"We didn't mind losin' the gold so much. It was thinkin' we'd trusted him so much. He was the last man on earth I'd have thought would do a thing like that. Bill and Jack Coulson, my pardners, they just wouldn't believe it of him. But after a while we knew we'd never see him, and although we tried to trace him it was no use. We heard from a prospector a few weeks later that he'd seen Dawson in a minin' camp up North, but that was the last we ever heard of him. He'd gone up and called him by name, but Dawson just looked at him kind o' funny and said he must be mistaken and that his name wasn't Dawson at all. So I guess that sort of proved he was crooked."
"And the mine?" asked Frank.
"It wasn't no good after that. We worked it a few months longer, but it had petered out and the syndicate wouldn't take a chance on it and we didn't have any money to work it any more. So we abandoned it and went away. We had to split up partnership. I prospected around Montana five or six years more but didn't make any more lucky strikes.
"The last I heard of Jack Coulson he was supposed to be dead, and as for Bill he sort of gave up prospectin' and left the mining camps for good. I've never seen either of them since. I went up on a couple of gold rushes in other parts, but I was always too late. I guess it was just my bad luck. I've never had any good luck since. So finally I come East and I've been livin' up here for the last few months, just makin' a living as best I could. And now look—" he gestured to the interior of the wrecked cabin. "Bad luck's still follerin' me."
The boys gazed at the old man in silence. His story of misfortune had made a profound impression upon them. Ill-luck had certainly pursued him relentlessly.
"The storm's dyin' down," said Jadbury Wilson at last. "You'll be goin' back to the city, I guess."
"But how about you?" asked Frank.
"I'll just have to stay here and make the best of it. I can build a new cabin, but I'm not goin' to build it on top of the cliff this time. I'll build it back in the wood where the worst that can happen is havin' a tree fall on it."
"But you won't be able to work for a few days yet," Joe pointed out.
"That's true," admitted the old man. "I can't even get up off this cot right now."