t
neither broke his hold; and, with a tremendous pull, Marshall was jerked
up on the ledge of rock on which they were standing, and, in another
moment the three had climbed to safety, just as the flood swept by them,
so close that they were covered with the foam that rode on its top.

For a minute the three stood panting and trembling where they were; and
then they climbed to the broad ledge where all had halted out of reach
of the flood.

Mr. Conroyal gripped Thure's hand and held it warmly for a minute; but
he did not speak a word. There was no need; for Thure understood.

Mr. Randolph was a little more demonstrative, but he said little.

The two boys had done exactly what the two men expected their sons to
do; and the hearts of both were glad and proud, but neither man showed
his pride in their brave action, only his joy that they had escaped the
flood.

Marshall, the moment their fathers dropped their hands, seized a hand of
each boy in each of his hands and started to thank them, with tears in
his eyes; but both boys quickly jerked their hands away.

"Forget it," Thure said impatiently. "We only did what you or any other
man would have done under the same circumstances--Great Moses, just look
at that water!" and Thure's eyes turned to the flood that was now
foaming and boiling a few feet beneath them.

At this moment the edge of the black clouds swept over them, and the
rain fell down in torrents; but in a quarter of an hour the clouds had
passed, and the sun was shining again, and the violence of the flood was
beginning to slacken. In half an hour the flood had swept by; and with
it had gone every vestige of the wing dam they had builded with so much
labor and with so many high hopes.

"Durn th' durned dam!" and, without another word, Ham turned his back on
the scene of their fruitless labors, and strode off toward Hangtown,
followed by all the others, who fervently echoed his words in their
hearts.

CHAPTER XX

ROBBED

"Now I'll say good-by to you men," Marshall said, when they reached the
outskirts of Hangtown. "I am real sorry that your venture turned out the
way that it did; but a man has got to expect any sort of luck in the
diggings, and usually it is the worst sort that he gets dealt out to
him, at least that has been my experience," and he smiled bitterly.

Marshall now stood for a moment, irresolutely, his eyes fixed on Thure
and Bud; and then, suddenly, he thrust one of his hands d