 Chapter 56 of It is Never Too Late to Mend. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Maria Fatima da Silva. It is Never Too Late to Mend by Charles Reed. Chapter 56. Three days, the gold finders worked alone upon the pre-Adamite river's bed. At evening, on the third day, they looked up and saw a figure perched watching them with a pipe in its mouth. It disappeared in silence. Next day there were men on their knees beside them, digging, scraping, washing and worshipping gold. Soon they were the scent of a group, soon after of a humming mob. As if the birds had really carried the secret north, south, east and west, men swarmed and buzzed and settled like locusts on the gold-bearing tract. They came in panting, gleaming, dusty and travel-stained, and flung off their fatigue at sight, and running up, dived into the gullies, implied spade and pickaxe, with clinched teeth and throbbing hearts. They seamed the face of nature for miles, turned the streams to get up their beds, pounded and crushed the solid rock to squeeze out the subtle stain of gold it held in its veins. Hacked through the crops as through any other idle impediment, pecked and hewed and fought and wrestled with nature for the treasure that lay so near yet in so tight a grip. We take off our clothes to sleep and put them on to play at work, but these put on their clothes to sleep in and tore them off at peep of day, and labour was red-hot till night came and cooled it, and in this fight lives fell as quickly as in actual war and by the same enemy, disease. Small wonder when hundreds and hundreds wrought the live long day, one half in icy water, the other half dripping with sweat. Men rotted like sheep and died at the feet of that gold whom they stormed here in his fortress, and some alas met a worse fate, for that befell which the world has seen in every age and land where gold has come to light upon the soil. Men wrestling fiercely with nature jostled each other, cupidity inflamed hate to madness, and human blood flowed like water over that yellow dirt. And now from this one burning spot gold fever struck inward to the heart of the land, burned its veins and maddened its brain. The workmen sold his tools, waterspade, and the pickaxe, and fled to the gold. The lawyer flung down his parchment and off to the gold. The penny-aligner, his brass pen, and off to a greater wonder than he had ever fabricated. The schoolmaster to whom little boys were puzzling out. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis. Auri sacre femmes. Made the meaning perfectly clear. He dropped ferrule and book and ran with a national hunt for gold. Shops were closed for want of buyers and sellers. The grass crept up between the paving stones in great thoroughfares. Outward bound ships lay deserted and helpless in the roads. The wilderness was peopled and the cities desolate. Commerce was paralysed, industry contracted. The wise and good trembled for the destiny of the people. The government trembled for itself, idle fear. That which shook this colony for a moment settled it as firm as a granite mountain and made it great with a rapidity that would have astounded the puny ages counterpeals to us the days of wonders. The sacre femmes was not Australian, but human. And so are the first whisper of gold. The old nations poured the wealth they valued. Their food and clothes and silk and coin. And the prime treasure they valued not. The men into that favored land. Then did great labor, insulted and cheated so many years in narrow, overcrowded corners of the huge unpeopled globe, lift his bare arm and cry, who bids for this? And a dozen gloved hands jumped and clutched at the prize. And in bargains where a man went on one side and money on the other, the money had to say thank you over it instead of the man. But still, though the average value of labor was now full as high in the cities as in the mine, men flowed to the desert and the gold, tempted by the enormous prizes there that lay close to all and came to fortune's favorites. Hence a new wonder, great mortal phenomenon the world had never seen before on such a wide scale. At the period of unparalleled civilization and refinement, society with its artificial habits and its jealous class distinctions on its back took a sudden unprepared leap from the heights it had been centuries constructing into a gold mine. It emerged its delicate fabric crushed out of all recognizable shape. Its petty prides annihilated and even its just distinctions turned topsy-turvy. For mind is really more honorable than muscle. Yet when these two met in a gold mine, it fared ill with mind. Classical and mathematical scholars joined their forces with navies to dig gold and nearly always the scholars were found after a while cooking, shoe cleaning and doing generally menial offices for the navies. Those who had no learning but had good birth, gentile manners and kid gloves and feeble loins sunk lower and became the dregs of gold-digging society. Air, a week's digging, had passed over their backs. Not that all wet yielded to muscle. Low kerning often held its own. Hundreds of lazy leeches settled on labour's bare arm and bled it. Such as could minister to the digger's physical needs, appetites, vices, had no need to dig. They made the digger's work for them and took toll of the precious dust as it fell into their hands. One brute that could not spell chicory to save himself from the gallows cleared two thousand pounds a month by selling it in hot water at a pinch a cup. Thus ran his announcement. Coffialo Suradi. Meantime trigonometry was frying steaks and on Sunday, blackened boots. After a while, lucky diggers returned to the towns clogged with gold and lusting and panting for pleasure. They hired carriages and sweethearts and paraded the streets all day crying. We be the hairy stocracy now. The shopkeepers bowed down and did them homage. Even he and nature had her say. The sexist came out, the men sat in the carriages in their dirty firstion and their checkered shirts and no jacket. There in the moritus beside them glittered in silken satin and some fiend told these poor women it was gentile to be short-sighted. They all bought gold spyglasses and spied without intermission. Then the old colonial aristocracy who had been born in broadcloth and silk and unlike the new had not been transported but only their papa's and mamas were driven to despair but at last they hit upon a remedy. They would be distinguished by hook or by crook and the only way left now was always to go on foot so they walked the pavement, wet or dry nothing could induce them to enter the door of a carriage. Item they gave up being short-sighted the few who for reasons distinct from fashion could not resign the habit concealed it as if it was a defect instead of a beauty. The struggle of classes in the towns with its 101 incidents was an excellent theme for satire of the highest class. How has it escaped? Is it that even satire low and easy art is not so low and easy as detraction? But these are the outskirts of a great theme the theme itself belonged not to little satire but to great epic. In the sudden return of a society far more complex artificial and conventional than Pericles ever dreamed of two elements more primitive than Homer had to deal with in this with its novelty and nature and strange contrasts. In the old barbaric force a native color of the passions as they burst out and disguised around the gold in the 101 personal combats and trials of cunning in a desert peopled and cities thinned by the magic of cupidity in a huge army collected in 10,000 tents not as heretofore by one man's constraining will but each human unit spurred into the crowd by his own heart. In the siege of gold defended stoutly by rock and disease in the worldwide effect of the discovery the peopling of the earth at last according to Heaven's long published and resisted design fate offered poetry a theme broad and high yet pickent and various as the dolphin and the rainbow. I cannot sing this song because I am neither Lamartine nor Hugo nor Walter Scott I cannot hum this song because the severe conditions of my story forbid me even to make the adventurous attempt I am here to tell not the great tale of gold but the little story of how Susan Merton was affected thereby yet it shall never be said that my pen passed close to a great man or a great thing without a word of homage and sympathy set against the sneers of groveling criticasters the blindness of self singing potasters and the national itch for detraction of all great things and men that live and deification of dead dwarfs. God has been bountiful to the human race in this age most bountiful to poets, most bountiful to all of us who have a spark of nobleness in ourselves and so can see in revered sight the truly grander noble any snob can do this after it has been settled 200 years by other minds that he is to do it he has given us war like heroes more than we can count far less honor as they deserve and Valar is full of variety as courage in the elite is monotonous except when it takes to its heels he has given us one hero a better man than Hector or Achilles for Hector ran away from a single man this hero was never known to run away at all Achilles was a better egotist than soldier wounded in his personal vanity he revenged himself not on the man who had wronged him prudence forbade but on the army and on his country this antique hero sulked my hero deprived of the highest command retained the highest still the command that places the great of heart above all petty personal feeling he was a soldier and could not look from his tent on battle and not plunge into it what true soldier ever could he was not a Greek but a Frenchman and could not love himself better than his country above all he was not Achilles but Can Robert he has given us to see Nineveh desintered by an English hero he has given us to see the northwest passage forced and winter bearded on his everlasting throne by another is it the hero s fault if self and snowdrop singing poetasters cannot see this feat with the eyes of Cummins he has given us to see Titans enslaved by man steam harnessed to our carriages and ships galvanism tamed into an alphabet a gamut and its metal harp strings stretched across the earth mulgray mountains and the sea and so men's minds defying the twin monsters time and space and now gold revealed in the east and west at once and so mankind now first in earnest peopling the enormous globe yet old women and children of the pen say this is a bad a small a lifeless an unpoetic age and they are not mistaken for they lie as only tooth stoppers retailers of conventional phrases links in the great cuckoo chain universal pill vendors Satan and ancient booksellers ancient nameless hacks can lie they lie it is they who are small-eyed now as year-to-four weaklings cannot rise high enough to take a bird's eye view of their own age and calculate its dimensions