lk," said Mr Gunson. "We will not stir to-night, and the best
way will be not to show ourselves--only one at a time to make up the
fire. No sleep to-night, lads; or if there is, it must be in turns.
Here, Quong! What tree has he gone up?"

There was no reply, and we sat listening with the darkness closing in
all around, and the silence growing painful. It was a weary watch in
the gloom, though outside the fire lit up the valley, and from time to
time I went out and threw on a few sticks, just enough to keep it up.

I don't know what time it was, probably about midnight, when Mr Gunson
said softly.

"Two will be enough to watch. You, Dean, lie down and take your spell
till you are called."

There was no reply.

"Do you hear?"

Still no answer.

"What!" cried Mr Gunson, "has he forsaken us?"

"No, no," I whispered; "here he is, and fast asleep."

Mr Gunson uttered a low, half-contemptuous laugh.

"Nice fellow to trust with our lives," he said. "Shall I wake him to
watch while we sleep?"

"Don't be hard upon him," I said. "He was very tired, and it always was
his weak point--he would go to sleep anywhere."

"And your weak point to defend your friends, eh, Mayne? There, I will
not be hard upon him. Talk in whispers, and keep on the _qui vive_; we
must not be surprised. Are you very tired?"

"Not at all now," I said. "I don't want to go to sleep."

"Then we'll discuss the position, Mayne. Hist!"

We listened, but the faint crack we heard was evidently the snapping of
a stick in the fire, and Mr Gunson went on.

"Now, Mayne," he said, "after years of such toil as few men have lived
through, I have found wealth. No, no, don't you speak. Let me have the
rostrum for awhile."

He had noted that I was about to ask him a question, for it was on my
lips to say, "How did you get to know of this place?"

"I am not selfish or mad for wealth," he continued. "I am working for
others, and I have found what I want. In a few months, or less, I shall
be a rich man again, and you and your friends can take your share in my
prosperity. That is, if I can hold my own here till law and order are
established. If I cannot hold my own, I may never have another chance.
In other words, if those scoundrels oust me, long before I can get help
from the settlement they will have cleared out what is evidently a rich
hoard or pocket belonging to old Dame Nature, where the gold has been
swept. Now then, for myself I a