r'd been worried with.

[Illustration: THE MINER'S SLUICE.

Such a device as this was being worked by Jim's father when the
Comstock Lode was discovered.

_Courtesy of Netman & Co._]

[Illustration: PANNING GOLD ON THE KLONDYKE.

Typical summer scene on the junction of the Eldorado and Bonanza
Creeks; "color" showing in both pans.]

"Now a prospector'll wash any durn dirt he sees, an' O'Riley, while
waitin' for some bacon to fry, chucked some o' the yellow an' black
sand in a pan an' give it a twirl or two. You can reckon he jumped
some when the pan showed color. He yelled to McLaughlin an' the two o'
them got busy. Every pan showed color, not big, but enough. The
cleanin' up wasn't what you'd call rich but it was steady, an' there
was any amount o' pay dirt in sight. The two begin to fill their
buckskin bags wi' dust, right smartly.

"Then a low-down, dirty, ornery coyote of a man, Henry Comstock by
name, come amblin' along. A shifty critter was Comstock, trapper,
fur-trader, gambler, claim-jumper, mine-salter, sneak-thief, an'
everything else. He see O'Riley an' McLaughlin cleanin' up the cradle
an' guessed they'd struck it rich. Lyin' glibly, like the yaller dog
he was, he told the prospectors he was the owner o' the land, an' made
'em give up their claims. They went on workin', but on small shares.
The hole got deeper, but by-'n-by got hard to work because this seam
o' black rock got wider'n wider as it went down. Riley an' McLaughlin
dodged the rock, the best they knew how, findin' gold enough to pay
for workin' in the loose dirt on either side.

"One or two other prospectors drifted up that way, though the pickin's
was small. One o' them, wonderin' what the black rock might be, an'
havin' a hunch it might be lead it was so heavy, put a chunk in the
hands of an assayer in Placerville.

"The expert couldn't believe his eyes, at first, an' thought some one
was playin' a joke on him. His assay showed a value o' $3,000 per ton
in silver an' $800 per ton in gold. He assayed one or two other bits,
wi' the same result. Here was millions, jest beggin' to be picked up!
Folks got wind of it, right away. That was in November, 1859, too late
in the winter to cross the high Sierras into Nevada.

"The rush started a-hummin', early in 1860. 'Frisco was fair frothin'
at the mouth. It was a long trail, an' the silver-hungry crowd
couldn't wait. Some o' the craziest got away as early as January. They
caught it hea