“He had found the gold?” Ruth’s eyes were large with excitement.
“Yes,” said Osborne. “Not far away, where the creek had changed its bed, there was a shallow hole, part of it filled with ashes, but as the scrub was three or four miles off it was easy to imagine how the man must have worked carrying the half-dry brush to keep a big fire going.”
“But why did he want a big fire?”
“To soften the ground. It never thaws deeper than a foot or two beneath the surface, and there were signs that the early winter had surprised him at work. It was obvious that he was a stubborn man, and meant to hold on until the last moment.”
“Do you think his companions murdered him for the treasure?”
“No; in those days the Indians cared nothing for gold, though they might have killed the man for a silver fox’s skin: furs were our currency. If there was a quarrel it probably began because he insisted on staying when winter was close at hand and the food almost done. For all that I couldn’t find the gold he must have got, because there was plenty in the wash-dirt he had left—tiny rounded nuggets as well as grains. It was a rich alluvial pocket that a man could work with simple appliances, and I made up my mind to go back to Snowy Creek some day.”
“But you were not alone! What about your companions?”
“I had two half-breeds with Russian blood in them; good trappers, but, except for that, with little more intelligence than the animals they hunted. Gold had no value to them; their highest ambition was to own a magazine rifle.”
“But couldn’t you have washed out some of the gold?”
“I got a small quantity; but I was the company’s servant, and had its business to mind, and we had only provisions enough for the trip. The A.C.C. found the fur-trade more profitable than mining, and did not want its preserves invaded; and nobody suspected how rich the country really was. Anyway, soon after my return, I had a dispute with the chief factor and, fearing trouble, said nothing about my discovery. The office supported the fellow, and I left the A.C.C. with my secret and three or four hundred dollars.”