ory!

By the time the jam-tin and its contents had been obtained from the
confusion of Peters's swag, he had crushed on the blade of a shovel,
with the blunt head of the miner's pick, a fragment of the
mineral-bearing stone. Tony lit the stump of candle, taking the hat from
his head and holding it over the flame to protect it from the rain,
while Murray held the jam-tin of implements. With a pinch of the
powdered stone in the palm of his hand, Peters took the blowpipe, and
blew the candle-flame on to the end of the bent platinum wire until it
became red-hot. Then he plunged it into the borax, and again placed it
in the flame, until the borax hung at the end of the wire in a white,
transparent bead. Touching it on the powdered stone, he again placed it
in the flame, and watched it until he saw creep into it the rich, ripe
colour which denoted gold.

"Native copper!" he cried in scorn, as he held out the ruddy bead to
Palmer Billy. "Did you ever see copper go that colour? It's gold,
boys--gold!"

Palmer Billy came nearer, and looked at the bead with a fine scepticism.

"Is it?" he said. "Well, dolly a lump of the stone, and let's see you
wash the gold out."

"I'll do it with mercury," Peters exclaimed, as he seized the small
bottle from the tin and shook it triumphantly towards the three.

"We don't want no fakes," Palmer Billy retorted. "If it's gold it'll
wash out when the stone's crushed. You crush a bit of the rock; I'll
look after the water."

He took up a dish from the disorder of Peters's kit, and started off to
collect water in it from the little pools formed by the rain; while the
others, forgetful of the rain and of everything save the prospect of
proving the find, set to work to crush pieces of the boulder into a fine
powder. By the time Palmer Billy returned with the dish half-full of
water, they had a handful of the powdered stone ready, and he, with much
solemnity, as became a sceptic, emptied it into the water, and slowly
swished it to and fro, gradually spilling the water, and with it the
finer dust of the stone, until only a little wet sand remained in the
bottom of the dish. With his head on one side he lifted the dish, tilted
over until the sand caught the light at the proper angle; then he slowly
revolved the dish in his hands, the three others closely watching the
expression of his face.

Without a word he put the dish on the ground, and, walking over to
Peters, slapped him vigorously on the