s found and everything
else and agreed to enter partnership providing they purchased the
outfit. After some hesitation and examination, they agreed to this.
They bought a sieve, sorting table, and tent with cooking apparatus,
etc., and started for a claim. They were fortunate in getting one about
thirty feet square. There they erected their tent, under the
supervision of the sorter who unceremoniously made himself head of the
camp and who did more talking than work. Then they began the digging
of the trench around their claim. Their sorting table was set up and
they went to work with a will that was backed with enthusiasm and hope.
The result of their digging was turned into the sieve, which was
suspended by a rope from a cross bar, with handles on one side. The
digger would swing it backwards and forwards until all the loose
fragments of earth were broken off and nothing remained but the small
stones like line gravel. These were then carried over and dumped on the
sorter's table, who examined them carefully and placed anything
promising to one side. But for three weeks nothing of any value was
found. The small specimens that were obtained were disposed of to the
dealers who daily visited every camp and digging. The amount derived
from their sales barely kept the diggers in provisions. About this
time Lord fell ill of dysentery, which was prevalent in all the camps in
this vicinity, and Paul had to do double work to give the gentlemanly
sorter, who refused to do any digging, occupation. Being tired and worn
with the two-fold labor, Paul was tempted many times to abandon the
claim and take a rest, and was prevented only by the fear that jumpers
would take advantage of the work already done. The unwritten law at that
time was that if a miner ceased working his claim for a certain length
of time it could be "jumped" by others. About this time Paul also began
to suspect the honesty of the sorter and kept a close eye on him. These
suspicions he communicated to Lord, then recovering and found that Lord
entertained the same ideas. So one evening after a hard day's work they
grabbed the sorter and held an inquest on his pockets after calmly
seating themselves on his head and knees. Their suspicions were verified
by discovering stones on him that were valued the next day at one
hundred and ten pounds. The frightened sorter willingly surrendered all
they found, and confessed under the pres