the age smaller than epochs to come is a giant compared with the past and full of mighty materials for any great pen in prose or verse my little friends age 19 and downward forescore and upward who have been lending your years to the stale little count of every age as chanted in this one by buffo bombasties another foaming at the pen old women of both sexes take by way of antirote to all that poisonous so withering drivel ten honest words I say before heaven and earth that the man who could grasp the facts of this day and do an immortal right as duty by them i.e. so paint them as a later age will be content to engrave them would be the greatest writer ever lived such is the force, weight and number of the grand topics that lie this day on the world's face I say that he who has eyes to see may now see greater and far more poetic things than human eyes have seen since our lord and his apostles and his miracles left the earth it is very hard to write a good book or a good play or to invent a good picture and having invented painted but it always was hard except to those to whom it was impossible bunglers will not mend matters by blackening the great canvases they can't paint on nor the impotent become mails by detraction justice when we write a story or sing a poem of the great 19th century there is but one fear not that our theme will be beneath us but we miles below it that we shall lack a comprehensive vision a man must have from heaven to catch the historical, the poetic the lasting features of the titan events that stride so swiftly past in this gigantic age end of chapter 56 chapters 57 and 58 of it is never too late to mend this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Maria Fatma da Silva it is never too late to mend by Charles Reed chapter 57 the life of George Fielding and Thomas Robinson for months could be composed in a few words tremendous work from sunrise to sundown and on Sunday welcome rest a quiet pipe and a book at night they slept in a good tent with Carlo at their feet and a little bag between them this bag never left their sight it went out to their work and in to sleep it is dinnertime George and Tom are snatching a mouthful and a few words over it how much do you think we are Tom? hush don't speak so loud for heaven's sake he added in a whisper not a penny and the 700 pounds worth George sighed it is slower work than I thought but it is my fault I am so unlucky unlucky and we have not been 8 months at it but one party near us cleared 4000 pounds at a haul 1000 pounds apiece ahhh and hundreds have only just been able to keep themselves come you must not grumble we are high above the average George persisted the reason we don't get on is we try for nothing better than dust you know what you told me that the gold was never created in dust but in masses like all metals the dust is only a trifle that has been washed off the bulk then you said we ought to track the gold dust coarser and coarser till we trace the metal to its home in the great rocks I believe I used to talk so but I am wiser now look here George no doubt the gold was all in block when the world started but how many million years ago was that this is my notion George at the beginning of the world the gold was all solid at the end it is all to be dust now which are we nearer the end or the beginning no ink can't say Tom then I can for his reverence told me we are 50 times nearer at the end than the beginning follows there is 50 times as much gold dust in nature as solid gold what a head you are God Tom but I can't take it up so seems to me this dust is like the grain that is shed from a ripe crop before it comes to the sickle now if we could trace how can you trace syrup to the lump when the lump is all turned to syrup George held his piece shut up but not convinced hello you two lucky ones cried a voice distant about 30 yards will you buy our hole it is breaking our heart here Robinson went up and found a large hole excavated to a great depth it was yielding literally nothing and this determined that paradoxical personage to buy it if it was cheap what there is must be somewhere all in a lump he offered 10 pounds for it which was eagerly snapped at well done gardener said one of the band we would have taken tession leaves for it explained he to Robinson Robinson paid the money and let himself down into the hole with his spade he drove his spade into the clay and the bottom of it just reached the rock he looked up I would have gone just one foot deeper before I gave in said he he called George come George we can know our fate in 10 minutes they shoveled the clay away down to about one inch above the rock and there in the white clay they found a little bit of gold as big as a pin's head we have done it this time cried Robinson shave a little more off not too deep and save the clay this time a score of little nuggets came to view sticking in the clay no need for washing they picked them out with their knives the news soon spread and the multitude buzzed round the hole and looked down on the men picking out peas and beans of pure gold with their knives presently a voice cried shame give the men back their hole garment cried the others they paid for a chance and it turned out well a bargain is a bargain Gardner and his mates looked sorrowfully down Robinson saw their faces and came out of the hole a moment he took Gardner aside and whispered jump into a hole like lightning it is worth four pound a day God bless you said Gardner he ran and jumped into the hole as another man was going to take possession by Digger's law no party is allowed to occupy two holes all that afternoon there was a mob looking down at George and Robinson picking out peas and beans of gold and the envy satanic fire burned many a heart these two were picking up at least a hundred pounds an hour now it happened late in the afternoon that a man of shabby figure evidently not Digger observing that there was always more or less crowd in one place shumbled up and looked down with the rest as he looked down George happened to look up the newcomer drew back hastily after that his proceedings were singular he remained in the crowd more than two hours not stationary but winding in and out he listened to everything that was said especially if it was muttered and not spoken out and he peered into every face and peering into every face it befell that at last his eye lighted on one that seemed to fascinate him it belonged to a fellow with a great ball neck and hair and beard flowing all in one a man more like the black manned lion of North Africa than anything else but it was not his appearance that fascinated the serpentine one it was the look he cast down upon those two lucky diggers a scowl of tremendous hatred hatred unto death instinct told the serpent there must be more in this than extemporary envy he waited and watched and when the black manned one moved away he followed him about everywhere till at last he got him alone then he sidled up and in a cringing way said what looks a man have don't they the man answered by a fierce grunt the serpent was half afraid of him but he went on there will be a good lump of gold in their tent tonight the other seemed struck with these words they have been lucky a long time explained the other and now this added well what about it nothing only I wish somebody else had it instead why this is a secret for the present I only tell you because I think somehow they are no friends of yours either perhaps not what then then we might perhaps do business together it will strike you singular but I have a friend who would give money to anyone that would take a little from those two say that again would give money to anyone that would take it from those two and you won't ask for any share of the swag me I have nothing to do with it Garmin well your friend will he not a farthing and what will he give suppose I have a friend that will do the trick according to the risk the man gave a whistle a fellow with forehead villainously low came from behind some tents what is it will ask the newcomer a plant this one in it yes this is too public come to Bevan's store chapter 58 George I want you to go to Bathurst what for to buy some things what things first of all a revolver there were fellows about our tent last night creeping and prowling I never heard them no more you would an earthquake but I heard them and got up and pointed my revolver at them so then they cut all the better for them we must mind our eye George a good many tents are robbed every week and we are known to have a good swag well I must start this moment if I am to be back and take a pound of dust and buy things that we can sell here to a profit George came back at night looking rather sheep faced Tom said he I am afraid I have done wrong you see there was a confounded auction and what with the hammer and the folk bidding and his palaver I could not help it but what is it you have bought a bit of land Tom Robinson groaned but recovering himself he said gaily well have you brought it with you no it is not so small as all that as nice a bit of grass as ever you saw Tom and just outside the town of Bathurat O'Neill didn't thought to have spent your money as well as my own stuff and nonsense I accept the investment let me load your new revolver now look at my day's work I wouldn't take a hundred pound for these little fellows George gloated over the little nuggets for he saw Susan's eyes in them tonight she seems so near the little bag was placed between them the day spoils added to it and the tired friends were soon asleep end of chapter 58 chapter 59 of it is never too late to mend this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Mary Maxwell it is never too late to mend by Charles Reid chapter 59 help help murder help murder such were the cries that invaded the sleeper's ears in the middle of the night to which horrible sounds was added the furious barking of Carla the men seized their revolvers and rushed out of the tent at about 60 yards distant they saw a man on the ground two fellows and still crying though more faintly murder and help they're killing him cried George and Robinson and he cocked their revolvers and ran furiously toward the men but these did not wait the attack they started up and off like the wind followed by two shots from Robinson that whistled unpleasantly near them have they hurt you my poor fellow said Robinson the man only groaned for answer Robinson turned his face up in the moonlight and recognized a man to whom he had never spoken but whom his watchful eye had noticed more than once in the mine it was in fact the peddler Walker stop George I have seen this face in bad company oh back to our tent for your life and kill any man you see near it they ran back they saw two dark figures melting into the night on the other side of the tent they darted in they felt for the bag gone they felt convulsively all around the tent gone with trembling hands