say, the wash was
only a few inches deep; it lay on a soft slate bottom. We fixed our
sluice box in a rapid of the river which was some two hundred yards
from the claim, and was reached by a footpath we scarped down the face
of the bluff. We hired a couple of boys to carry down the wash. I did
the pick and shovel work, which included the filling of the gunny-bags.
McCallum washed out each installment as it arrived. This was the
easiest contract I ever took on; it meant about one minute's work
alternating with nearly ten minutes' rest, all day long. The first
couple of days' work gave splendid results; from the gravel cleared off
a space about eight feet square we got, so far as I can remember, about
a pound weight of gold.

Naturally, we considered that at length our fortunes were made. Our
claims measured together forty five thousand square feet, the area we
had cleared was but sixty four. The latter number, when worked into the
former, went nearly seven hundred times. And the surface appeared to be
exactly the same over the whole area.

Assuming that any reliance could be placed on arithmetic, we were
potential capitalists. We began to speculate as to what we would do
with our money. 14,000 apiece was a large sum. I think McCallum decided
to go to Scotland, there to recommence some lawsuit he had been obliged
to drop for want of funds. My own firm intention was to organize an
expedition to the Zambezi not to go "foot-slogging," as I had been
doing in the Low Country, but with properly equipped wagons, the most
modern armament, salted horses and all the rest of it. Well, for one
night, at all events, we enjoyed ourselves. I do not think we slept at
all.

But we never found so much as another half-ounce of gold in those
claims; we had struck the one little "patch" they contained. We hired
more boys, we ran prospecting trenches in every direction, we worked
late and early often carrying the bags of wash down the scarped
footpath ourselves, long after the boys had knocked off. But all was in
vain. Our pound of gold melted like an icicle in the sun. We were, in
local parlance, "bust."

CHAPTER X

Prospectors start for Swaziland--Rumors as to their fate--MacLean and I
decide to follow them--Precautions against lions--The Crocodile River--The
Boer and the pessimist--Game and honey--Crocodiles--Difficulties in
crossing the river--MacLean nearly drowned in the rapids--I go on alone
First sight of De Kaap--A labyrin