay.
"It's that confounded Shadow wha's murderin' that bonnie verse," said he; "but how in the name o' goodness can he be back already? An' he's got a horse, too. A good hundred and fifty miles in three days. Well, well——"
At this stage, Nuggety Dick, Emu Bill, Dead Broke Dan, and Never Never Dave made their hasty appearance, all in a state of extreme excitement.
"I do believe it's the Shadow!" cried Nuggety.
"It's the Shad, right enough," grinned Jack; "don't you hear him?"
Louder swelled the melancholy chorus—
"A bright wee muskittie——"
"A bright wee muskittie——"
"A bright wee muskittie——"
"A bright wee muskittie——"
"Confound that pestilential muskittie!" roared Mackay, in high dudgeon, amid the laughter of his companions. "My poetic inspiration will be fair destroyed after hearin' my gem o' beauty abused in such a manner."
But his wrath simmered down speedily as the redoubtable Shadow rode up, travel-stained and weary, his sole upper vestment still further torn and bedraggled, so that it clung to him only in shreds and patches.
"I reckon I has had a daisy time," he said lightly, slipping from the saddle. But the effort of his long journey had told on his numbed limbs, and he staggered and would have fallen had not Mackay's ready grip supported him.
"Come and have something to eat, you young rascal," said the aggrieved composer. "You can tell us your news afterwards."
Jack even now had tea ready for the wayfarer, but the wiry youth refused to be pampered.
"Well, boss," said he, "I'm only a bit stiff, that's all. Everything's all right. I got in ahead o' Macguire by an hour, an' fixed up with the Warden like a streak. I has had a great time——" And he would have begun a narration of his experiences right then, had not Jack insisted on his having his tea while it was warm.
It would be difficult to express the satisfaction that was felt over the Shadow's successful journey, and when the lad had finished his meal, and told of his numerous adventures on the route and in the township, not one among them but felt that the young bushman had proved his worth in nouncertain degree. But it was Mackay's hearty "Well done, my laddie," that seemed to give him greatest pleasure, and he cast about him for some means of showing his gladness.
"I was practisin' your song as I came along," he announced brightly. "It's a rattlin' fine song, it is. I like it best where the muskittie——"
He opened his mouth for a preparatory howl, then, noting the stern glance cast at him by the man he desired to propitiate, he subsided in dismay.
"Ye dinna need to intensify your original offence, young man," quoth the aggrieved one, solemnly. "I heard ye slaughterin' that puir wee muskittie about a mile off. There's an auld and true proverb which says: 'Fools rush in whaur angels fear to pit doon their feet.' Are ye no aware that that song is set for an angelic tenor voice like mine, an' no at a' suited for that bark o' yours, which is like the laboured croak o' a burst bassoon? Never mind," he continued magnanimously, "I'll forgie ye, an' I'll mak' ye up a touching wee song for yersel' some o' these days."
The culprit shuddered at the terrible threat, then hastily departed with Bob and Jack to talk of subjects more pleasing to their common fancy.
All this time Macguire's motley crew had been eyeing the group from the vantage-point of one of their shafts, and that their feelings were anything but pleasurable was very plainly evident. They could not understand the early return of the messenger, but they guessed correctly enough that he must in some way have baulked their chief's plans, and their disappointment was keen.
Events in the history of Golden Flat happened quicklynow. Early next morning, Jackson, of the Exchange Hotel, weighed in with several horses and a buggy. He was accompanied by three well-known prospectors, whom Mackay and his companions welcomed heartily.
"We need a few decent miners here badly," said he to them. "Just peg out at the end o' the lead; your chances are pretty good there yet." To Jackson he whispered a word of advice. "I've an idea," said he, mysteriously, "that the ground next the Golden Promise will be abandoned in a day or so. I should like to do ye a good turn, if only because o' your kindness to the Shadow, so I'm givin' ye the hint."
A suggestion on such an important matter connected with a new field was as good as a law unto Jackson.
"I'll wait about then, Mac," said he, "and if I can do anything in your interest afterwards, you can bet your shirt it shall be done."
Another day brought a fresh number of excited gold-seekers to the Flat, and then they came so regularly that a plainly marked track quickly connected the camp with Kalgoorlie. Before the week was out, the population of Golden Flat had increased to a hundred, and still gaunt, bearded miners came trooping in, and spread themselves promiscuously throughout the surrounding country in the hope of being able to catch on to the invisible channel. Some arrived on foot, many having merely the uppers of their boots left to them, on reaching their destination; and to see these men marching stubbornly onward over the burning desert, carrying their entire paraphernalia on their backs, and their eyes agleam with hungry desire, affected Bob strangely. His extremely sensitive nature quailed at the thought of such indomitable energy being rewardedonly by bitter disappointment, for he knew well that only a small proportion of their number could hope to benefit. Buggies, bicycles, and horses all rolled up; and then came a great heavy waggon, drawn by a tugging, straining camel team. It stopped opposite the Golden Promise mine, and one of the twain who accompanied it, a lean and lanky corrugated-faced individual, stepped forward and interviewed Mackay.
"Any use stickin' up a battery here, mate?"
"Well, I calculate between us we can give you nearly a thousand tons o' wash, but I couldn't promise what more."
"That's good enough for us," responded the sprightly battery owner, and he turned to his awaiting companion. "Up she goes, Jim," said he.
