ves, or are we to join with our late friends, and work in
company?"

"Jine 'em, say I," replied Joe. "I'm fond of Meyer, and I like the
Scotchman too, though he is rather fond of argification; besides, it
strikes me that from what we have heard of diggers' ways, we shall be
the better of being a strong party."

"Four men don't form a very strong party, Joe; however, I agree with
you. It would be well that we four should stick together. So, that's
settled, and now we shall go and ask yonder fellow in the red shirt and
big boots something about our prospects."

The scene in the midst of which they now found themselves was curious,
interesting, and suggestive. For two miles along its course the banks
of the river were studded with tents, and on each side of it were
diggers, working at short distances apart, or congregated together,
according to the richness of the deposits. About twenty feet was the
space generally allowed at that time to a washing machine. Most of the
diggers worked close to the banks of the stream, others partially
diverted its course to get at its bed, which was considered the richest
soil. At one place a company of eighty men had banded together for the
purpose of cutting a fresh channel for the river--a proceeding which
afterwards resulted in a fierce and fatal affray with the men who worked
below them. Elsewhere on the sides of the mountains and in "gulches"
formed by torrents, men toiled singly and in twos or threes, with picks,
shovels, washing-pans, and cradles. All were very busy, but all were
not equally hopeful, for, while some had been successful in finding the
precious metal, others had failed, and were very desponding.

"Have you had good fortune to-day?" asked Frank, stopping at the edge of
the hole in which the miner with the red shirt toiled.

"Not very good," replied the man, whose voice betokened him an
Englishman.

He was an immensely powerful, good-looking fellow, and paused in his
work to reply to Frank's question with a hearty air.

"Have you to dig very deep?" inquired Frank.

"Not very," he replied; "the depth varies in different parts of the
diggings. Here it is seldom necessary to go deeper than four feet.
Indeed, a white rock usually lays about the depth of two feet under the
soil. It is difficult to cut through, and does not pay for the
trouble."

"Do you find gold on the surface?" continued Frank.

"Almost none. Being weighty, it sinks downwards throug