river bed, wiv a' its gold, would be covered o'er with anither
formation, and then the river, or anither yin, would flow on a new
bed, and the precious metal would be washed fra the hills in the
same way as I tauld ye of, and the second river bed would be also
covered o'er, and sae the same game went on and is still
progressin'. Sae when the first miners came doon tae this land of
Ophir the gold they got by scratchin' the tap of the earth was the
latest deposit, and when ye gae doon a few hundred feet ye come on
the second river--or rather, I should say, the bed o' the former
river-and it is there that the gold is tae be found; and these
dried-up rivers we ca' leads. Noo, laddie, ye ma ken that at present
we are in the bed o' ain o' these auld streams three hun'red feet
frae the tap o' the earth, and it's here we get the gold, and as we
gae on we follow the wandrin's o' the river and lose sight o' it.'

'Yes,' said Vandeloup quickly, 'but you lost this river you call the
Devil's Lead--how was that?'

'Weel,' said Mr McIntosh, deliberately, 'rivers are varra like human
bein's in the queer twists they take, and the Deil's Lead seems to
hae been ain like that. At present we are on the banks o' it, where
we noo get these nuggets; but 'tis the bed I want, d'ye ken, the
centre, for its there the gold is; losh, man,' he went on,
excitedly, rising to his feet and rolling up the plan, 'ye dinna ken
how rich the Deil's Lead is; there's just a fortune in it."

"I suppose these rivers must stop at a certain depth?"

"Ou, ay," returned the old Scotchman, "we gae doon an' doon till we
come on what we ma ca' the primary rock, and under that there is