Madame Midas

ng, which was divided into two compartments. In one of these the miners left their clothes, and put on rough canvas sui

terwards, but had to go right into the searching room from the cage, and could not possibly hide a particle without being found out by the searchers. The oth

the first going on at midnight and knocking off at eight in the morning, the second commencing at eight and ending at fou

of the miners who had to go on at eight were sleeping heavily in their beds. The sleeping places were berths

ere he was, so rubbing his eyes and yawning he leaned o

f daybreak was slowly stealing through them into the apartment, and all the dusky objects therein were gradually revealing themselves in th

his clothes, so as not to awake Pierre, who slept in the berth below, and descending from

ivid crimson of the sky put him in mind of that sunset under which he had landed with his companion on the Queensland coast. Suddenly a broad shaft of yellow light broke into the pale pink of the sky, a

ke notice of anything; and it was only when two magpies near him broke into a joyous duet, in which each strove t

e — I must begin by making her my friend. Bah! she is that already; I saw it in her eyes, which she can’t control as she does her face. Yes, I must make her my friend; my very dear friend — and then — well, to my mind, the world-pivot is a woman. I will spare no one in order to at

the door was open and several figures were moving briskly about, while a number of others were crossing the fields. The regular beat of the machinery still continued, and the smoke

e could not make up his mind whether to like or dislike this young man, but Madame Midas had seem

heads aboot, though the same may be already in the grip of auld Nickyben. Weel, weel, if Madam does fancy the

ung man as he came briskly

g his frill of white hair, and looking keenl

eloup, coolly; ‘it’s only rich men can aff

k,’ said the suspicious old Scot

the men’s quarters. ‘What a horrible thing to be the duplicate of half-a-dozen o

aboot they French-fangled way o’ gieing pretty w

but Archie impatiently hurried him off to breakfast at the office, as he declared himself f

rough woollen material, and a sou’wester each. Thus accoutred, they went along to the foot of the poppet heads, and Archie having opened a door therein, Vandeloup saw the mouth of the shaft yawning dark and g

h had ascended to receive them in answer to Archie’s signal, and now commenced to drop down

omances, and cared still less. So they went on sliding down noiselessly into the gloom, while the water, falling from al

ervous shudder, as he saw the wet walls gleaming in the

themselves in the main chamber, from whence

plates, was nearly an inch deep with yellow-looking water, discoloured by the clay of the mine. Two miners in rough canvas clothes were waiting here, and every now and then a trolly laden with wash would roll suddenly out of one of the galleries with a candle fastened

ed his candle at that of Archie’s and went towards the eas

nd of falling water close to him, asked what it was, whereupon Archie explained it was for ventilating purposes. The water fell the whole height of the mine through a pipe into a bucket, and a few feet above this another pipe was joined at right angles to the first and stretched

gged rails laid down for the trollies. All along the gallery, at regular intervals, were posts of stringy bark in a vertical position, while beams of the same w

gitated with every breath of wind as the keen air, damped and chilled by the underground darkness, rushed past them. Every now and then they would hear a faint rumble in the distanc

s companion were drives put in to test the wash, and as these smaller galleries continued b

he could see of his guide was the candle he carried, shining like a pale yellow star in the pitchy darkness. At last McIntosh went into one of the side galle

his being that the leads had a downward tendency, and it was necessary for the main drive to be sunk below, as before mentioned, in order to get the proper levels and judge the gutters correctly. At the top of the ladder they

f stumbling over the rails and splashing among the pools of water. Every now and then as they went along there would be a gush of water from the dripping walls, which

e pick sent forth showers of sparks in all directions, and as fast as the wash was broken down the runner filled up the trollies with it. After asking the miner about the character of the wash, and testing some himself in a shovel, Archie left the gallery, and going back to the shoot, they descended again to the main drive, and visited several other faces of wash, the journey in each instance being exactly the same in all respects. Each face had a

ive doing duty as the principal street, and all the little galleries, branchin

p to McIntosh, after he had contemplated the pla

ng with the other to the right of the tunnel; ‘we found a twenty-ounce nugget yesterday, and ain afore that o’ twenty-five, and in the first face

andeloup, much interested; ‘do

ig enough,’ r

nce lump of gold, and call it the Vande

ie,’ said Archie, gravely; ‘when we get to t

eads?’ asked Vandeloup

ve the young man a scientific lecture on

be covered o’er with anither formation, and then the river, or anither yin, would flow on a new bed, and the precious metal would be washed fra the hills in the same way as I tauld ye of, and the second river bed would be also covered o’er, and sae the same game went on and is still progressin’. Sae when the first miners came doon tae this land of Ophir the gold they got by scratchin’ the tap of the earth was the latest deposit, and when

but you lost this river you call

e that. At present we are on the banks o’ it, where we noo get these nuggets; but ’tis the bed I want, d’ye ken, the centre, for its there the gold is;

ivers must stop at

der that there is nothin’— except,” with a touch of religious enthusiasm, “maybe ’tis the bottomless pit, where aul

her gallery, which formed a kind of loop, and joined again with the main drive. As Gaston stumbled along, he felt a touch on hi

e before him by the feeble glimmer of his candle; “work away, work away; it’s not ve

ck to his work, while Vandeloup hurried on to

rush Pierre; he’s such a dead weight to be hanging round my neck; besides, he has such a gaol-bird look about him

tom of the shaft, got into the cage, and at last reached the top of the earth again. Vandeloup drew

rchie as they went on to the puddlers; “they

e, said nothing in reply, but took Vandeloup to the pu

f in a square chamber, the roof of which was the puddler. In this roof was a trap-door, and when the wash dirt had been sufficiently mixed the trap-door was opened, and it was precipitated through on to the floor of the second chamber. A kind of broad trough, running in a slanting direction and called a sluice, was on one side, and into this a quantity of wash was put, and a tap at the top turned on, which caused the water to wash the dirt down the sluice. Another man at the foot, with a pitchfork, kept shifting up the stones which were mixed up with the gravel, and by degrees all the surplus dirt was washed away, leaving only these stones and a kind of fine black sand, in whic

when he had finished all his expl

th a merry laugh, ‘gold is as hard to get

chie, “forbye there’s nae

rked Vandeloup, as they left the off

place for the siller, ye ken. I’m no verra far wrang but what wi’ in

gaily; “and Madame Midas,” he added, mentally, “will be an