Robinson struck a light gone the work of months in a moment the hope of a life snatched out of a lover's very hand and held out a mile off again the poor fellow rushed wildly out into the night they saw nothing but the wretched decoy vanishing behind the nearest tents they came into the tent again sat down and bowed to the blow in silence and looked at one another and their lips quivered and they feared to speak lest they should break into unmanly rage or sorrow so they sat like stones till daybreak and when the first streak of twilight came in George said in a firm whisper take my hand Tom before we go to work so the two friends sat hand in hand a minute or two and that hard grip of two working men's hands though it was not gently eloquent like beauty's soft expressive palm did yet say many things good for the heart in this bitter hour it said a great calamity has fallen but we do not blame each other as some turn to directly and do it is not your fault George it is not your fault Tom it said we were lucky together now we are unlucky together all the more friends we wrought together now we have been wrong together all the more friends with this the sun rose and for the first time they crept to their work instead of springing to it they still found gold in it but not quite so abundant or so large they had raised the cream of it for the thieves moreover a rush had been made to the whole claims measured off actually touching them so they could not follow the gold-bearing strata horizontally it belonged to their neighbors they worked in silence they ate their meal in silence but as they rose to work again Robinson said very gravely even solemnly George now I know what an honest man feels when he has robbed of the fruits of his work and his self-denial and his sobriety if I had known it 15 years ago I should never have been a what I have been for two months the friends worked stoutly with leaden hearts but did little more than pay their expenses the bag lay between them light as a feather one morning Tom said to George George this won't do I am going prospecting more will lend me his horse for a day that day George worked alone Robinson rode all over the country with the tin pan at his back and tested all the places that seemed likely to his experienced eye at night he returned to their tent George was just lying down no sleep tonight George said he instinctively lowering his voice to a whisper I have found surface gold ten miles to the southward well we will go to it tomorrow what by daylight watched as we are we the two lucky ones said Robinson bitterly no wait till the coast is clear then strike tent and away at midnight they stole out of the camp by peep of day they were in a little dell with a brook running at the bottom of it now George listen to me here is ten thousand pounds if we could keep this gully in the creek a fortnight to ourselves oh Tom and we will nobody will find us here it is like a box Robinson smiled sadly the men drove their spades in close to the little hole which Robinson had made prospecting yesterday and the very first cradle full yielded an ounce of gold dust extremely small and pure but diffused with wonderful regularity within a few inches of the surface here for the first time George saw gold dust so plentiful as to be visible when a spade full of clay was turned up it glittered all over when they tore up the grass which was green as an emerald specks of bright gold came up clinging to the roots they fell like spaded tigers on the prey what are you doing George going to light a fire for dinner do I do grudge the time we must eat but not hot why not because if you light a fire the smoke will be seen miles off and half the diggings will be down upon us I have brought three days cold meat here it is will this be enough as George simply his mouth full yes it will be enough replied the other bitterly do you hear that bird George they call him a leather head George laughed seems to me he is saying off we go off we go off we go that is it and look now off he is gone and what is more he has gone to tell all the world he saw two men pick up gold like beans work cried George that night the little bag felt twice as heavy as last night and Susan seemed nearer than for many a day these two worked for their lives they counted each minute and George was a goliath who flew round him like the dust about a winnowing machine he was working for Susan Robinson wasted two seconds admiring him well said he gold puts us all on our metal but you beat all I ever saw you are a man it was the morning of the third day and the friends were filling the little bag fast and at breakfast George quizzed Robinson's late fears the leather head didn't tell anybody for here we are all alone but we should not have been if I had let you light a fire however I really begin to hope now they will let us alone till we have cleared out the goliath hello what is the matter look there George what is it smoke rising down the valley we are done didn't I tell you don't say so Tom why it is only smoke and five miles off what signifies what it is or where it is it is on the road to us I hope better what is the use of hoping nonsense was it there yesterday well then don't you be faint hearted said George we are not caught yet I wonder whether Susan would say it's a sin to try and mislead them a sin I wish I knew how I'd soon see that was a good notion this place is 500 pound a day to us we must keep it today by hook or by crook bring your tools in the bag George followed Robinson in utter ignorance of his design that worthy made his way as fast as he could toward the smoke when they got within a mile of it the valley widened and the smoke was seen rising from the side of the stream concealing themselves they saw two men beating the ground on each side like pointers Robinson drew back they are hunting up the stream said he it is there we must put the stopper on them they made eastward for the stream which they had left come said Robinson here's a spot that looks likely to a novice dig and cut it up all you can George was mystified but obeyed and soon the place looked as if men had been at work on it sometime then Robinson took out a handful of gold dust and coolly scattered it over a large heap of mold what are you at are you mad Tom why there goes 5 pounds what a sin did you never hear of the man long away a sprat to catch a whale now turn back to our hole stop leave your pickaxe then they will think we are coming back to work in little more than half an hour they were in their little gully working like mad they ate their dinner working at five o'clock George pointed out to Robinson no less than seven distinct columns of smoke rising about a mile apart all down the valley I said Robinson those six smokes are hunting the smoke that is hunting us I screwed another day out just as the sun was setting a man came into the gully with a pickaxe on his shoulder I how do you do said Robinson in a mock friendly accent we've been expecting you thank you for bringing us our pickaxe the man gave a sort of rueful laugh and came and delivered the pick and coolly watched the cradle why don't you ask what you want to know said Robinson the man sneered is that the way to get the truth from a digger said he it is for me and the only one then what are you doing mate about ten ounces of gold per hour the man's mouth and eyes both opened come my lads and Robinson good naturedly of course I am not glad you have found us but since you are come call your pals light fires and work all night tomorrow it will be too late the man whistled he was soon joined by two more and afterward by others the whole party was eight a hurried conference took place and presently the captain whose name was Eid came up to Robinson with a small barrel of beer and begged him and his pal to drink as much as they liked they were very glad of the draught and thanked them in warmly the newcomers took Robinson's advice lighted large fires divided their company and groped for gold every now and then came a shout of joy and in the light of the fires the wild figures showed red as blood against the black wall of night the eyes glowed like carbuncles as they clawed the sparkling dust George and Robinson fatigued already by a long day broke down about three in the morning they reeled into their tent dug a hole put in their gold bag stamped it down tumbled dead asleep down over it and never woke till morn what is the matter Carlo ohhhh hum hum hum crash crash at these sounds Robinson lifted up the corner of his tent the gully was a digging he ran out to see where he was to work and found the whole soil one enormous tan yard the pits ten feet square and so close there was hardly room to walk to your hole without tumbling into your neighbors you had to balance yourself like boys going along a beam in the timber yard in one of these he found Eid and his gang working to eat had acquired a black eye ditto one of his mates good morning Captain Robinson said this personage with a general gaiety of countenance that contrasted most drolly with the morning an expressive organ had gone into well was I right asked Robinson looking roofily around the crowded digging you were Captain Robinson and thank you for last night well you have picked up my name somehow now you must tell me how you picked up something else how did you suspect us in this retired spot we were working just clear of the great digging by the side of the creek and doing no good when your cork came down my cork cork out of your bottle I had no bottle oh yes my pal had a bottle of small beer I he must have thrown it into the creek for a cork came down to us then I looked at it and I said here's a cork from Moore store there's a party working upstream by this cork Robinson gave a little groan we are never to be at the bottom of bull digging said he so we came up the stream and tried several places as we came but found nothing at last we came to your pickaxe and signs of work so my lads would stay and work there and I let them an hour or two and then I said come now lads the party we are after is higher up now how could you pretend to know that inquired Robinson with curiosity easy enough the water came down to us thick and muddy-ish so I knew you were washing up stream confound my stupid head cried Robinson I deserved to have it cut off after all my experience and he actually capered with vexation the best may make a mistake said the other soothingly well captain you did us a good turn last night so here's your claim we put your pals pick in it here are close to us oh there was a lot that made difficulties but we over persuaded them indeed how to knock out anyone's brains that went into it oh kindness begets kindness even in a gold mine it does cried Robinson and the proof is that I give you the claim here come this way and seem to buy it of me all their eyes are upon us now split your gang and foretake my claim well that is good of you