There was no response to his challenge, and considering that it was cowardly to let him remain there alone, the rest of us quickly gathered around, and requested him to lie down for a short time.
He repelled us with scorn, at the imputation that he was drunk; and finding that it was impossible to reason with him, we left him digging away as though for life, and throwing the dirt in the form of a parapet.
We separated and scoured the woods within a radius of half a mile, but not a sign of a bushranger could we detect, and somewhat reassured by our search, we returned to the stockman, who was working most industriously, and leaving Smith to remain concealed, and give us warning of the approach of danger, we joined labor with the old man, although not in the same place in which he was at work.
I had reasoned on the subject, and came to the conclusion that if Gulpin had buried his money, he would like to destroy all evidence of its concealment. He and his gang were on friendly terms with Darnley, and the former had piled up the dead bodies, with the evident intention of consuming them with fire, as we had afterwards done, on our second visit.
Now, it struck me as being likely that the spot where the gold was buried would be chosen by a man who was inclined to be superstitious, for the finale of the grand tragedy, and perhaps impressed with the thought that the dead men would guard his treasure securely.
With this conviction, Fred and myself broke ground amidst a heap of ashes, without a thought or care of the invisible guard, and in a few minutes we had excavated a moderate sized hole, and would have continued working, had not Smith interrupted us by pointing to the sun, and advising a respite, owing to the danger of a sun-stroke.
As our hands were somewhat blistered, and we had as yet not discovered the first sign of gold, we readily took his advice, and upon repairing to the spot where the stockman was supposed to be at work, we found that the bottle had proved too much for him. He was lying on his back in the place which he had excavated, with his face exposed to the sun, the shovel clasped tightly in his arms, and his snoring sounded like distant thunder.
It was with some difficulty that we at length aroused him, and got him to the cart, where he was allowed to rest and sleep as long as he pleased, and while he was thus employed, we made another discovery, which set us to wondering.