It had been found by five men, who had agreed with one
another to keep silent as to the richness of the lead, and were
rapidly making their fortunes when the troubles of the Eureka
stockade intervened, and, in the encounter between the miners and
the military, three of the company working the lead were killed, and
only two men were left who knew the whereabouts of the claim and the
value of it. These were McIntosh and Curtis, who were the original
holders. Mr Curtis, went down to Melbourne, and, as previously
related, died of heart disease, so the only man left of the five who
had worked the lead was Archibald McIntosh. He had been too poor to
work it himself, and, having failed to induce any speculator to go
in with him to acquire the land, he had kept silent about it, only
staying up at Ballarat and guarding the claim lest someone else
should chance on it. Fortunately the place where it was situated had
not been renowned for gold in the early days, and it had passed into
the hands of a man who used it as pasture land, quite ignorant of
the wealth which lay beneath. When Mrs Villiers came up to Ballarat,
this man wanted to sell the land, as he was going to Europe; so,
acting under the urgent advice of McIntosh, she sold out of all the
investments which she had and purchased the whole tract of country
where the old miner assured her solemnly the Devil's Lead was to be
found.
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