Bob thanked him gratefully. "I hate to keep things back," said he, "and if Mackay has no objections——"
"Don't worry about that, Bob," broke in Mackay; "I'll mak' use o' the Shadow until ye are well again, unless he misbehaves vera badly."
That same afternoon a new discovery was made by Emu Bill, which had the effect of raising the excitement of the camp to fever heat. Having continued his shaft down through the supposed bottom of the golden wash in his claim, he suddenly came upon a strange soapy grey deposit, not unlike putty in appearance.
"That proves we hasn't struck bottom yet," was his verdict, as he examined the odd formation keenly; "there's no pipeclay about that, there isn't." Then his eyes blinked and stared and blinked again. "Howlin' blazes," he murmured gently to himself, "this will give the boys a shock, it will." He had carelessly broken a piece of the clayey mass between his finger and thumb, and behold, the line of fracture showed golden yellow, and in the dim candle-light innumerable dazzling pin-points of colour gleamed throughout the entire specimen. In a few moments he was on the surface, bearing the cherished find in his hand. "I have got something, Nuggety," said he, addressing his partner, "that shid make ye gasp."
Nuggety gasped in anticipation, then uttered a yell of delight as his eyes beheld the glittering specimen.
"Is it a new level, Emu?" he asked eagerly.
Emu Bill nodded. "Round up the boys," said he. "It'll give them mighty encouragement to hiv' a look at this here bonanza." Nuggety rushed away at once, and Bill ventured another gaze at his treasure. But somehow he did not seem to derive as much satisfaction from this observation. "Hang it," he growled, closing his hands tightly over the specimen, "I could ha' sworn I saw more gold than that in it at first."
In a few short minutes he was surrounded by an enthusiastic throng.
"Nuggety says you've struck a new level, Bill," they cried almost with one voice.
"I hiv' that," said Bill, with calm satisfaction, "an' from what I can see, there'll be thousands o' tons o' the stuff in our grounds, an' it's just crammed wi' gold."