"They are going to stay here this winter, and go out with you next spring," Mr. Fay went on.
"All right," said the miner, again; "I will put them where they can dig gold so fast that you won't see anything but gold coming out of the pit."
"But they have a gold-mine up there already."
"They have? Where is it located?"
Mr. Fay could not answer this question, so he stood aside and waited for Julian to tell him the whereabouts of the mine. The boy began by asking him,
"Do you know the mine that Winkleman used to work when he was here?"
Mr. Banta started, and looked at Julian to see if he was in dead earnest. The boy gazed fixedly at him, and the miner finally settled back in his chair and pulled himself down until his neck rested on the back of it.
"Of course I know that mine," said he. "You don't think of working there, do you?"
"We thought some of trying it," replied Julian.
"Pete, what do you think of that?" asked Mr. Banta, pushing his hand against the shoulder of the man who sat nearest him, with his eyes closed, as if he were fast asleep. "Here are two boys going up to Dutch Flat next spring to work the Winkleman mine."