In the Roaring Fifties

ine, and Jim possessed eight hundred pounds. They tried another claim, and bottomed on the pipeclay. The hole was a duffer. They tried a third, and cut the wash once more. This clai

bout him, adopting the manners of his associates, and slowly wearing down that diffidence which still clung to him in the society of strangers. He was reticent, but there remained no suspicion, no animosity towards his kind. Looking back a year, he could hardly recognise himself;

to his bunk, throwing the clothes left and right. The vest he had worn when he left the Francis Cadman lay under the pillow. He dived his finger into the watch-pocket, and heaved a sigh of relief. Yes, it was there, safe and sound. He held Lucy Woodrow's miniature, g

erosene torches flamed and swinging oil-lamps lit up the scene. Here the wilder spirits assembled and drank square gin, and gambled in the canvas shanty bars, or danced with fine frenzy to music provided by some enterprising German Fr?ulein stolidly grinding a hurdy-gurdy. There were numerous sly grog-shops amongst the tent

ons. He took little active part in the playing and the drinking, but the feverish energy of the men and the stirring scenes provided such vivid contrast to what he had hitherto known and seen of life that his soul was greedy for

hy. It was not known whether Mrs. Kyley and Ben were married or merely mates, but popular opinion tended to the latter belief, legal unions being incompatible with a nice adjustment of forces at the rushes. The exigencies of life on the diggings made sudden changes of scene necessary to the men, and a woman like Mrs. Kyley couldn't be expected to abandon her business for the sake of a husband, seeing that it was so much easier to set up another husband than another establishment. But the most important branch of the business, that of sly grog-selling, made a man who could handle the riotous and evil-disposed quite essential. Ben Kyley's appearance, broad, thickly-s

lling rum at a shilling a nobbler to 'flash' diggers who despised change was much more profitable still. The industrious woman, who washed and baked all day, was kept busy for the greater part

rnoon following their removal to buy bread. Mrs. Kyley's big camp-ovens were nestled in the fires outside the tent, three of t

,' blared Mrs. Kyley, blowing a st

ck-haired, dark-eyed, flushed with colour, happy in temperament, free in manner, a striking representative of a not uncommon type of the time, mee

ain't the boy wid the blushes, an' th

us blood gave the lie to his a

he said. 'I kne

to forgit, seem' it's my debtor y

e for natural lov

r an' motherless in a strange land, but

. 'I want a loaf,' he said. 'M

y have these slips of boys, Quigley! You wouldn't l

fist on the counter, and swore a f

rora, with a twinkling

' ye'd have it fer love

whim. Ordinarily her English was as pure as Mrs. Kyley's, and M

the dance?' He offered her a nugget he had picked from the

said the girl, 'but I'd rathe

tural love and

l be uncommon greedy, so I will.' She kissed

's jealous passion was just as artless and free from disguise. Done had intended to send that nugget as a natural curiosity to Lucy Woodrow. He put the shade of regret the recollection provoked h

it Mrs. Kyley dived to replenish her jug of rum; but that room at the back represented the sanctity of the Kyley home-life, and to it the diggers never penetrated. The public

ering manner, for she still implied that he might be allowed indulgences because of his beardless, boyish face and his seeming ingenuousness. As a protest against this attitude, Done was impelled to drink r

g, 'but Quigley's a hard nut and an ugly fighter. He'

red Done mournfully. 'I suppose I

ar again on the Monday evening, an

g him with the drink he had asked for. The remark was

n't particularl

d gravely, 'Quigley doesn't like you; he is looking for a chance to do you a mischief, and he would have had his chance

the fool,

ove of me ye're comin', not for the dthrop o' drink. Murther! would ye kill me wid denyin' it?' She was sitting on the counter; she pressed her fingers on his lips, a

s your taste, anyhow, philandering with a slip of a girl when there's a fine woman about with a heart as empty as a b

urprise, he found these men, surrounded with the exciting conditions of their peculiar life, allowing their minds to be occupied with aspirations after political freedom. The failure of Chartism in England had driven thousands of hot-blooded champions of popular rights to Australia, and these were the leaven that leavened the whole lump. They talked of people's parliaments, ma

erty, just as the masses in England had been five years earlier, and possessed of even more substantial reasons for revolt. The idea of the young republic delighted him; he was already prepared to shed his blood in establishing that glorious ideal. Stories he had heard of the indignities to whic

aw the troopers, headed by the magnate on a fine chestnut, descend upon the gully, their glazed cap-peaks and their swords flashing gaily in the sun. The mounted men divided at the head of the gully, and came down on each side of the lead; the foot police followed Commissioner McPhee, head Serang and cock of the walk from Sawpit Gully to Castlemaine. The duty of the foot police was to ro

derision. 'Jo!-Jo!-Jo!' The cries travelled the whole length of the

Now you'll see how these gao

we suppo

it to Huntsman McPhee, and ke

eant of troopers in the face, and he spurred his horse furiously towards the spot. There was a rush of police and diggers, and a bit of a melee resulted, but Sergeant Wallis received no satisfaction. Four or five unlicensed diggers had been captured, luckless workers for whom Fortune had sprea

make way for the horse of Mr. Commissioner. Burton, however, stood his ground, the flush burning through his tan, and, rather than give way an inch or be run down, raised his hand and struck the noble nag of the big official on the nose with his palm, with the

mean by striking my horse?' t

dden down like a thiev

impudent jackanapes,

e beggar int

to his black cloth. Again there was a rush of indignant and amazed under-strappers, and the Commissioner, crimson with wrath, raised himself in his stirrups and sho

had darted from behind one of the piles of mullock, and was running at full s

m!' shout

es after him, and springing like a wallaby he cleared the holes, and darted in and out amongst the tips, to the utter confusion of the lubberly and ill-conditioned pursuers. Straight up the lead he ran, and now all the foot police w

the indignities that had been put upon his hig

ferous one for its size, had never witnessed a sporting event in wide Australia. The excitement grew with every successful trick of the runaway, and now he was leading his hunters in and out amongst the claims at the gully's head, apparently quite indifferent to the heat of the day or the stress of the chase. The miners wer

er's haven of refuge, Boulder Hill, and the confusion of tongues swelled to one rapturous howl at the sight. The unlicensed diggers spread, running their

ss spring from a mullock-heap, the youth cleared his enemies again, and came racing up the gully once more, the baffled police and a number of miners following pell-mell, the troopers cantering on the wings of the hunt. If the boy cou

swift. The crowd parted to take the runner to its heart, when Sergeant Wallis threw himself from his horse, and the young digger simply sank panting into his arms. Wallis put on a grip that had

e, you rascal!' roar

of breath to speak, an

is's

, sergeant. Run hi

in I'm only a woman?' The captive plucked the billycock from

t up a shout of surprise and jubilation. Wallis retained his grip on the girl, and the sight of his hands upo

said. 'She's right as rain. McPhee can do nothing t

ith him-her, si

rted the Serang. 'For two pins I'd chain you t

usting an impertinent, flushed, handsome face up a

emost in the ring surrounding McPhee, the sergeant, and the girl, her strong white hands, suspiciously pipeclayed, supporting her shaking sides. The familiar guffaw was infec

isoner-the man who had been run down, and the crowd that ushered him out bore Aurora Griffiths alo