im of an incident which once
occurred at a town in California, where a quartz mill was in successful
operation. Harry and Ned pressed the doctor to give them the story,
whereupon he related as follows:--

"There were many speculative individuals around that town who were
constantly endeavoring to discover deposits of ore. One day one of these
speculators was standing on a street corner, when a solemn-faced Indian
came along, stopped in front of the man, and, after looking around in
all directions to make sure that nobody was observing him, he produced
from under his blanket a piece of gold-bearing quartz. Without saying a
word, he held the bit of rock before the eyes of the speculator.

"The speculator grasped the specimen with great eagerness. Sure enough
it was gold-bearing rock, and no mistake. It was generally believed in
the town that the Indians knew of valuable deposits, but were very
unwilling to divulge their location to the white men."

"'Where did you get this?' the speculator asked.

"The Indian made a sweep of his arm that embraced two thirds of the
horizon, but said not a word.

"'Is there any more where this came from?' queried the speculator.

"'Yes; heaps, heaps more,' and the red man made a circle with his arm
that might mean anything from a mole hill to a mountain.

"'Will you show me where you got this?' said the speculator.

"The Indian said nothing except to pronounce the words 'five dollar.'

"Unlike many of his associates, the speculator happened to have some
money about him. He thrust his hand into his pocket, drew out a
five-dollar gold piece, and placed it in the extended palm of the red
man.

"The latter examined the coin very carefully, even to the extent of
biting it between his teeth. Then he placed it in some mysterious
receptacle under his blanket and said:--

"'You with me come. You with me go share.'

"The Indian led his new partner a long walk, going out of the town on
the side opposite the quartz mill, making a circuit of a mile or two
among hills, and finally fetching up at the dump pile of the mill. The
dump pile, it is proper to explain, is the pile of ore as it is brought
from the mine to be crushed. Having reached the foot of the pile, the
Indian paused and said:--

"'Me get him here. Heaps more here, too.'

"A more disgusted individual than that speculator was at that moment
could rarely be found in the town. He had been completely outwitted, in
fact, sold, and