"If as good coal as that shows at the surface it must be a big vein."
"It is, but how can we take advantage of the discovery? Sam thinks the land could be bought for a thousand dollars."
"Then you must buy it."
"How could we raise so much money?"
"People don't allers pay cash for what they buy. You might get it for two or three hundred dollars down, with a mortgage for the balance."
"Even then I don't see how it can be done."
"Nor I jest now, but we'll figure the thing out to-night at your house. Joe an' me will be there after supper. Don't tell anyone except your mother, 'nd when you boys are rich I speak for the job of breaker boss."
Then Bill and Joe, hardly less excited than their younger companions, resumed the interrupted labor, and the amateur prospectors went to tell the wonderful news to Mrs. Byram.
Fred's mother was not as elated as the boys thought the occasion demanded, but when the miners arrived, and appeared to be so sanguine that the discovery would be of great pecuniary benefit to those who made it she became greatly interested.
The main question was how to raise the necessary money with which to purchase the land, and this had not been answered when the party broke up at a late hour.