ve concealed a whole
regiment of sluice-robbers.

It was the dimmest and most uncertain hour of the four, and I was
sitting at my post of guard. As the night was chilly I had brought
along an old grey blanket, similar in colour to the mound of the
pay-dirt. There had been quite a cavity dug in the dump during the day,
and into this I crawled and wrapped myself in my blanket. From my
position I could see the string of boxes containing the riffles. Over me
brooded the vast silence of the night. By my side lay a loaded shot-gun.

"If the swine comes," said Ribwood, "let him have a clean-up of lead
instead of gold."

Lying there, I got to thinking of the robberies. They were remarkable.
All had been done by an expert. In some cases the riffles had been
extracted and the gold scooped out; in others a quantity of mercury had
been poured in at the upper end of the boxes, and, as it passed down,
the "quick" had gathered up the dust. Each time the robbers had cleaned
up from two to three thousand dollars, and all within the past month.
There was some mysterious master-crook in our midst, one who operated
swiftly and surely, and left absolutely no clue of his identity.

It was strange, I thought. What nerve, what cunning, what skill must
this midnight thief be possessed of! What desperate chances was he
taking! For, in the miners' eyes, cache-stealing and sluice-box robbing
were in the same category, and the punishment was--well, a rope and the
nearest tree of size. Among those strong, grim men justice would be
stern and swift.

I was very quiet for a while, watching dreamily the dark shadows of the
dusk.

Hist! What was that? Surely the bushes were moving over there by the
hillside. I strained my eyes. I was right: they were.

I was all nerves and excitement now, my heart beating wildly, my eyes
boring through the gloom. Very softly I put out my hand and grasped the
shot-gun.

I watched and waited. A man was parting the bushes. Stealthily, very
stealthily, he peered around. He hesitated, paused, peered again,
crouched on all-fours, crept forward a little. Everything was quiet as a
grave. Down in the cabins the tired men slept peacefully; stillness and
solitude.

Cautiously the man, crawling like a snake, worked his way to the
sluice-boxes. None but a keen watcher could have seen him. Again and
again he paused, peered around, listened intently. Very carefully, with
my eyes fixed on him, I lifted the gun.

Now he had