“All right, do,” said the captain good-humouredly. “But never you mind, my lads: get the things ashore. You, Dellow, take a rifle and have a look-out for squalls—Injuns, I mean. Not that there’s much likelihood, for there’s no cover for the enemy here. Now, then; what are you all staring at? Are you struck comic? Never heard the word ‘gold’ before?”
The men all started as if they had been rudely awakened from sleep, and began to carry the necessaries ashore, while Brace turned to the American, who was busy at the locker, from which he was getting out a couple of the shallow galvanised-iron wash-bowls they used.
“Cast loose that shovel from under the thwart, Brace, my lad,” he said. “I say, sure there are none of those little flippers about?”
“Oh, yes, I’m sure,” cried Brace, laughing. “We should have known if there were before now.”
“That’s right,” said Briscoe, stepping overboard, “for I don’t feel as if I wanted bleeding.”
“Are you going to try for gold?” asked Sir Humphrey.
“That was what I thought of doing,” said the American, “for the place looks so likely. Gravelly sandy shallow in a great river which runs down from the mountains.”
“Oh, you won’t find any gold here,” said Lynton, smiling.
“I don’t know,” said Sir Humphrey. “Try; the place looks very likely.”