CHAPTER XXVII.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1577, 12 August 1882, Page 5

CHAPTER XXVII.

Jack and William, it is unnecessary to say, ma.de a pile out of tho transaction ,>. and so did Mr Kcenmun and Mr Mi.ill. Tho "operation" gave unbounded delight to Mr Kcenman, who was overjoyed at finding everything come out aIL right. No more did he frown upon Jack ; on the contrary, the warmth of his salutation when they met, was more than fatherly. He begged of him to avail himself of the bank now ; to draw as ho pleased, to do as he liked. What intense delight Jack felt as he had his bank book made up and saw the, to him, astounding balance. His first thought was to invest his money in bank shares or the like, but this resolve soon meited away when speculation began to spring up in (Int. And it did with a vengc.inco. Hitherto the name of Grit had btauk in the nostril* of Melbourne folks, but when thf-y heard the amount of money the people of G-iifc had made, when they heard of the huge cakes of gold the Hesperus Extended was turniug out, tho mania of speculation seized upon them, and the place was crowded with people rushing to buy share". Ground that hitherto h-id not been worth a " tinker's curse," as the natives put it, now suddenly rose to something enotmous in value. Men, who quietly had plodded day after day, paying rails into imne3 and working at humble avocations were now taken abaclc when people came forward and offered them undreamt-of wealth for scrip that had lain in their boxes until it had become mouldy. Persons wont to bed at night penniless, and rose next day worth thousands. Minors, who had been b.-lting away at ungrateful rocks all the days of their life, holding some interest in a claim, weie petrified with amazement to find themselves run after by Melbourne brokers, eager to buy their claims at any price. At first the run was upon stock north and south of the Hesperus Extended, and the astonished shareholders, who hitherto had been struggling in poverty driven hard by bank 9 and creditors, now almost lost their senses, when they found themselves raised out of the slough of debt, and placed fiim and fast on the solid ground of a good bank balance. The banks, too, began to smile, for s ieh sums were taken out of the Melbourne monetary institutions and placed in their keeping, that the year bade fair to be one of unexampled prosperity. Shares adjacent to the Hesperus Extended rose to fabulous prices, until at last the bubble ould not be blown further with safety, so the speculators started' on other lines, and for the time they were pleasant. Bubble after bubble was blown with the greatest success, and by care were kept inflated. These men went to work, -well, too, for when they had blown one bubble almost to bursting they left it and went on. with' another, returning to the 1 original, aftef a while, to giye it a fresh impulse. < ' But^the greato'si pi all changes was thatwhich came over that once neglected spot/ the/ Busy Bee.* No' more' Petinitq^wan^: : dered r ther^Apnt^ch'q£;'all lC he/'J9u£freye3|'* •ThY 'vultHres '^plte^CtKe^b^qa^/froirri ; afar/*aMffr6i^|>eferj,^^tF^4H^7ei^

The scene at the Busy Bee now waisi wild and extraordinary. From early! morn until lata into the watches of the night the verandah beneath the beehive was thronged with people, maddened with the terrible sorip fever. Men left their occupation, and providing themselves with a pockot-bopk and pencil rushed into the arena. Fortune almost came at their bidding, not in the dull I'lodding way that dame is supposed to come, but on eagle's pinions. Thooooland cautious t<tood outside this madd ned ring, and wondered how long it would last, predicting a terrible fall every day. But the speculators gathered "and gathered, and every clay the exitoment grew hotter ; the manufacture of scrip proceeded, and yet there was no sign of decadence. The acute ones gnashed their teeth with rage, and resolving to have a share of what was going, rushed into the thick of the fight, thus adding fuel to the fire they had despised. Amidst all this fitful fever Jack went on and made money, Whatever ho did prospered, so much so, indeed, that people waited until he had bought, and then followed his lead with blind faith ; until the very fact of Jack being seen near a mine was pnma facie evidence that its shares would rise. This, in reality, explained Jack's success. He had hardly time to realise his position, such was the rapidity of the whirlpool in which he moved. There was no rest, only a tenible stretch of exitement. Jack, however, used sometimes to ponder over what was passing ; but he almost always set it down that this was the Shining Reef of the Vision. There could be no downfall now ; he would become a millionaiie, and then how could Mr White refuse him his daughter. One thing Jack did in the hurry and bustle of this excitement: he had his mother's remains taken up and buried in the new cemetery, erecting over her grave a splendid tombstone; and ocoi^ionnlly he would forsake the hubbub and wander out to the quiet spot, and bitting down on the railings, try and realise thel ■ past and the present. < He' could i mot' do it ; the whole seemed a wild delioious dream. At times, too, ho would think of .his i wealth as a means of avenging the .death »of his parent ; but' h& was-too busy: < That was a, matter of hereafter, when>, having made a glorious fortune, lie .would give iup the cares of business, and, buildingia rnugnificient mansion near Melbourne, unite himself with 1 dear Bertha. "He would never be satisfied with anything short of half a million. Amongst the most successful of the speculators was Obidiab Sweetoomfort. That saintly individual did not think his religion prevented him from mixing amongst the profane crowd under the Bu^y Bee, and spoiling the Philistines. He htill stuck to his cold w<iter principles, refusing even the glorious champagne (gooseberry wine scoffer-, cilled it) that began to flow hko w-ttei. He sppcukte-1 largely, but with duo caution, always pur a certain amount of his g-iius by, and hardly ever blept upuu tcrip, that is, sold out as soon as ho could get a piofit. After he had been in the market for a while, he took a spell, and went for a time to Sydney. Relaxation was his ostensible object, but to sec Bertha his real aim. However, he did not appear to h ive made much success, for he returned " very down in the mouth," as the fast young gentleman under the Busy Bee termed it. (To bt (oittbuutl.)