while you
have been ill--for you have been ill now for more than a week, though
you don't know it--have made me a very good offer, although I could not
accept it until I consulted you. You see I cannot get on much with the
claim by myself; the ground falls in and wants timbering, and I can do
nothing alone. Well these miners have offered to help sink our shaft, on
the conditions that they get no pay if it turns out poor, but if it
turns out well they are to be paid for their daily labour, and when we
have worked out our claims they are to have the right of using our shaft
for working out the claims they have staked out next to ours."

"No shares, Jim," the old man said; "you are sure they are not to have
any share in our claims, because I won't agree to that."

"No, father; the agreement is just as I told you. If it turns out well
they get their wages and the right to use our shaft to get at their
claims."

"Very well, I will agree to that; we shall get down all the sooner to
our gold. But mind, have it put down on paper, else they will be setting
up a claim to a share in our treasure."

"I will get it done regularly, father," Jim said. "They mean very
fairly. As I told you, they have shown me the greatest kindness--indeed
you owe your life to them, for if it had not been for them, I had, as
you know, no means whatever of holding on. Whilst you have been ill two
of them have been sitting up with you at night. They have showed
themselves true friends."

"Well, I am glad you have found some friends, Jim," the old man said
feebly. "But you must be careful, you know, very careful, and be sure
the agreement is signed and witnessed properly."

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XVIII.

A DREAM VERIFIED.

ON the following morning, to the astonishment of the miners of Cedar
Camp, Frank and his companions took their tools out of their claims and
shifted to the claims of the two men of the "solitary tent." Every one
asked himself what could be the meaning of this move, and the general
supposition was that they must have discovered that the two men had
struck upon rich ground. Scores of miners sauntered across during the
day, looked on, and asked a question or two; but the answers they
obtained threw no light upon the mystery. The ground looked most
unpromising; it was a flat some ten feet above the level of the
river-bed, and the spot where they were digging was twenty yards from
the edge.

Fifteen yards further back t