Page:Once a Week Volume V.djvu/88

13, 1861.] ounce of the gold, and, what’s more, those that work it will never profit by it.’

“At this we all laughed heartily, and says Charley:

‘If it’s ever my luck to come across a bit of good ground, I should like to see the chap living that would jump it, and I’d not only handle the gold but spend it, too. As to profiting by it, why that’s another thing altogether; but if I didn’t, the Stars and Stripes would, at any rate.’

“Hepe didn’t make any reply, but sat quietly smoking his pipe for a bit, and then got up and went away. By this time Alick had begun to get nasty, and wanted to fight everybody in the shanty, one down the other come on, so I thought it time to make tracks for my tent and turn in.

“It seems that soon after I left, Alick and Charley had a bit of a barney, which ended in a regular stand-up fight, and when old Stars and Stripes attempted to separate them, they both went into him like mad, and beat him pretty nigh into a jelly before the other boys could get him away. He was precious savage at this, as you may think, and swore that neither of them should ever have another nobbler from him, either for love or money.

“A few days after this shindy the rush to the White Hills took place, and Alick and Charley got a capital claim, dead on the gutter. It was so good a one that they couldn’t have knocked down all they made, even if they had had every night to do it in; but old Stars and Stripes wouldn’t have them at any price, and, though there were lots of grog-tents in the neighbourhood, there wasn’t a drop of decent stuff to be got nearer than the township, which was pretty well three miles off, with a rare rough road to it, bad enough to travel even by daylight—so they were obliged to lay by their gold, whether they would or not.

“For the first few Sundays they used to start off for Kajunga as soon as day broke, drink all day, and come reeling back just before sunset. But there had been ill-blood between them ever since the night of the row, and on the third Sunday they had another fight, and Charley drew his revolver on Alick—a bad habit he had learned over in California. There wasn’t any harm done, for some of the boys who were present interfered; but there was no love lost between them from that day, and, though they still worked and lived together, they seldom or never spoke, and used to grub separate. Alick still kept up his Sunday journeys to Kajunga, but Charley never went down any more, turned quite steady, and saved up a heap of gold. This sort of game went on for three months or more, till one Wednesday evening, as we were sitting round the fire after supper, Charley says to me:

‘We shall have washed up by Saturday afternoon, Bill, and as I and Alick don’t hit it any longer I shall start away on Sunday morning for Melbourne, and have a spree. I expect my brother Jack will get down there in a couple of weeks or so, and then we will either come up here again to prospect for the claim the Indian told me of, or try some fresh diggings. I rather think, however, I shall do the latter.’

“On Saturday night Charley came and had his supper with us.

‘It’s my last night on the old Kajunga,’ says he, ‘I wish you would get old Stars and Stripes to let me in, I should like to shout for the boys once more before I go.’

“I went up to the shanty, and, after a deal of trouble, I made it all right for Charley, but Alick he wouldn’t have, do what I would, and I tried pretty hard, too. However, I might have saved myself all bother on his account, for it seems while I was away he came out of the tent, and Charley, who was as good-hearted a fellow as ever breathed, asked him to shake hands and have a nobbler, but Alick only swore at him and went in again. Well, we had a right down jolly night of it, to be sure. Stars and Stripes brewed us some stunning rum punch, and we had lots of singing and plenty of good yarns, and were very merry, without any of us getting much over the mark. Rather late Indian came in, for, like the rest of us, he liked Charley, and would have been sorry to let him go away without wishing him luck. Charley shook him by the hand.

‘Indian,’ says he, ‘I hav’n’t found this grand hole yet, though I have had a pretty fair one, and can’t complain.’

‘Wait a bit,’ says Hepe, ‘you’ll find it, no fear.’

“Charley laughed, and was going to make some reply; but just then one of the boys began a song with a chorus as long as from here to the top of Mount Lofty, and we all joined in of course, and so the subject was dropped. We knocked off soon after midnight, and I walked down to the tent with Charley.

‘Good bye, old fellow,’ says he, ‘I sha’n’t see you in the morning, for I shall be off by daybreak, and I know that you can do with a tidy amount of sleep on a Sunday. I sha’n’t be long making town, for I mean to take nothing with me but the things I stand up in and my gold. The tent is Alick’s, and if he leaves before I return, I have told him to let you have my tub and cradle and tools, and if I am not back in three months, why you are quite welcome to them. Good night, old chap, and good luck to you.’ With that we went into our tents, and in a few minutes I was wrapped in my blankets and sound asleep. Just about dawn I was woke up by Charley, who was whistling away most vigorously as he made his fire and boiled the water for his tea. He wasn’t long in finishing his breakfast, and then away he went on his journey as brisk as a bee. Instead of taking the main road which led to Kajunga, he passed right by our tent, and struck at once into the bush, intending, no doubt, to give the township a wide berth, which was a very sensible notion of his, as there were a deal of old hands and roughs loafing about it, and he carried a large amount of gold about him. As I was dropping off to sleep again, I thought I heard a slight noise as if some one was passing our tent on tip-toe, but as I was too sleepy to give much heed, and the dog which lay stretched out at the