The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-19

years of the discovery of gold in Australia,
and Jack had been one OF the pioneers on
the track of gold in the gullies and on the
hills. White buckskin riding pants. with
leather belt round the waist (braces on
Kangaroo Flat and on all the gold fields
were looked upon as effeminate), and over
the belt a broad red silk sash with fringes:
a striped white and blue linen shirt open
at the neck and a Panama hat fine and
light and thin that it would have excited
the envy of Bond-street dandies, who In
these more modern years affect this fashion
Of headgear. These few items completed
his attire, and quite enough they were on
this blazing hot day, when the tempera-
ture, before the sun reached its meridian,
likely to make a record. But Jack
didn't care. Not bit. Nor would he have
cared had he been going out into heavy
snowstorm. What matters the weather to
a man over head and ears in love?
AS Jack was. And the girl. whose bright
eyes and winsome face had worked this
marvel in him, was as much in love he.
She was waiting for him in her fathers
canvas tent in the Omeo district, a hundred
and thirty miles from Kangaroo Flat, and
knew that on this day her lover would be
riding her way, and that when he arrived
he might ask her certain supreme question
for which she had her answer ready. Gu
rious, was it not, that loving each other
as they did, this question had not yet been
asked? There was a reason for it. Long
as Jack had been on the gold fields, follow
ing each new rush. and working manfully
from sunrise to shutdown. fortune had not
smiled upon him-until lately. To be pre-
inst fxyo his VII
having purchased for song quarter share
in a claim on a quartz reef for which the
men had been digging for over year. re-
ceived his reward. At hundred and forty
odd feet down in the bowels of the earth
the golden reef was struck. How many or
how few ounces of gold to the ton of quartz
would be the result, had yet to be ascer-
tanned, but there were specks of gold in the
stone, and pretty freely distributed. and
every day a nice-looking specimen of gold
and quartz revealed itself to the delighted
eyes of the owners of the claim. The pros
pect, therefore. was good. and the men cal
culated that the first crushing would go at
least two or three ounces to the ton. When
they came upon it the reef was very thin,
not more than two three inches; but it
was widening out, and stone began to come
Marlowe did, upon the advent of this stroke
of luck, was to write to MiliceDt (AIilly for
short) and tell her about it, and she wrote
back and said how glad she was; and al
| though the letters were not open love letters,
there must have been a lot of love hidden
somewhere in the words that were written.
else why should both Milly and Jack put
their letters under their pillows when they
went to bed. having previously drawn much
sweetness from the inanimate paper with
their lips?
| Then followed another letter from Jack.
They had had a crushing of thirty tons,
| and the yield was a cake of gold weighing
| $50 ounces, which, after the payment Of ex-
penses, put over ECO into Jacks pocket
| for his quarter share. Then another crush
| ing and another sum of EGO into the hap
by mans pocket. Following this. third
letter from Jack. saying that he was COM
| ing to the Omeo to spend Christmas with
Milly and her father, and would start from
/ Kangaroo Flat on Dec. 10, which would
make him due on the I'D.
| 'Tve bought a horse" wrote Jack-"a
beauty. A bay it is, and the gentlest crea-
ture. And I've had M engraved on the
harness. That is why 1 am coming down
| in the saddle instead of by Cobb's coach
And L bringing Ponto with me. Per-
haps when you see him But never
| mind" etc, etc. Ponto splendid grey
hound, of which faithful, handsome animal
Milly had expressed the greatest admira-
| ton a previous visit which Jack had
paid her father. The reference to M. on
the harness Milly perfectly understood,
and it set her heart beating faster; but
why Jack should say, referring to Ponto:
| "Perhaps-but never mind,' was too yelled
and mysterious for understanding Still,
she was satisfied that it meant some
thing delightful, for what did Jack do that
was not delightful?
That these two young people should write
to each other, and should commence their
letters with my dear Milly," and my
dear Jack" without being engaged needs
explanation. They were friends and chums,
as little boy and girl, in the old country.
| When Milly was fifteen her father with
| his family emigrated to Australia. Jack
was already there. A couple OF years ago
Jack heard of her being in the Omeo dis
trict. He wrote to her. taking the post
Office as an address. She received the let
ter and replied to 1t. He went to see his
| old friends-a walk OF a hundred and thirty
miles Is nothing to a gold-dgger. There's
no telling what kind of good fortune one
might meet with on the road, perhaps q
big nugget sticking out of the earth (such
things have been), and the discovery of q
new gold field. And when a pretty girl-a
sweetheart of childhood who gave the
promise of growing into a beautiful WON.
an-is in question, what shall stop the pulls
ing OF hot young blood? And, let me tel
you, woman was worth more than heI
weight in gold in those days She ruled
the roast, was queen of all she surveyed
and could pick and choose.
So now you know why Jack Marlowe tool
so long over his toilet on the morning o.
that 18th day OF December. He was goins
to Milly, with hope in his heart which
made il very garden of joy.
A manly young fellow, five feet eleven IL
his stockinged feet, strong, 1.-the, clear
skinned, much Drowned by the sun Jus
now; curly hair. brown beard, which he die
not allow to grow too long, willing heart
willing hand-precisely the kind of man I,
win a girls heart and TO win his way il
the world. Barring the costume he Nigh
have stood as a model for a brave soldie
. in the days of old Greece. 1t was the fire.
, life on the gold fields, the working in fresl
air. the independent spirit that such lif
brings TO man that had made him wha