Part 10 (1/2)

Wolff, as a big, heavy lish

”Mulcahy, dere is de ghost of dat last lance back towards where Wolff's eyes were directed, and fell forward on the table When he lifted his face it was drawn and the color of ashes; his eyes were full of horror It was a terribly dramatic scene

Shortly after this Mulcahy took a partner, a old

The last time I saw Mulcahy was in 1876, at East London I was then working on a surf boat, and in passing under the stern of a steahed, I noticed a yellow beardedover the rail His face was not turned towards me; nevertheless, I felt I could hardly be mistaken as to his identity I called out his nah He recognized hted to see me We conversed for a short while, but my boat was soon worked away on the warp, out of earshot I afterwards heard that Mulcahy had taken several thousand pounds sterling with him to Cape Town, and that there he purchased a liquor-shop in a low quarter of the city Shortly afterwards he died insane

The tunnel at the saddle having to be abandoned on account of our striking a h which it was impossible to drive without more expensive appliances than we possessed, Wolff left the service of the coold had been struck in rich patches on and near the saddle But Sier in his e the co out, on my own account, the site whereas the claims of the company were held in my name On the very day the coround on and about the saddle was pegged out Most of those who ”rushed” the vicinity were New Zealanders from Hokitika The site on which ha purposes, any one tenting on it had to reha over the surface sods the nuggets could be picked out like plums from a cake The bedrock was soft soapy shale; there was no ”wash” in the ordinary sense of the terments of quartz were mixed, covered the bedrock to a depth of about six inches But this bedrock turned out to be scored by a shteen inches wide, which ran for about twenty feet through the ave no indication of the existence of the channel

The bottoets The stuff it contained gave an average of over four ounces to the pan; it had to be harrowed to Mulcahy's spring, there to be cradled Within a feeeks the claiold to be found outside the channel But the gold won by Cunninghas of round, they ets This was but one of the several occasions upon which I all but grasped the skirts of Fortune

Soon a water-race was brought in from the opposite side of the valley on the southern slope of the saddle a distance of about four ain took service, this tiold was found by them, but the amount must have been considerable I was not peres just previous to that cli thickly about whenever the water cleared No one, even though he were one of the partners was allowed to pick up gold before the end of the ”wash up,” all had to coigantic Sas called Peter He had another name, but, as he said himself, it would be necessary to take a pinch of snuff before you could pronounce it properly Ordinarily the e when hungry If then spoken to his only reply would be a snarl quite likely to be followed by a bloever, as Peter ate, his norradually returned When fully satisfied he would say leaning back with a sht play mit me” To sho little surna incident My tentthe New Zealanders went by the name of Bill One Saturday afternoon I reone down to the Lower Ca a blanket and addressed to ”Mr Willia that I did not know of any one bearing that na at the storekeeper for not having sent up a blanket he had bought I innocently related what had happened, and then Bill swore at is” had been my tent-mate for several weeks and I was unaware of the fact

In 1889, when traveling fro by coach, I picked up an old newspaper at a wayside hotel In it was a paragraph giving an account of how a prospector nais had been blown to pieces in a shaft somewhere in Northern Bechuanaland I have no doubt this related to ri-place was a cave under a cliff about half-way up the creek on the northern side Fabayne ell-connected, his father was a Church dignitary, a dean, I fancy and was evidently well off; for he allowed the scapegrace son 200 per annum, paid quarterly Fabayne was a university one the pace at an unusually rapid rate When I knew him he was a hopeless drunkard

Whenever Fabayne drew a 50 installment he would place 45 in the hands of the keeper of a certain bar, and 5 with a butcher whose shop was in the vicinity He would then get drunk and re the continuance of his spree it was his custoht and day, and to stand treat to all and sundry It was understood that the bar-keeper was to fire him out as soon as the deposit became exhausted This usually happened in about three weeks He would then return to his cave

The 5 was meant to keep him in food and clothes until the next installment fell due He used to fetch a sheep's pluck every day and make soup of it in a billy The butcher used his own discretion in the rew ed I fancy the bar-keeper contributed towards his outfit, a thing he could, under the circumstances, well afford to do

A co would have included a pick, a shovel, a pan, and an old sluice-box, none of which he ever used, also a blanket, a big knife, a billy, and a Greek Testahty, was comfortable and fairly dry

Now and then I shared it with Fabayne; generally on those occasions when I soldcoly well-read, but he was syree

I have e with his pluck soup, and found the seasoning good

When ”getting off” after one of his quarterly sprees, Fabayne's habits were apt to be trying to one like myself, without an allowance, and who had to work hard and constantly to keep body and soul together For instance, he would soh, at theSophocles I could not understand a word he uttered, but his elocution was good, his voice ell modulated, and the sonorous periods of the choruses froone” and the ”Elektra” were effective by virtue of theirwas all very well up to about nine o'clock; after that, however, it beca But it was impossible to stop hih I must sometimes have hurt him rather severely, he took no notice Fabayne ad hiue hihtest avail

I recall a wedding which had a sequel very characteristic of its environh I knew the irl The ceremony took place in a little church that had recently been built near the Middle Camp, and in which the Rev Mr B used occasionally used to officiate This church stood on a s steeply up to it froht struck work and asse the bride and bridegroo I should say that from thirty to forty men lined the pathway on each side Nearly every one had provided himself with an old boot for the occasion After the knot had been tied the happy couple passed down the hill between the lines of their cheering friends Then, at a given signal, we all let fly the boots in a volley taking care, of course, that neither bride nor bridegroom was hit Then one man picked up a fairly heavy boot from where it had fallen and deliberately hurled it at the bride, striking her on the back The perpetrator of this outrage was, needless to say, a discarded suitor

The bridegroom turned round, took off his coat which he handed to the bride to hold and rolled up his sleeves He knew quite ho had thrown the an It only lasted, however, for three rounds The bridegroom was victorious; he escaped without a scratch The other man was, as he richly deserved to be, severely punished It was, however, just as well for him that this was the case, otherould have ducked him in the muddiest tail race within reach As the victor marched off with his proud ret to have to record the fact that the officiating parson was taken down to Tom Craddock's bar and thereRock on Slater's Claim there lived, on the flat where the creek widened out under Gardiner's Point, an American named Knox He was a tall, swarthy inally a sailor from, I think, Martha's Vineyard, he had deserted from his shi+p in the early days of the diamond-fields

Knox was a quiet, inoffensive man, except when under the influence of drink Then he was, in local parlance, ”a holy terror” He would get a keg of Mauritius rum, a o to bed For several days thereafter Knox would not be dangerous, unless you tripped over the tent-ropes or tried to open the tent However, he eventually reached a stage during which if he heard footsteps anywhere in his vicinity he would fire his revolver in the direction of the sound The canvas sides of his tent were riddled with bullet-holes, I only ree actually resulted, it was that of a native who got a bullet through the calf of his leg

After a time people ”in the know” avoided the vicinity of Knox's tent whenever he was on the spree Soes of his cups, Knox would fire in all directions apparently for the purpose of relieving his feelings However, as there were no tents very close to his, this did not matter so veryat intervals through the evening, but the performance was taken quite as a matter of course One would ain I suppose he'll be out to- which caused much comment early in 1875 I can vouch for the details, so far as I relate theht, 1874, three men met at a bar known as ”The Half-way House,” which stood where the creek narrowed and made a sharp turn a few hundred yards above the Middle Caton, afterwards of Knysna, was one, another was a otten