sponsible for it."

"Your father is a poor man."

"He is able to pay that, if I don't; but I hope he won't have to."

"Do you really expect to find gold?" asked Sinclair curiously.

"Certainly I do. Others have, and why shouldn't I? I am willing to work
hard."

"Do you think you'll come home rich?"

"I hope so."

"I have a great mind to ask father to let me go with you," said Sinclair
unexpectedly.

"You wouldn't like it. You haven't been brought up to work," said Tom,
rather startled, and not much pleased with the proposal, for Sinclair
Hudson was about the last boy he wished as a companion.

"Oh, I wouldn't go to work. I would go as a gentleman, to see the
country. Wait a minute; I will run in and ask him."

So Sinclair ran into the house, and preferred his request.

"That's a wild idea, Sinclair," said his father quickly.

"Why is it? I'm as old as Tom Nelson."

"He is going because it is necessary for him to earn his living."

"He will have a splendid time," grumbled the spoiled son.

"You shall travel all you want to when you are older," said his father.
"Now you must get an education."

"I want to travel now."

"I will take you to New York the next time I go."

"Give me five dollars besides."

The money was handed him.

He went out and reported to Tom that he was going to travel all over the
world when he was a little older, and had decided not to go to
California now.

"If you have money enough you can go with me," he added graciously.

"Thank you," said Tom politely, though the prospect of having Sinclair
for a traveling companion did not exhilarate him much.

For a few days Mrs. Nelson was very busy getting Tom ready to go. It was
well, perhaps, that so much needed to be done, for it kept her mind from
the thought of the separation.

The question of which route to take, whether by steamer or across the
plains, demanded consideration. It was finally decided that Tom should
go overland. It was thought he might join some company at St. Joseph--or
St. Joe, as it was then, and is now, popularly called--and pay his
passage in services, thus saving a good share of the two hundred
dollars. That was, of course, an important consideration.

"How shall I carry my money?" asked Tom.

"It will be best to take gold, and carry it for safety in a belt around
your waist," said his father. "You must be very prudent and careful, or
you may be robbed. That would be a serious thing for you, as I cou