All of the boys were satisfied and said so, and then they shook hands with their new partner. It was agreed that for the present Bob and Mark should work together as one "team" and Si and Maybe Dixon as another. All agreed to go down the stream a little further and try another creek Mark had discovered.
The following week found them harder at work than ever. Mark's back often ached from the labor, but he did not complain. His thoughts, and the thoughts of all, were centered on finding gold.
The second week's work netted them fifty dollars and the third week brought in nearly a hundred. All of the gold was placed in a chamois bag, secreted in a chink of the cabin wall, behind a slab of wood.
During the third week several other gold seekers drifted into that locality and three claims were staked out. But our friends staked no claim, content to wander around until they struck "something worth while," as Mark put it.
The Indians had not shown themselves again, but from one miner who came up the creek they learned that a shack two miles away had been plundered by the red men and the owner half killed. A posse had gotten after the Indians and one had been badly wounded. The rest of the band had fled to parts unknown.
CHAPTER XXIII
NUGGETS OF VALUE
"Well, where shall we try our luck next?"
It was Mark who asked that question. He was resting in front of the cabin mending a hole in his shirt. The hard work of the past six weeks had told on his clothing and he often had to sit down and do some mending.