,
whom he passed, laughed at his eagerness; but who could tell--perhaps
he would find gold as well as anybody.

The ex-preacher was still there, in his "diggin's," working away.

"Hello!" he welcomed, cheerily. "Come in and spell me. I'm tired.
There's your dirt, all ready for you."

Into the shallow ditch jumped Charley, as bold as an old-timer, and
scooped some dirt into his pan. The ex-preacher sat down on the side
of the ditch and watched him.

"Don't put in too much dirt at once, boy," he cautioned. "Half full is
enough. That's right. Now sink it to the rim in the water, and swirl
it around and back again, so the current will carry the dirt off.
Don't be afraid to keep it moving. That's it. The gold is heavy, you
know; the dirt goes and the gold stays behind. Whoa'p! Let's see.
No, it's all gone, this time. You've washed the pan clean. Try again.
Take things easy."

That proved to be no easy job, though. The pan was large, the dirt and
water weighted it down, and as Charley squatted and tried to swirl it
around, at just the right level, presently his back and his arms were
aching together.

"Slow, now," bade his instructor, becoming interested. "Raise the pan
a bit and swash the water--flip it out along with the dirt, a little at
a time. Be careful of that black sand--it's heavy and carries the
gold. Here; I'll get rid of the sand for you," and taking the pan he
cleverly swirled it, occasionally dipping up more water, until the sand
had flowed off.

"There you are!" he laughed, gaily thrusting the pan back into
Charley's hands. "And there's your color, sure enough. See it? A
ten-cent pan, the first time. Good!"

Charley anxiously peered. In the rounded angle of bottom and side, a
narrow gleam of yellow! Could it be possible? Yes; there it was, the
gold; actually, real gold, and he had washed it--or at least, he had
washed most of it.

"Shall I try some more?" he asked, excitedly.

"Sure. Go ahead. We always wash several pans, before we clean up.
Now do it all yourself. You know how."

This time Charley succeeded in getting rid of everything but a very
little of the sand; and behold, the yellow seam was deeper. After the
third pan he could wait no longer; he out with his buckskin sack, and
with the point of his knife scooped his gold in. A little sand went
along with it, but who cared?

"We'd better quit for the night, I guess," remarked his new friend, who
appeared as de