They sought a suitable site some little way off, where the chances of striking water at no great depth promised favourably, and before the day was done Golden Flat battery was almost ready to begin work.
"They'll get a bit o' a shock when they tackle the miradgy clayey stuff," Mackay murmured, as he watched the enterprising builders, "but I don't suppose they'd believe me if I told them about it. Anyhow, we can realize now on what we've got on the surface. For the rest, we must trust to Bob's discovery."
It would be difficult to imagine the metamorphosis the quiet Flat underwent in that short week. Tents scattered everywhere, and the air was never free from the shattering roar of exploding gelignite, which indicated how earnestly the new-comers were endeavouring to bottom on their claims.
During this strenuous period in the life of the Flat,work at the Golden Promise mine proceeded surely and steadily, and the wash-dirt was accumulating in great piles at the shaft head. In view of the watchful eyes of a section of the community given to legitimate claim jumping, the Shadow had gone back to his own workings, where, by the occasional assistance of Emu Bill, he succeeded in excavating his ground to excellent purpose. Bob now took his old place in the subterranean chamber of the mine, though Mackay was loth indeed to permit it.
"I would rather see ye riggin' up the process on a big scale," he said. "Still, it's maybe just as well to keep it quiet for a bit, until we see what happens when the loafing gang next us bottoms on the mirage."
Bob thought so too. His sympathies were all indeed with the hard-working miners who were battling away so persistently at the remote ends of the Flat; but to confer a benefit on the men who would so meanly have stolen his own and companions' holdings! It was scarcely natural that he should view such an idea with any favour, especially when there were many honest toilers around who might have a chance to secure a portion of the ground held by the gang should they decide to abandon it, for their pegs confined a nine-man allotment, an area which, with the claims of their own party, practically covered the known auriferous ground of the Flat.
"If the beggars once bottomed on that deceptive compound," said he, grimly, to himself, "I don't think they would wait much longer. The gold that vanisheth would be too much for them."
But Macguire's satellites in no way hurried the sinking of their many shafts, indeed, it soon becameapparent that they were rather retarding operations for a purpose. Jack was one of the first to notice this odd dilatoriness.
"They've had three misfires in the shaft next to us to-day," said he, as Mackay and Bob emerged from their labours one evening. Jack had been on windlass duty, and so from his high post could not fail to observe the progress made during the day on the mines in his near vicinity.
"I wonder what they are up to?" remarked Bob, thoughtfully. "They ought to have bottomed some days ago, judging by the level and trend of the drift in the Golden Promise."
But their scheme was simple enough, as it turned out. Jackson unconsciously explained it away that same night while he was talking to Bob by the camp-fire.
"Your neighbours have offered to sell me one of their claims for £1000," said he. "They haven't struck the wash yet, but they say, judgin' from your ore on the surface, theirs must be as good, if not better, when they hit it."
"Oh, that's their idea, is it?" commented Mackay, who had been listening. "I'm no' denyin' that it's a good plan in some cases for both sides, an' I believe they are perfectly honest accordin' to their calculations, but——"
He shook his head decisively.
"Why, what do you think is the matter?" asked Jackson. "Haven't they a good chance of striking the channel?"
Mackay laughed. "They'll hit the channel plumb enough," said he; then he hesitated. "You haven't beendown our shaft yet?" he added. "But I'll take you below in the morning, and show ye something that'll surprise you. You're no' half a bad sort, Jackson, and you and me have worked together before, otherwise I wouldna say a single word aboot the concern, though I admit freely I have no goodwill towards the meeserable crowd next to us."
The tactics of the objectionable party were, after all, but the tactics of the non-mining element on all goldfields, who invariably prefer to sell a chance rather than take even remote risk of disaster. The true gold-miner is built differently; to him his chance is everything, the whole glamour of his life lies in its tantalizing uncertainty, and poor and needy though he may be, he must pursue Nature's elusive treasure to the end, be it bitter or sweet.
A fortnight had elapsed since the Shadow's return, and Golden Flat thrived and grew apace. The crashing rattle of the ever-active stamping-battery made day and night alike hideous. A saw-mill, too, had appeared on the scene, and its characteristic din was added to the prevailing discords. Deep wells had been sunk, tapping only strongly brackish water, but a condensing plant was almost immediately established to purify this sufficiently for culinary purposes, and the far-seeing proprietor was reaping a goodly harvest from the sale of the warm fluid, sparingly dispensed at a shilling a gallon.
From the Golden Promise mine, nearly two hundred tons of the valuable wash had been raised to the surface and this was being regularly conveyed to the greedy battery, which consumed it at the rate of twenty tons a day, and rendered the resultant bullion to the happyowners of the mine. But the partners of the Golden Promise knew well that their claim would yield little more of the same material; another fifty tons at the utmost was Mackay's computation, and then—then the deceptive under-stratum would have to be considered. Meanwhile, the news of the Golden Promise's richness spread like wildfire throughout the Flat; the battery returns on the first day of treatment gave the exceptionally high result of one hundred and twenty ounces of gold from the twenty tons of ore crushed.
"That means, wi' gold at £4 an ounce, £480 between the three o' us, my lads," said Mackay, when he heard the news. "An' we can calculate on twelve times that amount afore we're on to the mirage stuff."
"How does that compare with our home earnings, Jack?" laughed Bob.