but what will you do captain where shall you go and his eyes betrayed his curiosity huh well I will tell you on condition that you don't bring two thousand after me again you should look behind you as well as before stupid these terms agreed to Robinson let Ed know that he was going this moment back to the old digging the other was greatly surprised Robinson then explained that in the old digging gold lay at various depths and was inexhaustible that this afternoon there would be a rush made from it to Robinson's gully so the spot where they stood was already called that thousands of good claims would thus by diggers law be vacated and that he should take the best before the rush came back which would be immediately since Robinson's gully would be emptied of its gold in four hours so clear out your two claims said he it won't take you two hours all the gold lies in one streak four inches deep then back after me I'll give you the office I'll mark you down a good claim Mr. Eid who was not used to this sort of thing since he fought for gold were a ludicrous expression of surprise and gratitude Robinson read it and grinned superior but the look rendered words needless so he turned to conversation how did you get your black eye oh didn't I tell you fighting with the black guards for your claim it was now Robinson's turn to be touched you are a good fellow you and I must be friends if I could get together about 40 decent men like you and that had got gold to lose well said Eid why not here are eight that have got gold to lose thanks to you and your own lot that makes ten we could easy make up 40 for any good lay there is my hand for one what is it Robinson took Eid's hand with a haste and an energy that almost startled him and his features darkened with an expression unusual now to his good natured face to put down thieving in the camp said he sternly gathered together half sadly the desirableness of this had occurred to him before now but how are we to do that asked he incredulously the campus choked full of them Robinson looked blacker, uglier and more in earnest so was his answer when it came make stealing death by the law the law what law lynch end of chapter 59 of it is never too late to mend this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org it is never too late to mend by Charles Reid chapter 60 about a fortnight after Robinson's return to the diggings two men were seated in a small room at Bevan's store there was little risk of there being interrupted by any honest digger for it was the middle of the day I know that well enough growl the black mained one everybody knows the lucky rip has got a heavier swag than ever but we shan't get it so cheap if we do at all but he is on his guard now night and day and what is more he has got friends in the mine that would hang me or you either up to dry if they but caught us looking to near his tent the ruffians well but if he has friends he has enemies not so many none that I know of but you and me I wonder what he has done to you the other waved this question and replied I have found two parties that hate him two that came in last week have you then if you are an earnest make me acquainted with them for I am weak handed I lost one of my pals yesterday indeed how they caught him at work and gave him a wrap over the head with a spade the more darn fool he for being caught here is to his memory what is he is he dead as a herring where shall we all go to what lawless fellows these diggers are I will bring you the men for the last two months the serpentine man had wound in and out the camp poking about for a villain of the darker sort as minutely as diogenes did for an honest man and dispensing liquor watching looks and words he found rogues galore and envious spirits that wished the friends ill but none of them seemed game to risk their lives against two men one of whom said openly he would kill any stranger he caught in his tent and whom some 50 stout fellows called Captain Robinson and were ready to take up his quarrel like fire but at last he fell in two old lags who had a deadly grudge against the captain and a sovereign contempt for him into the bargain by the aid of liquor he wormed out their story this was the marrow of it the captain had been their pal and while they were all three cracking a crib had with an example treachery betrayed them and got them laid by the heels for nearly a year in prison they would not have been here now in short in less than half an hour he returned with our old acquaintances Brutus and Mephistopheles these two came half reluctant suspicious and reserved but at sight of black will they were reassured villain was so stamped on him with instantaneous sympathy and an instinct of confidence the three compared notes showed how each had been aggrieved by the common enemy next they held a council of war the grand object of which was to hit upon some plan of robbing the friends of their new swag it was a difficult and very dangerous job plans were proposed and rejected and nothing agreed upon but this that the men should be carefully watched for days to find out where they kept their gold at night and where by day and an attempt timed and regulated accordingly moreover the same afternoon a special gang of six was formed including Walker which pitiful fox was greatly patronized by the black main blind at sight of him Brutus who knew him not indeed by name but by a literary transaction was for laying on but his patron interposed having inquired and heard the offense felled with laughter and condemned the ex-peddler to a fine of half a crown in grog this softened Brutus and a harmonious debauched succeeded like the old Egyptians they debated first sober and then drunk and to stagger my general notion that the ancients were unwise candor compels me to own it was while stammering stinking and in every sense drunk that Mephistopheles driveled out a scheme so cunning and so new as through everybody and everything into the shade it was carried by hiccup fasion to work this scheme Mephistopheles required a beautiful large new tent the serpentine man bought it money to feed the gang serpent advanced it Robinson's tent was about 30 yards from his claim which it's one opening faced so he and George worked with an eye ever upon their tent at night two men of Robinson's party patrolled armed to the teeth they were leave guard every two hours Captain Robinson's orders to these men if they saw anybody doing anything suspicious after dark were these first fire then fire this general order was matter of publicity for a quarter of a mile round Robinson's tent and added to his popularity and our rascals perplexities these orders had surely the double merit of conciseness and melody well for all that they were disgustingly offensive to one true friend of the captain these to George Fielding what is all the gold in the world compared with a man's life said he indignantly an ounce of it is worth half a dozen such lives of some here was the cool reply I've heard you talk very different I mind when you could make excuses even for thieves that were never taught any better poor unfortunate souls did I? said the captain a little taken aback well perhaps I did it was natural hem under the circumstances no not for such thieves as these that haven't got any honor at all honor a yes honor look here suppose in my unconverted days I had broken to a jeweler's shop that comes nearest to a mine with four or five pals do you think I should have held it lawful to rob my pals of any part of the swag just because we happened to be robbing a silversmith certainly not I assure you George the punishment of such a nasty sneaking dishonorable act would be death in every gang and cheap too well we have broken into nature's shop here and we are to rifle her and not turn to like unnatural monsters and rob our ten thousand pals thieving is thieving in my view was the plot and hanging is hanging as all thieves shall find if caught convenient you make my flesh creep Tom I liked you better when you were not so great a man more humble like have you forgotten when you had to make excuses for yourself then you had Susan on your side and brought me round for I was bitter against theft but never so bad as you are now oh never mind what I said in those days you must be well aware I did not know what I was talking about I'd been a rogue and a fool and I talked like both but now I am a man of property and my eyes are open and my conscience revolts against theft and the gallows is the finest institution going and next to that comes a jolly good prison I wish there was one in this mine as big as Pentonville then property here the dialogue was closed the man the pick made upon the man of property's breath but it rankled and on laying down the pick he burst out we have to think of an honest man like you having a word to say for thieving why it is a despicable trait in a gold mine I'll go farther I'll prove it is the sin of sins all around the world stolen money never thrives goes for drink and nonsense now you pick and I'll wash that corrupts the man that is robbed as well as the thief drives into despair and drink and ruin temporal and eternal no country could stand half an hour without law the very honest would turn thieves if not protected and there would be a go besides this great crime is like a trunk railway other little crimes run into it and out of it lies buzz about it like these Australian flies drunkenness pre-season follows it and perjury rushes to its defense well Tom you are a beautiful speaker I haven't done yet what wonder it degrades a man when a dog loses his dignity under it behold the dog who has stolen look at Carlo yesterday when he demeaned himself to preg gems dinner the sly brute won't look at ours how mean he cut with his tail under his belly instead of turning out to meet the folk all jolly and waggle them tail them as on other occasions hello you sir what are you doing so near our tent and up jump the man of property and ran cocking a revolver to a party who was kneeling close to the friend's tent the man looked up coolly he was on his knees we are newly arrived and just going to pitch and the digger told us we must not come within the yards of the captain's tent so we are measuring the distance well measure it and keep it Robinson stayed by his tent of the man whose face was strange to him had measured and mark the ground soon after the tent in question was pitched and it looked so large and knew that the man of properties suspicions were lulled it is all right said he tent is worth 20 pounds while blackwill and his gang were scheming to get the friend's gold Robinson though conscious only of his general danger grew more and more nervous as the bag grew heavier and strengthened his defenses every day this very day one was added to the cause of order in a very characteristic way I must first observe that Mr. McLaughlin had become George's bailiff that is on discovery of