d the governor not a little. But he had a sense of
humor, and he replied to the Warden's telegram with the following
message:

"_'Yes; but what happened to the crow?'_

"The Warden realized his former omission, and risking discovery,
telegraphed:

"_'Stone, gold.'_

"The telegraph operator, not seeing how this could be a reply to the
governor's question thought an error had been made and forwarded the
message:

"_'Stone cold.'_

"The governor thought his friend the Warden must have gone crazy, but
he was not to be outdone. He wired back:

"_'Forward crow.'_

"This time it was the turn of the Warden to be puzzled, and, as soon
as his duties would permit, he went to the capital--almost a
thousand-mile journey--taking, not the crow, but the stone filled with
specks of gold. This was in 1888. Over half-a-million dollars' worth
of gold was taken from Pilbarra before the end of the year.

"The richest gold field in Australia was hit on by accident four
years later. This was Kimberley. Signs of gold had been found there in
1882, and again in 1886 but not enough to be worth working. In 1892
two prospectors started out to explore the region. They worked for
weeks and found nothing. One of them, thoroughly disgusted, gave up
the search and started for home.

"Two nights after, while camping, his horse became restless and
started to plunge and kick at a wombat, near by. The prospector got up
to quiet the beast, fearing he would break the picket-rope. On his
way, he stumbled over a stone, which, in the light of early dawn, he
saw to be rich in gold. He pegged out a claim at once, fetched his
partner, and the two men took out $50,000 worth of gold in three
weeks. This was the beginning of the great Coolgardie field.

"In the same region, about 24 miles away, not long after the opening
of the Coolgardie field, a miner just missed wealth. There was a small
camp there, but one man had no luck. While sitting dispiritedly in his
dog-tent, just before going to sleep, he began to burrow with his
fingers in the loose soil on which he was slouching and discovered a
small pocket of gold. He was so excited that he shouted out the news
to the camp.

"Before he could realize what was happening, the other miners crowded
round, and pegged out claims to the very borders of his tent. All he
got out of it was the small bit of ground on which his tent stood. The
pocket only yielded a hundred dollars' worth of gold, his neighbors to
r