e appeared to
have been drinking; but I hope I am mistaken in this. He is an
only son, and it would be a pity that he should go astray.

Tom looked thoughtful after reading this letter.

"Is it bad news, Tom, lad?" asked Ferguson.

"Times are hard at home, Mr. Ferguson," answered Tom. "Father is very
much in need of money. It would have been a great help to him if he had
received that seventy-five dollars."

"You have as much as that on hand now, Tom. If it isn't enough, I will
lend you some."

"Thank you, Mr. Ferguson. You are a good friend, and I wouldn't mind
accepting your offer, if I needed it. But father won't need any more
than I can send him. Only I don't know how to get it to him."

"If you were in San Francisco, you would have no difficulty in sending
the money."

"No."

"I've been thinking, Tom," said Ferguson, after a while, "that it might
be a good plan for us to take a little vacation, and visit the city. We
have been working steadily here over three months, and the change would
do us good. Besides, we might on the way come across some better place.
This isn't as good now as when we began to work it."

"That is true," said Tom.

"Suppose, then, we stay a week longer, sell out our claim if we can,
and start in the direction of the city."

"You and I?"

"Yes; we shall be better off without company."

"We had better not let Peabody know we are going, or he will want to
accompany us."

"I could almost be willing to take him, poor creature, to get him away
from that Missouri Jack; but, as you say, he would not be a help to us."

So it was decided that, in a few days, as soon as they were ready, Tom
and Ferguson should leave River Bend.

CHAPTER XIII.

A SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT.

It leaked out after a while that Tom and Ferguson were intending to
leave River Bend, and considerable regret was expressed by the other
members of the party. Tom was a general favorite. His youth and his
obliging disposition made him liked by all except Missouri Jack and his
set. It cannot be said that his Scotch friend was popular, but he was,
at all events, highly respected as a man of high principle and rigid
honesty. This was not the way the miners expressed it. They called him a
"square" man, and that word expressed high moral praise. They all felt
that Tom was going off in good company.

Before they went, the two had a chance for a speculation. Two weeks
before, a man came to River Bend,