The man replied only with a gaze of more intense amazement than before, until he was sternly brought to his bearings by the now irate questioner.
"Say, mate," he protested weakly, "don't bounce a man so sudden. You all look like Rip Van Winkles, you does, only worse. But you must be strangers in these parts if you don't know Wentworth City. Why, it's the biggest min——"
"What!"
The cry came like a roar from the lips of the nine men at once, and the startled individual on the horse jerked back in alarm; but becoming satisfied that his interrogators really desired information, he proceeded to give it to them.
"Wentworth City, mates, ain't very old, but it has squatted here to stay. It boomed up like a shot after the diskivery o' a process for treating the refractory ores in the district. There's simply no end o' the stuff, an' we expect to get a railway along shortly."
"How did it get its name?" inquired Mackay, calmly.
"Well, I has only been a couple o' weeks here myself, an' don't know exactly how it happened; but every one will tell you that it is called after the diskiverer o' the process which sent it booming. A young chap, I believe he was, an' he went out exploring afterwards. But it's mighty funny you doesn't know that much. Say, you must have come in from out back?"
Mackay nodded briefly. "You've struck it," said he; "but now tell me if you know a man called Nuggety Dick, and where can we find him?"
"Nuggety Dick?" echoed the horseman. "Why, you won't have any trouble finding him. He's the mayor, he is. Go along the main street right in front o' you—it is called Mackay Street—an' turn down Golden Promise Drive on your right, an'—but I'd better go in front an' show you——"
"Yes, you'd better," murmured Mackay, feebly; then he reached out and clasped Bob's hand.