The flight of the proprietor did not seem to make any difference, for there was plenty of food and cooks to prepare the banquet.
Ike went at once to the place where Wah Shin was helping to get dinner.
"I'll kind o' fill up a little, Wah," said Ike, as he laid siege to a big loaf of bread and a correspondingly large piece of cold meat, "for it'll take me jist 'bout a year's steady feedin' to catch up. You can bet that I'll never be sorry again that I didn't eat moah w'en I had a good chance."
Maj seemed to be of the same opinion, for he did not leave Ike's side for hours, and when he was next seen in public, he was truly aldermanic in his girth and evidently on good terms with himself and the world.
After a hearty dinner, which no one enjoyed more than Sam, speeches in praise of "the young cañoneers" as they were called, were made, and resolutions expressing unbounded confidence in Mr. Willett and Hank Tims were passed.
And so ended the happiest day Hurley's Gulch had ever seen, or ever saw again.
The next day our friends returned to Gold Cave Camp, but before starting off, Mr. Willett purchased the articles Sam had promised to send to the Indians, and Si Brill and Collins pledged themselves to deliver them.
Here our story ends, yet it may not be amiss to add a few words explanatory of the future of the characters in whom we have been so much interested.
Mr. Willett made a good deal of money out of the Gold Cave Camp property, but the danger from floods led him after a time to sell it at a sacrifice.
Years have passed since these adventures came to a close. To-day "Willett & Son" are among the richest and most honored miners and bankers in the Far West.