r. They
had found it, had relocated it, and worked out the assessment for the
widow. Cash had her check for all they had earned, and he had declared
profanely that he would not give his share of the check for the whole
claim.

They would go on prospecting, using the check for a grubstake, That much
they had decided without argument. The gambling instinct was wide awake
in Bud's nature--and as for Cash, he would hunt gold as long as he could
carry pick and pan. They would prospect as long as their money held out.
When that was gone, they would get more and go on prospecting. But
they would prospect in a green country where wood and water were not
so precious as in the desert and where, Cash averred, the chance of
striking it rich was just as good; better, because they could kill game
and make their grubstake last longer.

Wherefore they waited in Gila Bend for three days, to strengthen the
weakened animals with rest and good hay and grain. Then they took
again to the trail, traveling as lightly as they could, with food for
themselves and grain for the stock to last them until they reached
Needles. From there with fresh supplies they pushed on up to Goldfield,
found that camp in the throes of labor disputes, and went on to Tonopah.

There they found work for themselves and the burros, packing winter
supplies to a mine lying back in the hills. They made money at it,
and during the winter they made more. With the opening of spring they
outfitted again and took the trail, their goal the high mountains south
of Honey Lake. They did not hurry. Wherever the land they traveled
through seemed to promise gold, they would stop and prospect. Many a pan
of likely looking dirt they washed beside some stream where the burros
stopped to drink and feed a little on the grassy banks.

So, late in June, they reached Reno; outfitted and went on again,
traveling to the north, to the green country for which they yearned,
though now they were fairly in it and would have stopped if any tempting
ledge or bar had come in their way. They prospected every gulch that
showed any mineral signs at all. It was a carefree kind of life, with
just enough of variety to hold Bud's interest to the adventuring. The
nomad in him responded easily to this leisurely pilgrimage. There was no
stampede anywhere to stir their blood with the thought of quick wealth.
There was hope enough, on the other hand, to keep them going. Cash had
prospected and trapped for mor