“What’s wrong?” Jack demanded, puzzled by the rancher’s change of attitude. “Isn’t it gold, after all?”
“It’s gold, all right.”
“But not quality stuff?”
“Well, it’s hard to tell much just by looking at it, Jack. That first pile of hand-sorted stuff was rich—no question about it. But this—” Warner dropped a chunk of ore contemptuously.
“It’s worthless?”
“I wouldn’t say that. I’m no expert. It’s easy to see, though, that’s it’s not the same rich ore as that first pile.”
“Even so, there’s a lot of it,” Jack said optimistically.
“Oh, that one pile might be worth thousands,” Craig Warner replied. “And it’s available to anybody who hauls it out.”
“Why do you suppose Joe Hansart hasn’t done it?” Jack speculated.
“Two reasons probably: one, he hasn’t wanted anyone to know of his discovery; two, ore is heavy.”