Part 9 (2/2)

In 1874 a certain corporation, I think it was called ”The Gold Fields Exploration Corim's Rest Edward Sier Siood friend totoon prospecting operations in the vicinity of a high saddle on one of the subsidiary ranges north of the Mac Mac Divide I was engaged at the usual reold per week, and instructed to join two men, Wolff and McGrath, ere already on the spot

The scene of our as called ”The Reef” [Years afterwards known as the Jubilee Mine] No reef had been discovered there, but it was believed that one existed The saddle was steep and narrow, especially on the northern side, where the rocky gully that scored its flank fell into aof a shaft in this swaets had been found in the interstices of the bedrock in the gully, so it was believed that the basin contained a rich deposit

One nugget which I found was theof the kind I have ever seen It was shaped like a curved ostrich feather, and was as bright as though it had just been turned out of a jeweler's shop

Siet ed to beof the shaft was both difficult and dangerous We struck water at about six feet, and then had to reen timber cut in the vicinity and sink them, backed by slabs, as we took the shaft down The water floas very strong, so we had to bale continuously, night and day, for we dared not let it rise We worked in four-hour shi+fts, with relays of native laborers After sinking sixty feet, and nearly losing our lives in trying to save the shaft fro, the water drove us out and the work had to be abandoned I still believe that there is gold, and plenty of it, at the bottoantic thews He had been a sailor McGrath was an Australian gold-digger One night the latter stepped barefoot out of the tent and was bitten on the instep by a snake He collapsed almost immediately We sent a runner down to the Lower Camp, which was nearly six miles away, for assistance There was no qualified medical practitioner to be had; however, an amateur came up and treated the patient with strychnine We had, in the atures above it McGrath escaped with his life, but the greater portion of his instep rotted away, and he became a physical wreck For a tune he completely lost the use of the muscles of his eyelids; for months he had to use his hands when he wanted to open or shut his eyes

After abandoning the shaft, Wolff and I were instructed to drive a tunnel into the hillside on the southern fall of the saddle We took this work under contract, at soinvolved the use of props and slabs; these had to be cut and trimmed in a forest situated more than a mile away, beyond a deep valley on the northern face

South African tirained and heavy; consequently the huh the valley and over the saddle to the tunnel was almost the heaviest andthe trees and dressing the tiaged in felling I had an adventure with a ully which contained s a tree about fifty yards abovea patch of scrub Out of this a large ht for me I could not cliully-side The snake passed within a few feet of me, but made no attempt to attack

Snakes and leopards were very plentiful about our cae python dwelt in a krantz within less than a hundred yards of our tent The creature was often seen, but it always escaped e ran over with our guns on receiving a report that it was sunning itself The trees were covered with the claw ers caold Aest characters I have ever inally froone to California in the early days of the ”placer” mines He and Bret Harte had beenthe Rocky Mountains, and had even crossed the Yukon River on one of his trips

Solitary in his habits and possessed of a most violent temper, Mulcahy was usually disliked by those hoed, I should say, about forty five yellow-bearded, exceedingly handsoestion of so sinister about him To me he unbent considerably ere alone

Once in a burst of confidence Mulcahy told me that he had left California to escape the attentions of a certain , the proprietress of a saloon, who had fallen in love with him He related how she had pursued hi and, before he could resist, thrown her arht have wathered a mule at”

Mulcahy and I first met at the Rotunda Creek Rush, and when that abode of ”wild cat” collapsed, we arranged to take a prospecting trip towards the Olifant River We made a start, but after a ere driven back by some of the worst weather I have ever experienced The clih mountain plateau by a succession of violent hailstorms We crept under the lee of a rock for shelter, but our fire was s h what seeht

As the weather remained unsettled, we decided to return to camp and there refit Besides, we badly needed recuperation after the one We arrived at the Lower Ca at about nine o'clock, et s at Stopforth and Bow-house and called for breakfast I then enjoyed the heartiestatwith astonishht he would never stop; plateful followed plateful in an apparently endless endeavor to sate the insatiable However, all things antuan s, I thought Stopforth looked pensive

After resting for so in the meantime cleared, we made another start We had decided to cooodat the Upper Creek, and tramped down to the Lower Camp, once more to bestow the doubtful favor of our custos at the door and entered It was barely eight o'clock, so no other custoe h tables and benches on either side of a passage down the e a square piece had been cut out of the canvas, and it was through the resulting aperture that plates were passed to and fro while Stopforth did the waiting

We took our seats at one of the tables and called for breakfast

Stopforth stood for a few seconds and regarded Mulcahy with a soe and called through the aperture:

”Bill”

”Hullo?”

”Breakfast for ten; here's this son of a back”

My partner was enormously pleased at this compliment to his prowess; for months afterwards he used to chuckle at the remembrance of it

After Mulcahy moved up to ”The Reef” he keptadvances even fro struck rich gold from the very first, and to his desire to keep the circu known He worked his cradle at a s about a hundred and fifty yards away To this spring he had scarped a footpath along the mountain side, and over this footpath he harrowed his stuff He seemed seldom or never to sleep It was his custom to knock off work comparatively early in the afternoon Until about nine o'clock he would stroll about Then he would recoht long Most of the dayti

Occasionally, in the evening, this strange being would coly objected to this; he thought the man came to listen to our conversation My theory, which I fully believe to have been the right one, was that the lonely creature so for huarding Mulcahy was to the effect that he had been a noted ”road agent” that is to say, a highway robber in California One incident, of which I was a witness,very heavy on his conscience

One evening Wolff and I atching the approach of a very violent thunderstor the tent-door, Mulcahy appeared and, to ave no answer, but I replied in the affirmative Mulcahy entered, and the three of us sat down, Wolff and I on one bunk and the visitor on the other The table was between the bunks

Our tent had what is known as a ”fly”; that is to say, a second roof pitched about six inches above the ordinary one The rain careat violence The inner roof reainst it This contact happened just over where Mulcahy was sitting, and occasioned a wet h outline, the head, shoulders, and outstretched ar The mark was fully visible to Wolff and h the canvas on which it appeared sloped immediately over him