"I think the steam yacht is coming a bit nearer," admitted that youth, lightly. "But," and his voice grew sorrowful, "isn't it a pity that we haven't two or three thousand tons——"
"Now, now, young 'un," Mackay interrupted sternly, "you must never give way to useless reflections. What is, is, and let us be thankful. The future is before ye, my lad, look to it for your Eldorado."
"After all," reasoned Bob, "we are never really contented. Our ideas of happiness seem to change so much; we are always seeking what we imagine to be a definite object, and when we reach it, another and apparently far greater incentive beckons us on—on to what?"
"There you go," grumbled Jack, "preaching a first-class sermon when we ought to be slogging away down in the shaft."
Bob started to his feet at once. "I clean forgot, Jack," said he; "your mention of the steam yacht which we used to talk about in the old days set me thinking."
They disappeared together, engaged in earnest conversation. A rough ladder-way had been fixed in the shaft by this time, so that it was not necessary for the windlass to be called into requisition every time an ascent or descent was made. Mackay, who had just been returning from his labours below when he received the information about the battery results, sat musing on the edge of his bunk for some minutes after the boys had departed. Bob's words had aroused in him a strange feeling of restlessness and discontent, which, try as he might, he could not shake off.
"It's the call of the Never Never gripping me again," he muttered hoarsely. "I wonder what great secret that terrible country holds as a recompense for all the lives it has taken. Is it only a shadow that attracts, after all?"
He arose wearily, and went back to the shaft he had so recently vacated, and, notwithstanding the protests of his young associates, took up his pick and worked with fierce energy.
"It's a wee bit o' mental depression that's dropped on me sudden-like," explained he; "an' there's nothing like hard graft for bringing the balance true quickly."
The time passed, and still he smote away with untiring persistency. Then Jack seized the pick from his hand.
"It's time to go aloft and have supper," said he, "then I want to hear you play the flute for a bit. I'm just dying to hear some decent music."
Mackay smiled kindly at the boy. "You've hit me on my tender spot," he made reply. "Do you think you could appreciate 'The Muskittie's Lament' the nicht?"
"Even 'The Muskittie's Lament,'" Jack added valorously.
It was about this time that Macguire thought it necessary to return to the scene of his discomfiture, and view for himself the progress made by his worthy confrères. His arrangement with his men was the not uncommon one of "grubstaking" for half the profits; that is, he kept them in food, and supplied them with all necessary tools in return for a half interest in the wealth of the mines so worked. It is a sufficiently equitable understanding when made between an honestly intentioned capitalist and a down-on-his-luck miner over the development of a wholly questionable prospect; but it is rarely successful on a proved mineral area, and when it is attempted in such a case, it invariably leaks out that those so employed are strongly in the clutches of the "grubstaker," who is usually the local publican. There was a curious rude kind of honour among these men. They respected their chief principally because of his great bodily strength, and if there was an element of fear mixed with this respect, who could blame them? But they admired his sharpness, too; few men could get the better of Macguire; and so these wretched creatures chuckled at the fact that their patron was a power in the land, and could do much toinfluence their several careers when he wished. Nevertheless, their leanings towards hard manual labour were not of the strongest; their usual routine in the past had been "jumping" mines when the bulk of the work thereon had been done, but on this occasion their amiable intentions in that direction had received a rude check, and base toil must now be their portion, unless some purchaser for their claims could be found. So it happened that their excavations progressed with exceeding slowness, and Macguire, growing wroth at their failure to strike the wash in a reasonable time, and having now recovered his wonted energy, determined to proceed again to the Flat and direct operations in person. He arrived at a very early hour in the morning, riding Furious. Few of the camp were about, but the ubiquitous Shadow was of course in evidence, seated at his solitary breakfast outside his tent door.
"Blow me," murmured that gentle youth, "if it ain't Macguire."
The recognition was mutual.
"So you got back, you young ruffian?" came the new-comer's greeting, and the Shadow's ire was aroused at once.
"I hope the Warden didn't say nothin' unkind to you when you called on him that morning," said he, with exaggerated solicitude. "I should just hate to think yer feelin's had been hurt."
The horseman's eyes blazed angrily; then, all of a sudden, he threw himself from the saddle and made a rush at his enemy, who agilely dodged at the last moment, with the result that Macguire's great bulk hurled itself against the tent.
"I reckon that's as good as house-breakin', it is," protested the Shadow, in injured tones.
With rage in his heart, Macguire made another wild dash at the mocking youngster, who took refuge behind the windlass on his shaft, and eyed his panting aggressor cheerfully. In this position of antagonism, Emu Bill, who had been awakened from his slumbers by the strange sounds without, found them. He took in the scene at a glance, but his set bronzed face did not move a muscle.
"I reckon you has just about met your match this time, Macguire," said he, calmly. "A boy is about your size every time, he is."
Without a word Macguire got back on his horse. "I'll settle you too," he hissed. "You won't know what's struck you when I'm done with you——"
"A bit o' rock, most likely, if you are about," retorted Emu Bill, with grave contempt.
Macguire galloped off.
"Despite his faults, the man's a born hustler," Mackay remarked that same day to his two companions.
They were engaged on the surface, levelling off their ore dump from the shaft mouth, and could scarcely fail to note the unwonted activity shown on the adjoining claim.
"He certainly does make them shift around," agreed Bob. "I suppose long experience has taught him how to handle his type of followers."
