"Did you get him?" asked the bartender.

"Nope," replied Gabe. "It was too dark, and I can't run as fast as I could once. How did it happen he pulled a gun on you, Jed?"

"I knocked him down for insulting my mother."

"Whew!" whistled Gabe. "You're getting right into the swim of things out here. I can't leave you alone but what something happens."

"Who was he? What did you want of him?" asked Will.

"That fellow was Con Morton, the gambler who robbed me of nearly all my fortune," replied Gabe, to the surprise of the boys. "I've been looking for him for some time, but he was too slick for me. How long has he been here?" he asked, turning to the proprietor of the hotel.

"Just came in a little while ago, and tried to start a card game. I didn't know him, and no one else seemed to; did you fellows?" and he appealed to the men. There was a general dissent, so far as having an acquaintance with Con was concerned.

"I wouldn't have a word to say if he'd won my money when I gambled with him," went on the miner. "I've been fool enough to do that in my time, but I've sworn off from cards and drink. These boys are friends of mine.

Their father did me a good turn, and they don't drink or gamble either.

I say that for the benefit of all who hear it. If any one makes trouble for them they've got to reckon with me."

"That one lad seems able to take care of himself," remarked a man, nodding at Jed. "He sent that gambling chap on his back as neat as I ever saw."

"I'm glad he did," replied Gabe. "I wish I could have caught him. But I'm still after him, and if he shows up around here again, you can tell him I'll have back the money he practically stole from me, or my name's not Gabe Harrison."

"I heard him say he'd been over to the Dizzy Gulch diggings before he drifted in here," volunteered a miner with a very red mustache.

"He did, eh?" replied Gabe. "Did he say how things were going there?

That's where I'm headed for."

"Said he cleaned up a pile."

"In his own way, I suppose, with cards. Well, if he got some, the miners must have struck pay dirt. I guess we're on the right road, boys."

This was better news than they yet had heard concerning Dizzy Gulch, and the three gold seekers felt better over it. They soon retired to their rooms, where they slept undisturbed, though Jed had uneasy dreams of fights with mountain lions, and a band of gamblers who had revolvers as large as cannons.

With the first gleam of daylight Gabe was up, and roused the boys.

"We must make an early start for the mountains," he said. "Our real trail begins now, and for some time we'll have to depend on ourselves, for we aren't going to strike any camps."

"Aren't we going to Dizzy Gulch?" asked Jed. "I thought there was a camp there."

"I've made a little change in our plans," replied the old miner. "I had a talk with a friend when I was away from the hotel last night, when you so nearly got into trouble. He told me there had been some good strikes made at the Gulch, where Ted Jordan is, but nothing remarkable. Now I've had enough of ordinary mining. I want to get at something big. So I think we'll strike off into the mountains back of the Gulch."

"Do you think there's gold there?" asked Will.

"I think so. I've made some inquiries about the lay of the land around Dizzy Gulch, and, from what I know about gold mining, I'm convinced that we'll stand a better chance in the mountains than we will in the Gulch.

If I'm wrong, and we don't strike some rich pay dirt, we can drift on to the Gulch, and try our luck there. But I'd like to try my way first, if you have no objections."

"We're with you," responded Jed. "We'll follow your lead. You know all about it, and we--well, we're tenderfeet of the tenderest kind, I guess."

"You'll get over that. Now then, if you're ready we'll start on the trail, and bid good-by to such civilization as they have out in these camps. I'll not be sorry, either. I'm not afraid of any man, and I'll take my chances with most of 'em, but I like a peaceable life, and this business of drinking and playing cards I don't like. I've gotten over it."

They made their departure from the town quietly, few persons being up to see them go, for the miners and gamblers, who made up most of the population, kept late hours, and, in consequence, were late risers.

The trail led up the mountain, for the town was situated at the foot of a big range. As they got higher and higher the boys had a view of a big stretch of country. It was different from any they had yet seen, and the great ma.s.ses of mountain ranges, the deep valleys, the towering peaks, were a strange contrast to the scenery back in the quiet little country town of Lockport.

"Isn't this great!" exclaimed Jed, as he halted his horse on a ledge of rock and looked at the scene below him.

"The mountains for mine! Every time!" exclaimed Gabe, fervently.

"Farming is all right, but it's too low down. You can't see enough. Look at this view! It makes a man grow big in spite of himself!"

"Then Will had better look out," advised Jed, with a smile. "If he grows any taller his legs will reach the ground on either side of his horse, and he won't be able to get in ordinary rooms."

"Yes, and if you keep on getting stout, you'll have to get two horses to carry you," retorted his brother.

The little party was in jolly humor. It was a fine day, they had a good supply of food with them, a comfortable tent, and best of all, they were actually about to begin their hunt for gold.

The boys were anxious to start digging at every place they made a halt, but Gabe pointed out that it would be foolish, as the nature of the ground was such that no gold could be expected there.

"I'll tell you when to get out the picks and washing pans," he said.

"We're getting closer, and I shouldn't wonder but by night we'd get to a place where we can make a try clean-up."

How anxiously the boys wanted that time to come! They closely scanned the trail on either side, for Gabe had told them some methods of recognizing when they were near pay dirt, and they wanted to test their new knowledge.

"Just think! We're actually going to dig gold!" exclaimed Jed. "I used to think it was wonderful to dig potatoes, but when I turn out a few yellow nuggets I'll think I've really begun to live."

"Digging potatoes is a heap sight surer, sometimes, than digging gold,"

remarked Gabe, "only it isn't so exciting."

The trail became wilder now, for it was one seldom traveled. The horses had to proceed slowly, and, as it was getting well on in the afternoon, Gabe decided they would make a camp.

"Is this--do you think it would be any good to dig for gold here?" asked Jed eagerly.

"Well, you might try a little surface or placer mining," replied Gabe.

"That looks like a good place to dig," he went on, pointing to a gravelly spot, about a hundred feet from where he had decided to pitch the tent. "You boys can be miners for a while until I get camp in shape.

But don't be disappointed."

Eagerly unpacking their picks, shovels and washing pans, the boys hurried over to where the old miner had indicated. As the method they were about to use may not be familiar to all of my readers I will briefly describe it.

The kind of gold they hoped to find is known as free gold--that is, it exists in little grains, sometimes only as large as a pin point or a pin head, and, again, the size of a walnut. It is mixed in with the dirt or gravel, and is usually washed to its resting place by some flood. Other gold is held in ores, or hard rocks, which must be crushed and specially treated before the precious metal can be extracted.

The kind of mining the boys were about to undertake is very simple.

Acting under Gabe's advice, they first loosened the top soil with their picks. This they threw aside, as it was not very likely to contain gold, which, being quite heavy, would be washed by the rains below the surface.

After digging down a little way, the boys came to some fine gravel.

This, Gabe had told them, might contain fine grains of gold, but to determine that point they had to wash the dirt. For this purpose the simplest means are common iron pans, circular and rather shallow.

Another method is by a wooden "rocker," which will be explained later.

Filling their pans half full of the gravel, the boys let water run in from a near-by mountain stream. They now had a mixture of very moist mud. This they agitated in the pans by a peculiar circular motion, the object of it being to cause the heavier grains of gold to sink to the bottom of the pan. Repeated applications of water, and shakings of their pans, soon washed out most of the gravel in the pans, which were tilted at a slight angle to permit this. At length there was only a little fine dirt left in the bottom of the pan.

"I think I see something yellow!" exclaimed Jed, greatly excited.