acks covered with canvas. In front of a tent labeled,
rudely: "New York Generul Store," Eph halted and uttered a resounding
whoop. The miners began to gather; there were other whoops, and
cheers, and the gay beating of gold pans, like gongs, until it seemed
as though the whole camp was on hand. A booted, whiskered, "rough and
ready" crowd they made, too.

"Well, Eph, what's the trouble? Somebody got the dead-wood on you?"
demanded a strapping big miner in torn red shirt and prodigious boots.
He seemed to be a sort of a leader.

"These boys and I----" began Mr. Adams; but Eph interrupted.

"I'll do the talkin', fust. You save yore powder. This gentleman an'
these two lads belong to a party I met up with at t'other end the
valley. They were prospectin' for a claim they'd heared of. The two
boys located it atop a ridge, yon, an' as I understand, they were
actually on the ground, sizin' it up, when another party jumped 'em, at
the p'int o' guns made 'em vamoose, an' proceeded to hold down the
claim themselves. Show yore sample, boys. What do you think o' that,
men?"

Charley handed out the sample. As it passed around among the craning
heads and hairy fists, it created tremendous excitement.

"Whar'd you get it?"

"Gold quartz, or I'm a sinner!"

"That'll run a thousand dollars to the pan, I bet ye."

"Hooray for the new diggin's! Come on, fellows. I'm off."

"Hold on, thar," bade the red-shirted man, stopping what would have
been a stampede. "That doesn't settle the matter. Eph, here, has
called a meetin' for a purpose; haven't you, Eph?"

"You're talkin'," assured Eph. "It's time claim-jumpin' 'round these
diggin's has got to stop. If this gentleman can prove up for his party
that they've fust rights to that discivvery, we ought to go back thar
an' show those other fellows that Rough an' Ready is takin' a stand for
law an' order."

"Hooray!" cheered the crowd, which seemed ripe for anything new.

"You say you've got fust location on that quartz claim?" inquired the
red-shirted man, of Mr. Adams.

"Yes, sir," replied Charley's father, promptly. "By two reasons. It
was given us by the former owner, in St. Louis; and these boys, who are
partners in our party, found it again on their own hook."

"What might be the name of that claim, then, stranger, if it was given
to you?" asked somebody else.

"The Golden West," answered Mr. Adams. "It was given to us by a man
whom we befriended in St.