so; then
he whispered softly to her as he again took up his brush and scraper,
that it was "for papa; all for poor papa; that he did not care for
himself, but he did want to help poor, tired, and crippled papa." But
papa did not seem to be excited so very much.

The little miners were now continually wild with excitement. They
were up and at work Monday morning at dawn. The men who were in the
father's tender secret, congratulated the children heartily and made
them presents of several small nuggets to add to their little hoard.

In this way they kept steadily at work for half the summer. All the
gold was given to papa to keep. Papa weighed it each week, and I
suppose secretly congratulated himself that he was getting back about
as much as he put in.

Before quite the end of the third month, Jim struck a thin bed of blue
gravel. The miners who had been happily chuckling and laughing among
themselves to think how they had managed to keep Jim out of mischief,
began to look at each other and wonder how in the world blue gravel
ever got up there on the hill. And in a few days more there was a
well-defined bed of blue gravel, too; and not one of the miners could
make it out.

One Saturday evening shortly after, as the old man weighed their gold
he caught his breath, started, and stood up straight; straighter than
he had stood since he crossed the Plains. Then he hastily left the
cabin. He went up the hill to the children's claim almost without
limping. Then he took a pencil and an old piece of a letter, and wrote
out a notice and tacked it up on the big oak-tree, claiming those
mining claims according to miners' law, for the three children. A
couple of miners laughed as they went by in the twilight, to see what
he was doing; and he laughed with them. But as he limped on down the
hill he smiled.

That night as they sat at supper, he told the children that as they
had been such faithful and industrious miners, he was going to give
them each a present, besides a little gold to spend as they pleased.

So he went up to the store and bought Jim a red shirt, long black and
bright gum boots, a broad-brimmed hat, and a belt. He also bought each
of the other children some pretty trappings, and gave each a dollar's
worth of gold dust. Madge and Stumps handed their gold back to "poor
papa." But Jim was crazy with excitement. He put on his new clothes
and went forth to spend his dollar. And what do you suppose he bought?
I hesit