Blamed if they ain't a puncture," said Ed as he put on the brakes. "We
got a spare tire but 'twon't do to spile this 'un. We got to git back
some time. Might not be able to buy a spare round here. I got to fix
this."

"Fix it when you git down," said his aunt. "Put on the spare. I'm kinder
nervous to git my claim staked. There's a sight of folks here. Look at
'em runnin' around like so many crazy chickens. Put on the spare, Ed,
while we pile out. An' hurry."

The spare was soon adjusted and they rolled down to the valley and over
the dusty road to the camp. Before they reached the main street a car
passed them from behind with a rush, driver and passengers reckless,
whooping as they rode, one man waving a bottle, another firing his gun
into the air.

"That's the kind that'll figger to run Dynamite fo' a while," said
Sandy. "I'll bet there ain't twenty old-timers in the camp--real miners,
I mean."

The street was alive with changing groups, merging, breaking up to
listen to some fresh report of a strike, or opinion as to the prospects.
There were no women in sight. The men were of all sorts, from cowboys in
their chaps, who had left the range for the chance of sudden wealth, to
storekeepers from Hereford and other towns. Excitement reigned, no one
was normal. Bottles passed freely. Among the crowd moved shifty-eyed men
who had come to speculate. There were gamblers, plain bullies,
swaggerers, with here and there a bearded miner, gray of hair and faded
blue of eye, either moving steadily through the throng or held up by a
little crowd to whom he declaimed with the right of experience. Some, it
seemed certain, must be on their claims, but the bulk of the men who
filled the street of the resurrected town, were those who prey upon the
work and luck of others, camp-followers of the Army of Good Fortune.

Mormon's pronouncement that the town, after its long desertion, had
automatically refunctioned, was not far wrong. Rudely lettered signs
proclaimed where meals could be bought and boldly announced gambling.

KENO--CHUCKALUCK AND STUD
CRAPS AND DRAW POKER
THE OLD RELIABLE FARO BANK
J. PLIMSOLL, PROP.

read Sandy.

"He's here, lookin' fo' easy money, both ends an' the middle," he
drawled. "W'udn't wonder but what we'd rub up ag'in' him 'fo' we leave."

"You'll want to go right through to Molly's claims, I suppose," said
Miranda Bailey. "Do you know where they are?"

"I can soon find the locat