the gold he had agreed to George's flocks to use his ground and to account to him sharing the profits in George running the risks George had however encumbered the property with Abner as herdsman that worthy had come whining to him lame of one leg from a blow on the head which he convinced George Jackie had given him with his battle axe I'm spoiled for life and by your savage I've lost my place do something for me goodhearted George did as related and moreover promised to give Jackie a hiding if ever he caught him again George's aversion to bloodshed is a matter of history it was also his creed that a good hiding did nobody any harm now it was sheep shearing time and McLaughlin were short of hands he came into the mine to see whether out of so many thousands he could not find four or five who would instead of digging when he put the question to George George shirk his head doubtfully however said he look out for some unlucky ones that is your best chance least ways your only one so McLaughlin went cannily about listening here and there to the men who were now at their dinners and he found ease gang grumbling and growling with their mouths full in short enjoying at the same time a good dinner and an American's grace this will do thought the Scott misled like continental nations by that little trade of ours he opened the ball I'm saying my lads will you give over this weary work a wee wily and share a ween sheep to me the men looked in his face then at one another and the proposal struck them as singularly they burst out laughing in his face McLaughlin keeping his temper thoroughly but not without a severe struggle oh fine I can now hate to pay a mace deep leech price for your highnesses a wheel eyes pay all thing has its price jazz name your wage for shearing five hundred sheep the men whispered together the Scott congratulated himself on his success it would be a question of price after all we will do it for the wall though who say but who muckle who the who for you can how muckle why all all the wool you blogger here no blame keep your temper farmer it is not worth a while to share sheep for less than that they will go we ye then he walked in great dungeon stop cried the captain you and I are acquainted you lived out Wellington way me and another wanted to your hut one day and you gave us our supper I laugh I mind the ye the new the jolly of supper ever I had a haggis you called it I did I my fine lad I cook it to ye Michelle he might help me for a I will said captain Eid and a conference took place in a whisper between him and his men it is a right the new thought McLaughlin we have an offer to make you said Eid respectfully let us hear it our party is large we want to cook for it and we offer you the place in return for past kindness me a cook ye impudent vagabond the Caledonian red as a turkey cock and if a look could have crushed a party of eight their whole had been their grave McLaughlin took seven hour full steps wide once then his hot anger assumed a cold sardonic form he returned and with lighting satire speared this question by way of gratifying an ironical curiosity and what would ye have the cheek offer McLaughlin to cook to ye you that can say find the price of work 30 shillings 30 shilling the week for a McLaughlin the week cried Eid nonsense 30 shillings a day of course we sell work for gold sir and we give gold for it look here and he suddenly bared a sturdy brown arm and smacking it cried that is dirt where it come from but it is gold here here a fine lad said the scott smoothly and ye bainy arm added he looking down at it eyes no deny that I'm thinking I'll just come and cook to ye a week for old Langzine Thready shall in the day and you buy the flesh of me I'll sell it a handle cheaper than their warily minded fleshers breath came to be shorn and remain to fleece he went and told George what he had done heck heck whined he there's a mace awful come doon for the McLaughlin's but why wouldn't I stoop to lift gold he left his headman a country man of his own in charge of the flocks and carried in the mine he gave great satisfaction except that he used to make his masters while he pronounced a thundering long benediction but his cookery compensated the delay Robinson enrolled him in his police and it was the fashion openly to quiz and secretly respect him Robinson also made friends with the women in particular with one Mary dockerty wife of a very unsuccessful digger many a pound of potatoes Pat and she had from the captain and this getting win secured will of the Irish boys end of chapter sixty chapter sixty one of it is never too late to mend this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information not to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Maria Fatima the Silva it is never too late to mend by Charles Reed chapter sixty one George was very homesick haven't we got a thousand pounds apiece yet hush no not quite but too much to ball about and we never shall till you take my advice and trace the gold to its home in the high rocks here we are plording for dust and one good nugget would make us well well said Robinson the moment the dry weather goes you shall show me the home of the gold for George and his nuggets that is a bargain said George and now I have something more to say why keep so much gold in our tent it makes me fret I am for selling some of it to Mr Levi what at three pounds the ounce not if I know it then why not leave it with him to keep because it is safer in its little hole in our tent what do the diggers care for Mr Levi you and I respect him but I am the man they swear by no George Tom Weasel isn't caught napping twice in the same year don't you see I've been working this for months past to make my tent safe and I've done it it is watched for me night and day and if our swag was in the bank of England it wouldn't be safer than it is put that in your pipe well Carlo what is the news in your part Carlo came running up to George and licked his face which just rose above the hole what is it Carlo asked George in some astonishment ha ha love the other here is the very dog come out to encourage his faint hearted master no said George it can't be that he means something be quiet Carlo licking me to pieces but what it is heaven only knows don't you encourage him he has no business out of the tent go back Carlo go into kennel sir and off slunk Carlo back into the tent of which he was the day sentinel Tom remarked George thoughtfully I believe Carlo wanted to show me something he is a wonderful wise dog nonsense cried Robinson sharply he heard you at the old lay grumbling and came to say cheer up old fellow while Robinson was thus quizzing George a tremendous noise was suddenly heard in their tent a scuffle, a fierce muffled snarl and a human yell with a cry almost as loud the men bounded out of their hole and the blood running like melting ice down their backs with apprehension burst into the tent then they came upon a sight that almost drew the eyes out of their heads in the center of the tent not six inches from their buried treasure was the head of a man emerging from the bowels of the earth and cursing and yelling for Carlo had seized his head by the nape of the neck and bitten it so deep that the blood literally squirted ramping and going back snarling and pulling and hauling in fierce jerks to extract it from the earth while the burly headed ruffian it belonged to grumped by his situation and pounced on unawares by the fiery teeth was striving and battling to get down into the earth again spite of his disadvantage such were his strength and despair that he now swung the dog backward forward but the man burst in George seized him by the hair of his head torn by the shoulder and with Carlo's help wrenched him onto the floor of the tent where he was flung on his back with Tom's revolver at his temple and Carlo flew round and round barking furiously and now and then coming flying at him on which occasions he was always warded off by George's strong arm and past devious his teeth clicking together like machinery the snap and the rush being all one design that must succeed or fail together Captain Robinson put his lips to his whistle and the tent was full of his friends in a moment get me a bollock rope I and drive a stout pole into the ground I in less than five minutes Brutus tied up to a post in the sun with a placard on his breast on which was written in enormous letters thief and underneath in smaller letters caught trying to shake Captain Robinson's tent first offense NB to be hanged next time then a cryer was sent through the mine to invite inspection of Brutus's features a near sunset thousands looked into his face and when he tried to lower it pulled it savagely up I shall know you again my lad was the common remark and if I catch you too near my tent rope or revolver one of the two Captain Robinson's men did not waste five minutes with Brutus they tied him to the stake and dashed into their holes to make up lost time but Robinson and George remained quiet in their tent George sat on in a low contrite humble voice letters written thanks to heaven for vain is man's skill and they did George sat on rising from his knees the conceit is taken out of me for about the twentieth time I felt so strong and I was nobody the danger came in a way I never dreamed and when it had come we were saved by a friend I never valued give a poor Carlo Carlo gave a poor he has been a good friend to us this day said George I see it all now he must have heard the earth move and did not understand it so he came for me and when you would not let me go he went back and says he I dare to say it is a rabbit burying up so he waited still as death watching they nailed six feet of vermin instead of bunny here they both fell to caressing Carlo who jumped and barked and finished with a pretended onslaught on the captain as he was kneeling looking at their so late imperiled gold and knocked him over and slobbered his face when he was down opinions varied but the impression was he knew he had been a clever dog this same evening there was another for him on which was written policemen see the fine new tent was entered and found deserted nothing there but an enormous mound of earth that came out of the subterranean which Robinson got a light and inspected all the way to its debauchure in his own tent as he returned holding up his light and peering about he noticed something lit at the top of the arch he pulled the light close to it and saw a speck or two of gold sparkling here and there he took out his knife and scraped the roof in places and brought to light in detached pieces a layer of gold dust about the substance of a sheet of blotting paper and full three yards wide it crossed the subterranean at right angles dipping apparently about an inch in two yards of brutes and co had been typical they had been so bent on theft that they were blind to the pocketfuls of honest safe easy gold