old
enthusiasm. "I tell you, we haven't gone deep enough! This gold has
been here for centuries and centuries, and it has probably settled
several feet below the surface of the river-bed. Ball and the
Frenchmen found twenty-seven pounds in June, when the creek was
practically dry. Did you ever read about the discoveries of gold in
Alaska and the Yukon?"

"A little, when I was going to school with you."

"Well, the richest finds were nearly always from three to a dozen
feet under the surface, and when a prospector found signs in surface
panning he knew there was rich dirt below. Well find our gold in this
chasm, and near the fall!"

Rod's confidence was the chief thing that kept up the spirits of the
treasure seekers during the next few days, for not the first sign
of gold was discovered above the fall. Yard by yard the prospectors
worked up the chasm until they had washed its sands for more than a
mile. And with the passing of each day, as Wabigoon had predicted, the
stream became more and more shallow, until they could wade across it
without wetting themselves above their knees. At the close of the
fourth day the three lowered themselves over the face of the rock into
the second chasm. So convinced was Rod in his belief that the gold was
hidden deep down under the creek bed that he dug a four-foot hole by
torch-light and that night after supper washed out several pans of
dirt in the glow of the camp-fire. He still found no signs of gold.

The next day's exertions left no room for doubt. Beyond two or three
tiny flecks of gold the three adventurers found nothing of value
in the deeper sand and gravel of the stream. That night absolute
dejection settled on the camp. Both Rod and Wabigoon made vain efforts
to liven up their drooping spirits. Only Mukoki, to whom gold
carried but a fleeting and elusive value, was himself, and even his
hopefulness was dampened by the gloom of his companions. Rod could see
but one explanation of their failure. Somewhere near the cataract John
Ball and the Frenchmen had found a rich pocket of gold, and they had
worked it out, probably before the fatal tragedy in the old cabin.

"But how about the mad hunter and his golden bullets?" insisted Wabi,
in another effort to brighten their prospects. "The bullets weighed an
ounce each, and I'll stake my life they came from this chasm. He knows
where the gold is, if we don't!"

"Come back soon!" grunted Mukoki. "Watch heem. Fin' gol'!"

"Tha