men along the banks, and he sat
still on the bare back of his horse for a time looking with amazement
before him.

Up the creek and down the creek men were stooping over the water, and
many of them standing in it, as they washed, in every description of
utensil, from a billy-lid to a soft felt hat, the gravel they obtained
from immediately beneath the scanty turf on the banks. There was no
talking, no shouting, no quarrelling. Behind each man there was a small
patch where the turf had been turned back so as to enable the gravel to
be scooped up, and the energies of every one seemed to be wholly devoted
to the washing of the gravel, handful by handful, while the eyes were
strained to catch a sight of the smallest particle of gold in the muddy
swirl the gravel and water made in the article used for a dish. The
intentness with which the work was done; the feverish movements of the
men; the quick gestures and the grasping care exercised by them over the
gravel,--all suggested that their anticipations had been realized, and
they were really obtaining gold from the dirt.

Tony rode nearer the line of men. One had a small square of flannel open
on the ground beside him, with a stone at each corner to prevent its
being blown away, and in the centre Tony saw a small but steadily
growing pile of yellow metal. Another man was using the lid of his billy
as a dish to wash the gravel, while into the billy itself he was putting
what he picked out of the slush. Yet another, as low down on his luck,
perhaps, as it was possible even for a Boulder Creeker to be, was
washing the gravel in his old felt hat, and had stripped the shirt from
his back to lay on the ground as a receptacle for the gold he found; and
the pile on the shirt showed he had struck a promising patch.

Everywhere it was the same; everywhere the men were silent and busy, and
everywhere they were finding gold. The discovery drove all idea of
Gleeson out of Tony's head, and he turned his horse back towards the
rise, and rode rapidly up it and across to the scrub where he had left
Peters and Palmer Billy.

"They're on gold; there's gold all along the creek," he shouted out, as
he galloped up to where the two were standing.

For answer Peters held out the lid of the billy-can, and Tony saw in it
four large nuggets and a quantity of coarse gold dust.

"That came out of the first two dishes," he said.

"We've struck it rich since you've been away, lad, struck it rich, wh