Pioneer boys of the gold fields

I.	[Mark and His Difficulties]
II.	[News from California]
III.	[Mark Runs Away]
IV.	[Mark Makes a Friend]
V.	[Up a Tree]
VI.	[Two Boys and a Mule]
VII.	[Taking in Another Partner]
VIII.	[Off for the Land of Gold]
IX.	[A Storm and a Washout]
X.	[At Fort Laramie]
XI.	[Sag Ruff's Threat]
XII.	[Suffering from Thirst]
XIII.	[A Fight with an Elk]
XIV.	[The Stealing of the Outfit]
XV.	[A Snake, a Deer, and a Surprise]
XVI.	[Getting Back the Outfit]
XVII.	[Among the Indians]
XVIII.	[Si Takes a Tumble]
XIX.	[A Gloomy Outlook]
XX.	[At the Trading Camp]
XXI.	[Another Brush with the Indians]
XXII.	[The Coming of Spring]
XXIII.	[Nuggets of Value]
XXIV.	[The Results of a Cave-in]
XXV.	[The Man from Philadelphia]
XXVI.	[Mark's Sickness]
XXVII.	[The Disappearance of Maybe Dixon]
XXVIII.	[Striking a Bonanza]
XXIX.	[A Fortune in Nuggets]
XXX.	[The Landslide]
XXXI.	[A Crushing Loss]
XXXII.	[The Trail of the Gold Thieves]
XXXIII.	[Brought to Bay—Conclusion]

CHAPTER I

MARK AND HIS DIFFICULTIES

"I wonder if this report can be true, Carl?"

"What report, Mark?"

"This report in the newspapers that great nuggets of gold are to be found in California," replied Mark Radley. He pointed to the sheet he had been perusing. "Here is an account of a miner picking up ten thousand dollars' worth of nuggets in two days, and another account of a gold hunter washing out six thousand dollars' worth of dust in a week. I declare it's enough to make a fellow's mouth water just to think about it!"

"Beats working in a musty law office all to bits, eh?" was Carl Felmore's remark, and he uttered a short laugh. "I'll wager the reports are false, Mark," he added. "Why, if there was so much gold in California the Spaniards out there would have gotten it long before Uncle Sam took possession of the country."