Very shortly afterwards it became evident that some unusual excitement prevailed at Number 2 shaft, which adjoined the Golden Promise towards the south. The official numbers of the various claims ran consecutively north and south of the Golden Promise, which was known as the Discovery shaft, though, indeed, Nuggety Dick'sexcavation, which was now called Number 4 above Discovery, should have claimed that honour.
This Number 2 was the main hope of Macguire's party, for by it alone could they hope to trace the direction of the golden leader. Now it seemed as if they had at last broken through to the golden stratum, men rushed hither and thither carrying gold-pans and dollying-hammers, some clustered around the shaft mouth, then Macguire himself was seen to descend the workings. A hushed air of expectation spread over the whole Flat, and for a brief space all work was suspended. A few minutes passed in anxious silence, then a bellow of joy from Macguire reached the surface; at once one of his waiting aides-de-camp extracted a red flag of huge proportions from a convenient niche near the windlass, where it had been lying in readiness, and its dropping folds soon flaunted in the sunshine, proclaiming to all whom it might concern that Number 2 had bottomed on gold. Almost immediately Macguire ascended to the surface, carrying a large-sized specimen in his hand, the sight of which caused Jack to be convulsed with inward laughter, for its greyish colour proclaimed it at once to be of the same deceptive material which had first been discovered in Emu Bill's claim.
"I'm half inclined to be sorry for the man," spoke Mackay, with some feeling.
Bob had been experiencing a pang or two himself. "It does seem hard lines," he said.
Yet even while they were considering on a magnanimous course of action, the object of their sympathy turned his leering eyes upon them.
"I'll best ye yet!" he cried triumphantly, holding histreasure at arm's length that all might look. "I've got as much of this stuff as'll keep the battery going for six months. I'll see that Roxton closes down on your wash to-night, I will. I'll starve you out o' the Flat like rats, quick an' lively too."
Now Roxton, the battery owner, was like many other humbler men, heavily in debt to the publican, who along with his other duties acted the part of money-lender in the township. It was quite possible therefore that Macguire could make good his threat about the closing down of the battery, though had he known it, that would at this time scarcely have affected the partners of the Golden Promise to any extent, the bulk of their visible wash having been already treated. Still, the brutal malignancy of the man's intentions was unmistakable, and a shudder of disgust seized Bob, nipping effectually the finer sentiments he had harboured but a moment before. Mackay eyed the jeering man with a look in which a just anger and a wholesome contempt were struggling for mastery.
"You're nothing but a sneaking thief, Macguire," he said, with forced calmness. "An' for twa pins I'd come doon an' burst in a few mair o' your ribs. I'll certainly hae to settle you when I am forced to tackle you again. But what are ye makin' a' the fuss aboot, anyhow? You're clutching to a bit o' clay as if it were a golden nugget. Your battery wouldna thrive vera weel on that sort o' stuff, I'm thinkin'."
Macguire was on the point of launching out into further invective, when his eye happened to glance at his treasure. He hesitated, stammered, and his rotund face grew livid.
"Put the water you have ready on your heid instead o' into the gold-pan," advised Mackay, kindly, "it'll maybe keep ye from gettin' apoplexy."
An inarticulate yell of mingled dismay and fury broke from the lips of the too-previous exulter. Hurling the stone from him, he turned and rushed blindly into his tent. Eagerly his followers picked up the rejected specimen; it was dull and dead clay, showing no trace of the precious metal. Muttering maledictions, they fled after their leader.
It quickly became whispered about that all was not as had been hoped at Number 2 shaft, and despite the reticence of those principally concerned, strange rumours were soon current regarding the extraordinary phantom gold formation which had just been struck. Then Macguire raved more wildly than ever, for his chances of disposing of the mine on a sight valuation to some innocent buyer were now hopelessly ruined. He railed savagely against Nature, and all mankind in general; even his own alike suffering and yet sympathetic followers were not spared the flood of his abuse. A trial parcel of the ore was sent to the battery in the hope that whatever free gold contained in the substance might be saved by the mercury, but only further disappointment resulted. Its cohesive nature was such that the stamps merely flattened it like putty, and the whole went over the sluice-box in a dense mass of coagulated slimes, leaving not a trace of gold behind in the riffles.
When Mackay heard this he was filled with misgivings; he had never doubted the efficacy of the stamps as a crushing agency, and he feared for the working of Bob's process on a large scale when hand manipulation wouldbe impossible. Bob, however, seemed in no way disturbed.
"Crushing is unnecessary with the process," said he. "The ore will dissolve in the vat; indeed, it would reduce itself to slime in ordinary water if puddled occasionally, or it would disintegrate very rapidly on exposure to the sun, though that plan would be rather risky, owing to the excessive oxidization which might take place. But in every case the slimes would remain unaffected by battery treatment, and for this one reason which was the basis of all my experiments—the clayey material is a chemical compound, and not a mechanical mixture like ordinary alluvial wash, consequently it will only answer to chemical treatment."
"But," interjected Jack, "there is most likely free gold in the stuff as well as the—the other kind."
"Probably enough, but, as you see, even that cannot be saved by ordinary methods; the soapy nature of the composition, I imagine, is the cause. Oily globules will form around the gold particles and insulate them, so that the mercury on the plates never really gets a chance to exert its power."
Apparently Bob's studies had been complete and exhaustive; his knowledge of his subject impressed Mackay deeply.
