Vomit up against the back of their throats and out of their noses. He

waited a few more minutes but when their bowels started to empty he

turned away gagging and headed for the Bright Angel.

Did you enjoy it? asked Duff.

Give me a brandy, answered Sean.

With the Diggers Committee dispensing rough justice a semblance of order

came to the camps. President Kruger wanted no part in policing the nest

of ruffians and cutthroats which was growing up just outside his Capital

and he contented himself with placing his spies among them and leaving

them to work out their own salvation. After all, the field was far from

proved and the chances were that in another year the veld would again be

as deserted as it had been nine months before. He could afford to wait;

In the meantime the Diggers Committee had his tar-it sanction.

While the ants worked, cutting down into the reef with pick and with

dynamite, the grasshoppers waited in the bars and shanties. So far only

the Jack and Whistle min was turning out gold, and only Hradsky and

Francois du Toit knew how much gold was coming out of it. Hradsky was

still in Capetown crusading for capital and Francois spoke to no one,

not even to Duff, about the mill's productivity.

The rumours flew like sand in a whirlwind. One day it seemed that the

reef had pinched out fifty feet below the surface, and the next the

canteens buzzed with the news that the Heyns brothers had gone down a

hundred feet and were pulling out nuggets the size of musket balls.

Nobody knew but everybody was prepared to guess.

Up at the Candy Deep, Duff and Sean worked on relentlessly. The mill

took shape on its concrete platform, its jaws open for the first bite at

the rock. The boiler was swung up onto its cradle by twenty sweating,

singing Zulus. The copper tables were fitted up ready to be smeared

with quicksilver. There was no time to worry about the reef nor the

dwindling store of money in Sean's cash belt. They worked and they

slept, there was nothing else. Duff took to sharing Sean's tent up on

the ridge and Candy had her featherbed to herself again.

On the twentieth of November they fired the boiler for the first time.

Tired and horny-handed, their bodies lean and tempered hard with toil,

they stood together and watched the needle creek up round the pressure

gauge until it touched the red line at the top.

Duff grunted. Well, at least we've got power now. Then he punched

Sean's shoulder What the hell are you standing here for, do you think

this is a Sunday School picnic? There's work to do, laddie. On the

second of December they fed the mill its first meal and watched the

powdered rock flow across the amalgam tables.

Sean threw his arm round Duff's neck in an affectionate half-Nelson,

Duff hit him in the stomach and pulled his hat down over his eyes, they

drank a glass of brandy each at supper and laughed a little but that was

all. They were too tired to celebrate. From now on one of them must be

In constant attendance on that iron monster. Duff took the first night

shift and when Sean went up to the mill, next morning he found him

weaving on his feet, his eyes sunk deep in dark sockets. By my

reckoning we've run ten tons of rock through her. Time to clean the

tables and see just how much gold we've picked up. You go and get some

sleep, said Sean and Duff ignored him.

Mbejane, bring a couple of your savages here, we're going to change the

tables. Listen, Duff, it can wait an hour or two. Go and get your head

down. Please stop drivelling, you're as bad as a wife Sean shrugged.

Have it your own way, show me how you do it then. They switched the

flow of powdered rock onto the second table that was standing ready;

then with a broad bladed spatula Duff scraped the mercury off the copper

top of the first table, collecting it in a ball the size of a coconut.

The mercury picks up the tiny particles of gold, he explained to Sean as

he worked, and lets the grains of rock wash across the table and fall

off into the dump. Of course it doesn't collect it all, some of it goes

to waste. How do you get the gold out again? You put the whole lot in

a retort and boil off the mercury, the gold stays behind. Hell of a

waste of mercury, isn't it? No, you catch it as it condenses and use it

again. Come on, I'l show you. Duff carried the ball of amalgam down to

the shed, placed it in the retort and lit the blow-lamp. With the heat

on it the ball dissolved and started to bubble. Silently they stared at

it. The level in the retort fell.

