"Didn't you? Well, that's no' surprisin', seein' that we don't hear much about them; but I know a man who has a steam yacht, and he keeps constantly explorin' the ocean for guano islands. It's a good payin' business right enough, though I wouldna care much aboot diggin' phosphates mysel', gold bein' more my attraction."
To the boys the idea of unknown islands in these latitudes was distinctly pleasing. The world to them was taking on a less crowded aspect. The smiling sea still held her unknown Crusoe islands. The romance had not all gone from the earth. The days were passing very quickly now, soon Fremantle would be reached, and then—who knew what good fortune might speedily be theirs? Bob and Jack looked into the future with unhesitating eyes. Theirs had been no boyish whim, and as they neared Australia's coast their pulses quickened, the sense of freedom was in their blood, the spirit of conquest surged through their hearts; and Mackay, noting their steady courage, felt strangely cheered. On the evening before the Mongolia was expected to reach Fremantle a concert was held in the saloon, in order to bring together for the last time the entire assembly, for quite a number were disembarking at Fremantle; and Bob and Jack were singled out for special adulation by the chairman—none other than Mr. Carew—who warmly wished them Godspeed in the new country they were entering upon.
"They, like us all," he said in his laudatory address, "seek their Eldorado. To them it is something real, tangible; to us who have chased the elusive phantom it has somewhat lost its zest. But youth and courage shall conquer where the weary wanderer must fail, and I fully expect our boys to attain their ambition by sheer manly grit before they have time to grow weary of the pioneer's life. They are especially fortunate," he continued, looking towards Mackay, "in having the guiding care of an old and experienced traveller—one whose deeds always speak louder than his words, but whose speech when occasion demands is forcible and conclusive. Only an explorer can fully appreciate a brother explorer's work; I take off my hat to you, Mackay——" his hat was already off, but that didn't matter—"and when we meet again, I trust it may be in some cheerful spot in this little planet and not in the wilds of an unknown land."
CHAPTER III Golden Flat
The small settlement of Golden Flat was situated away out on the desert's fringe beyond Kalgoorlie, and beyond the reach of any civilizing railway. It was essentially a pioneer's field, for no deep lodes had yet been discovered; indeed, at this time the history of Golden Flat was but a few days old. Nuggety Dick, a roving prospector and miner, had been lucky enough to find rich specimens of the coveted metal on the surface of the flat during one of his perambulating journeys through the silent bush, and instead of wildly rushing back to Kalgoorlie to proclaim his "strike," he had quietly taken a note of the place and gone his way to inform his old associates, who were toiling with but little success on a worked-out alluvial patch near Coolgardie.
Such is the spirit of the bush; comradeship comes before all, and happy-go-lucky Dick had never once thought of applying for the standing reward which a shrewd Government had promised for discoveries of gold in such remote districts. Had he claimed it, a rush would have been the immediate consequence, and the chances of Dick's companions securing a favourable claim would have been reduced to a minimum; so he set out on his high-backed camel and rounded up the "boys," as he affectionately called them, and steered them back to the ironshot plain among the mulga scrub, which he had euphoniously, if ambitiously, termed "Golden Flat." And now, within a week after their arrival, the Flat presented every appearance of industrious energy. Further nuggets had been found all along the line of a scarcely perceptible depression in the land surface, which, nevertheless, most evidently marked the course of a very ancient waterway, long since silted up.
"It'll be an alluvial wash, boys," remarked Dick, with happy satisfaction.