they rubbed their very eyes and their thick skulls against on their subterraneous path to danger and crime two courses occurred to Robinson one was to try and monopolize this vein of gold the other to take his share of it and make the rest add to his popularity and influence in the mine he chose the latter for the bumpiousness with children him this second attack on his tent made him tremble I am a marked man said he well if I have enemies the more need to get friends all around me I must here observe that many men failed altogether at the gold diggings and returned in rags to the towns many others found a little enough to live like a gentleman anywhere else but too little for bare existence in a place where an egg cost a shilling a cabbage a shilling and baking two pounds of beef one shilling and sixpence and a pair of mining boots eight pounds and a frying pan 30 shillings and so on besides the hundreds that fell by diarrhea their hands clutching in vain the gold that could not follow them many a poor fellow died of a broken heart and hardships suffered in vain and some long and lucky but persevering suddenly surprised by a rich find of gold fell by the shock of good fortune went raving mad dazzled by the gold and perished miserably for here all was on a great heroic scale starvation wealth industry crime retribution madness and disease now the good nature captain had his eye upon four unlucky men at this identical moment number one Mr. Miles his old master who having run through his means had come to the diggings he had joined gang of five they made only about three pounds a week each and had expelled him alleging that his work was not quite up to their mark he was left without a mate and earned a precarious livelihood without complaining for he was game but Robinson's quick eye and ear saw his clothes were shabby and that he had given up his ha ha ha number two jam whose mate had run away and robbed him and he was left solace with his tools number three Mr. Stevens an accomplished scholar and above all linguist broad in the forehead but narrow in the chest who had been successively rejected by five gangs and was now at a discount he picked up a few shillings by interpreting but it was a suspicious circumstance that he often came two miles from his end of the camp to see Robinson just at dinner time then a look used to pass between those two good-hearted creatures and Mr. Stevens was served first and Carlo docked till evening titles prevailed but little in the mind they generally address the males of our species thus hi man the females thus hi woman the Spartans but these two made an exception in favor of this reduced scholar they called him sir and felt abashed his black coat should be so rusty and they gave him the grizzly bits for he was not working but always served him first number four unlucky jack a digger this man really seemed to be unlucky gangs would find the stuff on four sides of him and he none his last party had dissolved they said to his ill luck and he was forlorn these four Robinson convened with the help of Mary Mac dog dirty who went for Stevens and made them a little speech telling them he had seen all therefore ill looks and was going to end that with one blow he then taking the direction of root assist gold vein marked them out a claim full 40 yards off and himself one close to them organized them and set them working in high spirits tremulous expectation and a fervor of gratitude to him and kindly feeling toward their unlucky comrades you won't find anything for six feet said the captain meantime all of you turn to and tell the rest how you were the luckiest man in the whole mine till you fell in with me hey hey hey and the captain chockled his elastic vanity was fast covering from Brutus and his spirits rising toward evening he collected his whole faction got on the top of two cradles made a speech thank them for their good will and told them he had now an opportunity of making them a return he had discovered a vein of gold which he could have kept all to himself but it was more just and more generous to share it with his partisans now pass through this little mine one at a time said he and look at the roof where I have stuck the two lighted candles and then pass on quick to make room for others the men dived one after another examined the roof and rushing wildly out at the other end in great excitement Rana marked out claims on both sides of the subterranean but with all their greediness and eagerness left ten feet square untouched on each side of the subterranean what is this left for that is left for the clever fellow that found the gold after a thief had missed it cried one and for the generous fellow that parted his find roared another from a distance Robinson seemed to reflect no I won't spoil the meat by cutting myself the fat no I am a digger but not only a digger I aspire to the honor of being a captain of diggers my claim lies out there hurrah three cheers for captain Robinson will you do me a favor in return hurrah won't we I am going to petition the governor to send us out police to guard our tents hurrah and even beaks if necessary and above all soldiers to take our gold safe down to Sydney hurrah where we can sell it at 3.15 the ounce hurrah hurrah hurrah instead of giving it away here for three pounds and then being robbed if you will all sign Mr. Stevens and I will draw up the petition no country can stand without law hurrah for captain Robinson the digger's friend and the wildfellows jumped out of the holes and forces the digger's friend and they chaired him in their and they put Carlo into a cradle and raised him high and chaired him and both man and dog were right glad to get safe out of the precarious honor the proceedings ended by Brutus being loosed and set between two long lines of men and they went away and pelted and knocked down and knocked up again and driven, bruised, battered and bleeding out of that part of the camp he found his way to a little dirty tent not much bigger than a badger's hole crawled in and sank down in a fainting state and lay on his back stiff and fevered and smarting soul and body many days and while Robinson with good fortune, his popularity his swelling back and the constabulary force he was collecting and heading distorted ruffian driven to utter desperation by their exposure of his features to all the camp with thief blazing on him lay groaning stiff and sore but lived for revenge let him keep his gold I don't care for his gold now I'll have his blood and his blood and of chapter 61 Chapter 62 and 63 of It is never too late to mend This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Maria Fatma da Silva It is never too late to mend by Charles Reid Chapter 62 I wonder at you giving away the claim that lay close to the gold it is all very well to be generous but you forget Susan don't you be silly George the vain dips and those that cut down on it where it is horizontalish will get a little we that nick nearly verticalish will get three times as much out of a ten foot square claim Well, you are a sharp fellow to be sure but if it is so why on earth did you make a favor to them of giving them the milk and taking the cream Policy George Policy Chapter 63 Sunday Tom, I invite you to a walk Aye aye, I'd give twenty pounds for one but the swag will get this one day with Mr. Levi He has two young men always armed in his tent and a little peevish dog and a gutter percher pipes running into all the juice tents that are at his back like chicks after the old hen Oh, he is a deep one and he has got mouthpieces to them and so he could bring thirty men upon a thief in less than half a minute Well done George A walk is a great temptation this beautiful day In short, by eight o'clock the gold was deposited and the three friends for policemen see must count for one stepped lustily out in the morning air It was the month of January a blazing hot day was beginning to glow through the freshness of morning The sky was one coat of pure blue and the southern air crept its wings clogged with fragrance and just turned the trembling leaves no more Is not this pleasant Tom? Isn't it sweet? I believe you George and what a shame to run down such a country is this There they come home and tell you the flowers have no smell but they keep dark about the trees and bushes being haystacks of flowers Snuff the air as we go it is a thousand English gardens in one look at all those tea scrubs each with a thousand blossoms on it as sweet as honey and the golden wattles on the other side and all smelling like seven o'clock after which flowers behind I lad it is very refreshing and it is Sunday and we have got away from the wicked for an hour or two but in England there would be a whole white church out yonder and the spire like an angel's forefinger pointing from the grass to heaven and the lads in their clean smockfrocks like snow and the wenches in their white stockings and new shawls and the old women in their scarlet cloaks and black bonnets all going one road and the tinkle from the belfry that would turn all those other sounds and curlers and sweet smells holy as well as fair on the Sabbath mourn ah England ah you will see her again no need to sigh oh I was not thinking of her in particular just then of who? of Susan prejudice behind this is a lovely land so tears Tom so tears but I'll tell you what puts me out a little bit nothing is what it sets up for here if you see a ripe pear and go to eat it it is a lump of hard wood next comes a thing the very sight of which turns your stomach and that is delicious a low quart for instance there now look at that magpie well it is Australia so that magpie is a crow and not a magpie at all everything pretends to be some old friend or other of mine and turns out a stranger here is nothing but surprises and deceptions the flowers make a point of not smelling and the bushes that nobody expects to smell or wants to smell they smell lovely what does it matter where the smell comes from so that you get it? why Tom replied George opening his eyes it makes all the difference I like to smell a flower I like to eat without smell but I don't care if I never smell a bush till I die then the birds they laugh and talk like Christians they make me split my sides God bless their little hearts but they won't cheer up odia no bless you they leave the Christians to cheer up they hold conversations and giggle and laugh and play a thing like a fiddle it is Australia the animals have four legs so they jump on two ten foot square of rock lets for a pound a month ten acres of grass for a shilling a year roasted at Christmas shiver or cold on mid-summer day the lakes are grass and the rivers turn their backs on the sea and run into the heart of the land and the men would stand on their heads but I have taken a thought I found out why they don't why? because if they did their heads would point the same way a man's head points in England Robinson