ne
like it was the makin's of a cigareet? If you have, I ain't. This
stuff's yourn. I'm not sayin' that I won't take a ounce or two, maybe,
of this here dust, for old times' sake, if you offer it to me, but
that's all." His wrinkled face twisted into a grin. "You'll be needin'
it all one o' these days to pay for your honeymoonin', if I read the
signs right. Ain't that so, son?" He laughed softly as Wade flushed.
"Shake, boy! Put 'er there! I wish you all the luck that's comin' to any
white man, by the great horned toad, I do!"

During the whole of the morning they examined the creek bed and they
found signs of the yellow metal almost everywhere. At one point, Wade
broke a knob of rock from the face of the cliff, the under surface of
which was seamed and streaked with golden veins. Santry could scarcely
restrain himself; usually taciturn, he was for once as light-hearted and
joyous as a boy. But on the way back to the ranch-house he became
serious.

"Say, ain't the bulk of that lode on that forty-acre tract that you took
up as a timber claim?" he asked.

"Yes," Wade answered. "That is, I think so. We can run over the lines
this afternoon and make sure."

"I reckon we'd better make sure, and if it is, you'll have to lay low
until you get your deed. Your homestead rights might be hard to claim
now that there's mineral in the ground. Moran'll most likely keep his
mouth shut for reasons of his own, and he may not know about your not
havin' proved up yet, but some other jasper might get wise."

"I don't think any one around here would contest my right to the land,
Bill," Wade replied thoughtfully. "Still, as you say, we'd better be
careful. The gold will keep. We haven't heard the last of Moran and his
crowd yet, not by a jugful." He chuckled grimly. "I wonder if anybody's
cut him loose yet."

"I reckon they have, boy. He'll keep monkeyin' around this territory
until he meets up with some feller like me, with a bad temper and a
quick gun hand, who'll make him good the same way we useter make good
Injuns. Hullo, steady!"

Although they were now in sight of the house and the men hanging about
it for the noon-day meal, Santry had not relaxed his caution and his
eyes had picked out two moving dots in the distance, which presently
developed into galloping horses. He smiled instantly.

"Can't be nobody lookin' for trouble," he observed, and presently his
eyes twinkled. "Take a good look, boy. I reckon you know _one_ of 'e