t out of the town. He had made money and
wanted to sell his improvements and clear out for Sydney. It was a small
four-roomed weatherboard cottage, with a bark roof, but very neatly put
on. There was a little creek in front, and a small flower garden, with
rose trees growing up the verandah posts. Most miners, when they're
doing well, make a garden. They take a pride in having a neat cottage
and everything about it shipshape. The ground, of course, didn't belong
to him, but he held it by his miner's right. The title was good enough,
and he had a right to sell his goodwill and improvements.

Jim gave him his price and took everything, even to the bits of
furniture. They weren't much, but a place looks awful bare without them.
The dog, and the cock and hens he bought too. He got some real nice
things in Turon--tables, chairs, sofas, beds, and so on; and had the
place lined and papered inside, quite swell. Then he told Jeanie the
house was ready, and the next week they were married. They were married
in the church--that is, the iron building that did duty for one. It had
all been carted up from Melbourne--framework, roof, seats, and all--and
put together at Turon. It didn't look so bad after it was painted,
though it was awful hot in summer.

Here they were married, all square and regular, by the Scotch clergyman.
He was the first minister of any kind that came up to the diggings, and
the men had all come to like him for his straightforward, earnest way
of preaching. Not that we went often, but a good few of us diggers went
every now and then just to show our respect for him; and so Jim
said he'd be married by Mr. Mackenzie and no one else. Jeanie was a
Presbyterian, so it suited her all to pieces.

Well, the church was chock-full. There never was such a congregation
before. Lots of people had come to know Jim on the diggings, and more
had heard of him as a straightgoing, good-looking digger, who was free
with his money and pretty lucky. As for Jeanie, there was a report that
she was the prettiest girl in Melbourne, and something of that sort, and
so they all tried to get a look at her. Certainly, though there had been
a good many marriages since we had come to the Turon, the church had
never held a handsomer couple. Jeanie was quietly dressed in plain white
silk. She had on a veil; no ornaments of any kind or sorts. It was a
warmish day, and there was a sort of peach-blossom colour on her cheeks
that looked as delicate