The Gold-Stealers A Story of Waddy

ered the boys swimming in the big quarry in the old Red Hand paddock. Jim, seeing a prospect of covering himself with glory, made a dash after the truants; but they snatched up their

ll bright and dangerous to hunted outlaws. Off to the left could be heard the long-drawn respirations of the engines at the Silver Stream, and the grind of her puddlers, the splashing of the slurry, and the occasional solemn, significant clang of a knocker. They passed the old Red Hand shaft, long since deserted and denuded of poppet legs and engine-houses, its comparatively ancient tips almost overgrown and characterless, with lusty young gums flourishing amongst its scattered boulders. Waddy venerated the old

e building of that grim prison in Yarraman, the town where Frank Hardy lay, a good half-day's tramp across the wide flat country faced by the township The quarry, too, was overgrown again; being almost inaccessible

orous peppermint saplings, Jacker ran his head into a niche in the rock amongst climbing sarsaparilla, and remained so, like some strange geological specimen half embedded in the rock. Within, where his head was hidden, the darknes

in a hoarse piratical

own. You coves keep watc

and Jacker's tone became hoa

here?' he growled.

y. 'No one's goin' t' mutiny, but

ht rel

ou wanter. S'pose you'll on'y be maki

he long stem of a sapling to which cleats were nailed. The sapling was suspended in a black abyss. The boy, with his bundle hanging from his shoulder, st

be-e-low

now quite an innocent and law-abiding person, a workin

d a cautious voic

up-m

lanks thrown from one drive to another, across what was really an old shaft. At his back was a drive running into darkness; before him was a small irregular

bundle on the f

amining the face of the excavation: 'S'pose we

his head th

the underlay, we should strik

labour their sons play, and for months these boys had been digging in this old mine, off and on, with enthralling mystery. The excavation in which Dick and Ted were seated repres

as accidentally discovered by Dick and Jacker one day during a hunt for a wounded rabbit. Investigation proved the mine to be of no great depth, and, thanks to the pumps of the Silver Stream, as dry as a bone. A company of rel

ntal avarice. Time had served to dim the ardour of its hopes in this direction; but the mine was still an enticing enterprise when exciting novelties in the way of adventure were wanting, and would always be a hiding-place in which a youthful fugitive from injustice mi

have made no material difference in their friendship. It had not kept Jacker from visiting the Mount of Gold on the same night with information and supplies, and now the boy

put in a bit of

ck, 'Smoke-ho, old man.

, an' Rogers, an' my dad, an' ole Tinribs, an' the r

me radiant with

they're goin' t' form

r agreed about so

lice're huntin' us in the ranges. I'll be-yes, I'll be Morgan. An' Ted-! What'll we make Ted? I know-I know. He'll be my faithful black

ithful native was palpably out of sorts; he took no part in the enthusiasm of his mates, his face was pale, and fu

,' he said; 'brave as a lion, an' th

successful. Ted f

to want to be no b

cky,' volunteered

whole team of unbroken bullocks, and quite reckless of consequences for the reason that he never anticipated them. Peterson wou

re uneasy, the corners of his mouth drew down, one

nt to go hom

ed was little, but his pluck had been tried on

Phil pityingly, and with the s

were looking to him

aid. 'We made a discovery

asked Jacker. The ot

k up the candle. 'Co

r. The drive was about eighty feet in extent. Having reached the end, Dick held the candle low, and made vi

a change this afternoon after Peetr

?' asked Jacker

' said

er three kept a respectful

e,' Dick explained. 'It

I th

here was nothing of which a boy of spirit need be afraid. The shaft was choked with dirt a few feet below their landing-planks, and there was no spot in which a mystery might lurk; but it was very different now with that black h

kin's,' said Dick, having lit a piece of

n,' said Jacker hastil

n't make no differenc

ght in the drives, the consciousness that the earth

ive this up for once-this bus

eyes were roun

assumed a careless air. 'See here, Dick,' he continued smartly, 'the Cow Flat

mall centre about two miles and a half further down the creek, between whom and the boys of Waddy there existed an interminable feud that led them to fight on sight, and steal suc

back all right

o a shadder,' Jacker

minent resident of Cow Flat, and had nothing whatever to do with the goat

his bow. 'They say Harry Hardy's

ick, much mov

le s

Gable's

Hardy had a letter, 'n Harry

ke it hot for T

sending his brother Frank to gaol. Harry was much the younger of the two brothers; for some years he had been away droving, and the news of his brother's misfortune was bringing h

do to miss any entertainment that might result from Harry's

he said. 'You fellows can

no sign of funk, leave no opening for the tongue of derision. Some day, perhaps, when the full strength of the company was available and candles were numerous, he would follow Dick's lead in the work o

said, 'from

ook the note Jacker discove

thin' agin' letters,'

ners ain't supposed to have mothers run

pose 'taint likely you'll see my Dick, Jacker.' I said,' No, Missus Haddon, 'taint, s'elp me.' Then sh

lation, and the fears she endured when by herself in the house at night, knowing there was a camp of blacks in the corner paddock, and so many rough cattlemen about. She was entirely help

d reading he started

, Morgan?'

' was the b

yer goin

goin'

ied Peters

cau

leader; he demanded reasons

ight young Haddon proffered T

gone to work then, an' when he comes off in the mornin' he'll be too tired to lick you much.'