OFF FOR THE WEST
Never before, save, perhaps, when the lightning struck, had there been such excitement in the Crosby home. The farmer and his wife stared in amazement at the sight of their two sons doing a good imitation of a Highland fling, for Will had caught Jed's enthusiasm, and the two boys were singing and leaping about, "as if they were circus performers," as their mother said afterward.
"Come on, Nettie, have a waltz!" exclaimed Jed. "We'll send you back enough gold for a pair of earrings and a bracelet!"
"Jed! Jed!" exclaimed his mother. "Do behave yourself. You're not going to let them undertake that crazy plan, are you?" she asked of her husband.
Mr. Crosby did not answer. He, too, was thinking of the golden West, and his poor farm that hardly supported him.
"Of course we can go. Can't we, dad?" asked Jed. "Why, it will be the best thing that ever happened!"
"It will—if we get the gold," added his brother, more soberly, for his first enthusiasm had begun to cool.
"Find the gold? Of course we'll find the gold. Won't we, Mr. Harrison?"
"Well, I always have been pretty lucky," replied the miner. "I always got gold when I went after it, but I didn't always keep it. If I had the money the gambler swindled me out of I'd be in good shape now."
"Maybe that gambler your friend wrote about is the same one who swindled you," suggested Jed.