“It was hard to keep cool, but weariness and pain steadied me. I believe I showed no excitement, but I envied the others’ calm. I can picture them now: Clay, shuffling along in his old skin-coat and torn gum-boots; the two packers, grumbling at the slush and bent a little by their loads. All round us a desolate wilderness ran back to the skyline; gray soil and rocks streaked with melting snow, out of which patches of withered scrub stuck forlornly. Well, we struck the creek, by compass, near where I intended, for soon afterward I picked up one landmark and Clay another.”
“Clay? But he hadn’t been there before!”
“You’re keen,” Osborne observed. “We had often talked over my plans, and he must have known nearly as much about the place as I did. Then one couldn’t mistake a prominent strip of rising ground, though it was some distance off when Clay saw it.”
“But the mine?”
“We made the spot in the evening, and I got there first, though it hurt me badly to put down my foot, and I’ve sometimes thought Clay held back to let me pass. Then I had to get a stern grip on my self-control, and for a few moments I stood there with my hands clenched, unable to speak. Where I had left a small hole there was a large one, and a great pile of tailings was thrown up in the bed of the creek. It was obvious that we had come too late.”
“How dreadful!” Ruth exclaimed. “After all you had gone through, it must have been almost too hard to bear. What did you do?”
“I can’t remember. Clay was the first to speak and I can recall his level voice as he said, ‘It looks as if somebody has been here before us, partner!’”
“But how inadequate and commonplace! Didn’t he do anything?”
“He sat down on his pack and lighted a cigar; but he was always cool in time of strain. All I remember of my own doings was that some time afterward I fired a stick of dynamite at the bottom of the hole and dug out the bits and half-thawn dirt until it was dark. I knew it was wasted labor, because whoever had found the pocket wouldn’t have stopped until he had cleaned it up. Then I threw down my tools and lay among the stones, limp and shivering, while Clay began to talk.”
“But who had found the mine?” Ruth interrupted.