"And you will wish, before you see your friends again, that you had never seen them this time. If you get any dust, you hide it where your partners can't find it."
There was one man, who did not take any part in the conversation, that kept a close watch on Claus and listened to every word he said. It was Mr. Banta, who wondered what in the world could have happened to bring so gentlemanly appearing a man up there in company with Bob and Jake.
"He must have money somewhere about his good clothes, and that is what Bob is after," said he to himself. "But if that is the case, why did they not jump him on the way here? I think he will bear watching."
Three nights passed in this way, Claus always meeting the miners at the general camp-fire, while his partners stayed at home and waited for him to come back and tell them the news, and on the fourth evening Banta seemed lost in thought. He sat and gazed silently into the fire, unmindful of the tales that were told and the songs that were sung all around him. At last one of the miners addressed him.
"Well, Banta, I suppose this is your last evening with us," he remarked.
"Yes; I go off to-morrow."
"Don't you wish you had not promised to go up there?"
"No, I don't; I shall find out if the boys are all right, anyway. That is what I care the most about. I shall take some provisions with me, and if the boys are above ground I will leave them; otherwise, I shall bring them back."
"Oh, the boys must have the better of the ghosts by this time," said another; "they would have been here before this time if they had not. You will find them with more gold stowed away than they know what to do with."
"And didn't they see the ghosts at all?"