"Was he convicted?" demanded Murray.
"Nope. He slid through; his pals squared the bulls, I guess."
"Good Lord!" Murray began to dress. "Well, he can't get any money out of you, that's some satisfaction."
"Well, I ain't worried none," said Bill. "Leavin' all that out, how did the paper strike you—honest, now?"
"Great stuff, Willyum," responded Murray, whereat the earnest William glowed delightedly. "You've hit your vocation, if you can make it pay in these parts. You get to work learnin' how to print, and we'll look into the business end of it. If it seems likely to pay, then we'll all put it through together."
"That's treatin' me white, Doc," answered Bill.
"Well," said Murray thoughtfully, "what we'll do, I don't know yet." He turned to Sandy and put the issue squarely up to him.
"I'll see Tom Lee after breakfast. If there's no valid reason for keeping the place, why not make a good profit while we can? Let him take the whole place—unless you think there is any reason to keep it."
The mining man stared reflectively out of the window.
"There is and there ain't," he said slowly. "I'll be frank with ye, Murray—that place out there attracts me! We could settle there and make a fair livin' from the valley itself, what with the water there and all. Aiblins, now the quartz will pay, too. It's not big, but I'm thinking it runs big later on. Lookin' at it from the development angle, instead o' from the prospector's viewpoint, it might be worth keeping."