THE NOVELIST. [All Rights Reserved.] THE TALE OF - TIMBER TOWN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 67

THE NOVELIST. [All Rights Reserved.] THE TALE OF - - TIMBER TOWN.

By A. A. GRACE,

Author oi "Talcs of a Dying Race" (Chatto & Windus) ; " Maoriland Stories," etc.

CHAPTER XXV.— THE GOLDSMITH COMES TO TOWN.

IMBER TOWN was in a state of commotion. The news of the discovery of the new goldfield had spread far and vide, and every steamer which came into the port vras crowded with clamouring diggers. Every boarding house was full to overflowing, every inn was choked vrith men in heavy boots and corduroy trousers ; the roads on the outskirts of the town were lined with, rows of tents ; everybody talked of the El Dorado in the mountains ; there was no thought but of gold ; men •were buying stores in every shop ; packhorses stood with their heavy loads in every inn yard; and towards the bush, threading their way through the tortuous gorge that Jed into the heart of the moimtains, a continual string of diggers, laden•with heavy "swags" or leading patient overladen horses, filed into the -depths of the forest. ■ Jake R aggies had lived a troubled life since his legal head and overlord, the official sponsor of his promising young life, had dropped out of his existence, as a stone drops to the bottom of a well and is no more seen. Upon his immature shoulders rested all the worry of the goldsmith's business. He was master of Tresco's bench : the gravers and the rattail files, the stock-driUs and the corn-tongs were under his hand for good or for cvil 1 . iWith blrow-pipe and burnisher, with plushwheel and stake-anvil he wrought pati-c-ntly, almost bursting with responsibility, yet with anxiety gnawing at his heart. 'And t;h& lies he told on behalf of his ; "boss" ! — lies to men with unpaid accounts in their hands, lies to constables with bits cf blue paper from the clerk of the court, lies to customers whose orders could not he executed except by the master gold- ] smith. On all sides the world pressed heavily on Jake. His wizened) face was quickly assuming the aspect, of a little old '<■ man's ; his furtive eyes began to wear a ' icared lookj sleep had ceased to visit his i Innocent couch with regularity ; his appetite, which formerly had earned 1 him a reputation with his peers, was now easily 1 appeased with a piece of buttered bread and a cup of milkless tea; the "duff" and rice puddings of the goldsmith's making £ liad passed out of his life even as had the £ "boss" himself. Never was there a. more » fc&djjered, woe-bejjpiie youth than Jake. J

It Avas night time. The shut+ers of th I shop Avcre up, the door Avas bolted, th j safe, with its store of gold-set geAvgaA^ s • was 10-.ked, and the key rested secure! ' in the apprentice's pocket ; but by th light -of a gas jet his head bent over th bench. Jake was hard at work on > half-finished ring. In one hand he heL 1 a tapering steel rod, on Avhich Ava L ( threaded a circle of metal which migh | have been mistaken for brass ; in the othe ' he held a light hammer with Avhich he bea ' rhe yellow zone. Tap, tap ! "Jerusalem lny 'appy 'ome, oh ! hoAV I long for thee !" . Tap, tap went the hammer. "If the 'oh 1 man' was on'y here to lend a hand, 1^ give a Aveek's pay. The gold's full o flaws — all along of the Avxong alloy h j smeliin' — full o' cracks and crevices." Hi ; took the gold hoop off the steel rod ( placed it on a piece of charred Avood fulled the gas jet toAvards him, and Avitl j the bloAv-pipe impinged little jets of flami j upon the yellow ring. "An' the galoo' 1 +hat come in this afternoon said, ' I always I find the ivork turned out of this shop— 1 ah— -excellent — ah — tip-top, as good as any thing I ever bought in the old country | tion'tcherknoAv.' Yah! Gimme silver j that's all. Gimme a butterfly buckle U i make, or a nionograni to s-aAv out an' ] j wouldn't call the Pope my uncle." His j eye lifted from his work and rested on s broken gold brooch, beautiful with plaitec hair under a glass centre. "An' thai fussy old wood-hen'll be in first thing to-morrow askin' for 'the memento of my poor dear 'usband, my child— the one with the "air in it ' — carroty 'air. An' those two bits of 'airpins that Avant them silver bangles by 10 o'clock— they'll be here punctual. I'm just fair drove silly Avith badgerin' wimmen. I'm goin' ratty with worry. When the boss gomes back from his spree. I'll giA- e 'im a bit o' my mind. 11l tell 'im if he must go on a bend he should wait till the proper time — Christmas, Anniversary Day, Easter, or even a Govment holiday. But at a time like this, when the town's fair drippin' with dollars, the stupid ole buck rabbit gets tanked for a month on end. An' when he Ca j) b , e fountd > th ® mutton-headed bobbies suddenly become suspicious. It's no good for me to tell 'em it's his annual spree— thpy say it's robbery. Oh, well I back my opinion, that's all. But whether it's the one or the other, of all th© chuckleheaded old idiots that ever was born" Tap, tap. It was not the noise of Jake's hammer, but a gentle knocking at the side door of the Avorkshop. The apprentice rose quietly and put his ear to the keyhole. Tap, tap, tap. ''Who's there?" l ''Open the door," said a soft voice. 