Part 37 (2/2)
”However that might be,” continued Mr. Crewe, ”the object of all present is, I understand, to act in unison. There will be hundreds of diggers on the field before very long, and in many cases claims will be jumped and gold will be stolen, in spite of the Warden and the constabulary. You will be wise, therefore, to co-operate for mutual protection, if for no other reason.”
”Name, t.i.tle?”
”What shall the a.s.sociation be called?”
A dozen names were suggested by as many men. Some were offered in jest, some in earnest; but none met with approval. When the tempest of voices was past, Mr. Crewe said, ”The a.s.sociation must have a name; certainly, it must have a name. It is not to be a company, registered under the Act. It is not to be a syndicate, or a trust. It is simply a league, composed of gentlemen who intend to stand beside each other, and divide the profits of their enterprise. If you cannot consolidate your claims, you must work them individually. I shall therefore suggest that you call yourselves The Timber Town Gold League. Your articles of agreement can be drawn up in half-an-hour, and you can all sign them before you leave this room.” Here Scarlett whispered to Mr. Crewe, who scrutinised his hearers, and then said, ”To be sure; certainly. Whilst Bulstrode, here, who is a lawyer and should know his business, is drawing up the doc.u.ment, Scarlett asks you to drink to the prosperity of the new league.”
The suggested ceremony necessitated more speeches, but when they were finished the lawyer read the articles of a.s.sociation. Strangely enough, they were devoid of legal technicalities, and consisted of four clearly-worded clauses, dest.i.tute of legal fiction, to which all present readily subscribed their names.
That done, they drank to the prosperity of The Timber Town Gold League.
CHAPTER XXII.
Women's Ways.
Scarlett had a day upon his hands while his gold-seeking _confreres_ of the League made their preparations for the journey to Bush Robin Creek.
To loiter about the town meant that he would be pestered with questions regarding the locality of the new ”field,” which, until his friends'
”claims” were pegged off, it was desirous to keep secret. He decided, therefore, to re-visit the scene of the wreck of _The Mersey Witch_.
On a mount, lent him by Chesterman, he was on his way to the Maori _pa_, before the town was stirring. The road, which he had never traversed before, wound its tortuous way along the sh.o.r.e for some eight miles, and then struck inland across the neck of a wooded peninsula, on the further side of which the rugged and rocky sh.o.r.e was fringed with virgin forest.
He had reached the thick and shady ”bush” which covered the isthmus, where the dew of the morning still lay cool on leaf and frond, and the great black boles of the forest giants stood sentinel amid the verdant undergrowth, when he overtook a girl who was walking towards the _pa_.
Her dress was peculiar; she wore a short Maori mat over her shoulders, and a blue petticoat fell from waist to ankle, while her head and feet were bare.
Jack reined in his horse, and asked if he was on the road which led to the _pa_, when the girl turned her merry, brown face, with its red lips and laughing, brown eyes, and said in English as good as his own, ”Good morning. Yes, this is the road to the _pa_. Why, you were the last person I expected to see.” She held up her hand to him, to greet him in European fas.h.i.+on.
”Amiria!” he exclaimed. ”How _are_ you? It's quite appropriate to meet you here--I'm on my way to the wreck, to see how the old s.h.i.+p looks, if there is anything of her left. How far is it to the _pa_?”
”About two miles.”
”What brings you so far, at this time of the morning?”
”You pa.s.sed a settler's house, half-a-mile back.”
”Yes, a house built of slabs.”
”I have been there to take the woman some fish--our people made a big haul this morning.”
Jack dismounted, and, hooking his arm through the bridle, he walked beside the Maori girl.
”Why didn't you ride, Amiria?”
”My horse is turned out on the hills at the back of the _pa_, and it's too much trouble to bring him in for so short a ride. Besides, the walk won't hurt me: if I don't take exercise I shall lose my figure.” She burst into a merry laugh, for she knew that, as she was then dressed, her beauty depended on elasticity of limb and sweetness of face rather than upon shape and fas.h.i.+on.
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