ed his tent on the ridge
overlooking the creek, and then--the very zenith of prosperity--a bank
official followed, and a stately building, composed of a dozen sheets of
bark for a roof, and floor sacks for the sides, was erected and opened
for business on the same day, amid much rejoicing and a large amount
of liquid refreshment dispensed by the landlord of the "hotel" at a
shilling per nobbler.

For six months longer all went well: more alluvial patches were
discovered in the surrounding country, and then several rich reefs were
found a mile away from the Flat, and every day new men arrived from
Cooktown to the north, and Brisbane, Sydney, and far New Zealand to the
south. Three new "hotels" sprang up; the police force was increased by
another trooper and two black trackers, who rode superciliously around
the camp, carbines on thighs, in their dark blue uniforms with scarlet
facings, and condescended to drink with even the humblest white man; and
then came the added glory of the "Chinkie's Flat Gold Escort"--when a
police van with an Irish sergeant, two white troopers, and eight black
police rattled through the camp, and pulled up at the bank, which now
had a corrugated iron roof, a proper door, and two windows, and (the
manager's own private property) a tin shower bath suspended by a cord
under the verandah, a seltzogene, and a hen with seven chickens. The
manager himself was a young sporting gentleman of parts, and his efforts
to provide Sunday recreation for his clients were duly appreciated--he
was secretary of the Chinkie's Flat Racing Club (meeting every alternate
Sunday), and he and old "Taeping" between them owned a dozen of kangaroo
dogs, which lived on the community generally, and afforded much exciting
sport every Saturday, either in hunting kangaroos or Chinamen, both of
which were plentiful in the vicinity.

For although Peter Finnerty and his party had succeeded in driving away
the heathen from the Flat itself, the continued further discoveries of
rich alluvial had brought them swarming into the district from all the
other gold-fields in the colony in such numbers that it was impossible
to keep the almond-eyed mining locusts out, especially as the Government
was disposed to give them a measure of protection--not from any
unnatural sentiment, but purely because they were revenue producers, and
the Government badly wanted money. Then, too, their camps were so large,
and so many of them were armed, and disp