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 had come out as refiners, and these were the craziest of the lot. There was no talk but of digging gold, washing gold, refining gold, and loading gold. There were only two men in the community whose heads were not turned. They were Smith and Morton. The latter had learned something about minerals, and pronounced the stuff sulphuret of iron, much to the disgust of the self-styled refiners.

Captain John Martin, one of the council, was the discoverer of the "mine," and the leader of the gold-liunters. One day Smith broke out upon him:

"I tell you, man, I am tormented as never before to see all necessary business neglected to load your crazy ship with this gilded dirt. I applaud not your golden inventions; not because you do not admit me to a sight of your trials and golden consultations,—you and these loud-mouthed refiners, who I doubt ever refined anything,—but because in all this time they have not been able to show me a more substantial token, and turn out something which looks as if it might make a sovereign or a golden ring, instead of mere dross. I am not enamored of such dirty skill."

At last the ship was laden with the glitter-