"That's about the size of it!" The speaker laughed. "But we've pretty well found what we wanted, and we're pulling out with the Pacific express. There don't seem very much left in your glass. Anything the matter with filling it up with me?"
"I'm not proud," was the answer. "I'm open to drink with any man who'll set them up for me." When the prospector called the bar-tender, Black proceeded to prove his willingness to be "treated."
Nothing moved in the unpaved street of the sleepy settlement, when the slow-footed oxen and lurching wagon had lumbered away. The sun beat down upon it pitilessly, and the drowsy scent of cedars mingled with the odors of baking dust which eddied in little spirals and got into the loungers' throats. The bar-tender was liberal with his ice, however, and Black became confidential. When he had assured them of his undying friendship, one of the prospectors asked:
"What's a smart man like you muling rocks around in a river-bed for, anyway? Can't you strike nothing better down to the cities?"
"No," declared Black, thickly. "Couldn't strike a job nohow when I left them. British Columbia played out—and I had no money to take me to California."
"Well," said the prospector, winking at his comrade, "there is something we might put you on to. The first question is, what kin you do?"
According to Black's not over-coherent answer, there was little he could not do excellently. After he had enumerated his capabilities, the other man said:
"I guess that's sufficient. Come right back with us to 'Frisco and we'll have a few off days before we start you. This is no country for a live man, anyway."
Black nodded sagaciously and tried hard to think. He was afraid of Thurston, but more so of the other man connected with the Enterprise Company. In San Francisco he would be beyond the reach of either, and the city offered many delights to a person of his tastes with somebody else willing to pay expenses.
"I'll come," he promised thickly. "So long as you've got the dollars I'll go right round the earth with either of you."