wded from
noon until long past sunset, and then we were compelled to close and
exclude the crowd, owing to our being completely exhausted, both
mentally and physically, for the adding up of figures was a new kind of
brain work, that had not tasked us since the days when we were
schoolboys.

How many "nigger heads" we sold that day, singly, for the purpose of
allowing the miners to taste our stock before they bought largely, I
have no means of knowing; but fortunately for our reputation, Smith had
displayed great prudence in his bargains, and his "cavendish" and "fine
cut" were at length pronounced the best that were ever brought to
Ballarat, and so we got up a great sale of tobacco, and our stock ran
low before we had been open a week.

Smith, and the man he had hired to freight goods, remained with us three
days, and then returned, in all haste, to Melbourne for more goods, for
our run of custom was so great that we found that a fresh supply of
articles was needed without delay. Our partner did not need urging to
return to the city, for the reader will recollect that he was recently
married, and that his wife was at Melbourne.

We found, when he got ready to start, that we had taken gold dust enough
to pay for our next cargo, even without drawing on our reserve fund,
which was held subject to our order in a Melbourne bank.

We were sitting in our store one evening, smoking our pipes, as usual,
and talking over the business of the day, when we heard a knock at the
door, light and timid, as though delivered by the hand of a woman.

It was long past the hour of our closing, and we had made preparations
for retiring for the night, for our hammocks were slung, and ready for
occupancy, and it was seldom that we had a visitor at so late an hour.
The knock started us, and even Rover, who had been sleeping soundly,
awoke with a growl, as though he scented danger, and was going to be
prepared to meet it.

"Who can that be?" asked Fred, involuntarily placing his hand upon his
revolver.

I was unable to answer the question, of course; but we waited in silence
for a repetition of the knocking with as much anxiety as though it had
been a summons of instant execution.

There was a secret gang of ruffians in Ballarat at that time, and in
defiance of the vigilance of the police, they had committed many bold
robberies, and even murders; and the stories told of their atrocities
had awakened a feeling in our hearts that perhaps