on of the Rest grew larger. It was just such an occasion as
justified the expansion of bush hospitality, and Birralong, recognizing
the fact, went out as a man to meet it. The school-children, as they
trooped away home, carried the message with them to their fathers and
their brothers that the prospectors had come in from the ranges with a
team-load of nuggets, and that there was a pile of them on the bar table
at the Rest being melted. The news travelled, as such news will, and
many a man on a neighbouring selection was moved to thought. Half the
farming implements in the district were damaged or out of order, and
flooring-boards were at a premium, to judge by the numbers of clients
who, during the early evening--school only broke up at four--rode or
drove up to the smithy and the saw-mill, and had perforce to seek the
proprietors farther afield.

Since the arrival of the trio who led Tony away the Rest had not known
such an entertainment. There was drought in the land, and water was so
scarce on many a selection that washing was a luxury which stood
adjourned till the rain came, and so the Rest had been allowed to
slumber. But a good store of necessaries, as so regarded at a bush
hotel, was in the house, for a drought is usually followed, sooner or
later, by a flood; and in a country where rain is rare and sunshine
frequent, that which in more humid countries is regarded with
displeasure, is hailed in droughty lands as an occasion for festivity
and mirth; hence the Rest was well stocked, so as to be ready for the
rain.

The accommodation for housing an unlimited number of visitors, however,
was not quite so apparent, but when those visitors were men who had for
years past known no other roof than a tent, and often none other than
the sky, sleeping quarters were not difficult to obtain, especially as
each man had his blankets--or what passed for such--with him. There were
paddocks round the Rest and calico enough for a hundred tents in
Marmot's store, and with gold in their pockets, the fossickers of
Boulder Creek asked for nothing more--in the way of shelter.

The diggers shared their good fortune royally with their comrades and
friends, and song and jest circulated, as well as the encourager of
both, and the atmosphere in the big, lumbering room which served the
purpose of a bar, was filled with laughter and tobacco-smoke on the
first night of the arrival.

Subsequently other elements supervened--elements which h