comrades garments more adapted to the bush. They
certainly did not fit him, but that was a matter of no account, and
when he had put them on he commenced work in very grim earnest. He was
hard pressed--up against it, as they say in that country--and every
crashing blow he struck upon the drill was a relief to him. Indeed, he
worked with curious cold-blooded fury that wore out his comrades long
before night came. Saunders had invested the proceeds of several years
of Spartan self-denial in the precarious venture, but that was as
nothing compared with Weston's stake. He must succeed or relinquish
all idea of winning the woman, who, he ventured to think, might listen
to him when he had accomplished his task; and when he desisted at
sunset his hands were bleeding and he had partly lamed Devine by an
incautious stroke of the pick. That, however, was a matter about which
the surveyor protested less than the hazards his comrade quietly took.
He rammed the giant-powder into the holes with reckless haste, and,
though the cheapest fuses are seldom to be relied on, he allowed his
companions scanty time to get out of the mine when he lighted them.

It was the same the next day, and for most of the next three weeks.
Indeed, Saunders and Devine were never sure how they contrived to keep
pace with him; but they did it for the credit of their manhood, which
would not allow them to be beaten by a Britisher. At nights their
hands and backs were distressfully sore, but the adit they drove crept
on steadily along the dip of the lode. Though they had worked
reasonably hard already, their faces grew gaunter and harder under the
strain, and as yet they had come upon little sign of any richer ore.
In the meanwhile it was very hot, and all day the withering sprays of
the fallen firs emitted heavy, honey-like odors under the scorching
sun.

Then it occurred to some of the others that, as there had been several
weeks of fierce dry weather, it would be a favorable opportunity to
burn off the slashing, or clear away the branches of the felled trees,
which is usually done before the great logs, which do not readily
burn, are attacked with the saw; and one day, when the wind promised
to drive the conflagration away from the camp, fires were kindled here
and there among the tindery undergrowth. The attempt proved
successful, and in a few hours the fire had spread into the
surrounding forest. It crept on through the latter steadily, springing
up the