And I don't think I felt quite so excited and pleased as I had a short
time before.

"It ain't my fault," said Dean; "it's your thinking I didn't want to
play fair."

"Don't talk like that," I cried, angrily. "Who thinks you don't want to
play fair? No, no; don't say any more about it. Now then: can we
recollect this spot exactly?"

"Why, you said that there must be gold all along."

"Yes, I know," I cried; "but Mr Raydon may want to see the place, and
we must bring him where we can find some and show him directly."

"Well," said Esau, "there's a clump of fir-trees on this side, and a
clump of fir-trees on that side."

"Oh, you old stupid," I cried, "when there are clumps of fir-trees
everywhere. That won't do."

"Well then, let's make a cross with our knives on those twisting ones."

"What, to tell people this is the very place? That wouldn't do."

"Well then," he cried, peevishly, "you find out a better way."

I stood thinking a few minutes, but no better way came. Then I thought
I had hit out the plan.

"Look here," I said, "we'll make the two crosses on the other side of
the trees. No one would notice them then."

Esau burst into a hoarse laugh.

"Of course they will not," he said, "nor us neither. Why, you keep on
coming to trees like these over and over all day long. We shan't find
'em again."

I felt that he was right, and thought of plan after plan--putting stones
in a heap, cutting off a branch, sticking up a post, and the like, but
they all seemed as if they would attract people to the spot, and then
induce them to search about and at last try the sand as Quong did, and I
said so.

"Yes," said Esau, "that's right enough. There ain't many people likely
to see 'em but Indians, and I s'pose they won't go gold-washing, nor any
other washing, for fear of taking off their paint."

"Well, what shall we do?" I cried. "We mustn't lose the place again
now we have found it, and we shall be sure to if we don't mark it. I've
seen hundreds of places just like this."

"Well then, why not make a mark?" said Esau. "Because whoever sees it
will be sure that it means something particular, for some one to stop
and search."

"Make a mark then on that big tree which will tell 'em to go on," said
Esau, grinning.

"But how?"

"I'll show you," he said; and he took out his big knife from its sheath.
"Let's look round again first."

We looked round, but the silence was almost awful, not even a b