"I'll tell you when to get out the picks and washing pans," he said. "We're getting closer, and I shouldn't wonder but by night we'd get to a place where we can make a try clean-up."
How anxiously the boys wanted that time to come! They closely scanned the trail on either side, for Gabe had told them some methods of recognizing when they were near pay dirt, and they wanted to test their new knowledge.
"Just think! We're actually going to dig gold!" exclaimed Jed. "I used to think it was wonderful to dig potatoes, but when I turn out a few yellow nuggets I'll think I've really begun to live."
"Digging potatoes is a heap sight surer, sometimes, than digging gold," remarked Gabe, "only it isn't so exciting."
The trail became wilder now, for it was one seldom traveled. The horses had to proceed slowly, and, as it was getting well on in the afternoon, Gabe decided they would make a camp.
"Is this—do you think it would be any good to dig for gold here?" asked Jed eagerly.
"Well, you might try a little surface or placer mining," replied Gabe. "That looks like a good place to dig," he went on, pointing to a gravelly spot, about a hundred feet from where he had decided to pitch the tent. "You boys can be miners for a while until I get camp in shape. But don't be disappointed."
Eagerly unpacking their picks, shovels and washing pans, the boys hurried over to where the old miner had indicated. As the method they were about to use may not be familiar to all of my readers I will briefly describe it.
The kind of gold they hoped to find is known as free gold—that is, it exists in little grains, sometimes only as large as a pin point or a pin head, and, again, the size of a walnut. It is mixed in with the dirt or gravel, and is usually washed to its resting place by some flood. Other gold is held in ores, or hard rocks, which must be crushed and specially treated before the precious metal can be extracted.
The kind of mining the boys were about to undertake is very simple. Acting under Gabe's advice, they first loosened the top soil with their picks. This they threw aside, as it was not very likely to contain gold, which, being quite heavy, would be washed by the rains below the surface.