One day an incident rather out of the common befell. Lowering Treloar cautiously down an old shaft to, as usual, make a preliminary survey, I presently heard a splash and a cry of ‘Heave-up!’ Up he came, a regular Laocoon, in the close embraces of a thumping, lively carpet snake, whose frogging ground he had intruded upon. He had, by luck, got a firm grip of the reptile round the neck, and was not bitten. He was, however, badly scared. Doubtfully he listened as, while releasing him from the coils, I assured him that the thing was perfectly harmless. Was I quite certain on this point? he wished to know. Of course I was; and I quoted all the authorities I could think of. Then, before despatching it, would I let it bite me? As an ardent ophiologist, he took the utmost interest in such a fact, and would like to become as confident as myself of it. But I pointed out earnestly that this was simply trifling, and that we had no time to spare. Practical demonstration is a very capital thing in many cases. But _ver non semper viret_, and our friend of the curiously-patterned skin might not be _always_ innocuous. We took three ounces out of a pillar in Snake Shaft. That night, on returning to our camp, we found an old man there. He was the first person we had seen for a month; and so were inclined to be cordial. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the new-comer, except that he had a habit of tightly shutting one eye as he looked at you. I have called him old because his hair was grey; but he was still a very powerful man, and likely to prove a tough one at close quarters. ‘Come and have some supper, mate,’ said Treloar. ‘Call me Brummy, an’ keep yer dorg orf,’ replied the other, as he poured out a pannikin of tea. ‘I don’t fancy a big beast like yon a-breathin’ inter the back o’ a feller’s neck.’ And, indeed, _Kálee’s_ attentions were marked. She sniffed around and around the new-comer, bristled all her hair up, and carried on a monologue which sounded unpleasant. ‘No,’ he resumed in answer to a question, as Treloar sent _Kálee_ to her kennel. ‘I was never on this here field before. Down about the Lachlan’s my _towri_. Everybody theer knows Brummy. I’m goin’ to do a bit of fossickin’ now I got this far. Ain’t a-thinkin’ o’ interferin’ wi’ you. Surfiss is my dart—roun’ about the old tailin’s and puddlers. Down below’s too risky in a rotten shop like this. I leaves that game to the young ’uns. An’’ (with a sly grin) ‘old Brum does as well as the best on ’em in the long run.’ Soon after this he went away and pitched a ragged fly further along the flat. Next day, as we were having a smoke and a spell after rigging two new windlass standards, he came up to us, and in a furtive sort of manner, began to try and discover the position of those claims which we had already prospected. Having no motive for concealment, we told him as well as we could, also pointing out most of them from where we sat.