money on your person."

"Well, what of it? A man that will stand up the way you did against the
Red Ghost is not going to be afraid of lawless men! You must go, Tom.
You are a lucky omen."

As for myself, I did some thinking, too. There was my herd, for
instance; a small one to be sure, but large enough to keep me in that
country. If Uncle Ezra would sell his sheep and buy the herd, I would be
a free man and willing to go to Texas, or any other place to see some
fun. And that there was fun there I could readily believe. All men who
had got into a "little trouble" in the more settled portions of the
community came there to get out of reach of the law, and in a new
country they did pretty near as they had a mind to. It would not be a
safe thing for Elam to go down there with one or two thousand dollars in
his pocket, but I for one was not unwilling to back him up.

"Well, boys, go to sleep on it, and tell me how it looks in the
morning," said Elam, jumping to his feet and making a place for his
nugget in one of the pack-saddles. "I wish one of you boys would go back
and get that pick and shovel that we used to dig this thing up, for we
want to have them all with us. They will say we were so excited over
finding the gold that we couldn't think of anything else."

In due time a place had been made in the pack-saddle for the nugget, and
we were on the back track. We travelled a good deal faster in going than
we did in coming, for we didn't have to stop to examine signs on the
way, and one day, to Tom's intense surprise, we found the springs close
before us. Of course we had talked about Elam's new idea of going to
Texas to buy his cattle, and we were pretty well decided that if he went
we should go too. We could see that Elam was greatly pleased over our
decision, but he did not have much to say about it.

"We must stay here long enough to help Uncle Ezra down with his sheep,"
said Elam, "and then we'll put out. I wish he would lend me a thousand
or two on this, and take it up to Denver and get it panned out himself.
I will take just what he says it's worth; wouldn't you, Tom?"

"Why of course I would."

"Well, you have got a say so in it, and I shan't do a thing with it
unless you say the word," said Elam. "You might as well give up and take
your half."

"Perhaps Tom would rather take his share and send it home," said I.

"No, I wouldn't," said Tom. "My uncle has not yet had time to get over
his pet. It will take