e wished to dry out our sand. The horses were still
at their picket ropes; and we noticed near the lower end of the meadow,
but within the bushes, three more animals moving slowly. A slim column
of smoke ascended from beyond the bushes. Evidently we had neighbours.

We were dog tired, and so far starved that we did not know we were
hungry. My eyes felt as though they must look like holes burned in a
blanket. We lit a fire, and near it placed our panful of sand. But we
did not take time to cook ourselves a decent meal; we were much too
excited for that. A half-made pot of coffee, some pork burned crisp, and
some hard bread comprised our supper. Then Yank and I took a handful of
the dried sand in the other two pans, and commenced cautiously to blow
it away. Johnny hovered over us full of suggestions, and premonitions of
calamity.

"Don't blow too, hard, fellows," he besought us; "you'll blow away the
gold! For heaven's sake, go easy!"

We growled at him, and blew. I confess that my heart went fast with
great anxiety, as though the stakes of my correct blowing were millions.
However, as we later discovered, it is almost impossible to blow
incorrectly.

There is something really a little awing about pure gold new-born from
the soil. Gold is such a stable article, so strictly guarded, so
carefully checked and counted, that the actual production of metal that
has had no existence savours almost of the alchemical. We had somewhat
less than an ounce, to be sure; but that amount in flake gold bulks
considerably. We did not think of it in terms of its worth in dollars;
we looked on it only as the Gold, and we stared at the substantial
little heap of yellow particles with fascinated awe.

CHAPTER XVII

THE DIGGINGS

The following days were replicas of the first. We ate hurriedly at odd
times; we worked feverishly; we sank into our tumbled blankets at night
too tired to wiggle. But the buckskin sack of gold was swelling and
rounding out most satisfactorily. By the end of the week it contained
over a pound!

But the long hours, the excitement, and the inadequate food told on our
nerves. We snapped at each other impatiently at times; and once or twice
came near to open quarrelling. Johnny and I were constantly pecking at
each other over the most trivial concerns.

One morning we were halfway to the bar when we remembered that we had
neglected to picket out the horses. It was necessary for one of us to go
back, and