ess to get back
to Melbourne and away from the diggings. She was afraid of many of the
people she saw, and didn't like others. She was terrified all the
time Jim was away from her, but she would not hear of living at the
Prospectors' Arms with her sister.

'I know where that sort of thing leads to,' she said; 'let us have our
own home, however rough.'

Kate went out to Specimen Gully to see her sister pretty often, and they
sat and talked and laughed, just as they did in old times, Jeanie said.
She was a simple little thing, and her heart was as pure as quartz
crystal. I do really believe she was no match for Kate in any way. So
the days went on. I didn't dare stay away from the Prospectors' Arms,
for fear she'd think I wanted to break with her altogether, and yet I
was never altogether comfortable in her company. It wasn't her fault,
for she laid herself out to get round us all, even old Arizona Bill, who
used to sit solemnly smoking, looking like an Indian chief or a graven
image, until at last his brick-coloured, grizzled old face would break
up all of a sudden, and he'd laugh like a youngster. As the days drew
nigh Christmas I could see a restless expression in her face that
I never saw before. Her eyes began to shine in a strange way, and
sometimes she'd break off short in her talk and run out of the room.
Then she'd pretend to wish we were gone, and that she'd never seen us
again. I could hardly tell what to make of her, and many a time I
wished we were on blue water and clear away from all chance of delay and
drawback.

Chapter 30

We made up our minds to start by Saturday's coach. It left at night and
travelled nigh a hundred miles by the same hour next morning. It's more
convenient for getting away than the morning. A chap has time for doing
all kinds of things just as he would like; besides, a quieter time to
slope than just after breakfast. The Turon daily mail was well horsed
and well driven. Nightwork though it was, and the roads dangerous in
places, the five big double-reflector lamps, one high up over the top of
the coach in the middle with two pair more at the side, made everything
plain. We Cornstalks never thought of more than the regular pair of
lamps, pretty low down, too, before the Yankee came and showed us what
cross-country coaching was. We never knew before. My word, they taught
us a trick or two. All about riding came natural, but a heap of dodges
about harness we never so much a