I'd have had one
for every ca'tridge, instead of plugging Marlin bullets into trees. It
was a sport I was meant for." He paused and sighed. "I've had to be a
sawmill hand and a storekeeper."

Devine grinned at this.

"Well," he said, "you've raked more money out of pork and sugar than I
have out of surveying. For that matter, you've got most of mine; and
you're better off than I am, because the store's still running."

"Oh, yes," said his companion, with a sardonic smile, "it's being run
by Jim from Okanagan, and he'll have the boys round in the back store
evenings sampling cheese and eating crackers while they help him.
They're kind of curious insects, and it's a blame pity I never
remembered to put those Vancouver invoices where they wouldn't lay
hands on them, for there'll sure be trouble when I get back again. You
have got to strike people for full prices when they don't always meet
their bills. Anyway, the man who spreads himself out on jobs that
don't strictly belong to him is bound to find it cost him something."

It was significant that he spoke of going back; but both he and Devine
admitted that possibility. The mine was theirs, and they certainly
meant to keep it if they could, though they recognized that this might
be difficult. As a matter of fact, a reef or lode mine is of almost as
much immediate use to a poor man as a sewing-machine would be to a
naked savage. He cannot get out the ore without sinking a shaft or
driving an adit, which, in the general way, means the hiring of labor
and the purchase of costly machines. Then, when that is done, he must
put up a stamp-mill and reducing plant, or arrange for transport by
pack-horse to somebody who has one, which is a very expensive matter
in a mountainous land where roads have still to be cut. As the result
of this, he must in the first place go round and beg the assistance of
men with money to spare; and the latter, as a rule, insist on his
handing over the mine before parting with any of their money. There
are also means of putting pressure on the reluctant seller, and the
usual code of morals does not seem to be considered as strictly
applicable to a mining deal.

"Well," said Devine, at length, "we have still a good deal of drilling
to do, and unless you're smarter with the hammer than I am we'll want
new hands before we're through."

"We hold three claims, and that means quite a lot of assessment work
for you and me to put in," Saunders said. "Bes