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'You were surprised, then, when you heard the story? 'Knocked off my pins, sir. I never was so much taken aback in my life. To be told that John Caldigate had married Euphemia Smith after all that I had seen, and that he had been married to her in May '73! I knew of course that it was all a got-up thing. And he's in prison? 'He is in prison, certainly. 'For bigamy? 'Indeed he is, Mr. Shand.

It is all understood somewhere, I suppose, though we don't understand it. I tell you what it is, Dr. Shand. If you think that five hundred pounds left with you can be of any assistance, you can have it. But the doctor seemed to doubt whether the money would do any good, and refused to take it, at any rate for the present. What could he do with it, if he did take it?

On the next morning at six Caldigate and Dick Shand were at the hole together. It was Caldigate's turn to work till noon, whereas Dick went off at nine, and Mick would come on from nine till three. At nine Mick did not make his appearance, and Dick declared his purpose of looking after him. Caldigate also threw down his tools, as he could not work alone, and went in search.

"Let him come in, then, if he wants his chance," said Jack indifferently. "The losers will take care of him." Joe made haste to join them. They squatted in a circle around the blanket. Under the strong excitement of the game, each nature revealed itself. Black Shand became as pale as paper, while Husky's face turned purple.

They were too much shaken themselves to laugh at his panic terror. Both men by the fire jumped up and turned around. Husky knocked over his box, and the cards scattered broadcast. He sidled towards the others, keeping his eyes on the door. "Stop your yelling!" Shand hoarsely commanded. "Did you hear it? Did you hear it?" Joe continued to cry. "Yes, I heard it," growled Shand.

The next day, as we journeyed towards the river, we fell in with all our old friends, who inquired into the particulars of our adventures, and seemed highly delighted at our return. We found "all right" on board the brig; but as she was chartered to go to Tongataboo I and my friend Shand determined to remain at New Zealand till her return.

In his dreams of life a man should never dream that which is altogether impossible. There had been something in the thought of Hester Bolton which had taken him back from the roughnesses of his new life, from the doubtful respectability of Mrs. Smith, from the squalor of the second-class from the whisky-laden snores of Dick Shand, to a sweeter, brighter, cleaner world.

They had offered themselves in due form, it was said, and, much to the satisfaction of the company in general, had been turned down in positive terms. Whether or not this was precisely true, Husky Marr suddenly sold out his outfit and went out on a York boat, while Black Shand Fraser packed up his and trekked over to the Spirit River.

'And how about his real wife? 'His real wife, as you call her 'She is, as sure as my name is Richard Shand. 'It is on behalf of that lady that we are almost more anxious than for Mr. Caldigate himself. In this matter she has been perfectly innocent; and whoever may have been the culprit, or culprits, she has been cruelly ill-used. 'She'll have her husband back again, of course, said Dick.

When Caldigate, remembering how affairs were at his own home, had suggested that at so sad a moment he might be found to be in the way, Shand had assured him that there would be no sadness at all. 'We are not a sentimental race, he had said. 'There are a dozen of us, and the sooner some of us disperse ourselves, the more room will there be in the nest for the others.