Six months afterwards I was in a position—having a few pounds in my pocket—to visit the quartz ranges I had prospected, my intention being to mark off a prospector's claim and set to work. Other men were before me; every inch of ground north and south was marked off for miles, and a thousand miners were at work. The huge boulder in which I had found specks of gold had been blasted away, and I was informed that a wonderful amount of gold had been taken from it. The claim upon which it had stood was the richest on the line of reef, the stone averaging five or six ounces to the ton. A quartz crushing machine had been erected, and was merrily pounding away.
With a sigh I turned my back upon the el dorado I was the first to discover. Hundreds of other men on the goldfields have missed fortune in the same manner by a hair's breadth.
I will not prolong this record of my three years' sojourn in Australia. At the expiration of this time a stroke of good fortune really fell to my share, and then it was that I received news of an event which changed the current of my life and led to the unconscious committal of the crime for which I must answer to the law. On a partially deserted goldfield, where there were still a few miners at work on claims which were supposed to be worked out, I took possession of a shaft, and in one of the pillars I found a "pocket" of gold which in less than a fortnight yielded me between fifty and sixty ounces.
Mammon worship is an evil instinct, but gold can bring unalloyed joy to suffering hearts. It brought joy to mine.
I was sorely tempted. Longing for home, for a sight of Ellen and my boy, had for some time past assailed me; there had been hours when I rebelled against my lot, when it needed all my moral strength to overcome the anguish of my soul. I had now the means to gratify my cherished desire—why should I not do so? Debating the risks of the adventure, I was tossed this way and that, now held back by the fear that my presence in London might be discovered by my enemies to the disturbance of the life of peace which Ellen was enjoying, now encouraged by my ardent wish to clasp my dear ones in my arms. The question, however, was decided for me.
A mail from home was due, and I was expecting my monthly packet of letters, which I had directed to be forwarded to a neighboring township. So anxious was I that I set off for this township in the middle of the night.
The mail had arrived and was being delivered. Scores of bearded men were clustered about the wooden building in anxious expectation. Some came away from the little window with joy on their faces, some fell back with a sigh of disappointment. The strength of the human tie which binds heart to heart is nowhere more strikingly displayed than on these distant shores, where groups of rough, stalwart men hurry to the post office in the hope of receiving letters from home.
My packet was handed to me, and I stood aside to open it. Ellen's budget I put into my pocket; I could not read her loving words with prying eyes around me. The lawyer's letter was bulkier than usual, and I tore it open. I read but a few lines when I reeled.
"Hold up, mate," cried a man, catching me by the arm. "Bad news?"
"No, no," I muttered, and the denial struck me like a spiritual blow the moment it was uttered.