o work a claim fer me," he said in a voice
intended to reach every ear, and as he spoke a curious look came into
his eyes. It was half a grin, half a challenge, and wholly meant
mischief.

The effect was exactly as he had calculated. The entire attention of
the room was on him at once, and he warmed as he waited for Sandy's
reply.

"You--you got a claim?" the widower inquired blankly.

Bill licked his lips after devouring a mouthful of pie.

"An' why in hell not?" he retorted.

Before Sandy could gather an adequate reply, the matter was taken up
by a young miner further down the table.

"Wher' you got it, Bill?" he inquired, with genuine interest.

The gambler swallowed another mouthful of pie, and rammed the rim of
crust into his cheek with his thumb, and leisurely devoured it before
replying.

"I don't see that my claim has anything to do wi' the company
present," he said at last, with a dangerous look in his half-grinning
eyes. "But, seein' Mr. Joe Brand is kind o' curious, guess he may as
well know first as last."

"I didn't mean no offense, Bill," apologized the miner, flushing and
speaking hurriedly.

Bill promptly became sarcastic.

"Course you didn't. Folks buttin' in never don't mean no offense.
Howsum, guess my claim's on the banks o' Sufferin' Creek. Maybe you
feel better now?" He glared down the table, but finally turned again
to Sandy. "You ain't pertickler busy 'bout now, so--ther's thirty
dollars a week says you ken hev the job. An' I'll give you a
percentage o' the gold you wash up," he added dryly. "You on?"

Sandy nodded. He didn't quite understand his friend's game. This was
the first he had heard of Bill having acquired a claim--and on the
river, too. There was only one other man on the river, and--well,
Zip's claim was the joke of the camp.

He had just formulated a question in his mind, when the words were
taken out of his mouth by a heavy-faced prospector further down the
table.

"Wher' 'bouts on the Creek, Bill?" he inquired.

The gambler eyed him intently.

"Quite a piece up," he said shortly.

A half-smile spread over the prospector's face.

"Not nigh--Zip's?" he suggested.

The half-grin in Bill's eyes was becoming more savage.

"Yep--an' I bought it."

His information increased the interest with a bound. Every man there
knew, or believed, that Zip's claim was the only one on the Creek.

"I didn't know there was any other but Zip's," said Joe Brand, his
interest