"Where are you going?" asked one.
"I don't know, and in fact I don't care much. I'll go to the first good place I hear of, I don't care if it is on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. I came out here expecting to get rich in a few days, and I am poorer now than I was ten years ago. These mountains around here have not any gold in them for me."
"And I say it is good riddance," whispered the miner to some who stood near him. "If you had acted as you did last year, you would have been sent out before this time."
Having paved the way for the departure of himself and companions, Bob joined them and led the way into his own cabin. They seated themselves close together, for they did not want to talk loud enough to be heard by anyone who was passing their camp.
"Well, they have it!" exclaimed Claus, who was so excited that he could not sit still.
"And it is gold, too," declared Jake. "Banta says so, and that is enough."
"In the morning, after we get breakfast," said Bob, "we'll hitch up and take the back trail toward Denver. We will go away from the haunted mine, and that will give color to what I told them a while ago."
"What if you should chance to miss your way?" asked Claus.
"You can't lose me in these mountains; I have prospected all over them, and I have seen where the haunted mine is located a hundred times. What a pity it was that I did not stay there. Sixty thousand dollars! Jake, if we had that sum of money we would be rich."
Jake did not say anything—that is, anything that would do to put on paper. He stretched himself out on his blanket and swore softly to himself, so that nobody but his companions could hear him.