In the Land of the Long White Cloud

staying
here
forever. Daphne cursed the yoke under which Jolanda kept her. Sooner or later, she would vanish and take a chance on a new beginning elsewhere.
    Unless David came to her with a proposal beforehand.
    It was clear to him that he would never earn the necessary money as a construction worker, or even as a luxury furniture maker. He had to get rich more quickly. As luck would have it, new opportunities were popping up right at that moment in that part of the South Island. Gold had been found right next to Westport, a few miles upriver on the Buller. Gold miners were beginning to overrun the town, equipping themselves with provisions, spades, and gold pans and then disappearing into the jungle or the mountains. At first noone took them seriously, but when the first of them returned, chests swollen with pride and a small fortune in gold nuggets tucked into linen bags on their belts, gold fever took hold of even the most established Coasters all around Westport.
    “Why don’t we try it too, Luke?” David asked one day by the river as they watched a troop of gold prospectors paddle by them in canoes.
    Lucas had just been explaining a special drawing technique and looked up in surprise. “Why don’t we try what? Digging for gold? Don’t be silly, David; that’s not for us.”
    “But why not?” The hungry look in David’s big-as-saucer eyes made Lucas’s heartbeat quicken. There was still nothing in them of the greed of the experienced gold panners, those who had already passed through several other stations before news of the new discoveries had driven them to Westport. There was no reverberation of old disappointments, unending winters in primitive camps, blazing hot summers throughout which they dug, rerouted streams, watched endless amounts of sand trickle through a sieve, hoping, hoping, hoping—until once again others found the nuggets as wide as a finger in the river or the rich gold veins in the rocks. No, David looked more like a boy at the toymaker’s. He already saw himself in possession of new treasures—as long as his father, unwilling to make any purchases, did not throw a wrench into his plans. Lucas sighed. He would have been all too glad to fulfill the boy’s wish, but he saw little likelihood of success.
    “Davey, we don’t know anything about panning for gold,” he said gently. “We wouldn’t even know where to look. Besides, I’m not a trapper and adventurer. How are we supposed to make it out there?”
    If Lucas were honest, the few hours he had spent in the jungle after fleeing from the
Pretty Peg
had been enough for him. Though the area’s unusual flora fascinated him, the possibility of getting lost made him nervous. At the time, he had still had the river to orient him. If they were to embark on a new adventure, they would have to move farther away from it. It was true that they could follow a stream, but Lucas did not share David’s optimistic notion that gold would simply come pouring down on them.
    “Please, Luke, we could at least try it. We don’t have to give up everything right away. Just give it a weekend. Mr. Miller will definitely lend me a horse. We’ll ride upriver on Friday evening, look around up there on Saturday…”
    “Where is ‘up there’ supposed to be, Davey?” Lucas asked mildly. “Do you have some idea already?”
    “Rochford found gold in Lyell Creek and Buller Gorge. Lyell Creek is forty miles upriver.”
    “And the gold panners will probably already be cheek by jowl up there,” Lucas said skeptically.
    “We don’t have to look there! There’s probably gold everywhere; we need our own claim anyway. Come on, Luke, don’t be a spoilsport! One weekend.” David resorted to begging—and Lucas felt flattered. The boy could have joined up with any gold-digging troop but wanted to be with him. Nevertheless, Lucas vacillated. The adventure struck him as too risky. The dangers of a ride through the rainforest on unfamiliar paths far from the next settlement stared him too clearly in the face. He might never have agreed, but then Norman and a few other seal hunters appeared in the rental stables. They greeted Lucas good-naturedly—taking the opportunity to refresh everyone’s memory about his night with the twins at full volume. Norman clapped him on the shoulder, pleased. “Boy, and here we thought you didn’t have any spunk in ya! And what’re you doing now? Heard tell, you’re a big man on the construction site. Good for you.