We felt lonely for the balance of the day, although we were extremely busy in arranging our goods, and in selling.  Our store was crowded from noon until long past sunset, and then we were compelled to close and exclude the crowd, owing to our being completely exhausted, both mentally and physically, for the adding up of figures was a new kind of brain work, that had not tasked us since the days when we were schoolboys.

How many “nigger heads” we sold that day, singly, for the purpose of allowing the miners to taste our stock before they bought largely, I have no means of knowing; but fortunately for our reputation, Smith had displayed great prudence in his bargains, and his “cavendish” and “fine cut” were at length pronounced the best that were ever brought to Ballarat, and so we got up a great sale of tobacco, and our stock ran low before we had been open a week.

Smith, and the man he had hired to freight goods, remained with us three days, and then returned, in all haste, to Melbourne for more goods, for our run of custom was so great that we found that a fresh supply of articles was needed without delay.  Our partner did not need urging to return to the city, for the reader will recollect that he was recently married, and that his wife was at Melbourne.

We found, when he got ready to start, that we had taken gold dust enough to pay for our next cargo, even without drawing on our reserve fund, which was held subject to our order in a Melbourne bank.

We were sitting in our store one evening, smoking our pipes, as usual, and talking over the business of the day, when we heard a knock at the door, light and timid, as though delivered by the hand of a woman.

It was long past the hour of our closing, and we had made preparations for retiring for the night, for our hammocks were slung, and ready for occupancy, and it was seldom that we had a visitor at so late an hour.  The knock started us, and even Rover, who had been sleeping soundly, awoke with a growl, as though he scented danger, and was going to be prepared to meet it.

“Who can that be?” asked Fred, involuntarily placing his hand upon his revolver.

I was unable to answer the question, of course; but we waited in silence for a repetition of the knocking with as much anxiety as though it had been a summons of instant execution.

There was a secret gang of ruffians in Ballarat at that time, and in defiance of the vigilance of the police, they had committed many bold robberies, and even murders; and the stories told of their atrocities had awakened a feeling in our hearts that perhaps some night the villains might undertake an attack upon ourselves, knowing, as they must, that our sales were large, and that we must have considerable money on hand, which we did not deposit at the government office, for the purpose of being sent to Melbourne under military escort.

Every night, since we had grown in importance and wealth, we had slept with our revolvers under our heads, and beneath our pillows were small bags of gold dust, and gold and silver coin; and when men begin to collect riches, they will defend them and watch over them with more tenderness than any thing else that they possess.