'Tt's me. I want to come in." " V , ei X. likeI 7 you do. There's many more'd like to come in here." '•Is that you, Jake?" "Never you mind. Wbo're you?" ""iou weasel -faced young imp, am I to burst open my own door?" The mystery was at an end. In a moment the bolt was withdrawn, and Ben jamin Tresco stood in his workshop. But before he spoke he bolted the door behind him. Then he said: "Well?" "So youVe come back?" said Jake nereely. "Looks like it," said the goldsmith. 'How's things?" "Gone to the devil. How d'you expect me to keep business goin' when* you go on a hoAvling spree for weeks'?" "Spree? Me? My dear innocent youth, I have clean forgotten the very taste of beer. At this present moment, I stand before you a total abstainer of six Aveeks' duiration. And yet Avhat I ask for is not beer, but bread — I'm as hungry as a wolf; IVe hardly eaten anything for two days; I've got the. appetite of a shag. What haA-e you got in the house?" | "Nothin'." "What !" "I don't 'aye no time to cook. When I can find time, I go up to the Lucky Digger and get a good square feed. D'you expect me to do tAro men's A^oxk and cook as Ave'l ?" Tresco undid the smill "swag" Avhich he cairic-d, and before the astonished eyes of his apprentice he disclosed fully a hundred ounces of gold. "Jee-rusalem! Blame me if aou ain't been diggin' I"' "That's so, my son." "And the police are fair ratty because they thought you were biding "from the law." "So I am, my son." "Gam! " "Solemn fact — there's a writ out against me." "Well?" "I ain't got a mind to be gaoled at such i glorious time in the history of Timber Down. I want to get more gold — stacks of t." "An' where do I come in?" "You oome in as oAvner of this business ..•y-a.nd-bye — if you're a good boy." "Huh! I want to go diggin' too." "All in time, my energetic youth I—all1 — all in pod time. But for the present give me iome food." "Didn't I tell you ihsxQ isn't any?" railed Jakft. x

c "Very good, very good : but don't talk c fo loud. Take this half-crown and go to ;, the Lucky Digger. Tell the young lady in y , the bar that you haA'e a * friend Avho's c ' dying of hunger. Tell her to fill a jug c Avith a quart of beer and a busket Avith a tucker of sorts And hurry back; for, d by my sacred aunt, if I don't get something s better presently, I shall turn cannibal and t , eat you !" r j While the boy Aras gone, Tresco Aveighed t the gold that lay on the bench. It came , [ to llloz, and Ihis, valued at the current '' j price of gold from Bush Robin Creek — 1 ] the uninitiated are possibly unaAvare that :1 as one star diKcreth from another star in i' glory, so the gold from one locality differs a ir> price fiom that found in another — came a to £,430 2s 6d. , Finding the safe locked, Tresco, Avhistling , softly, turned down the gas, and sat at i his bench m the gloom. a When Jake returned, he was cautiously t admitted, the door Avas re-bolted, and the s gas avps turned up sufficiently to show the - goldsmith the way to his mouth "Where's the key of the safe, Jake?" s "Where it ought to be." , "You young imp, anty up." > Jake produced the key from his pocket. [ "D'you suppose I label it ar.d put it in 3 , the winder?" i j "Put this gold away — there's llloz. I'll I bring some more next time I come. Now" ; — he lifted the jug and drank ; Avhen he r set it down again it Avas half-empty — r "that's what I call a moment of bliss. l No one Avho hasn't spent a month in the « bush knoAvs Avhat a thirst really is ; be ■ ain"t got no conception what boer means — , but I wish it had been bottled. Never mind. What's in the basket?" •He lifted t the Avhite napkin that covered his supper. "Ham !" A beatific smile illumined 1 his face. "Ham — pink and white and succulent — cut in thin slices by fair hands. Delic'oas.' And what's this? Oyster patties! Cold certainly, but altogether lovely. New bread, cheese, apple turnover' Couldn't be better. The order of the menu is, first, entrees — that means oysters; next, ham, folloAved by sweets, and topped off with a morsel of cheese. Stand by and Avatck me eat — a man that I has suffered semi-starvation for nearly a month." Jake lit a cigarette, an indulgence with which in these days of worry and stress he propitiated his overwrought nerves. He dreAv in smoke with all the relish of a connoisseur, - and expelled it through his r-oscrils. "Is this gold the result of six weeks' work?" he asked. "No, barely one week's," • answered Tresco, his mouth full of ham and neiv bread. "Crikey !" Jake inhaled more cigarette smoke. "Seems to me our potty little trade ain't in it. I move that Aye both go in for the looerative profession of diggin'." "Mumf— mumf— muff." The ham had conquered Tresco's speech. "Jes' so. That's Avhat I think, boss." Benjamin guve a gulp. "I won't take you,"' h.e said, as plainly as possible. "Ob, you won't?'' "1 won't." _ "Then suppose I go on my own hook, eh?" "You've got to stop and look after this shop-. You're apprenticed to me." "Oh, indeed !" "If a man chooses to spend a little holiday in the bush, is his apprentice to suppose his agreement's cancelled? Not a bit of it." "An' suppose a man chooses to spend a Httle holiday in gaol, Avhat then?" "That's outside the sphere of practical politics, my son." "I don't knoAv so much about that. I think different. I think Ave'll cry quits. ' I think I'll go along with you, or likely 1 there'll be trouble." "Trouble?" "Yes, trouble." : "What sort of trouble, jackanapes?' 1 "Why. crimson trouble." i i "Indeed !" , "I've got you tied) hand and foot, boss, j You can take that from me." 1 "Is that so? What do you think you < can do?" * ( "I intend to go along with you." c "But I start to-night, if I can scrape 1 together enough food to last a Aveek or two. But I'll take you along. s You shall come. . . . I'll °show you ' }-OAV I live. Now, then, what d'you say?'' i There was a twinkle in Tresco's eye, and c the corners of his mouth tAvftched Avith c merriment. "Think I don't know when I've got a a soft thing on?" Jake took off his apron i and hung it on a nail. "Shan't Avant that, g for a month or two anyAvay." Then he I faced the "boss Avith, "Equal whacks, you eld bandicoot. I'll find! the tucker, and c Ave'll share the gold." t Tresco's smile broke into a hearty laugh, t He put his hands to his sides, threAv his 'v head back, and fairly chortled. "I cV:ri't see any joke." Jake looked at c hiq master from beneath his extravagant 1" eyebrows. c "You'll — you'll get the tucker, see?" b "Yiiy, jes— how's a inau to HveJ'' «

T | "An' you'll help swag it?" I "Course.'' j "You'll implicitly obey your lawful lore and master, out on. the vailabv?*' ■"Spcct I'll 'are to." "You won't chiak or poke borak at his i grey and honoured head when, by teasor ! ,of his endowment of adipose tissue, Lis wind gives out?"' j "Oh, talk sense. Adipose rabbit skins'" i "All these several and collective point* being agreed upon, my youthful Adoni>. ! I admit you into partnership."' i "Done," said the apprentice, with emphasis. "It's a bargain. Go and sle^p. • and I'll fossick round town for tucker. 1 I'm good for a sixty-pound swag, and you for eighty. So-long." i He turned off the gas, took the key oi the side door, which he locked after lum, and disappeared, while Tresco groped his way to bed. The surreptitious goldsmith had slepl for two hours when the stealthy appnjntics let himself quietly into the dark and cheerless house. He tore on his back i heavy bag of flour, and earned on his arm a, big bas-ket filled with minor packages gleaned from sleepy shopkeepers, who had been -iwakened by the linx-eyed youth knocking at their back doors. In the cheerful and enlivening compinr of an alarum clock, Jake letired to his couch, which consisted of a flax-stuffed mattress resting on a wooden bedstead, and there he quickly buried himself in a weird tangle of dirty blankets and went to sleep. At the conclusion of three brief hours, which to the heavy sleeper appeared *o so many minutes, the strident alarum w< ke the apprentice to the stress of life. By the light of a tallow candle he huddled on his clothes and entered the goldsmith's chamber. ' '-Now then, boss, 3 o'clock! Up you git!" l ' Benjamin rubbed his eyes, sat up in bed, and yawned. 'Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain ; You've waked me too soon— l must lumber again. What's the time, Jake?" "Ain't I tellin' you? — 3 o'clock. If we don't want to be followed by every digger in the town, we must get out of it before dawn." "Wise young Solomon — youth of golden promise,— go