far enough down for the water, when thrown
on the ground, to run off down the old channel.

There were enough pans and pails to keep a constant stream of them
passing up and down the line; and, as everybody, under the spur of the
thought of what might lie hidden there in that hole, worked with
feverish haste, the water was speedily lowered, until after an hour of
as hard and tiresome work as was ever done by men, the bottom of the
hole was laid bare.

"We'll dig a hole first off right in th' center of th' hole plumb down
to bed-rock," declared Ham, as he passed out the last pailful of water.
"Then, if thar's any gold here, we'll strike it shore. Throw me a
shovel!" Ham's face was flushed and his eyes were sparkling with
excitement; for now the great moment was near, the moment that would
tell whether or not all their labor had been in vain, whether or not
they were to find the expected gold.

"Here! Here!" and Thure caught up a shovel and rushed to Ham; and almost
collided with Bud, who, shovel in hand, was also rushing to Ham.

"Let us help you dig! Let us help you dig!" cried both boys, almost
beside themselves with excitement.

"Now, jest hold y'ur hosses an' git out of here. This is men's work,"
and Ham good-naturedly thrust the two boys aside, caught up a shovel,
and began throwing up the moist sand and gravel like an animated steam
shovel.

The hole was partly filled with coarse sand and gravel; and, since gold
is so heavy that it will sink down through sand and gravel until it
comes to something more solid, all this had to be thrown off before they
could hope to come to pay-dirt, which is usually a thin layer of gravel
or clay lying on top of the bed-rock. Ham was now digging down to this
bed-rock; and, when he reached it, he would throw a few shovels of the
dirt directly on its top into a gold-pan, and then a few minutes'
washing of the dirt in the pan would show whether or not they had struck
gold. The hole he was digging was not large enough for more than one man
to work in it at a time, consequently the others formed a circle around
Ham and watched his progress with faces feverish with excitement, any
one of them ready the moment Ham tired to seize a shovel and jump into
the hole in his place. But the shoveling was not hard and the sturdy
muscles of Ham did not tire.

In the excitement of these thrilling minutes nobody saw anything but
Ham, nobody heard anything but the push of his shovel through the