"I can follow your reasoning there, Bob," said he, "for the overflow even of the small vat in the tent was more like engine-grease than anything else, an' I can testify that the residue I washed in the pan was a pure and free sand."
The Shadow here broke in on their conversation; he had been away at the other end of the Flat on a tour ofinvestigation, for it was known that several shafts were nearing the dreaded bottom.
"The whole circus is goin' to break up," he announced sorrowfully. "There's nothin' but Emu Bill's miradgy stuff down there, an' the miners are thinkin' o' giving it best."
The Shadow was not aware that Bob's experiment had proved successful; Emu Bill alone of the original group had been informed, and he certainly had not spoken of it.
"I'll go down and advise them to hang on for a bit," said Mackay, after some deliberation. "An' Bob, you can tell the Shadow anything you like, provided he promises to keep his mouth shut."
"Say boss, does I deserve that?" complained the injured youth, reproachfully.
Jack hastened to assuage his grief. "No one knows yet," said he, "but Emu Bill and ourselves; we didn't want Macguire's crowd to hear that Bob could tackle the mirage."
"An' did ye think that I would give it away?" murmured the Shadow, with emotion, and for a long time he refused to be comforted.
That day six shafts penetrated into the refractory formation, and loud were the lamentations that arose throughout the camp. Surely never was a more scurvy trick played by Dame Fortune upon her toiling votaries. Macguire laughed heartily at the misfortunes of his neighbours; it was as balm to his soul that others should experience the pangs of disappointment as he did, and in the evening he gave the lead to the others by dismantling his windlasses and preparing for departure, having donenot a stroke of work on his claims since the eventful day of his own bitter chagrin. On the following morning he and his associates took their leave of the Flat, and almost as soon as they were out of sight, the abandoned claims were being taken up afresh by a number of hard-working miners, who had before been sinking vain shafts well without the auriferous belt. Jackson had quietly annexed Number 2 shaft, though he was somewhat dubious about it proving of any service to him, and fully a dozen honest toilers swarmed over the remainder of the ground vacated. There was no need to keep the secret longer, and before noon all the Flat had been made aware of Bob's discovery, and excitement was again raised to fever heat. A deputation from among the miners was formed at once to make inquiry into the matter, for news of a scheme of such far-reaching importance could not be received lightly.
They approached the Golden Promise mine shortly after midday, followeden masseby the entire population of the camp.
"We wants to see the inventor o' the process," said the spokesman, addressing Mackay, who was at the windlass, "we wants to ask him if it are a fact that he can save the gold in this stuff." He displayed a piece of the refractory ore in his hand.
Mackay gazed at the speaker kindly, then at the sea of upturned faces in the background.
"I reckon you've come to the right street for your information, boys," he replied, and he shouted down to his companion in the depths below: "Bob, there's a few gentlemen wi' some interest in the welfare o' Golden Flat wanting to speak to you."
A minute later and Bob arrived on the surface, and at his appearance a faint cheer swept over the awaiting crowd. The young man started in amazement; he could not understand this demonstration, but he quickly recovered himself, and then the speaker of the deputation began his oration afresh, ending with the earnest words: "We are miners every one o' us, with not much to spare in the way o' cash; but if you can help us, and ain't unwilling to help us, you may ask what you like from the returns o' the mines, an' we won't refuse."
Bob was touched, and for the first time a surging feeling of his power came over him, yet when he spoke his voice was calm and even. Briefly he recounted his experiments with the tantalizing material, concluding with the results of the last and final test; then, suddenly, he entered upon a keen technical description of the ore and its peculiarities, dealing with its scientific aspect at critical length. Jack nudged Mackay, who coughed loudly, and Bob, interrupted, lost the theme of his argument, and incidentally remembered that he was not addressing a class of trained mineralogists. He hesitated, and turned to Mackay.
"You can make them understand better," he said.
"I can that," responded that individual, promptly; and he disappeared into the tent, issuing forth immediately with the gold-pan, which still contained the results of the important experiment. He thrust the pan with its gleaming treasure into the hands of one of the deputation. "I saw that go through mysel'," said he. "There's no much o' a phantom aboot that, is there?"
The crowd behind caught a glitter of the gold as the pan was passed round, and now there was no mistakeabout the energy of their cheer—a hundred throats echoed it forth. When it had subsided, Mackay again made felicitous utterance.
"We'll have a ten-ton vat rigged up within a couple o' days," he announced, in stentorian tones. "An' Bob, here, wishes me to say that the charges for treatment will no' be in any way extravagant."
A yell of approval rewarded his effort, yet still the assembly showed no signs of departing.
"I think you should sing the 'Muskittie' to them," suggested Jack, "then you'd see them run."
He had to run himself after that, and when he returned, the conclusion of the meeting was near. The leader of the deputation was making strenuous endeavour to justify his position. He harangued the congregated miners with forceful eloquence, pointing out what an inestimable service the young inventor would confer upon the country and themselves.
"And now, boys," he concluded, "let her go again. Three cheers for the discoverer of the process. Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" And the Flat thundered with their hearty applause.
When they had gone, Mackay heaved a hearty sigh of relief.
"You're far too open-hearted for this pairt o' the world, Bob," he said dryly. "If there had been one among that crowd wha kent anything aboot chemistry, he would have got as big a knowledge o' your process as you have yourself."
Bob flushed. "I forgot," said he, "that there was any reason for keeping it secret."
