"Oh, somewheres around here. I reckon it's further north. But if you don't take any stock in it, there's no use talkin'."
"I'm not denying its existence," said Merritt, "but you know dozens of men have looked for that and no one's found it yet."
"There can't be but one find it," said the prospector. "I aims to be that one. I used to think it was further south. Twenty years ago I spent a lot o' time down at the end of the range. Two seasons ago I got a hunch it was further north. I couldn't get away last year, so here I am. I've been busy on Indian Creek for some years."
"Got a claim there?"
"Got the only jade in the country."
"Was it you located that mine in the Klamath Forest?" queried the Supervisor interestedly. "But that's quite a good deposit. I shouldn't think you'd be prospecting now."
"I didn't for two years. But, pard, it was dead slow, an' so I hired a man to run the works while I hit the old trail again. I don't have to get anybody to grubstake me now. I've been able to boost some of the others who used to help me."
"But what started you looking for Burns's mine? I thought that story had been considered a fake years ago."
"What is a lost mine?" asked Wilbur.
Merritt looked at him a moment thoughtfully, then turned to the prospector.