ame figure; that is,
including the cost of the mining machinery, the wages of laborers, and
the many other expenses. It was admitted that the best mines showed a
fair profit on the investment, but not enough to make a fortune in a
short time.

The youths came to the conclusion that gold mining had been most
profitable to the people that never engaged in it. In this number he
included the brokers, bankers, storekeepers, farmers, and others who
kept out of the actual business of digging gold but profited by their
dealings with those who were engaged in it. Nothing so delights the
owner of a large farm in Australia as to learn of a gold discovery a few
miles from his place. He knows that it will give him a good market for
all he has to sell, though there may be occasional thefts from his horse
or cattle paddocks. Traders of all kinds get an enormous profit at the
mines, and as for the brokers and bankers, there is no doubt of their
ability to take care of themselves.

When Harry made the remark contained in the foregoing paragraph, Ned
said that it reminded him of a story.

"Well, please tell it," said Dr. Whitney; "we are always ready for good
stories."

Thus encouraged, Ned spoke as follows:--

"I was reading a day or two ago about a man who had a large cattle run
in a part of Australia where he had been for several years without any
near neighbors. Gold was discovered about ten miles from his place, and
a good many people flocked there. The gold mines furnished an excellent
market for his beef and for all the vegetables he chose to grow on his
place; but, on the other hand, he suffered somewhat by the depredations
of lawless characters. Horse stealing seemed to be the popular amusement
among the people at the mines, and quite often horses disappeared from
the estate and were never seen again.

"But they had one horse, called Stepney, that was a perfect treasure. He
was kept for carriage purposes and would never let anybody mount on his
back. He would stand perfectly still while being saddled, and while
anything was being attached to the saddle, but the instant anybody got
on his back he was thrown, and there was not a rider in Australia who
could stay in the saddle more than a few seconds.

"About once in a fortnight Stepney would be missing from the paddock,
but he always turned up in a day or two, and almost invariably with a
saddle on his back, generally a new one, and a miner's 'swag' attached
to it, and on