So the work of "washing up" started. Every now and then Harry stopped the work and "cleaned up" the cradle—that is, took out the heavy golden sand which was caught in the cross-bars of the machine and emptied it in a bag, to be "panned" later. From time to time the party were gladdened by the sight of large specks, and now and then a tiny nugget of some grains' weight. The gold, for the most part, however, was fine. The work went on continuously till night closed in upon them. Though dreadfully tired, they reluctantly abandoned their work for the day, and after supper threw themselves upon their primitive beds and slept the sleep of the just.
"Be up betimes in the morning, boys," was Harry's last word.
The party had to thank a pair of laughing jackasses[#] for their early waking. Perched on the limb of a tree close to the tent, they began their morning orisons at the first paling of the stars, making such a cachinnation as to cause Tom to fly out from his bunk, crying in startled tones, "Dressin', dad; goin' for the cows this minute." While Denny was disturbed sufficiently to turn over on his side, saying in sleepy tones, "Jist repa-ate they swa-ate wurrds agin, Bridget me darlin'! an' sa-ay ye—— Howly Moses, 'tis th' owld Johnny-axes at their thricks!"
[#] Giant kingfisher.
In a few minutes the fire is burning briskly, and as soon as breakfast is demolished the lucky diggers make their way to the gully to start operations. The work was a repetition of yesterday's, and, according to Harry's calculation, they would be finished by noon if they stuck well to the job; bullock teams couldn't have drawn them from it.
After working for about an hour, Denny, who was shovelling the dirt, picked up a lump of rock, saying at the same time, "Oi'll pitch this awa-ay, annyways. It feels moighty heavy, though, for a sthone: 'tis as heavy as lead. Musha, but the sthones ar-re heavy hereabouts!"
"Hey, you fool! don't throw that away. Let's see it," cried Harry, seizing the piece of rock, which was about the size of the lad's head. "Why, great jumpin' Jehosaphat! it's a bloomin' nugget. You precious duffer! if you'd thrown that away I'd 'a' pitched you down the shaft."
The pals dropped their buckets and crowded round the leader as he held the lump with both hands.
"See 'ere, this white rock's quartz, an' all these yaller veins is gold. It isn't wot you'd call a pure nugget, but by the weight of it I guess there's a power of the yaller stuff inside. 'Ere, Tom, streak up ter the tent fur a tommy an' we'll soon see."
Furnished with the tomahawk, the stockman laid the quartz nugget on a flat stone that cropped out of the ground near by, and dealt vigorous blows upon it with the head of the weapon. In this way he crushed the quartz crystal sufficiently for them to see that the gold formed a mass in the centre.