Lower down, the
yield was enormous. The pile in the handkerchief grew to an enormous size.
Taking no heed of time, the work went on until the declining sun called
them from their labors.

Jim poured a pound or so of mercury into a tub of water, and submerged the
results of their toil in it.

"You think it is gold?" she queried.

"Gold! Tons of it. I'll show you later. Come along and have some food."

An hour or two later Jim brought from the tub the amalgam formed by the
combination of the pan gold-dust with the mercury. This was squeezed
through a bearskin, the process segregating the gold and depositing the
mercury back into the tub.

What little mercury remained in the glittering mass was evaporated out in
a shovel over the camp-fire.

For the first time Angela realized why the gold-miner, once successful,
could never rid himself of the fever. All the bitter disappointments,
pessimism, and misery vanished in the presence of that sizzling mass in
the shovel. It was difficult to believe that here, dug from the frozen
earth, was the thing for which men suffered, sinned, and died.

Jim seized the gold nugget with his leathern hands and tossed it into the
air, caught it again, and dropped it into his hat.

"Angela, you're right. We're bursting with wealth! There ain't bin nothin'
like this since that guy found Bonanza Creek. And now I've got to git to
Dawson."

"Dawson!"

"Yep. It ain't ours yet. I've got to stake claims--one for you and one for
me."

"Then I'll come too."

"Nope. Any prowling broiler might bunch in and take a fancy to this pitch.
You jest sit tight. I'll be back to-morrow morning."

"But you can't get to Dawson and back in one night."

"Can't I? Jest watch my smoke. I'll get the claims registered and yank a
man up here from the Syndicate. We'll sure sell out and save digging.
We'll come down the river. You ain't skeered of stoppin' alone?"

She laughed at his serious question, and watched him making ready for the
journey. In a few minutes he had washed, shaved, and put on a pair of
walking boots. He turned and nodded and went off with huge strides.

She continued to sit by the fire, no longer wrestling with the future. In
that unexpected moment of wonderful luck, she had seen the future
clear-cut as it affected her. The pendulum swung the other way now--she
meant to leave Alaska with the least possible delay.

CHAPTER XXIII

DEPARTURE

She arose in the morning from dream