laughed until George he admired the country for these very traits novelty for me against the world who'd come 12,000 miles to see nothing we couldn't see at home hang the same old story always where are we going George oh not much farther only about 12 miles from the camp where to? to a farmer I know I am going to show you a log Tom said George his eyes beamed benevolence on his comrade Robinson stopped dead short George said he no don't let us I would rather stay at home and read my book you can go into temptation and come out pure I can't I am one of those that if I go into a puddle up to my shoe I must splash up to my middle what has that to do with it you're proposing to me to go in for a log on the Sabbath day why Tom am I the man to tempt you to do evil as George heard why no but for all that you propose the log I but an innocent one one more likely to lift your heart on high than to give you ill thoughts well this is a riddle and Robinson was intensely puzzled Carlo cried George suddenly come here I will not have you hunting and tormenting those kangaroo rats today let us all be at peace if you please come to heal the friends showed briskly on and a little after 11 o'clock they came upon a small squatter's house and premises here we are right George and his eyes glittered with innocent delight the house was thatched and whitewashed and English was written on it and on every foot of ground rounded a first bush had been planted by the door vertical oak palings were the fence with a five barred gate in the middle of them from the little plantation all the innocent trees and shrubs of Australia had been excluded with amazing resolution and consistency and oak and ash rained safe from overtowering rivals they passed to the back of the house and there George's countenance fell a little for on the oval grass plot and gravel walk he found from 30 to 40 rough fellows most of them diggers oh well said he on reflection we could not expect to have it all to ourselves and indeed it would be a sin to wish it you know now Tom come this way here it is here it is there Tom looked up and in the gigantic cage was a light brown bird he was utterly confounded what is it this we came 12 miles to see I and twice 12 wouldn't have been much to me well but what is the lark you talked of this is it this this is a bird well and isn't a lark a bird oh hi I see ha ha ha ha ha Robinson's merriment was interrupted by a harsh remonstrance from several of the diggers who were all from the other end of the camp hold your cackle cry one he is going to sing and the whole party had their eyes turned with the expectation toward the bird like most singers he kept them waiting a bit but at last just at noon when the mistress of the house had warranted him to sing the little feathered exile began as it were to tune his pipes the savage men gathered around the cage that moment and amid a dead stillness the bird uttered some very uncertain chirps but after a while he seemed to revive his memories and call his asian cadences back him to one by one and string them so to voce and then the same son that had warmed his little heart at home came glowing down on him here and he gave music back for it more and more till at last amid breathless silence and glistening eyes of the rough diggers on his voice outburst in that distant land his English song it swelled his little throat anguished from him with thrilling force and plenty and every time he checked his song to think of its theme the green meadows the quiet stealing streams the clover he first sawed from and the spring he sang so well a loud sigh from many a rough bosom made a wild and wicked heart told how tight the listeners had held their breath to hear him and when he swelled with song again and poured with all his soul the green meadows the quiet brooks the honey clover and the English spring the rugged mouths opened and so stayed and the shaggy lips trembled and more than one drop trickled from fierce and bridled hearts done bronzed and rugged cheeks Dolci Dornan and these shaggy men full of oaths and strife and cupidity had once been white-headed boys and had strolled about the English fields with little sisters and little brothers and seen the law could rise and heard him sing this very song the little playmates lay in the church and they were full of oaths and drink and lusts and remorse but no note was changed in this immortal song and so for a moment or two years of vice rolled away like a dark cloud from the memory and the past shone out in the song shine they came back bright as the immortal notes delighted them those faded pictures and those fleeting days the cottage the old mother sees when he left her without one grain of sorrow the village church and its simple chimes the clover filled hard by in which he lay and gambled while the log praised God overhead the chubby playmates that never grew to be wicked the sweet hours of youth and innocence and home End of chapter 63 Chapter 64 of it is never too late to mend this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Mary Maxwell it is never too late to mend by Charles Reid Chapter 64 What will you take for a mistress I will give you five pounds for him no no I won't take five pounds for my bird of course she won't cry to another she wouldn't be such a flat here Mrs. Crichty I'll give you that form and he extended a brown hand with at least 30 new sovereigns glittering in it the woman trembled she and her husband were just emerging from poverty after a hard fight oh she cried it is a shame to tempt a poor woman with so much gold we had six brought over and all died on the way but this one and she threw her white apron over her head not to see the glittering bride you put the blunt up and don't tempt the woman was the cry another added why you fool I'd leave a week if you had it and they all abused the merchant but the woman turned to him kindly and said you come to me every Sunday and he shall sing to you you will get more pleasure from him so she said sweetly then if he was always by you so I will old girl replied the rough in a friendly tone George stayed till the lark gave up singing all together and then he said now I am off I don't want to hear bad language after that let us take the lark's chirp home to bed with us and they made off and true it was the pure strains dwelt upon their spirits and refreshed and purified these surgeners in a godless place meeting these two figures on Sunday afternoon armed each with a double barreled gun and a revolver you would never have guessed what gentle thoughts possessed them holy they talked less than they did coming but they felt so quiet and happy the pretty bird per George seeing him by the ear I feel after him there as if I had just come out of church so do I George and I think his song must be a song if we knew all that it is for heaven taught at him we must try and keep all this in our hearts when we get among the broken bottles and foul language and gold said George how sweet it all smells sweeter than before that is because it is afternoon yes or along of the music that tune was a breath from home that makes everything please me now this is the first Sunday that has looked and smelled and sounded Sunday George is as hard to believe the world is wicked everything seems good and gentle and at peace with heaven and earth a jet of smoke issued from the bush followed by the report of a gun and Carlo who had taken advantage of George's reverie to slip on ahead gave a sharp howl and spun round upon all fours the scoundrels sweet Robinson and in a moment his gun was at his shoulder and he fired both barrels slap into the spot whence the smoke had issued both the men dashed up and sprang into the bush revolver in hand but ere they could reach it the dastard had run for it and the scrub was so thick pursuit was hopeless the men returned full of anxiety for Carlo the dog met them his tail between his legs but at sight of George he wagged his tail and came to him and looked George's hand and walked on with him licking George's hand every now and then look Tom he is as sensible as a Christian he knows the shot was meant for him though they didn't hit him by this time the men had got out of the wood and pursued their road but not with tranquil hearts Sunday ended with the noise of that coward's gun they walked on hastily guns ready fingers on trigger at war suddenly Robinson looked back and stopped and drew George's attention to Carlo he was standing with all his four legs wide apart like a statue George called him he came directly and was licking George's hand but George pulled him about and examined him all over I wish they may not have hurt him after all the butchers they have too see here Tom here's one streak of blood on his belly nothing to hurt though I do hope never mind Carlo cry George it is only a single shot but what I can see it isn't like when Will put the whole charge of rabbit shooting is it Carlo no says he we don't care for this do we Carlo cried George rather boisterously make him go into that pool there said Robinson then he won't have fever I will here says says he threw a stone into the pool of water that lay a little off the road and Carlo went in after it without hesitation though not with his usual alacrity after an unsuccessful attempt to recover the stone he swam down and came back to the men and wagged his tail slowly and walked behind George they went on Tom said George after a pause I don't like it don't like what he never so much as shook himself what of that he did shake himself I should say not as should be whoever saw a dog come out of the water and not shake himself Carlo he Carlo and George threw a stone along the ground which Carlo trotted but his limbs seemed to work stiffly the stone spun round a sharp corner in the road the dog followed it he will do now said Robinson they walked briskly on on turning the corner they found Carlo sitting up and shivering with the stone between his paws we must not let him sit said Tom keep his blood warm I don't think we ought to have sent him into the water I don't know muttered George gloomily don't cry he cheerfully don't you be downhearted there's nothing so bad as faint heartedness for man or beast come up and away you go and shake it off like a man Carlo got up and wagged his tail and answer but he evidently was in no mood for running he followed languidly behind let us get home said Robinson there's an old pal of mine that is clever about dogs he will cut the shot out if there is one in him and give him some physics he strode on and each to hide his own uneasiness chatted about other matters but all of a sudden Robinson cried out why where is the dog they looked back and there was Carlo some 60 yards in the rear but he was not sitting this time he was lying on his belly oh this is a bad job cried George the men ran up in real alarm Carlo wagged his tail as soon as they came near him but he did not get up and he was