"Then you couldn't place him?"
"No."
They returned to the tent and the candle was again lit. By its feeble rays they put the gold in the bag and placed the bag in a tin box which had contained spices.
"I don't think we'd better use the hollow tree," said Si. "That feller, whoever he was, must have heard me mention it."
They knew not what to do with their gold, but at last dug a hole at the back of the tent and placed it, tin box and all, in that, covering it with dirt, a flat stone, and some pine boughs.
"It will take an hour's digging to get it out," said Maybe Dixon. "A thief would hardly dare to tackle the job, with so many around who know us."
"I've got an idea," said Bob. "Let us put a bogus bag in the hollow tree and see if that rascal comes for it."
This was considered a good scheme and was acted upon the next morning, a bag of sand being carefully tied up and sealed. It was placed in the hollow tree and some dead leaves strewn over it.
For the next few days the boys and their older partner worked as never before. They brought to light eight other small nuggets and some grains and dust, worth, all told, not less than three hundred dollars. With such good results, they did not mind the back-breaking labor, and if they were so stiff in the morning that they scarcely cared to move, nobody complained. They were working deep down in the sand and nobody was near them.
"How is it?" asked one old miner, coming up to Bob one day.