Could I hope to
cross it? This would be the highest triumph that I could wish for; but
it was too much to think of yet. I would try the nearer range, and see
how far I could go. Even if I did not find country, might I not find
gold, or diamonds, or copper, or silver? I would sometimes lie flat down
to drink out of a stream, and could see little yellow specks among the
sand; were these gold? People said no; but then people always said there
was no gold until it was found to be abundant: there was plenty of slate
and granite, which I had always understood to accompany gold; and even
though it was not found in paying quantities here, it might be abundant
in the main ranges. These thoughts filled my head, and I could not
banish them.
CHAPTER II: IN THE WOOL-SHED
At last shearing came; and with the shearers there was an old native,
whom they had nicknamed Chowbok--though, I believe, his real name was
Kahabuka. He was a sort of chief of the natives, could speak a little
English, and was a great favourite with the missionaries. He did not do
any regular work with the shearers, but pretended to help in the yards,
his real aim being to get the grog, which is always more freely
circulated at shearing-time: he did not get much, for he was apt to be
dangerous when drunk; and very little would make him so: still he did get
it occasionally, and if one wanted to get anything out of him, it was the
best bribe to offer him.
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