"Very well. How are you folks doin'?"
"Very well indeed, that is, so far as gold digging is concerned. But Mark is sick." And Bob gave some particulars.
"I am sorry to hear that," said Josiah Socket. "Hope he pulls through all right. I came here to buy supplies. They are awful high up our way."
"You'll find 'em high here too."
"Yes, so I've learned. But we've got to eat, so I'll make the best of it," added Josiah Socket, with a sigh.
He then related some of the particulars of what he and his family were doing, and he and Bob walked around the settlement, taking in the sights. Bob wanted to see more of Ruff, Gannon, and Fitzsimmons, but could not find them.
"I steer clear o' gambling," said Josiah Socket. "What I find in the way of gold I'm going to keep—outside of what I have to pay for provisions."
"A man is a fool to gamble," answered Bob. "But more than a quarter of them do it—and they drink too."
He and Josiah Socket slept together that night and parted early in the morning. Then Bob went around for the doctor, and he and the medical man set off for the gulch.