ent line ends, our servants produced some
welcome tea. From there we ran on to Springsure, where our arrival
caused great excitement, for it was really the opening of the line,
ours being the first passenger train to arrive at the township. By
about half-past eight we were all dressed, and went to a comfortable
inn, some on foot and some in waggonettes, where we breakfasted.

After watching experiments with various horses, to see which were best
and quietest, we started in a couple of buggies for the opal-mines, or
rather opal-fields, of Springsure. We had not driven far when we came
to a fence right across the high road, and had to go some way round
over rough ground and across a creek to avoid it. This did not excite
any astonishment in the mind of the gentleman who drove us, and he
seemed to think it was a casual alteration owing to the new line; but
on a dark night the unexpected obstruction might prove inconvenient.
When the top of the hill where the opals are to be found was reached,
we all got out and set to work to pick up large and heavy stones with
traces of opals in them, as well as some fragments of pumice-stone
with the same glittering indications. We were shown the remnants of a
rock which had been blown up with dynamite to get at a magnificent
opal firmly imbedded in it. The experiment resulted in rock, opal, and
all being blown into fragments, and nothing more has ever been seen of
the precious stone. Our search not proving very successful, we
proceeded to the large sheep-station of Rainworth. This fine property
originally belonged to Mr. Bolitho, and I was told that it then
consisted of 300 square miles of country thoroughly well stocked, with
excellent buildings, and--what is to be most valued in this dry and
thirsty land--a running stream, which had never been known to be
empty, even in a ten years' drought. The question of water becomes a
serious consideration out here, where every full-grown beast is
supposed to drink and waste ten gallons of water a day. The drive to
the station was very pleasant. We passed a racecourse, where a little
race-meeting was going on. It looked a very simple affair, and we were
told that once a year all the sporting population in what Australians
call 'the neighbourhood,' extending for some hundred miles around,
assemble here to try their nags against one another.

We seem rather unlucky about accidents, for on our way down a steep
hill the horses suddenly became restiv