The elder man laughed grimly. "My laddie," hebegan, with grave earnestness, "are ye no' aware that there should be a fortune in this for you. There may be tens o' thousands o' tons o' the stuff in this Flat, and allowin' ye made a charge of, say, £2 a ton—which is little more than battery price—don't you see what a tremendous profit would be made? You canna patent a discovery, Bob; and your only safety is in keeping it secret. The great danger lies in the simplicity o' the process. We must be vera careful, my lad, vera careful indeed."
"But did I really tell them everything?" said Bob, abashed; for in truth he had forgotten the presence of his audience, so wrapped up had he been in the interest of his subject.
"Oh yes, you telt them richt enough; but you clothed your observations in such elegant scientific language that I'm sure not a man among them kent what ye were talkin' aboot."
"You did give them a pretty bad time," grinned Jack. "It was a treat to see them wrestling with hydrocarbonaceous compounds, and electrolytical principles; but didn't they howl when they saw the gold!"
"I reckon that talks every time," said Mackay.
No time was now lost in erecting the vat and other appliances necessary for the bulk treatment of the strange deposit. Wood was obtained from the saw mill, and Mackay, assisted by Jack and the Shadow, started to build the giant trough for the retention of the ore. Only half-sawn, rounded timber was used, for that alone could support the strain that must finally be put upon the structure; a movable bottom was also fixed to allow of the ultimate residue being drawn off easily, and the wholewas mounted on a stout standard of logs raised about five feet from the ground.
As may be imagined, a constant stream of visitors came to view the peculiar erection before it was nearly half completed; but when Bob's important chemical and electrical arrangements were ready to be fitted, Mackay, much to the disgust of the beholders, screened the entire plant from their gaze by building a tall canvas wall around it. By the end of the week everything was in readiness for the trial, which was given out to take place in the evening, and a vast assembly gathered to witness the inauguration of what was now known as the "Hope of Golden Flat." So speedily had the news travelled concerning it, and so vastly interested had even the outside world become in the problematical future of the Flat's odd formation, that by Saturday morning quite a number of men from Kalgoorlie and far outlying townships made their appearance, and a steady stream of buggies and horsemen poured in along the track all day. Indeed, it seemed as if a fresh rush had set in, so keen was the excitement.
But Mackay was ill at ease. Among the throng of new-comers he had recognized several of the cleverest mining engineers in the State, and none of them had reputations for being over-scrupulous.
"There'll be a careful eye kept on us to-night, Bob," said he. "An' I'm just a wee bit dubious o' the intentions o' some o' our visitors."
Bob looked thoughtful. "I'll fix up a dummy battery and an extra generator for their special benefit," he suggested.
"A good idea, my lad, and I'll see that Emu Bill andthe boys are close handy in case o' accident. Jack can stand by an' help you. I'll attend to the dumping o' the ore, and the overflow arrangements, an' flatten out any man wha's troubled wi' an excess o' inquisitiveness."
"An' I," spoke the Shadow, "I reckons I'll keep my blinkers open for any suspicious-lookin' cusses, an'—— Howlin' centipedes! there's one now! Blow me if it ain't that pestiferous son o' a gun back again."
They looked and saw Macguire in close conversation with a short, nattily dressed man of about middle age. Then the crowd closed up again, and hid the plotters—for such they undoubtedly were—from view.
The trial had been arranged to take place at seven o'clock in the evening, chiefly because the great heat of the sun at an earlier period would have been most trying for the spectators and experimentalists alike, but Mackay had also the idea that at such a time the working arrangements would be less visible to the onlookers, and though he did not then think that any danger was likely to arise in this respect, he now congratulated himself on his cautionary scruples. Indeed, if the three partners could have foreseen that so many outsiders were to be present, no public exhibition of the process would have been promised. But it was too late now to alter their plans; the test must go on, come what may; and though Bob was confident of success, his mind was somewhat troubled by the appearance on the scene of so many strangers, and the arrival of Macguire added much to his apprehensions. An hour before the stated time all was in readiness for the ordeal. The gas generators and batteries were placed behind the vat and loosely covered by some old ore-bags, then the enclosing canvas screen was pulledaway. A number of oil lamps hung around gave ample light, while at the same time their reflectors were so arranged as to cast a deep shadow over the lowly placed chemical plant. Every safeguard against prying eyes had been employed before the curtain was taken down, and now the interested spectators gazed curiously on the huge wooden structure which revealed itself to them. Ten tons of the ore to be treated rested on a platform built at the top of the vat; it was all neatly arranged in bags, each of ten claims having provided a ton, while an extra half-dozen tons taken from the Golden Promise lay conveniently near at hand.
Bob stepped with apparent carelessness to the concealed batteries and made the connections secure; Mackay mounted the platform to tip in the ore, and Jack casually stood guard in front of the hidden plant. Then Macguire's harsh voice cackled out in protest—
"We want to see the inside o' the concern before you start; you may have salted it for all we knows."
Bob's lips compressed tightly at the words. "I am not a professional conjurer," he said with dignity, "and I have nothing to gain one way or another from any of you. If you represent the feelings of the miners here, I shall go no further."
