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By this time "Porepunkahs" had passed their previous limit, and even paid a bonus: it was now an open secret that a drive undertaken in an opposite direction to the first had proved successful; the lead was scored and seamed with gold. Ocock spoke of the stone, specimens of which he had held in his hand declared he had never seen its equal.
Such a chance would hardly come his way again. After the one fictitious flare-up, "Porepunkahs" had fallen heavily the first main prospect-drive, at a depth of three hundred and fifty feet, had failed to strike the gutter and nowadays they were not even quoted. Thus had ended his single attempt to take a hand in the great game.
The next few days kept him in a twitter of excitement. "Porepunkahs" went on advancing not by leaps and bounds as before, but slowly and steadily and threw off a dividend. He got into bed at night with a hot head, from wondering whether he ought to hold on or sell out; and inside a week he was off to consult the one person who was in a position to advise him.
If so, you'll no doubt have noticed the ... let me say the extreme instability of 'Porepunkahs. After making an excellent start, they have dropped till they are now to be had at one-twentieth of their original value." He did not take much interest in mining matters was Mahony's reply.
The lawyer had, for instance, got him finally out of "Porepunkahs" in the nick of time the reef had not proved as open to the day as was expected and pulled him off, in the process, another three hundred odd. Compared with Ocock's own takings, of course, his was a modest spoil; the lawyer had made a fortune, and was now one of the wealthiest men in Ballarat.
There it stood, black on white. "Porepunkahs" had jumped to three pounds per share! What the dickens did that mean? He turned back to the front sheet, to find if any clue to the claim's renewed activity had escaped him; but sought in vain. So bolting the rest of his breakfast, he hurried down to the town, to see if, on the spot, he could pick up information with regard to the mysterious rise.
After this, he took a new interest in the mining sheet of the STAR; turned to it, indeed, first of all. For a week, a fortnight, "Porepunkahs" remained stationary; then they made a call, and, if he did not wish to forfeit, he had to pay out as many shillings as he held shares. A day or two later they sank a trifle, and Mahony's hopes with them.
However he knew something of the claim in question, if only because several of his acquaintances had abandoned their shares, in disgust at the repeated calls and the lack of dividends. "Exactly. Well now, doctor, I'm in a position to inform you that 'Porepunkahs' will very shortly be prime favourites on the market, selling at many times their original figure their ORIGINAL figure, sir!
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