and boil the kettle. We'll have a snack before we go. Then for fresh fields? and pastures new." The goldsmith bounded out of bed with a buoyancy that resembled l that of an indialubber ball. "Ah-ha ! Under the greenwood tree Who loves to lie with me Andl tune his merry note Unto the sweet bird's throat: Come hither. You see, Jakey mine, we were eddicated when Aye was young." Benjamin had jumped into his clothes as he talked. "A sup ancl a snack, and we flit by the light of the moon." ° "There ain't no moon." j "So much the better We'll guide our s-teps by the stars' pale light and the beams of the Southern Cross." By back lanes and by-roads the goldsmith and his boy slunk out of the town. At the mouth of the gorge, where diggers' tenth lined the road, they Avalked delicately, exchanging no word till they Avere deep into the solitude of the hills. As the first streak of dawn pierced the gloom of the deep valley they Avere wading, kn>&9 deep, a ford of the 'river, whose banks they had skirted throughout, their journey. On the further side the forest, dank, green, and dripping with deAV, received them into its impenetrable shades, but still th© goldsmith toiled on, his heavy burdeii on his back, and the panting, weary, energetic, enthusiastic apprentice folloAving his steps. Leaving the track, Tresco led the way up a steep gully, thickly choked Avitli underscrub, and dark with the boughs of giant trees. Forcing their way throtio-b tangled supplejacks and clinging lawyer weepers which sought to stay their progress, the wayfarers climbed," till as day ' JaAvned they paused to rest their Avearied !imbs before a sheer cliff of rock. "It's not very far now," said the gpld>nrith, as he wiped his dripping broAV. "This is the sort of work to reduce the idipose tissue, my son. D'you think you :ould find your way here by yourself, * inlomitable Jakey?" "Huh! Com fee," replied' the breathless ,-oiuii, pin. to be his master's comjanion hi a romantic situation, and rlorying in In- "swag." "Is this your )loomin' camp?" "No, sir.'" Tresco glanced, up the face >f the great limestone rock which barred heir path.^ "Not exactly. We've got o scale this cliff, and then we're pretty veil there." A ftAv supplejacks hung down the face if the rock. These Tresco took in his sand and twisted them roughly into a able. "Look natural, djon't they?" he a Tx)0 >t as if the y growed,' t'other i n$ A «h? Now A watch me." With the '

help of this rope of luuias he climbed up the rugged chfl", and when at the summit 1 he called to Jake to tie the "swags" to separate creepers. These ho hoisted to . the top of the cliff, and shortly afterwards s the eager lace of the aj>prer>tice appeared i over the brow 5 "Here we are!" exclaimed Benjamin; ■ "sate as a churrh. Pull up the supple- ' jacks, Jake." 5 With an enthusiasm which plainly bettikened a mind dwelling on bushrangers and hidden treasure, the apprentice did . as he was told , Out of bieath through his exertions, he . excitedly asked, "What's the game, boss? t Where's the blooming plant?" "'Plant?" replied the goldsmith f "Yes — the gold, the dollars ?"' ( I "Dollars? Gold!'" 5 ' "Yes, gold ! Think I don"t know? | These yer rocks are limestone. Who evei j saw gold in limestone formation, eh?" "How do you know it's limestone?' 1 . ' "Yah! Ain't I bin down to th' limekiln . by Rubens's wharf and seen ths lime brought over the bay? What's the came? Icll "us." __ "The thing that I'm most interested in at this present moment" — the goldsmith took up his heavy "swag" — "is tucker." Without further words, he led the way between perpendicular outcrops of rock whose bare, grey sides were screened byfuchsia trees, birch saplings, lancewood and such scrub as could take root in the shallowsoil. Turning sharply round a projecting vock. he passed beneath a tall black birch. , which grew close to an indentation in the face of the cliff. Beneath the great tree the heels of the goldsmith crushed the dry, brown leaves deposited during many, seasons ; then in an instant he disappeared! ! from the sight of the linx-eyed Jake, as a i labbit vanishes into its burrow. I "Hi ! Here ! Boss ! Where the dooce has the ole red-shank got to?" A muffled voice, coming as from the bowels of the earth, said. "Walk inside. I Liberty Hall! . . . Free board and no I taxes " . Jake groped his way beneath the tree, surrounded on three sides by the limestone I cliff. In one corner of the rock was a. • sharp depression, in which grew shrubs of i various sorts. Dropping into this, the lad pushed his way through the tangled? and stood before the entrance of a cave. Inside Tresco held a lighted candle in his hand. In front of him stood Jake, spellbound. j Overhead the ceiling was covered with, j white and glistening stalactites ; underfoot the floor was strewn with bits of silica and the broken bases of stalagmite®, which had been shattered to make a path for the ruthless iconoclast who had made his- home in this pearly-white temple builfc without hand.