very much disparingly you wouldn't do it you couldn't think to do it oh my dear Carlo it is only making up your mind to live keep up your heart old fellow don't go to leave us alone among these villains my poor dear darling dog oh no he won't live he can't live see how dull his poor dear eye is getting oh Carlo Carlo at the sound of his master's voice in such distress Carlo whimpered his limbs out at the sight of this Robinson cried hastily rub him George we did wrong to send him into the water George rubbed him all over after rubbing him a while he said Tom I seem to feel him turning to dead under my hand George's hand in rubbing Carlo came round to the dog's shoulder then Carlo toned his head and for the third time began to lick George's hand George let him lick his hand and gave up rubbing him for where was the use Carlo never left off licking his hand but feebly very feebly more and more feebly presently even while he was licking his hand the poor thing's teeth closed slowly on his loving tongue and then he could lick the beloved hand no more breath fluttered about his body a little while longer but in truth he had ceased to live when he could no longer kiss his master's hand and so the poor single-hearted soul was gone George took it up tenderly in his arms Robinson made an effort to console him don't speak to me if you please said George gently but quickly he carried it home silently and laid it silently down in a corner of the tent Robinson made a fire and put some steaks on and made George slice some potatoes to keep him from looking always at what so little while since was Carlo then they sat down silently and gloomily to dinner it was long past their usual hour and they were working men until we die we dying come what may the first part of the meal passed in deep silence then Robinson said sadly we will go home George I fall into your wishes now gold can't pay for what we go through in this hellish place not it replied George quietly we are surrounded by enemies seems so was the reply in a very language tone labor by day and danger by night I but in a most indifferent tone and no Sabbath for us too no I'll do my best for you and when we have 500 pounds more you shall go home to Susan thank you he was a good friend to us that lies there under my coat he used to lie over it who dare touch it no but don't give way to that George do eat a bit it will do you good I will Tom I will thank you kindly now I see why he came to me and kept licking my hand so the moment he got the hurt he had more sense than we had he knew he and I were to part that hour and I tormented his last minute sending him into the water and after stones when the poor thing wanted to be bidding me goodbye all the while oh dear oh dear said George and pushed his scarce tasted dinner from him and left the tent hurriedly his eyes thick with tears thus ended this human day so happily begun and thus the poor dog paid the price of fidelity this Sunday afternoon Cesteviat were I to her and part with poor Carlo for whom there are now no more little passing troubles no more little simple joys his duty is performed his race is run peace be to him and to all simple and devoted hearts ah me how rare they are among men what are you doing Tom if you please laying down a gut line to trip them up when they get into our tent when who there's the shot Carlo they won't venture near me won't they what was the dog shot for them and come to their death tonight I hope let them come you will hear me cry Carlo in their ears as I put my revolver to their skulls and pull the trigger George said nothing but he clinched his teeth after a pause he muttered we should pray against such thoughts Robinson was disappointed no attack was made in fact even if such a thing was meditated the captain's friends watched his tent night and day a full hearty enterprise full of danger from without and within in the course of the next week a good deal of rain fell and filled many of the claims and caused much inaction and distress among the diggers and Robinson guarded the tent and wrote letters and studied Australian politics with a view to being shortly a member of congress in these parts George had his wish at last and cruised about looking for the home of the gold George recollected to have seen he had described as a river of quartz 60 feet broad and running between two black rocks it ran in his head that gold and masses was there locked up for, argued he, all the nuggets of any size they have seen were more than half quartz Robinson had given up debating the point George was uneasy and out of spirits at not hearing from Susan for several months and Robinson was for indulging him in everything poor George, he could not even find quartz and when he used to come home day after day empty handed and with his confession the others lips used to twitch with the hard struggle not to laugh at him and he used to see the struggle and be secretly more annoyed than if he had been laughed out at one afternoon Tom Robinson internally despising the whole thing and perfectly sure in his own mind that there was no river of quartz but paternal and indulgent to his friends one weakness said to him tell me how to find this river of quartz if it is anywhere except in your own head I should be much obliged to you how? Gem has come back to camp and he tells me that Jackie is encamped with a lot more close to the gully he is working it was on the other side of the bush there and Jackie inquired very kindly after you the little viper he grinned from ear to ear Gem tells me and says he me come and see George a good deal soon says he is black-eyed for him what makes you hold spite so long against poor Jackie? he is a little sneaking varment he knows every part of this country and he would show you the home of the gold observed Robinson restraining his merriment with great difficulty this cock would not fight as vulgar wretches say Jackie had rather mortified George by deserting him upon the first discovery of gold this a good deal stupid was that worthy's remark on the second day I hunt things run and I run behind and catch them you hunt it not run yet you not catch it always that a good deal stupid before we hunt gold you do many things now do one that a good deal stupid before you go so erecting a forefinger now you always so croaking it that too stupid and with this were my lord was off to the woods on the head of this came Abner limping in and told how a savage had been seen creeping after him with a battle axe and how he had lain insensible for days and now was lame for life George managed to forgive Jackie's unkind desertion but for creeping after Abner and spoiling him for life to use Abner's face he vowed vengeance on that black hide and heart now if the truth must be told Jackie had come back to the camp with gem and would have marched before this into George's tent knowing how angry George was with him and not wishing either Jackie to be licked or George to be tomahawk insisted on his staying with gem till he had smoothed down his friends indignation soon after this dialogue Robinson slipped out and told Jackie to stay with gem and keep out of George's way for a day or two and now the sun began to set red as blood and the place to sparkle far and wide with the fiery rays emitted from a hundred thousand bottles that lay sown broadcast over the land and the thunder of the cradles ceased and the accordions came out all over five miles of gold mine their gentler strains lasted till the sun let the sky then just at dusk came a tremendous discharge of musketry roaring rattling and re-echoing among the rocks this was tens of thousands of diggers discharging their muskets and revolvers previous to reloading them for the night for calm as the sun had set to sick of accordions many a deadly weapon they knew would be wanted to defend life and gold ere that same tranquil sun should rise again thus the tired army slept not at their ease like other armies guarded by sentinels and pickets but every man in danger every night and every hour of it each man laying his clothes with a weapon of death in his hand Robinson with two a revolver and a cutlass ground like a razor outside it was all calm peaceful no boisterous revelry all seemed to sleep innocent and calm in the moonlight after the day of Herculean toil perhaps if any one eye could have visited the whole enormous camp the children of theft and of the night might have been seen prowling and crawling from one bit of shade to another but in the part where our friends lay the moon revealed no human figures but Robinson's patrol three men who with a dark lantern in armed to the teeth 10th their rounds and guarded 40 tents above all the captains it was at his tent that guard was relieved every two hours so always watched the live long night two pointed rocks connected at the base face the captain's tent the silver rays struck upon their foreheads wet with the vapors of night and made them like frost seemed through phosphorus it was startling the soul of silver seemed to be sentinel secret gold below and now a sad miserable sound graded on the ear of night a lugubrious quail doled forth a grating dismal note at long but measured intervals offending the ear and depressing the heart this was the only sound nature afforded for hours the neighboring bush though crammed with the merriest souls that ever made feathers vibrate and dance the song was like a tomb of black marble a sound only this little raven of a quail told her harsh lugubrious creak those whose musical creed is time before sentiment might have put up with this night bird for to do her justice she was a perfect timist one creak in a bar the live long night but her tune ugh she was the mother of all files that play on iron throughout the globe creak creak creak untuning the night an eye of red light suddenly opened in the silver stream shows three men standing by a snowy tent it is the patrol waiting to be relieved three more figures emerge from the distant shade and join them the first three melt into the shade creak the other three remain and mutter now they start on their rounds what is that mutters one I'll go and see click oh it is only that brown donkey that cruises about here she will break her neck in one of the pits someday she is not such an ass these three melted into the night going their rounds and now nothing is left in sight but a thousand cones of snow and the donkey paddling carefully among the pits creak now the donkey stands a moment still in the moonlight now he paddles slowly away and disappears on the dark side the captain's tent what is he doing he stoop he lies down he takes off his head and skin and lays them down it is a man he draws his knife and puts it between his teeth a pistol is in his hand he crawls on his stomach the tent is between him and the patrol his hand is inside the tent he finds the opening and winds like a serpent into the tent creak end of chapter chapter 64