Part 8 (1/2)

We scrambled down the steep mountain-side, between patches of forest and over reefs of quartz The latter had a special interest for us; ere now in the land of gold and who could tell where the clues of Fortune were not to be picked up? That afternoon the world was full of glorious possibilities

We waded across the Blyde River drift and ascended the slope towards the tohich nestled behind a stony rise Soon, with light hearts and lighter pockets (ed up the one and only street Here and there stood a digger, or a storekeeper, glancing with amused conte a pair of new moleskin breeches that were several sizes too wide for ood deal of derisive co out to a friend across the street

”Say, Jis and country made trousers, eh?”

Joe's limp, also, was the subject of ribaldry On the whole werather s us that within a very fewon si under like conditions) ere glad e had passed through the townshi+p We strolled up the winding valley, ad to set about earning a living The scenery was enchanting, but scenery by itself is not a satisfying diet

On our course up the creek we passed nued nature of the Pilgrireat deal So the terraces high up far beyond the Middle Camp and their tent was my objective Once we heard a cheery hail fro a tin pannikin at us This ladly accepted The claim orked by a couple of Australians; they were on a fair lead, so they told us They gave us a supply of tobacco, and told us to call round again as soon as we ”got stony,” and they would see what they could do for us This evidence of sy of confidence which I badly needed

We reached the Middle Camp; as we passed Tom Craddock's bar a stalwart, bearded, and er ca in and drinking at his expense In the bar was ame feel more or less at hoot hold of the idea that ere expected to stand return treat to our host and his friends In this I was, as it happened, quite mistaken

Joe had no money whatever, so I had to pay My capital was now reduced to two shi+llings

The man I met in the bar, who had, a few days previously,it, a couple of o back to a warm nook we had noticed in a kloof on the way up, and spend the night there We reached this spot just as night was falling, and ”dossed” down Fuel was plentiful, so wemeal into dah tea left for two brews; one of these we prepared at once Then we filled our pipes with so in a condition of mind that approached contentment

It had been tacitly assu definite had been said on the subject We conversed for a while after supper; then silence fell upon us I spoke several ti ht, Joe turned abruptly to et a better oodbye”

When I awoke in the grey dawn Joe had already risen, lit the fire, packed his swag, and brewed our last pinch of tea in the billy

We drank to each other's good fortune in silence Then, after a hand-press, Joe hu me with athered with much worse men than ”Artful Joe”

Early that day I found reed to allowworth , and, not having performed any manual labor for soo the purgatorial experience of having his palms blistered and re-blistered until continued contact with the handles of pick and shovel made them horny However, I soon matriculated at the sluice-box, and was able to do a fair day's work

Then, as es they were, for the tiht another ees for Europeans was an ounce of gold per week, the value thereof being about 3 12s 6d

With ht some double width unbleached calico and a palm and needle By means of these I made myself a small tent The cost of the s, and the as easily finished in the course of four or five evenings I had not been living in this tent for more than ten days when a ht it over my head for 1pound 15s I must haveot to be known as ”that chap who always has a tent to sell” When a purchaser ca I would deliver the tent at once, andof some friend or another who happened to have rooly indeed; two shi+llings per diem paid for my food and tobacco I hoarded every penny like athis it was necessary to have a few pounds in hand On Sundays it was my habit to walk to the top of the ”Divide,” the backbone of the ri caers there in the first instance having been Scotset far and faint glimpses of the mysterious ”Low Country,” which was just visible (in clear weather) over the intervening precipice-edged plateau which lay beyond the Mac Mac and Waterfall Creeks

Sixty miles away to the north-east, but clearly visible in the rarefied h which the Olifant River roared down to es rolled away to the infinite north-west What direction first to explore in?

That was a difficult question to decide, seeing that the field for adventure was equally enticing in every direction

Beyond the deep valley in which Mac Mac nestled arose gradually a great, shelving tract In rough outline it resembled a plateau, but the explorer found it to be much broken up and intersected by ravines, soth This plateau was very extensive; in fact, it stretched indefinitely to the north-east, the only break in that direction being the distant gates of the Oliphant But on the south-east it ended in an enormous precipice, occasionally several thousand feet in sheer height

The view froe of this precipice was hty wall the broken hills, covered with virgin forest, fell aith lessening steepness to the plains These, also, were covered with trees; here, however, the woodland had a different character, for there was little or no undergrowth The plains stretched away, to an iazer on the cliff-edge, that romance dwelt in the tents of enchantiraffe In the dark hour just before dawn the dew-laden boughs shrouding it trembled to the thunder-tones of the lion as he roared over his kill Above all, its thickets of mystery had hardly been trodden by the foot of civilized ame was occasionally to be found

So than his felloould lead his mate and her brood up one of the dizzy clefts in the precipice to prey on the cattle which, in seasons of drought, the Lydenburg fare

Onea billy of tea in a s round I saw nine elands descending the side of the depression and hty yards and then stood The leader was an iest I have ever seen All looked as sleek and fat as stall-fed cattle My only weapon was an old Colt revolver

How I cursedattheir course slightly to the right They passed within less than fifty yards of my fire

CHAPTER VII

Extended rambles--View from the mountain top--An unknown land--The deadly fever--Gray's fate--Lack of nursing--Terim's Rest in early days--The prison--The stocks--No color line--John Caold--Wild peaches Massacres of natives in old days--Kameel--His expressions--Life on the creek--Major Macdonald--The parson--Boulders--Bad accidents--A quaint signboard--”Reefing Charlie”

As the days lengthened out I began to extend the scope ofon Sunday I would do so on Saturday afternoon, as soon as work in the clai would take me over the Divide, and almost across the plateau beyond the Mac Mac River At so's daould findcliff However, sunrise was rarely a striking spectacle from there, for the reason that usually andthe Low Country was shrouded in haze It was later, when the sun had clih and the haze had so But haze, although its density varied considerably fro eastward

This almost continuous barrier to very distant vision used to annoy ather up details of the e Once, on an unusually clear day, I caught sight of the Lebohty ion used to thrill hts which, after all, turned out not to be so very high and to plunge into its seaward hollows How I girded at the vapor that almost continually shrouded it But I alae so rich, was largely due to the diaphanous i only a bare hint of the details, gave full play to the iination