Thus the little machine
of state worked perfectly harmoniously, and Big Stone Hole was as steady
and prosperous a settlement as need be.
Had these diggers refreshed their minds by looking back for historical
parallels, they might have been prepared in some degree for Miss
Musgrave's exit from among them, but as none of them indulged in such
retrospections the manner of it took the camp somewhat by surprise.
It was first discovered in this wise. Work was over for the day. The
Kaffirs had been searched and had returned to their kraal. Pipes
were being lit after the evening meal, and a picturesque assembly was
grouping itself in an expectant semicircle on the sun-baked turf in
front of Miss Musgrave's dwelling. She was usually outside to welcome
the first comers, and her absence naturally formed the staple topic
of conversation. Digger after digger arrived, threw himself down, and
joined in the general wonderment as to why Miss Mary wasn't there, and
at last some one hazarded a suggestion that she "must be asleep." There
was a general epidemic of noisy coughing for a full minute, and then
silence for another, but no sound from within the hut.
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