unusual in this: he never
took advice well; and, was it forced upon him, nine times out of ten a
certain inborn contrariness drove him to do just the opposite. Besides,
he had not yet learned to look with lenience on the rage for
speculation that had seized the people of Ballarat; and he held that it
would be culpable for a man of his slender means to risk money in the
great game.--But was there any hint of risk in the present instance? To
judge from Ocock's manner, the investment was as safe as a house, and
lucrative to a degree that made one's head swim. "Many times their
original figure!" An Arabian-nights fashion of growing rich, and no
mistake! Very different from the laborious grind of HIS days, in which
he had always to reckon with the chance of not being paid at all. That
very afternoon had brought him a fresh example of this. He was
returning from the Old Magpie Lead, where he had been called to a case
of scarlet fever, and saw himself covering the same road daily for some
time to come. But he had learned to adjudge his patients in a winking;
and these, he could swear to it, would prove to be non-payers; of a
kind even to cut and run, once the child was out of danger. Was he
really justified, cramped for money as he was, in rejecting the
straight tip Ocock had given him? And he debated this moot
point--argued his need against his principles--the whole way home.

As soon as he had changed and seen his suspect clothing hung out to
air, he went impetuously back to Ocock's office. He had altered his
mind. A small gift from a grateful patient: yes, fifty, please; they
might bring him luck.--And he saw his name written down as the owner of
half a hundred shares.

After this, he took a new interest in the mining sheet of the STAR;
turned to it, indeed, first of all. For a week, a fortnight,
"Porepunkahs" remained stationary; then they made a call, and, if he
did not wish to forfeit, he had to pay out as many shillings as he held
shares. A day or two later they sank a trifle, and Mahony's hopes with
them. There even came a day when they were not mentioned; and he gave
up his money for lost. But of a sudden they woke to life again, took an
upward bound, and within a month were quoted at five pounds--on rumour
alone. "Very sensitive indeed," said the STAR. Purdy, his only
confidant, went about swearing at himself for having let the few he
owned lapse; and Mahony itched to sell. He could now have banked two
hundred and