Here
they dug away, but it appears with no tempting success; and they took
care to return to the commissioner in time, as they thought, to
implement their monthly bargain. On tendering the money for their
licence, however, they discovered that they were just half an hour too
late, and that the functionary had disposed of their forty-five feet
to another bidder. What to do now? They fell in with a man, an old
friend of Mr Rutter, just setting off on a journey of sixty-two miles
to the north, where he told them a piece of gold had been found
weighing 106 lbs. This invaluable man they instantly took into
partnership, and purchasing fresh horses, they struck their camp, and
followed their new companion across the country, in search of a place
called the Devil's Hole, near the World's End. It is no wonder they
lost their way. As there was no such thing as a road, they were
obliged to transport their goods on the horses' backs; and the
interesting nature of their journey may be guessed at from the fact,
that they had to cross a creek with steep banks sixteen times in the
course of five miles.
They at length reached the Louisa Diggings, near those quartz-ridges
where, in fact, a 106 lb. lump of gold had been found. They encamped
in the dark; and getting up betimes the next morning, looked eagerly
out on this land of promise.
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