"And mine," echoed Dead Broke Dan.
"You can bet your shirt I'll be with you," cried the Shadow.
"There's only you and me left, Jack," said Bob. "But we'll be there too."
"And now let us have lunch, boys," suggested Nuggety Dick, breaking the odd silence that ensued; and they walked away, leaving Mackay still gazing at the fateful tree with unseeing eyes.
"Poor old Mac," muttered the Shadow, sympathetically.
"Did you know him before?" asked Jack.
"I should say I did. Why, he put me on to the only paying gold show I ever worked. That was two years back. He was one o' the Coolgardie pioneers too, and, of course, every one who was there knows him."
"Ah, that was a great old time," mused Emu Bill, entering into the conversation. "Mackay made a bit o' a rise then, and he might have been a rich man now if he hadn't taken the Never Never fever."
"I'll tell you what, boys," said Nuggety Dick, hastily adding a handful of tea to the boiling billy, "Mackay is the straightest man that ever chased nuggets, and this here camp will see that he doesn't tackle that miserable desert again without us skirmishin' alongside."
"Let us drink good luck to Golden Flat, boys," cried the individual in question cheerily, coming up from behind, and seizing a pannikin of tea.