He paused, and he drew in a great breath.
He was looking to the west, where the sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains.
"An' now, Johnny, if you're ready, an' if Joanne is ready, we'll go," he said.
CHAPTER XXVII
As they went up out of the basin into the broad meadows of the larger valley, MacDonald rode between Aldous and Joanne, and the pack-horses, led by Pinto, trailed behind.
Again old Donald said, as he searched the valley:
"We've beat 'em, Johnny. Quade an' Rann are coming up on the other side of the range, and I figger they're just about a day behind—mebby only hours, or an hour. You can't tell. There's more gold back there. We got about a hunderd pounds in them fifteen sacks, an' there was twice that much. It's hid somewhere. Calkins used to keep his'n under the floor. So did Watts. We'll find it later. An' the river, an' the dry gulches on both sides of the valley—they're full of it! It's all gold, Johnny—gold everywhere!"
He pointed ahead to where the valley rose in a green slope between two mountains half a mile away.