->. Tresco hrinded Jake another lighted candle. "Allow me to introduce you, my ad- ' Bijiable Jakey. to my country mansion, where I retire from the worry of business ( and turn my mind to the contemplation jof Nature. This is the entrance .hall, the portico : observe the marble walls ancl j the ceiling decorations — early English, perpendicular style." Jake stood open-mouthed with astonishment. "Xow we come to the drawing room. — - the grand salon, — where I give my receptions." Benjamin led the way through a low aperture, on either side of which; i stalactites and stalagmites had met, leaving a low doorway in the centre. Beyond i this the candles" dim light struggled" for I supremacy in a great hall, whose walls shone like crystal. On one side the calcare1 ous incrustation- had taken the form of ai huge organ, cut as if out of marble, with pipes and keyboard complete. "Holee Christopher!" exclaimed thifl apprentice. "Nature's hnndiwork," said the goldsmith. "Beautiful. . . . Been making this thousand years for me — an' you/ "Then I reckon Nature forgot the ehimbley — it's as cold as the grave." "On the coatrary, there is a chimney;' but Nature doesn't believe in a fireplace in each room. Proceed. I will now show you my private apartments. Mind the step." He led the way down a dark passage", strewn with huge jiieces of limestone, ovei' which master a.nd apprentice scrambled', into an inner chamber, where the white Avails were giimed with smoke and tha black embers of an extinguished fire lay im the middle of the floor. "My sanctum sanctorum," said the goldsmith, as he fixed the butt of his candle to a piece of rock by means of drops ol melted wax poured from the lighted encfv •"This is where I meditate ; this is where I mature my plans for the betterment of the human species." "Eats! You're darn well hiding from the police." "My son, you grieve me; rout lack ofl tue poetic shocks me." "Oh, gam! You robbed those mails, that's about the size of it." "Robbed? No, sir— examined? Yes, sir; T was the humble instrument in the hands of a great rascal, a man oi \mpraicipled life, a man who offered taftea-'

heavy bribes, — an' I took 'em. I had } need cf mcrey." "First comes the bender, and then the , bribe. I know. boss. But where d'you > get the gold?" Benjamin stooped over a mass of bedding, rolled up in a tent fly, and brought tp light a canvas bag. "My private store," he said — "mine and Bill's. We go whacks. . We're doing well, but expediency demands that for a short while I s-hould retire irto private life. And, by the hokey, I can afford it." "Gold?" asked Jake, peering at the bag. ''Nuggets," said the goldsmith. Jake dropped his "swag"' and felt the weight of the bng. "It gits over me," he spid. "Either you Stole it. or you dug it. I give it up. 'Anyhow, there it is." Benjamin smiled his broadest, and began to rake together the charred sticks scattered over the floor. "This is my only trouble; to yank my firewood in here is heartbreaking — that and swapping tucker from town." ' r Where"s the smicke go to?" Jake looked into the inky blackness above. "Don't know. Never asked. I guess . It imds its way somewhere, for after I've -. Lung mv blanket over the doorway and .lighted "the fire, I sometimes notice that -the bsis which live overhead buzz round and then clear out somewhere. I imagine that there's a passage which connects with the open air. Some day, perhaps, an. policeman will drop on our ' lieads. Then there'll be a, picnic, eh?" "What- I want, just at present," said Jake, "is a drink. "That's another of my troubles," replied the goldsmith. "'I have to fetch my water from outside ; but it's lovely water when you've p,ot it." He placed his bag of gold in a corner. "Don't {rat all your eggs into one basket," he said. "I believe in Jacob's plan — divide your belongings. If I'm caught here, I have the plant in town. If I'm caught ;n; n town, I have the plant here. Anyhow, the police can't get everything." "An' where do I come in?" The eyes of the rabbit-fated youth p°ered into his master's. "I don't precisely know. I don't think you come in at all." "Then what about that gold in the safe, boss?" "The key is here." Benjamin slapped his pocket gently. "But if you're a good Boy you shall hav<= my business, and be the boss goldsmith, of Timber Town." "Honest injin?" "Perfectly honest. If I get away with ny gold, all I leave behind is yours." "Shake hands on it?" <- "Gertflinly," said the goldsmith ; and he held out. his hand. Jake took it in his. "It's a bargain," he said. "That's right; a, bargain." "Til help you to get away with your .