Where's the gold? Sean asked at last. Oh, shut up, Duff snapped

impatiently, and then, repentant, Sorry, laddie, I feel a bit jaded this

morning. The last of the mercury steamed off and there it was, glowing

bright, molten yellow. A drop of gold the size of a pea. Duff shut off

the blow-lamp and neither of them spoke for a while. , Then Sean asked,

Is that all? That, my friend, is all, agreed Duff wearily. rWhat do

you want to do with it, fill a tooth? He turned towards the door with a

droop to his whole body. Keep the mill running we might as well go down

with our colours flying.

It was a miserable Christmas dinner. They ate it at Candy's Hotel. They

had credit there. She gave Duff a gold signet ring and Sean a box of

cigars. Sean had never smoked before but now the sting of it in his

lungs gave him a certain masochistic pleasure. The dining-room roared

with men's voices and cutlery clatter, the air was thick with the smell

of food and tobacco smoke while in one corner, marooned on a little

island of gloom, sat Sean, Duff and Candy.

Once Sean lifted his glass at Duff and spoke like an undertaker's clerk.

Happy Christmas Duff's lips twitched back in a dead m in's grin. And

the same to you. They drank. Then Duff roused himself to speak. Tell

me again, how much have we got left? I like to hear you say it; you

have a beautiful voice, you should have played Shakespeare. Three

pounds and sixteen shillings. Yes, yes, you got it just right that

time, three pounds and sixteen shillings, now to really make me feel

Christmassy, tell me how much we owe. Have another drink, Sean changed

the subject.

Yes, I think I will, thank you, Oh please, you two, let's just forget

about it for today, pleaded Candy. I planned for it to be such a nice

party look, there's Francois! Hey, Francois, over here!

The dapper du Toit bustled across to their table. Happy Christmas,

kerels, let me buy you a drinkIt's nice to see you. Candy gave him a

kiss. How are you? You're looking fine. Francois sobered instantly.

It's funny you should say that, Candy. As a matter of fact I'm a bit

worried. He tapped his chest and sank down into an empty chair. My

heart, you know, I've been waiting for it to happen, and then yesterday

I was up at the mill, just standing there, you understand, when suddenly

it was as though a vice was squeezing my chest. I couldn't breathe,

well, not very well anyway. Naturally I hurried back to my tent and

looked it up. Page eighty-three. Under "Diseases of the Heart". He

shook his head sadly. It's very worrying.

You know I wasn't a well man before, but now this. Oh, no, wailed

Candy. I can't stand it, not you too.

I'M sorry, have I said something wrong? Just in keeping with the

festive spirit at this table. She pointed at Duff and Sean. Look at

their happy faces, if you'll excuse me I'm going to check up in the

kitchen.

She went. What's wrong; old Duff V Duff flashed his death's head grin

across the table at Sean. The man wants to know what's wrong, tell

himThree pounds sixteen shillings, said Sean and Francois looked

puzzled. I don't understand. He means we're broke, flat broke. Gott,

I'm sorry to hear that, Duff, I thought you were going good. I've heard

the mill running all this month, I thought you'd be rich by now. The

mill's been running all right and we've recovered enough gold to block a

flea's backside. But why, man? You are working the Leader Reef, aren't

YOU?

I'm beginning to think this Leader Reef of yours is a bedtime story.

Francois peered into his glass thoughtfully. How deep are you? We've

got one incline shaft down about fifty feet. No sign of the Leader?

Duff shook his head and Francois went on. You know when I first spoke

to you a lot of what I said was just guessing.

Duff nodded. Well, I know a bit more about it now. What I am going to

tell you is- for you alone, I'll lose my job if it gets out, you

understand?

Duff nodded again. So far the Leader Reef has only been found at two

places. We've got it on the Jack and Whistle and I know the Heyns

brothers have struck it on the Cousin Jock Mine. Let me draw it for

you. He picked up a knife and drew in the gravy on the bottom of Sean's

plate. This is the Main Reef running fairly straight. Here I am, here