"I'll prove to you that I havena," came the quick response. "Jack, come here and do your geometry lesson."
Jack had been industriously searching for further treasure, but he hastened up at once.
"Now," said his mentor, "I want you to mark out a rectangle five feet six inches by two feet six inches just on the break o' that meeserable apology for a creek. We'll start sinkin' our shaft there in the mornin'."
So it came about that Bob planned the position of their first shaft, with Jack assisting; and Mackay walking a little way apart surveyed the pair with deep satisfaction.
"I can see," he soliloquized, "that my young friend, Bob, is goin' to be a vera useful acquisition, and if Jack develops along the lines in which his tastes lie, I have much need to congratulate mysel'. Who would have thought it?..."
Next after the lining out of the projected shaft came the pegging of the claims. For this four stout posts were required, thick enough when faced with an axe to present a surface at least four inches square. These were soon forthcoming, the mulga shrubs growing around being just of sufficient girth to meet with official requirements.
"And now, my lads," said Mackay, in sprightly tones, "we're going to mark out three men's ground, a hundred feet by a hundred is the allowance per man, so that means we can take a hundred yards along the creek and one hundred feet across." He began to pace off the ground as he spoke. "We can check it with a tape after," said he, "but I have done this so often that I'm no' likely to be faur oot in my calculations."
Soon the four pegs were sunk into position by Jack and Mackay, Bob at the same time scooping out with pick and shovel short rectangular trenches at each corner to indicate plainly to any subsequent observer the position of the outlying boundaries. This done they gazed at their handiwork with serene contentment. The mercurial Mackay was once more in the clutches of the gold fever, and his companions were no whit less affected.
"Let us call it Mackay's Reward," cried Jack, at length.