"By the Lord Harry, I never thought of that," cried Mr. Brown, with enthusiasm; "that would be worth a careful consideration if Ross only could get the idea. I've half a mind to suggest it to him."
While he was speaking Steel Spring entered the store, ostensibly to buy a plug of tobacco, but in reality not to pay for it.
"Well," I whispered, while serving him, "did you convey the information to Ross?"
"Of course," he replied, promptly.
"And what did he say?" I asked.
"That he now knew his friends, and would take measures to prewent the sogers from getting here in a hurry."
I had no time to talk farther with Steel Spring, for he seemed impatient to be gone, so I slyly slipped the money into his hand, and he left the store with a chuckle of such intense delight that a tall policeman near the door asked him where he got his swipes.
Trade was remarkably good that day. There was a steady stream of gold dust pouring in, in exchange for many articles which were usually slow of sale. A large portion of our stock of liquors was sold in bottles and demijohns, and there were many inquiries for powder and lead, but we were not allowed by the authorities to deal in such articles, and even if we had been, we should have declined to sell them under the circumstances, knowing that the ammunition was intended for the especial benefit of the soldiers and police officers, and in the latter force we had many friends.
We closed the store earlier than usual that night, for there was an agitation pervading the working class that showed that the eventful hour was approaching when the miners were to measure their strength with the disciplined soldiers of their country. The red coats were under arms at their barracks, and a man informed me that he had seen each soldier served with ball cartridges, and that afterwards they loaded their guns carefully, as though determined to make every shot tell.