esent ends; he had no idea of laying it up for
the future; married men, he thought, might, perhaps, with propriety,
amass money for the benefit of their families, but _he_ wasn't a married
man, and didn't mean to be one, so he felt in duty bound to spend all
the gold he dug out of the earth.

We do not pretend to enter into a disquisition as to the correctness or
incorrectness of Ned's opinions; we merely state them, leaving our
reader to exercise his own reasoning powers on the subject, if so
disposed.

For a few seconds after Ned's last speech, no sound escaped the lips of
his comrades, save those resulting from the process of mastication. At
last, Tom Collins threw down his knife, and slapped his thigh
energetically, as he exclaimed, "I'll go with you, Ned! I've made up my
mind. I'm tired of digging, too; and I'm game for a ramble into the
heart of the Rocky Mountains, if you like."

"Bravo! Tom," cried Captain Bunting, slapping his companion on the
shoulder--"well and bravely spoken; but you're a goose for all that, and
so, saving his presence, is Commodore Ned Sinton. Why, you'll just
waste two months or so in profitless wandering, and return beggars to
the Little Creek to begin the work all over again. Take my advice,
lads--the advice of an old salt, who knows a thing or two--and remain
where you are till we have worked out all the gold hereabouts. After
that you may talk of shifting."

"You're a very sour old salt to endeavour to damp our spirits in that
way at the outset, but it won't do; my mind is made up, and I'm glad to
find that there is at least one of the party who is strong enough to
break these golden chains."

"Faix I comed here for goold, an' I stop here for the same raison,"
remarked Larry, scraping the last morsels from the bottom of the kettle
with an iron spoon; "I've thravelled more nor enough in me day, so I can
affoord to stop at home now."

"Get out, you renegade! do you call this home?" cried Ned.

"'Tis all that's of it at present, anyhow."

"When shall we start?" inquired Tom Collins.

"To-morrow. We have few preparations to make, and the sooner we go the
better; for when the rainy season sets in, our journeying will be
stopped perforce. I have a plan in my mind which I shall detail to you
after we retire to rest. Meanwhile I'll go and improve my bed, which
has been so uncomfortable for some nights past that my very bones are
aching."

Ned rose, took up an axe, and, g