aid the hose at a favorable place on a gravel-bar and scooped
up a pan of dirt and sand that he held under the stream while he
whirled it around in the pan. The contents took up the motion and
spilled over the pan-brim until there was little left. The miner
examined the remainder and then gave it more water and more swirling
around in the pan. This process he repeated several times. Presently
he held the pan where Davy and Jim could see a fifth of a thimble full
of tiny flakes and two small dots not much larger than pinheads.
"That's the object of the meeting, gentlemen," Welborn said grimly.
"That's gold.... Tomorrow," he added, "we will get the old rocker
going, but just now, I want to 'sample around' for good locations."

All this was nothing to Davy. He watched the men awhile and went back
to the cabin to arrange his personal belongings. Pinnacle Point was a
place of sudden sunsets and prolonged twilights. At near five o'clock,
Davy built a fire in the little cook-stove and put several slices of
bacon on to fry. He "set the table" as best he could and broke several
eggs in the bacon grease. He set out a jar of jam, sliced the bread.
Then he went to the tunnel and called: "Supper."

"Say, Laddie, I don't want you to do this," said Welborn as he
surveyed the supper. "You are my guest, you know, and I'll do what
cooking there's to be done. We'll eat our dinners at Gillis', we'll
sleep here, and I will get breakfast and supper. The fine dinners will
offset my poor cooking, and besides you ought to stay outdoors and
look around as much as you can, before we get snowed in for the whole
winter."

"Well, I do plan to go with Landy over to see about that colt," said
Davy, "and I thought maybe you would want to go along."

Welborn laughed. "Not for me! If you and Landy can't skin those B-line
people out of one little horse, you are no traders. I've got to get
that rocker going tomorrow. Look what we did today!" Welborn showed a
little canvas bag that he took out of his pocket. "There is fully an
ounce of dust in there, and we didn't try, just sampled around. With
the rocker going, I can take out ten ounces a day by myself. It's
fairly well distributed all over the tract, but better if you can hit
the potholes right in the old stream bed."

"And when you get it all out, then what?"

Welborn looked rather perplexed. He studied a moment. "Then what?" he
asked slowly, "Why we'll stock that ranch, lay out a flying field, and