nized them
as some of his friends, small ranchers who had, as often happens on
the Pacific Slope, been forced to leave their lonely, half-cleared
holdings and go out to earn the money that would keep them through the
winter. Two of them were apparently assisting another man along
between them, and when they drew nearer Weston saw that the latter was
Grenfell, the cook.

"Guess it's 'bout time somebody else took care of you," said one, when
they came up. "Sit right down," he added, neatly shaking Grenfell off
his feet and depositing him unceremoniously at Weston's side.

Another of the men sat down close by, and Grenfell waved his hand to
the others as they moved away.

"Bless you! You're good boys," he said.

The man who remained grinned at Weston.

"We've packed the blame old deadbeat 'most three miles. If Tom hadn't
promised to see him through I'd have felt tempted to dump him into the
river. The boys were trying to fill him up at the Sprotson House."

Grenfell, who did not appear to hear him, thrust a hand into his
pocket, and pulling out a few silver coins counted them deliberately.

"Two--four--six," he said. "Six dollars to face an unkind world with.
It isn't very much."

He sighed and turned to Weston.

"You know I've got to quit?"

"That's right," interposed the other man. "Cassidy's had 'most enough
of him. He never could cook, anyway, and the boys are getting thin.
Last thing he did was to put the indurated plates on the stove to
warm. Filled the thing right up and left them. When he came back the
plates had gone."

Weston, who had been sent to work some distance from the camp that day
and had not heard of this mishap, felt sorry for Grenfell. The man
evidently had always been somewhat frail, and now he was past his
prime; indulgence in deleterious whisky had further shaken him. He
could not chop or ply the shovel, and it was with difficulty that his
companions had borne his cooking, while it seemed scarcely likely that
anybody would have much use for him in a country that is run by the
young and strong. He sat still regarding the money ruefully.

"Six of them--and they charge you one for a meal and a drink or two,"
he said. "If I hadn't known where there was quartz streaked right
through with wire gold I might have felt discouraged." Then he
straightened himself resolutely. "Seems to me it's time I went up and
looked for it again."

"How can you know where it is when you have to look for it?"