“She’ll test up plenty,” Gus declared. “Two hundred is about right, I reckon. You all right now, Roy? I’ll get back to my claim.”
“And whatever that nugget measures, you’re in it,” Roy called. “Lucky for me you were around. We didn’t have enough shovels. I’d have been there yet. Thanks, Gus—a lot.”
“Toss it away,” Gus replied, with a grin. “What’s the idea, thankin’ me? I had a little exercise, that’s all.”
Alone, Roy rode back to the tent, washed and changed his clothing. His head ached, but aside from that he felt no effects from his experience. Later he took the nugget and left it at the assay office.
When he returned to “One hundred and eleven” he found that the hole was even deeper now than it had been before. But to prevent a re-occurrence of the cave-in, timbers cut from trees were driven into the ground against the walls.
“That’s what should have been done before,” Silent remarked, as he saw Roy. “I was goin’ to suggest it, but thought I’d wait a while. I’ll know better the next time.”
“We all will,” Roy declared. “How you making out?”
“Struck nothin’ yet. Give us time. We will.”
The work went on all that day and the next, the shaft growing ever deeper. Nick was engaged in the construction of a makeshift windlass when he heard a voice:
“Hey!”