tween 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 came down in
torrents and the wind blew with great violence. The inner roof remained
dry, except where the outer one flapped against it. This contact
happened just over where Mulcahy was sitting, and occasioned a wet mark
resembling, in rough outline, the head, shoulders, and outstretched
arms of a human being. The mark was fully visible to Wolff and me, but
could not be seen by Mulcahy, although the canvas on which it appeared
sloped immediately over him.

Wolff, who was a big, heavy man, very slow of speech, said in his
halting, broken English

"Mulcahy, dere is de ghost of dat last man you shot in California."

Mulcahy turned, shot a glance 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 man named Friese. They
found a great deal of gold.

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 steamer,
the anchor of which was being weighed, I noticed a yellow bearded man
leaning over 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 name; he turned, and I saw that it was Mulcahy, right
enough. He recognized me at once, and apparently was delighted 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 mass of loose rock through which it was impossible to drive
without more expensive appliances than we possessed, Wolff left the
service of the company. I was anxious to leave too, because alluvial
gold had been struck in rich patches on and near the saddle. But
Simpson made a point of my remaining for a few weeks longer in his
employ, for the sake of protecting the company's supposed interests.

I wished to peg out, on my own account, the site where my tent stood,
but this I could not do so lo