"An' me," broke in the youthful Shadow, with affected mournfulness.
At this stage Jack came forward with a handful of fine gold slugs and coarse dust.
"I've just dollied a few samples," said he, handing his treasure to Mackay. "That should go about twenty ounces to the ton, shouldn't it?"
"Nearer two hundred, Jack," returned Mackay, smiling at his eagerness.
"We're jolly glad to know you've struck it, boys," said Nuggety Dick, earnestly. "And we hopes it will be a thicker patch than ours, for, from what I sees, we can work out our claims in less than a month."
"Well, we sunk here on the spec. o' striking it bigger on the rise," said Mackay. "But whether or no we've been successful I canna say just yet."
"I'm going to sink for a deeper patch," growled Emu Bill. "I believe we've only got a floater in our claims, an' the true bottom should be further down."
"I'd advise you to work out all the shallow ground first," said Mackay. "You never know when a rush may come sailin' along. Keep stackin' the stuff until we get a battery up; don't trouble dollyin' it—it's only wasting time."
His advice was sound, and was greeted with murmurs of assent. The water supply at the camp was daily becoming less and less; no doubt more could be tapped by sinking a deep shaft, but this would involve considerable delay, and the citizens of Golden Flat were by no means anxious to leave their congenial occupation at so early a period. By roughly grinding the cement-like wash, and rinsing off the lighter sands, fairly accurate assays could be obtained from sample specimens; but to continue such a work on a large scale would drain the soak within a week. The only feasible plan was to excavate as much of the gravel as possible in anticipation of a crushing battery arriving on the ground, which would surely be there immediately news of the Flat's richness spread abroad. And so the days passed, and the sun beat down fiercely on the toiling band who strove with grim Nature for her treasure. Ever and anon the dull roar of exploding gelignite indicated how man was using the utmost help civilization could give in order to shatter the many refractory obstacles in his path.