er
transformation scene. I had not a doubt that Tommy would bring it off
all right. The kings from Orion don't go into action without coming
out on top. As we got near the mines I kept my ears open for the sound
of shots; but all was still,--not even the kind of hubbub a native
force makes when it is on the move. Something had happened, but what
it was no man could guess. When we got to where the line was up, we
made very good time over the five miles to the mines. No one
interfered with us, and the nearer we got the greater grew my
certainty. Soon we were at the pickets, who had nothing to tell us;
and then we were racing up the long sandy street to the offices, and
there, sitting smoking on the doorstep of the hotel, surrounded by
everybody who was not on duty, were Mackay and Ashurst.

"They were an odd pair. Ashurst still wore his uniform; but he seemed
to have been rolling about in it on the ground; his sleek hair was
wildly ruffled, and he was poking holes in the dust with his sword.
Mackay had lost his topper, and wore a disreputable cap, his ancient
frock-coat was without buttons, and his tie had worked itself up behind
his ears. They talked excitedly to each other, now and then
vouchsafing a scrap of information to an equally excited audience.
When they saw me they rose and rushed for me, and dragged me between
them up the street, while the crowd tailed at our heels.

"'Ye're a true prophet, Captain Thirlstone,' Mackay began, 'and I ask
your pardon for doubting you. Ye said the Governor only needed a
crisis to behave like a man. Well, the crisis has come; and if there's
a man alive in this sinful world, it's that chief o' yours. And then
his emotion overcame him, and, hard-bitten devil as he was, he sat down
on the ground and gasped with hysterical laughter, while Ashurst, with
a very red face, kept putting the wrong end of a cigarette in his mouth
and swearing profanely.

"I never remember a madder sight. There was the brassy blue sky and
reddish granite rock and acres of thick red dust. The scrub had that
metallic greenness which you find in all copper places. Pretty
unwholesome it looked, and the crowd, which had got round us again, was
more unwholesome still. Fat Jew boys, with diamond rings on dirty
fingers and greasy linen cuffs, kept staring at us with twitching lips;
and one or two smarter fellows in riding-breeches, mine-managers and
suchlike, tried to show their pluck by nervous joke