‘If you will allow me to give an opinion, I fail to see your point, sir. Who was it as to age that began life at seventeen on his own account, and made rather a success of it, as I’ve heard tell? As to mining, you must have forgotten that Eric and I made a “cradle,” and went into the alluvial till we nearly washed out gold to the value of one pound sterling. Besides, at Barrawong, near a mining township with twenty thousand miners, we heard nothing but of mines and technical terms, block and frontage—quartz and alluvial—half-ounce dirt and payable stone. Why, we have all the lore and science of gold extraction at our fingers’ ends!’
‘I see,’ said his father with a quiet smile, ‘that I have been making the ordinary parental mistake of not seeing that my children have really grown up. What do you propose then? Are you prepared with a suggestion?’
‘Of course I am,’ said the youngster confidently. ‘The solution is easy. Old Jack Waters being dead—dear old fellow that he was—there appears a chance of the Pilot Mount community becoming [439] ]disorganised, unless a person with recognised authority takes command. The appointment of a stranger would be risky, or perhaps ineffectual. You must go out and take me with you as lieutenant and adjutant. I shall soon pick up the necessary “colonial experience.” Eric is to stay at Hexham to look after mother and the girls, as well as to see that no one gets the weather-gauge of me with Corisande in my absence. And, I think, that’s about all, sir.’
‘All, indeed!’ said his mother, looking at her first-born with a mixture of surprise and admiration. ‘You seem to have summed up the situation with what looks like completeness, and certainly the idea seems feasible. We shall be “Marianas in our moated grange,” of course, in your absence, but under more favourable social conditions. What does your father say?’
‘Really, my dear, he seems to be cast for the part of “Brer Rabbit,” and to have nothing left but to “go on sayin’ nothin’.” With the aid and counsel of the eldest son, and your not less original aid, you have quite disposed of all difficulties. When do we start, my dear? To-morrow morning?’
‘Nonsense, Arnold! You know there is something else to be done first; and, privately, you are thanking your stars for the chance of a little change and travel. I have no objection—or rather, I have, as I always have had; but I don’t urge it when it is plainly a duty. So I shall “buckle your spurs upon your heel” metaphorically, as I used to do sometimes practically in old days. Reggie, my boy, I trust you to look after your [440] ]father and discourage unnecessary risks. Now I must go and tell the girls.’
And the brave matron, certainly the virtual head of the household, departed to make important communications in a mood much less calm and self-contained than her words and outward appearance indicated.
‘There appears nothing else for it,’ said the father to the son, after a few moments’ reflection. ‘It’s rather a bore, and hard on your mother, though she won’t admit it, my having to start off for the other end of the world at a moment’s notice. But apart from the importance of the issue at stake, it will do you good to see something more of the land where your countrymen are at work, extending this Empire of ours, or rather strengthening the foundations, now it has been raised to such a height. Our forefathers “builded better than they knew.”’
‘I am with you, sir, to the death—which is not a figure of speech. With regard to the mining, pure and simple, Eric and I haven’t so much to learn, though, of course, this Pilot Mount property is a far more extensive and scientific affair. But at Barrawong I remember hearing you say that in five years of your reign there, the miners won sixteen tons of alluvial gold. Not such a trifle, was it?’
‘Quite correct. Embodied in one of my Annual Reports, with the ounces, pennyweights, and grains added from the returns of the Mining Registrar. It is there now for reference. However, I daresay we can straighten up things, and see the different colonies within six months. Four [441] ]weeks to Albany, nowadays, makes short work of the voyage to Australia.’