ys."

"And how long from here to Sutter's Fort by horse?"

"About the same."

"Depends then on whether horses are cheaper here or there."

"They are cheaper there; or we can get our stuff freighted in by
Greasers and hoof it ourselves."

"Then I should think we ought to have a boat."

"I got one," said Yank.

"Good for you!" cried Talbot. "You're a man after my own heart! Well,
Johnny?"

Johnny told his tale, a little proudly and produced his required two
hundred and twenty dollars.

"You had luck," said Talbot non-committally, "and you ran a strong risk
of coming back here without a cent, didn't you? I want to ask you one
question, Johnny. If you had lost, would you have been willing to have
taken the consequences?"

"What do you mean?" asked Johnny blankly.

"Would you have been willing to have dropped out of this partnership?"

Johnny stared.

"I mean," said Talbot kindly, "that you had no right to try to get this
money by merely a gambler's chance unless you were willing to accept the
logical result if you failed. It isn't fair to the rest of us."

"I see what you mean," said Johnny slowly. "No; I hadn't thought of it
that way."

"Well, as I said, you had luck," repeated Talbot cheerfully, "so we
needn't think of it further." It was characteristic that Johnny took
this veiled rebuke from Talbot Ward in a meek and chastened spirit; from
any one else his high temper could never stand even a breath of
criticism. "How about you, Frank?" Talbot asked me.

I detailed my experiences in a very few words and exhibited my gold
slug.

"That's the best I can do," I ended, "and half of that does not belong
to me. I can, however, in a few days scrape up the full amount; there is
plenty to do here. And barring bull luck, like Johnny's, I don't see
much show of beating that, unless a man settled down to stay here."

Talbot stared at me, ruminatively, until I began to get restive. Then he
withdrew his eyes. He made no comment.

"I suppose you have your money," suggested Yank to him, after a pause.

"Oh--yes," said Talbot as though awaking from profound reverie.

"Well, tell us about it. How did you get it? How long did it take you?"

"About half an hour. I figured that everybody in a place like this would
be wanting news. So I sorted out that bundle of old newspapers you
fellows were always laughing at, and I went out and sold them. Lucky I
got busy with them early; for I don't doubt the arrival of the
_