taken in the enterprise; for you will
remember that several miners in the country had knocked off work and
come in to catch a glimpse of Pierto's find, and of course they didn't
feel very friendly toward the robbers.

"Well, everybody for miles around kept open eyes for that nugget for
years, until at last I forgot all about it until I heard that a couple
of worthless Greasers had somehow got hold of it, and had been found
done to death with that nugget by their side. Then I gave up all hopes,
for if the nugget had fallen into the hands of honest men, that was the
last of it; but it seems it hadn't, and that gave me another show," said
Ezra, tipping me another wink, which was as near to a laugh as he ever
got. "The two Greasers were about as tough specimens as you see, and
they finally got into a fight to see which was the better man. When they
were found, the victor had the nugget hugged closely to his breast, as
if he did not want to part with it even in death. Not only that, but
these two had scarcely found the nugget till they got into a row over
who should carry it, and one of them got so badly whipped that he
dropped and fainted right there. The other had strength enough to travel
ten miles nearer the fort, and there he hid the nugget; but where he hid
it he don't know. He raved about it while he was sick, and somebody told
Elam of it (you see, everybody around here knows the history of that
nugget), and every fall and winter he asks for a grub-stake and lights
out, and I don't see any more of him till I drive my sheep down on the
prairie. That happened two years ago, and every fall you'll see three or
four fellows in the edge of Death Valley, saying nothing to each other,
but ostensibly hunting coyotes, and all the while looking for that
nugget, which is the thing they most want to find."

"Then the nugget is really here?" exclaimed Ben.

"It's here or hereabouts. It may be within ten miles of this place or it
may be a hundred; for nobody knows where that fellow hid it. Mind you, I
shouldn't like to be the fellow that finds it."

"Why not?"

"Because Elam will go for him. It's his nugget, and he knows it and he's
bound to have it. Mind you, Elam doesn't say nothing about it, and he
can't imagine what it is that sends the fellows prowling around Death
Valley. But, laws! they may as well give it up. There have been a good
many landslides in the canyon here the last fall, and if the nugget is
under them, we may