“Yes, he will not be much trouble to us that way,” replied Dale, still plying the pan vigorously; when the mule suddenly reared its head, cocked its ears forward, and whinnied.
Chapter Seven.
Melchior grows Suspicious.
“Hallo! another donkey coming,” cried Saxe, and he looked up, and then at Melchior, who had thrust his pipe into his wallet and was peering up the sides of the valley.
“I don’t see one,” he said; “but there must be something to take the thing’s attention.”
The mule whinnied again.
“It is not another mule or donkey,” said Melchior, peering upward. “They would have answered his challenge. It must be a man.”
He began to climb up to get to a position where he could look up and down the gorge; while Dale, being more interested in the contents of his pan, went on till he had washed enough, and began now to search for specks or tiny scales of gold.