ed Bill Jones, shading his eyes with his
hand.

The whole party came to a halt, and gazed earnestly before them for a
few minutes in silence.

"Och!" said O'Neil, slowly, and with trembling earnestness, "av me two
eyes are spakin' truth, it's--it's a _goold digger_!--the first o' the
goold-diggers!"--and Larry followed up the discovery with a mingled
cheer and war-whoop of delight that rang far and wide over the valley.

At such an unwonted, we might almost say, appalling, sound, the "first
o' the goold-diggers,"--who was up to his waist in a hole, quietly and
methodically excavating the earth on the river's bank with a pick-axe--
raised his head, and, leaning on the haft of his pick, scrutinised the
new arrivals narrowly.

"Hooray, my hearty!" shouted Larry, as he advanced at a gallop, followed
by his laughing comrades. "The top o' the mornin' to ye--it's good luck
I'm wishin' ye, avic. How are ye gittin' on in the goold way, honey?"

The rough-looking, dusty, and bearded miner, smiled good-humouredly, as
he replied, in a gentle tone of voice that belied his looks--"Pretty
well, friend; though not quite so well as some of my neighbours. I
presume that you and your friends have just arrived at the mines?"

"Tear an' ages! it's a gintleman, I do belave," cried Larry, turning to
his companions with a look of surprise.

The miner laughed at the remark, and, leaping out of the hole, did his
best to answer the many questions that were put to him in a somewhat
excited tone by the party.

"Where's the gold?" inquired Jones, gravely, going down on his knees at
the side of the excavation, and peering into it. "I don't see none,
wotsomediver."

"The dust is very fine here," answered the miner, "and not easily
detected until washed. Occasionally we come upon nuggets and pockets in
the dry parts of the river's bed, and the _canons_ of the hills, but I
find it most profitable to work steadily down here where the whole
earth, below the surface, is impregnated with fine particles of gold.
Many of the diggers waste their time in _prospecting_, which word, I
suppose you know, means looking out for new diggings; but, according to
the proverb of my country, I prefer to remain `contented wi' little, and
cantie wi' mair.'"

"Are we far-distant from the other miners in this creek?" inquired Ned.

"No; you are quite close. You will come upon the colony after passing
that bluff of trees ahead of you," answered the Scotchman;