A cry of dissent at once arose, and Macguire's safety seemed for the moment imperilled; but in the midst of the uproar, Bob calmly unscrewed the bottom from the vat and pulled it forth for inspection, and he noted that those who came forward at his request were without exception the men whose good intentions Mackay had so much doubted. The interruption did not delay matters for more than a minute or so, then Mackay began to loadthe vat, and in a short space the onlookers were listening to its turbulent outbursts in amazed silence. At this stage, Macguire, accompanied by the man he had been seen with earlier in the evening, pushed his way forward until he was almost touching the foaming caldron. But they did not escape the lynx eyes of Emu Bill and the Shadow, whose stern grips were on their shoulders at once.
"Let them stay, Bill, if they want," said Bob, quietly.
"I should just reckon we would, young feller," rasped Macguire, though even as he spoke his companion was whisked abruptly to the rear by the inflexible Shadow.
Bob smiled, and nodded to Mackay, who at once opened the overflow tap, and a spouting rush of oily slimes descended on the bully's head, saturating him in an odoriferous flood. The bystanders roared with glee, and made way hurriedly to allow the dripping man an open passage for his now frenzied retreat. The suddenness of the deluge had utterly taken away his power of speech, and the smarting pain of the saline fluid in his eyes made him howl like a dingo. However, he recovered himself somewhat when he got clear of the jeering crowd. "I'll pay ye back for this!" he snarled; "I'll—I'll——" Then his more fortunate companion took him by the arm and led him away.
The drastic lesson had considerable effect on several other over-inquisitive individuals, and their haste to retire whenever they saw Mackay's hand reach towards the tap was ludicrous in its earnestness.
Again and again the overflow belched out, until it seemed as if nothing solid could have remained. And all this time the assembled miners looked on in silent wonder. At last Bob intimated that the operation was completed.
"The vat was built to hold ten tons," he said, "but it could treat fifty tons in a day easily enough——"
"How do you make that out?" interrupted a mining engineer close at hand.
"Why, all you have to do is to keep filling up the vat as the overflow exhausts it. The gold will always be found at the bottom."
Mackay and Jack now busied themselves unscrewing the movable bottom, and the crowd surged round in breathless expectation. Quickly the screws relaxed, a stream of yellow ooze gurgled out, but the only solid matter retained was that which lay encompassed within the flanged edges of the detached wood. It was not inspiring to look upon, merely a layer about two inches deep of a dull gravelly sediment.
Then Bob spoke again. "If the process were kept going long enough," said he, "there would be scarcely any residue other than the gold itself."
"An' does ye think thar's any gold there, mate?" asked a stalwart miner, anxiously.
Bob nodded with easy confidence, "You'll very soon see," he replied.
Mackay was already engaged in the work of demonstration. Raising the shallow receptacle until it lay at a easy incline, he next gently tilted the contents of a kerosene tin full of water over the slope, and behold the muddy casing dissolved away, revealing a rich spangling yellow underneath. A roar of fierce joy burst from nigh on two hundred throats, and for about a minute pandemonium reigned. Hats were tossed into the air, and huzzahs long and loud echoed over the plains. The success of the process had been established beyond all doubt.
One of the first to congratulate the young discoverer was Nuggety Dick, but Never Never Dave and old Dead Broke were at his heels.
"You've saved the Flat, Bob!" cried Nuggety.
"An' you've saved us too," murmured Dead Broke, with emotion.
"What I want to know, young man, is by what means do you bring about the expulsion of the oily matter in the compound?"
The voice was patronizing in the extreme: the speaker was the erstwhile associate of Macguire.
Then Mackay's pent-up rage broke forth. "An' are ye sure that is all ye would like to know?" he stormed. "You mean, snivelling sneak, do ye think I don't know who ye are an' what ye're here for? Get out o' my sight, afore I do you damage."
To Bob's surprise, the man fled at once. Emu Bill laughed.
"I'd have liked a word with the skunk myself," said he. "He's one of the measliest rats in the West, he is."
Then Jack added his testimony. "He's been dodging around trying to get a look at the battery all evening."
The sound of a strenuous scuffle from behind the vat at this moment drew their attention. With a bound Mackay rushed to investigate, and there he beheld the Shadow engaged in silent conflict with the man they had just been discussing. The crowd had by this time drawn away from the scene of operations, and were talking excitedly among themselves over their now rosy future prospects.
Mackay snorted savagely. "Let me get a crack at him, Shadow," he said, hastening to the fray. But thestruggling man, already safe in the Shadow's sinewy grip, on hearing the new-comer's voice, made a desperate effort to free himself, and literally tore himself from his enemy's grasp, and sped off into the night.
The Shadow gazed ruefully after the vanishing figure. "It was your fault," he said reproachfully to Mackay. "When you chased him away 'bout a minute ago I was watching him, an' saw him do a slide round by the back, so I just sat tight an' waited for the dodger. He was pulling the cover from that there fizzing concern when I gripped him by the neck."
"But who is he, anyhow?" asked Bob, who, with the others, had come to inquire the cause of the disturbance.
"He's a most dangerous man, Bob," answered Mackay, grimly. "His name is Wynberg, an' he's the chief chemist and assayer o' one o' the crookest mining companies in Australia, a clever man in his way, no doubt, but his cleverness seems aye to develop in the wrong direction, as the shareholders o' the company he represents should well ken by this time. He came here wi' that thief Macguire on purpose to steal your brains, Bob—for nothing else."
"Well, I scarcely think he has succeeded," laughed Bob.
The crowd was by this time beginning to disperse, and a number of the miners came up to say good night.
