per week from
the refuse and tailings of the old abandoned Palmetto claim!

The astonishment of the settlement was profound. In earlier days
jealousy and indignation at the success of these degraded heathens might
have taken a more active and aggressive shape, and it would have fared
ill with See Yup and his companions. But the settlement had become more
prosperous and law-abiding; there were one or two Eastern families and
some foreign capital already there, and its jealousy and indignation
were restricted to severe investigation and legal criticism. Fortunately
for See Yup, it was an old-established mining law that an abandoned
claim and its tailings became the property of whoever chose to work
it. But it was alleged that See Yup's company had in reality "struck a
lead,"--discovered a hitherto unknown vein or original deposit of gold,
not worked by the previous company, and having failed legally to declare
it by preemption and public registry, in their foolish desire for
secrecy, had thus forfeited their right to the property. A surveillance
of their working, however, did not establish this theory; the gold that
See Yup had sent away was of the kind that might have been found in the
tailings overlooked by the late Palmetto owners. Yet it was a very large
yield for mere refuse.

"Them Palmetto boys were mighty keerless after they'd made their big
'strike' and got to work on the vein, and I reckon they threw a lot
of gold away," said Cy Parker, who remembered their large-handed
recklessness in the "flush days." "On'y that WE didn't think it was
white man's work to rake over another man's leavin's, we might hev had
what them derned Chinamen hev dropped into. Tell ye what, boys, we've
been a little too 'high and mighty,' and we'll hev to climb down."

At last the excitement reached its climax, and diplomacy was employed to
effect what neither intimidation nor espionage could secure. Under the
pretense of desiring to buy out See Yup's company, a select committee of
the miners was permitted to examine the property and its workings. They
found the great bank of stones and gravel, representing the cast-out
debris of the old claim, occupied by See Yup and four or five plodding
automatic coolies. At the end of two hours the committee returned to
the saloon bursting with excitement. They spoke under their breath, but
enough was gathered to satisfy the curious crowd that See Yup's pile of
tailings was rich beyond their expectat