"That will be three thousand three hundred dollars apiece," said Claus, who did not like the way that Bob and Jake left him out entirely. "Remember, I am to have a third of it."
"Of course; and it will be more than that. The boys will have some time to do more digging, and maybe they'll have another bagful. I understood you to say that the boys were pretty plucky."
"You may safely say that," replied Claus. "The way they stood up against those lions, when they did not know what was onto them, is abundant proof of that. You will have to go easy when you tackle them, or some of you will get more than you want."
The three continued to talk in this way until they grew tired and fell asleep—that is, all except Claus, who rolled and twisted on his blanket for a good while before he passed into the land of Nod. But he was out before daybreak and busy with breakfast, while the others brought up the animals and packed them for their journey. There was only one man who came near them, and that was Banta, who wanted to make sure they were not going toward the haunted mine.
"Well, boys, are you going to leave us?" he inquired. "Where are you going?"
"Not giving you a short answer, we don't care much where we go," replied Bob. "There is nothing here for us, and we will go elsewhere. We are going to take the back track."
"Are you not deciding on this matter suddenly?"
"We determined on it yesterday. We decided to go up to the haunted mine if you came back with a favorable report of the condition of things, but you say the lead is played out, and of course that knocks us. Wherever we go, we can't find a much worse place than this."
"Well, boys, I wish you luck, and we'll all go away from here before a great while."
"Why are you so anxious to find out about where we are going?" asked Bob.