■"Bold, and you'll leave me your business — lock, stock, and barrel. "That's exactly it," said the goldsmith, feking up an empty "billy" from the ground., "Now we'll go and get water for our tea." CHAPTER XXVI.— FISHING. A case 01 bottling-plums, the bloom still *n their purple cheeks, stood on the jtetchen table. Besidte it stood Rose, her urins bare^ to the elbows, and a snowy apron flowing from breast to ankle. Marshalled in regular array in front of the case stood a small army of glass jars, j «?hieh presently were to receive the fruit. In a huge preserving pan a thick syrup was simmering on the stove; and Kose , ihad just begun to place the fruit in this j saccharine mixture, \vhen a succession of knocks, gentle but persistent, was heard coming from the front door. "Oh, bother!" said Rose, as she paused j Vith a double handful of plums halfway | between the fruit case and the stove. J'Who can that be?"' Again the knocking resounded through the house. "I suppose I must go," said Rose, placing the fruit carefully in the pan, and then, slipping off her flowing apron, she went "hurriedly to the front door. There stood the pretty figure of Rachel Varnhagen, dressed in billowy muslin, a picture hat which was adorned with the brightest of ribbons and artificial flowers, and the daintiest of shoes. Her sallow cheeks were tinged with a carmine flush, lier pearly teeth gleamed behind a winning smile, and a tress of glossy hair, escaped from under her frail headdress, hung foewitchingly upon her shoulder. "Oh, how do you do?" she exclaimed effusively, as she closed her silk parasol, j "I look en awful guy, I know ; but there's such a wind that I've almost been blown j to pieces."' j It was the first time that Rose's humble xoof had had the privilege of sheltering the daughter of a rich Jew. "I'm afraid I hardly expected you." The pilot's daughter looked frankly and with an amused smile at Rachel. "I'm in the middle of bottling fruit. Do you mind coming into the kitchen — the fruit will spoil if I leave it." Leading the way, she was followed by iber prptty caller, who, in all her glory, seated herself on a cane-bottomed chair in the kitchen, and commenced to gossip. "I've such, news," she said, tapping the floor with the ferrule of her parasol. Rose continued to transfer her plums to the preserving pan. "You know the dreadful experience I had with that horrid, drunken digger who caught me at the footbridge. JVho do you think it was that saved me?"' She waited for Rose to risk a guess. "I suppose," said the domestic girl, he? tons akimbo as she faced her visitor — "1 ihonld think ib ought to have been Mr Zahn." ''Oh, him !" exclaimed Rachel, disgusledly. "I've jilted him — he was rude to papa." "Then who could it be ?" Rose placed Snore plains in the preserving t

1 "You ought to know."' Just the trpre of a pout disfiguied Rachel'^ pictty mouth. , "He's a friend of yours. I believe : a very ■ friend, indeed." "I've a good many friends.'' The preserving pan ■« as now fall, and Rose sat down, to wait a few minutes till the fruit should be ready for bottling. "Papa, is simply in love with him. He says he can never lepay him. And how he laughed when I told him that my gallant rescuer threw the digger into the wnter! Can't you guess who it is now?" Rose was silent. "Re-illy, I think this stupid cooking and jam-making have mide you silly. Why don't jou work in the mornirc and go unt in ihe afternoon to see your friend 1 -?" Rose turned her blue eyes on her visitor. They distinctly said. "What business is that of yours?" But her lips said, "l\~ow, really, how can I?" "When a girl's engaged" — Rachel sighed as she spoke — "she doesn't care much about society." Rose smiled. "At least that was the way with me." Rachel's carmine lips gave a 'little quiver at the corners. "I siippose you feel like that*" "Me? I feel just a& usual.'" "But you're so English — nothing would disturb you." Rose laughed aloud. "I would shriek if a digger to.uehed me," slie said. "But it was almost worth the fright, dear." Rachel leaned forward confidentially. "First, he put me on his horse, and we forded the river together; then he took me home, and was so kind. Ido think you're such