"At the mouth of the river," Ben Haines replied, "right there," and he made a small cross upon the paper.
"Did he stake?" Pelchie further queried.
"No. Takes no interest in the discovery. He's a strange one; lives alone with his daughter, and just hunts for his living. But he was mighty good to us, and handed out about the whole of his grub. His daughter is certainly a beauty. You should have seen her eyes fill with tears when we carried poor old 'Dad' into the cabin, sick as a dog, and moaning like a baby. He was clean cracked when we left him, but that girl was nursing him like a mother. You missed something, Sam, by not being along with us. Why in hell didn't you and Dave go on the stampede?"
"Had other business, Ben, hey, Dave?" and he winked to his partner.
"Sure thing," was the reply. "We've never seen the Quaska, but I'll gamble that we'll take out more gold from that place than any of you."
A laugh went up from the men in the room. They knew The Twins and what bluffing they always did. This last remark was most characteristic.
"You'll have to get a hustle on if you intend to stake," Barry Dane spoke up. "The Northern Packet will be here as soon as the river clears, and I wouldn't be surprised if a big crowd comes on her. We're going to get her to go right up to the lake. There's bound to be a lively bunch there this summer, so you'd better make a move at once if you're going to do anything. We're not going to keep you again as we did last winter, I can tell you that."
"Don't you worry," Dave surlily replied. "We'll make your eyes stick out before the summer's over, never fear. I don't care for any d—— crowd which comes on the Packet."
Dick Russell said nothing to any of the men about the thoughts which were troubling him. As the days passed he endeavoured to learn something of the plans of Pelchie and Purvis, but in vain. He saw them at times together, talking in a most confidential way, and knew that they were often in each other's cabins. He believed that Martin, and perhaps Nance, formed the chief topic of their conversation, and his heart grew heavy as he thought of what the future might reveal. He awaited anxiously for the river to clear, and the steamer to arrive, that he might hurry up stream, not for gold, but to see Nance and, if necessary, to protect her.