is he leaned forward to get a closer view of his
listener's face. What he saw encouraged him to proceed.

"What do you say, will you do it?'"

"It is the only honorable way out of the scrape, eh?" laughed the other.

"Honor be d----d!" exclaimed Dunbar. "Will you do this or not?"

"I will."

"Shake!"

The two men then shook hands, sealing a compact diabolical to the last
degree, and without further hesitation started for Nome the next
morning.

There was great excitement in Nome. Five miners had returned from the
Koyukuk country and given out information of a gold "strike" of
exceeding richness. Three of these men had arrived before the others,
but all told the same story. A Selawik Eskimo, they said, had recently
guided them to the creek where their own discoveries had confirmed his
statement. Nothing so rich had they ever before seen. The creek gave
promise of being one of the most famous placer gold diggings that had
ever been found in Alaska; was in fact a veritable Golconda, and the
returned prospectors dilated upon the interesting details of their story
with evident enjoyment. They stated that the formation of the country
was the very best for gold indications; that the creek was wide and
shallow, the benches were broad, and the hills few in number but long
and sweeping like the famous hills of Solomon and Anvil.

The two miners went further. While expatiating to their listeners upon
the extent of the possible and probable contents of their new creek,
each man exhibited with much gusto a medium-sized "poke" partly filled
with coarse gold and nuggets which they had panned (they affirmed) from
the gravel bed of the stream after cutting away the ice sufficiently;
and with these and other plausible tales were the good people of Nome
for weeks entertained.

To their three companions Dunbar and Gibbs gave no hint regarding their
actual experiences at Midas.

The secret was safer with two than five; but five men could arouse
greater interest and raise more funds for their schemes. For this reason
the two leaders kept their own counsel, but urged the spreading of the
false reports.

Money soon began to flow into their pockets. Everyone wished to have a
hand in this wonderful "strike", and all were willing to pay for such
interests. Not only did mining men go into their bank books, but clerks,
stenographers, and small tradespeople passed out their hard-earned
money. Women also felt reluctant to be left behind