a lucky girl."' "Me? Why?" Suddenly Rachel's manner altered. Bursting into a rippling laugh s-he raised her parasol and skittishly poked Rose in the ribs. "How very close some people are," she exclaimed. "But you might as well own the soft impeachment, and then all the girls could congratulate you." The thought went through Rose's mind that if the good wishes of her acquaintances were like this girl's, perhaps they might well be spared. She was completing her task by ladling the plums from the big pan into the array of jars, and she bent herself over h>er work in order to Lide her anroyance. ' "And I hear he's so rich," continued Rachel. "He's had wonderful luck on the diggings. Papa, says, he's one of the best marks in Timber Town — barring old Mr Crewe, of course." Rose gazed open-eyed at her visitor. "How much do you think he is worth?" asked Rachel, unabashed. "I really do-nt knew. I have no notion whom you mean." Again the rippling laugh rang through the kitchen. "Really, this is funny. Own. up ; wasn't Mr Scarlett vert lucky?" "I believe he got some gold — he showed me some." "Surely he. had it weighed?" "I suppose ro — I thought there vras something in the paper about it." "Was all that gold Mr Scarlett's?" "Yes, about as much as could fill this sa,ucepan. He poured it out on the diningroom table, and Captain Sartoiis and my father stared at it till their eyes dropped out." "You lucky girl ! -'hey say he gave you the dandiest ring." Rose mutely held out her unadorned fingers. When they had been closely inspected, she said : "You see, this is all rubbish about my being engaged. As for Mr Scarlett, I have good reason to know he left his heart behind him in the Old Country." "Confidences, my dear. If he has told you that mucih, it won't take you long to hook him. We giddy girls have no chance against you deep, demure stay-at-homes. The dear men dance and flirt with us, but I they don't propose. How I wish I had learned to cook, or even to bottle plums. Fancy having a man all to yourself in a kitchen like this ; making a cake, with youi sleeves tucked up to the elbows, and no one to interrupt — why, I guarantee he'd l>ropose in ten minutes." She tapped her front teeth with, her finger. "I have to go to the dentist to-morrow. I do hate it so, but I've got to have something done to one of my front tee,ta. I'm thinking of getting the man to fill it witli gold and 2-ut a small diamond in the middle. That ought to be quite fetching, don't you think?" "It certainly would be unique." "I think I'll go along to Tresco's shop and get the stone." "But don't you think the sight of a diamond in a tooth, would pall after a while? — or perhaps you might loosen it with a bit of biscuit and swallow it. A diet of diamonds would pail, tco, I fancy." "It's not the expense." Rachel pouted as stae spoke. "The question is whether it's done among smart people." "You could but try — your fiicnds would soon tell you." "I believe it's quite the tiling over in Melbourne." "Then why not in Timber Town?" "But perhaps it's only among actresses that's it's ' the thing.' " "So that the glitter of their smiles may be intensified?" Rachel had riben from her seat. "I must be going," she said. "I looked in for half a minute, and I've stopped half an hour." "Then won't you stay just a little longer — I'm going to make some tea?" "It's very tempting." Rachel took off her gloves, and displayed her begemmed fingers. "I think I must stop." Rose infused the tea in a brown earthenware pot, and' filled two china cups, in the saucers of which she placod two very old ornamented silver teaspoons-. The two giils sat at opposite sides of the while pine table, in complete contrast; the one dark, the other fair; the one r>viayed in purple and fine linen, the other [ cUesscd in plain. starcLod print and a

| kitchen apron ; the one the spoilt pet of ! «ii inf.ituatcd father, the other accustomed tv reproof and domestic toi'. But thej met on common giound in their taste for tea. "\Vitli lips equally prettx I hey Mere sipping the fi t ig:ant beverage, when a hoarse voice ie>ounded | lrnough the house. | "Rosebud, Rosebud, my gal ! Where's my .