“I think I had better get down, if you please: it would be rather an unusual thing to ride through the town in this manner. I think I can walk.”
She slid limply to the ground, and Jack supported her.
“Whom must I thank for helping me?” she asked.
“I’m a digger, too,” said Jack; and he told her his name.
“Are you the man who discovered the new field?”
“Some people give me the credit of it. I start back to-morrow. It was lucky I was crossing that stream when I did. You haven’t told me whom I have had the pleasure of rescuing.”
They were passing a street lamp, and for the first time Jack could see the girl’s face. She was pretty, with black hair, an oval face, and a dark complexion.
“I’m Miss Varnhagen,” she said. “My Dad will be awfully grateful to you.” She looked at her preserver with eyes which expressed all the gratitude that Scarlett could desire.
“I’ll see you safely home,” he said; “and when you tell your father, perhaps he will repay me by letting me see you again.”
“He’ll be only too pleased. He says the town owes you more than it can ever pay you for discovering this gold, which, he says, will mean thousands of pounds to him and the other merchants.”