er under self-control when
he had tasted liquor, and from that period until our acquaintance ceased
I never again offered it to him.

I sought to restrain him, but in vain; with a fanatical yell he plunged
into the clearing, and waving his long gun over his head, he dared
spirit, ghost, or bushranger to meet him on even ground.

There was no response to his challenge, and considering that it was
cowardly to let him remain there alone, the rest of us quickly gathered
around, and requested him to lie down for a short time.

He repelled us with scorn, at the imputation that he was drunk; and
finding that it was impossible to reason with him, we left him digging
away as though for life, and throwing the dirt in the form of a parapet.

We separated and scoured the woods within a radius of half a mile, but
not a sign of a bushranger could we detect, and somewhat reassured by
our search, we returned to the stockman, who was working most
industriously, and leaving Smith to remain concealed, and give us
warning of the approach of danger, we joined labor with the old man,
although not in the same place in which he was at work.

I had reasoned on the subject, and came to the conclusion that if Gulpin
had buried his money, he would like to destroy all evidence of its
concealment. He and his gang were on friendly terms with Darnley, and
the former had piled up the dead bodies, with the evident intention of
consuming them with fire, as we had afterwards done, on our second
visit.

Now, it struck me as being likely that the spot where the gold was
buried would be chosen by a man who was inclined to be superstitious,
for the finale of the grand tragedy, and perhaps impressed with the
thought that the dead men would guard his treasure securely.

With this conviction, Fred and myself broke ground amidst a heap of
ashes, without a thought or care of the invisible guard, and in a few
minutes we had excavated a moderate sized hole, and would have continued
working, had not Smith interrupted us by pointing to the sun, and
advising a respite, owing to the danger of a sun-stroke.

As our hands were somewhat blistered, and we had as yet not discovered
the first sign of gold, we readily took his advice, and upon repairing
to the spot where the stockman was supposed to be at work, we found that
the bottle had proved too much for him. He was lying on his back in the
place which he had excavated, with his face exposed to the sun, the
shove