-livpeis? Danged if I can see them anywhere." Into the kitchen stumped the pilot of Timber Town, weary i'lnm his wit Catching sight of Rachel, he paused halfway between the door and the table, j "Well, well "' he &aid, "I beg your pardon, I'm surp-— bellowing like an old bnll walrus at my darter. Bui the g«] knows her old did — don't you, -Rn^bud? He don't mean nothing at all." In a moment, Rose had the old man's ■slippers in he., hand, and the pilot fat down and commenced to take off his boots niid to put ou the more comfortable footgear. Raihel was on her feet in a moment. "I must be going," she said. "Which way do 1 get out?" "Rosebud, show the young lady the door — she's iii a hurry." The pilot never so much as took his eyes off ths boot that he was unlacing. Leading the way through the intricate passage's, Rose conducted Rachel to the front door and came beck smiling "Now what doss she want?" asked the pilot. "She's a might strange craft to be failing in these waters. There's a queer foreign rake about her t'gallant most that's new to me. Wix-re's she owned, Rosebud?" "That's Mips Varnliagen." "What! the Jew's darter? Well, well! That accounts for the- cut of her jib. Old Vanilia gen's darter? Want to sell anything?" Rose laughed. "Oh, ro, she came fishing. 1 ' "Fishing?" "Fishing for news. She's very anxious to know how much gold Mr Scarlett hes got ; in fact, shxj's very anxious to know all about Mr Scarlett." The old pilot laughed tili the shingles on the rcof were in danger of lifting. "The whnmen ; oh, the wimmen !" he said. "They're deep. There's no sounding 'em. No lead'll bottom them. You'll have to protect that young man, my gal ; protect him from scheming females. Once they can lure him on a lee shore, they'll wreck him to pieces and loot the cargo. So she wanted to know how he was freighted? He's down to Plhnsoll, my gal — down to Plimsoll with gold. A mighty fine cargo for wreckers !" At the very time that Rachel was walking out of the garden of roses, Scarlett was turning into the 1/ucuy Digger. He had come in. from the "bush," weary and tired, and was met in the passage by a man who packed stores to the new goldfield. In the bar stood Isaac Zahn, who ■ was flirting with the barmaid. But the re-gal dispenser of liquors responded to the young clerk's sallies with merely the brief politeness which she was paid to stow towards all the customers of the inn. He could extort no marked encouragement, in spite of every familiarity and witticism at his command. Turning his back on the Israelite, Scarlett gave all his attention to the honest packer. "The track's clear to the field," said Jack, "all but about four miles at the further end. In a few days you'll be able to take your horses through easily." "My rat© is £15 per ton," said the man. "The syndicate won't quarrel with that." Jack's head turned involuntarily, as an unusual scund occurred in the bar room. Zahn, leaning over the counter, had caught Gentle Annie roughly by the wrist. There was a struggle, the crash of falling glass, and a scream. Fiom the fail- form of the barmaid a stream of blood 1 was flowing and dripping ou the floor from the polished counter. In a moment Scarlett was in the bar room. He seixed the spruce bank clerk by the collar, and dragged him into the 2>assage. Zahn kicked and swore; but, setting his t>*eth. Scarlett pulled his struggling victim towards the front door, and tiere, with a suddenness which would have done credit to a fitt eeii-pounder field gun, he kicked him into the street. The trajectory was low, but Zahn, with legs and arms extended, shot across the asphalt pavement and fell sprawling at the feet of a dainty figure dressed in muslins and ribbons of rainbow hue. It was Rachel Varnhagen, tripping home to her tea. With a little scream of elegant surprise, she dropped her parasol, and gazed at the prostrate form of her jilted Cover. Gathering himself up stiffly, Isaac stood whimpering before her, his whining interspersed with unprintable invective. | Scarlett, however, heedless of the anathemas of the stricken clerk, stepped from the door of the Lucky Digger, picked up her fallen parasol, and handed it- to Rachel. In less than a moment she recognised him. "Oh, thanks," she said. '"It's awfully good of vou'." "What ? To kick this unmitigated blackguaid?" "I've no doubt he deserved it," she said, glancing with disgust at the clerk. "It's charming of you to pick up my sunshade. I hope you're coming up to see itS — papa wants to see you awfully. It would be lovely if you would come tonight." "Thank you ; I'll tiy. I liop^ 3-011 are none the worse for the fright you got." "Thanks, I'm not dead. What a terrible man you are — I wouldn't like to quarrel with you. Say 8 o'clock." "Very good — 8." "Don't forget. I shall expect you." Zahn, who heard all this conversation, ground his teeth and -slunk away. Rachel j smiled her farewell and bowed to Jack, ; mLo J'fted his hat., aad went into the. inijrj

' to see what could be done for the barmaid's ijjjr.red -wr's-t. (To hs continued.)