ellows?" cried Gunson, excitedly; and he gave vent to a
long low whistle. "That's awkward."

"I was afraid you did not know," I said, hurriedly. "I knew you were
here, and I came to warn you. Mr Raydon--"

"Sent you to warn me?" interrupted Gunson.

"No," I said; "we had to break out of the Fort to-night and come. Mr
Raydon is not good friends with me."

"Humph!" ejaculated Gunson. "So you came to let me know?"

"To put you on your guard," I said. "Yes."

I saw him look at me fixedly for a few moments, and then in a
half-morose way he nodded his head at me, saying--

"Thank you, my lad--thank you too, Dean."

"Warn't me," said Esau, sourly. "It was him. I only come too."

"Well, it is awkward," continued Gunson, after a few moments' thought,
"for I have got to the spot now that I have been looking for all these
years."

"Then you're finding lots of gold?" cried Esau, eagerly.

"I am finding a little gold," replied Gunson, quietly; "and Quong is
too."

"Eh? Me findee gole?" cried Quong, looking up from the half-boiling
kettle, and hastily-made cakes which he had thrust in the embers to
bake. "Yes; findee lil bit, and put um in littlee bottle."

"But these men--will they attack you?" I said, anxiously.

"Yes, if they find that I have a good claim. More than two, you say?"

I told him all about the coming to the Fort, and how we had passed them
down below. Gunson looked very serious for a while; then with a smile
he said quietly--

"Well, union is strength. Now you two lads have come, my force is
doubled. You will stay with me now?"

"No," I said, firmly. "As soon as it is light I must go back to the
Fort to our friends."

"But you have quarrelled with Mr Raydon, and after this night's
business he will not have you back."

"No," cried Esau, eagerly. "Let's stop and wash gold."

"And leave your mother," I said, "for the sake of that."

"I wish you wouldn't be so nasty, Mayne Gordon," cried Esau. "Who's
a-going to leave his mother? Ain't I trying to get a lot o' money so as
to make her well off?"

"We cannot stay," I said. "I don't want Mr Raydon and my friends--"

"They have arrived then?"

"Yes," I said. "What would they think if I ran off like this?"

"Humph! you're a strange lad. You take French leave, and come to warn
me. They fire at you, and hunt you with that great hound, and yet you
are going back!"

"Yes," I said, "as soon as it is light; Esau too."

"And su