ining
it carefully, he said:

"Ef you fight off many thousand Sioux, run through fifty or a hundred
mountain blizzards, starve a dozen times, freeze twenty times an' stick
to it three or four years you'll git that thar gold."

Then the Little Giant sighed, and his face clouded again--it had perhaps
been years since his face had clouded twice in one day.

"You fellers are in great luck. I wish you well."

"We wish ourselves well," said Boyd, watching him closely.

A sudden thought seemed to occur to the Little Giant and his face
brightened greatly.

"Do you two fellers want a hired man?" he asked.

"What kind of a hired man?" said Boyd.

"A likely feller, not very tall, but strong an' with a willin' heart,
handy with spade an' shovel, understandin' hosses an' mules, an' able to
whistle fur you gay an' lively tunes in the evenin', when you're all
tired out from the day's work in the richest mine in the world."

"No, we don't want any hired man."

"Not even the kind I'm tellin' you 'bout?"

"Not even that, nor any other."

"An' both o' you hev got your minds plum' made up 'bout it?"

"Plumb made up."

The Little Giant's face fell for the third time in one day, an absolute
record for him.

"I reckon thar ain't no more to say," he said.

Boyd was still watching him closely, but now his look was one of
sympathy.

"We don't want any hired man," he said. "We've no use for hired men, but
we do want something."

"What's that, Jim Boyd?"

"We want a partner."

"Why, each of you has got one. You hev young William and young William
hez you."

"Well, young William and me have talked about this some, not much, but
we came straight to the point. For such a big hunt as ours, through
dangers piled on dangers, we need a third man, one that's got a strong
heart and a cheerful soul, one that can shoot straighter than anybody
else in the world, one whose picture, if I could take it, would be the
exact picture of you, Tom Bent."

"But I ain't done nothin' to come in as a pardner."

"Neither did I, but Will took me in as a guide, hunter and fighting man.
Don't you understand, Giant, that to get the Clarke gold we'll have to
pay the price? We'll have to fight and fight, and we'll have to risk our
lives a thousand times apiece. Why, in a case like this, you're worth a
cool hundred thousand dollars."

"Then I come in fur a tenth--ef we git it."

"You come in for the same share as the rest, share and share alike,