“Here! You stop that!” yelled Mr. Hitter, as he saw Noddy and Bill shoveling heaps of rock and cinders into the barrow. “You can’t do that—you’ll ruin the roadbed!”
“Don’t let him bother us, Bill,” advised Noddy. “My father owns stock in this road, and I have as good a right to this gold as anybody.”
He went on shoveling. Mr. Hitter raced up and down, calling for help, but no one paid much attention to him. All eyes were centered on the two miners. They made a careful examination, and then Jim Nestor announced:
“Nothing doing!”
“That’s right,” added his friend. “It’s streaked out!”
“What?” cried the throng about them.
“No more gold,” announced Jim. “It was just in that one spot, and it wasn’t much at that. Not more than a few dollars worth. Your road is safe, stranger,” and he nodded to Mr. Hitter.
“Thank goodness!” ejaculated the agent.
“But how did any gold get there?” asked Jerry.
“I don’t know,” replied Mr. Brill. “Some of the ballast might have been loaded in a car that had been out in the mining region, and some quartz might have got stuck in a crack, to fall out when they unloaded here. But that’s all the gold there is in these diggings,” and once more he looked at the particles he possessed.