"Has it been prospected, sir?" asked Hazelton.
"Yes: it's a valuable property, all right. I brought my party out here to show it to them. The friends who have returned to Dugout, and Mr. Ransome here, have the money ready to put up the needed capital as soon as they are satisfied."
"I'm satisfied now," spoke up Ransome, "and I'm sure that the others are, after what Mr. Dunlop showed us this morning."
"How soon do you begin operations?" Tom asked with interest.
"As soon as my men have talked it over and have concluded to put up the money, replied Mr. Dunlop.
"We're ready, now—-all of us," Ransome broke in.
"Then," said Mr. Dunlop, "the next step will be to get in touch with a satisfactory engineer. You see, Mr. Reade, it's either a tunneling or a boring claim. We must either sink a shaft or drive a tunnel—-whichever operation can be done at the least cost. Either way will be expensive, and we must find out for a certainty which will be the cheaper. There's a lot of refractory rock in the slope yonder. In the morning our party will get all the ore we can from the surface croppings, then start for Dugout, going from there to Carson City. At Carson we hope to find an honest engineer and a capable metallurgist."
"Then you haven't engaged any engineer?" Reade asked, almost eagerly.
"Not yet. There was no need, until we had satisfied the investors."
"Perhaps Hazelton and I can make some deal with you, Mr. Dunlop,"
Reade proposed.