"Why," exclaimed Jack, "we haven't weighed the gold yet!" And neither they had; so keen had been the excitement at seeing the welcome metal that no one had given a thought to estimating its quantity.
"We'll soon make that right," said Mackay, seizing the pair of gold-scales, that had been lying in readinessbeside the generator. He quickly emptied the gleaming dust on to a sheet of calico, which Jack hastily drew forward, and commenced weighing it carefully in ounces.
"I reckon," said one of the men, who had sent a ton for treatment, "I reckon if it goes an ounce we should be mighty well pleased."
"In that case there should be ten ounces saved, then," said Bob, "allowing for no loss."
"There's three times that here," said Mackay, "or my judgment is very far oot." And, indeed, so it proved. Mackay filled the tiny scales exactly thirty-one times, and yet there were some grains over. "Thirty-one ounces," said he, "an' belted out o' the deceivin' stuff inside an hour." A murmur of astonishment ran through the group. This result surpassed even their wildest hopes.
"That means that each man who sent along a ton is entitled to three odd ounces," reflected Bob. "Better weigh it off and let them have it now."
The ten men concerned held a hurried consultation, then one of their number advanced, and laid his hand kindly on Bob's shoulder.
"There's nary one o' us will take an ounce o' the stuff," said he. "Keep the gold, my boy; you're heartily welcome to it. It's the first return o' the discovery, an' it's yours by right. We only hopes you'll get oceans more o' it afore very long."
A babel of concurring voices answered for his comrades, and before Bob could reply the men had gone. Mackay gravely handed a well-filled gold-bag to the hesitating youth.
"They're quite right, Bob," he commented quietly."The gold is yours by right—by right o' discovery. Keep it, my laddie—keep it and treasure it, as Jack treasures the first nugget he found. In after years, if you're spared, ye'll maybe remember this night as a vera wonderful experience."
Bob was silent; somehow his companion's words affected him deeply. There was a note of foreboding in them, as if the speaker saw into the future clearly, and was saddened by what he saw. Together they joined the camp-fire circle, where the rest of their acquaintances were gathered; then Mackay appeared to remember something, and hastened back to the vat, and when Jack and the Shadow went in search of him, they found him quietly refixing the canvas wall around the whole structure.
That night Bob and Mackay slept deeply; the strain of the evening and of the preceding days had told upon them. Jack, on the other hand, tossed about restlessly; his active brain refused to be still, and the events of the last crowded epoch in his life flitted before his unseeing gaze. He awoke from a troubled sleep shortly after midnight, and a vague uneasiness seemed to take possession of him. The moon had just risen, and her pale eerie light penetrated into the tent and illumined it with a ghostly radiance; it shone on the faces of the two recumbent figures near, and Jack for the moment became interested in watching the different expressions of the sleepers. Bob slept deep and peacefully, a restful smile on his clear-cut features, but Mackay's rugged visage looked grim and careworn, and ever and anon a faint groan broke from his lips, while his breath came in quick, laboured gasps. Jack was amazed. To him the brawny bushman was still somewhat of an enigma, and each new phase of his startled, even while it interested him. "He'llbe back in the Never Never again," thought he, pityingly. Then all at once his heart gave a violent bound. A shadow had suddenly fallen aslant the tent; some moving body had intervened to shut out the rising rays of the moon. He glanced around with an almost imperceptible movement through his half-closed eyelids, and there at the door stood a bulky figure gazing in on them intently. For fully a minute he stood thus, then he turned silently, and the moon shone on his face, revealing the hateful features of Macguire; it shone also on something which glittered brightly in his upraised hand: it was a revolver.
Almost at the same instant Jack became conscious of another intruder being near; his sensitive ear caught the sound of light shuffling footsteps in the sand, and a dark form loomed up briefly by the side of the tent; the image reflected plainly through the thin calico wall, then quickly disappeared. Immediately afterwards there came a sharp rasping tear from the near vicinity, followed by a muttered curse. A cold sweat broke out on the boy's forehead; some one had cut the canvas screen enclosing the vat and batteries! At the disturbing sound the watcher at the door started slightly, then his demoniacal face peered again into the tent, and the shining barrel of his weapon was levelled straight at Mackay's heaving chest; but apparently satisfied that the man whom he so much dreaded was still asleep, he hastened to join his marauding companion.
Jack's action was prompt and impulsive; he leaped up, seized his Winchester repeater, which was lying on the ground at his side, and without a moment's hesitation rushed after Macguire. As in a dream he saw two darkfigures lifting something out from the torn curtain surrounding the secret process; at his approach they dropped their encumbrance, there came a loud report, and Jack felt a ball graze his temple; then his own rifle spoke, and a yell of pain answered its heavy discharge. A perfect fusillade of revolver-shots now echoed through the night, and Jack felt the leaden messengers whistle about his ears. With a just rage in his heart he dashed right at the ruffianly pair; almost before he knew, he was on top of them, and his clubbed rifle whirled through the air, descending with a crash on Macguire's head. So severe was the stroke that the stock of his weapon shivered into fragments; but Macguire's skull was like iron; though the blow felled him like a stricken ox, he struggled to his feet at once and staggered off into the night, just as Mackay and Bob appeared on the scene. It had all happened in a few moments, and when his comrades arrived, the boy was standing with the shattered rifle still in his hands, gazing with dazed eyes all around.