,
anxious and expectant, when he threw open the door. He was tired, wet,
dirty, but irrepressibly jubilant.

"Hurrah, boys!" he cried. "I've cinched it. I saw Mister Manager of the
big Company. He was very busy, very important, very patronising. I was
the poor miner seeking a lay. I played the part well. He began by
telling me he didn't want to give any lays at present; just wanted to
stand me off, you know; make me more keen. I spoke about some of their
ground on Hunker. He didn't seem enthusiastic. Then, at last, as if in
despair, I mentioned this bit on Bonanza. I could see he was itching to
let me have it, but he was too foxy to show it. He actually told me it
was an extra rich piece of ground, when all the time he knew his own
mining engineer had condemned it."

The Prodigal's eyes danced delightedly.

"Well, we sparred round a bit like two fake fighters. My! but he was
wily, that old Jew. Finally he agreed to let me have it on a
fifty-per-cent. basis. Don't faint, boys. Fifty per cent., I said. I'm
sorry. It was the best I could do, and you know I'm not slow. That means
they get half of all we take out. Oh, the old shark! the robber! I tried
to beat him down, but he stood pat; wouldn't budge. So I gave in, and we
signed the lay agreement, and now everything's in shape. Gee whiz!
didn't I give a sigh of relief when I got outside! He thinks I'm the
fall guy, and went off chuckling."

He raised his voice triumphantly.

"And now, boys, we've got the ground cinched, so get action on
yourselves. Here's where we make our first real stab at fortune. Here's
where we even up on the hard jabs she's handed us in the past; here's
where we score a bull's-eye, or I miss my guess. The gold's there, boys,
you can bank on that; and the harder we work the more we're going to get
of it. Now, we're going to work hard. We're going to make ordinary hard
work look like a Summer vacation. We're going to work for all we're
worth--and then some. Are you there, boys, are you there?"

"We are," we shouted with one accord.

CHAPTER XVII

There was no time to lose. Every hour for us meant so much more of that
precious pay-dirt that lay under the frozen surface. The Winter leapt on
us with a swoop, a harsh, unconciliating Winter, that made out-door work
an unmitigated hardship. But there was the hope of fortune nerving and
bracing us, till we lost in it all thought of self. Nothing short of
desperate sickness, death even, would