"You have got it? My
dear sir, this is good news; this is excellent news! You have found
the new gold-field? This is really remarkable, this is indeed most
fortunate! This is the happiest day I have seen for a long while!"

"Eh? What? what?" said Cathro, who was on his feet too. "Is it rich?"

"Rich?" said Jack. Taking a bank deposit-receipt from his pocket, he
handed it to Cathro.

"Good God!" cried he, eyeing the figures on the paper, "it's a fortune."

Mr. Crewe had his gold spectacles upon his nose and the paper in his
hand in a moment. "Three thousand one hundred and eighty-seven pounds!"
he exclaimed. "Well, well, that is luck! And where's your mate,
Scarlett? Where is Moonlight?"

"He's on the claim."

"On the claim? Then there's still gold in sight?"

"We've but scratched the surface," said Jack. "This is only the
foretaste of what's to come."

The important little man, who had eagerly listened to all that had been
said, was hovering round the group, like an excited cock sparrow.

"Really!" he exclaimed, "this is most interesting, very interesting
indeed. A remarkable event, Mr. Crewe, a most remarkable event. Do me
the honour, sir, to introduce me to your friend."

"Mr. Tonks, Scarlett," said the old gentleman. "Allow me to introduce
Mr. Tonks."

Jack greeted the little man politely, and then turning to Cathro, said,
"We've pegged off four men's claims; so, Cathro, you'll have to turn
digger, and go back with me to the field."

"But my dear sir," replied Cathro, whose shrivelled form betokened no
great physical strength, "my dear Scarlett, am I to do pick-and-shovel
work? Am I to trundle a barrow? Am I to work up to my waist in water,
and sleep in a tent? My dear sir, I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed."

Scarlett threw back his head, and laughed. "Oh, that's nothing," he
said. "It's the getting there with a 70lb. swag on your back that's the
trouble. The country is a mass of ranges; the bush is as thick as a
jungle, and there's nothing but a blazed track to go by. But your claim
is waiting for you. What do you intend doing with it?"

The attenuated Cathro sank on a couch despairingly. "I think I'll sell
it," he said. "I'll sell it to Tonks here, I'll sell it for L1000 down,
and be content with small profits and quick returns."

The little man, important that he should be referred to as good for so
substantial an amount, strutted up and down, like a bantam on whom the
eyes of the fowl-yard rest