"I lived there and at the mines for five years."
"Were you lucky?"
"You mean, did I strike it rich? Well, I had middling luck. I didn't go there for nothing. How much do you think I had when I landed at Frisco?"
"A hundred dollars?"
"I had just three dollars and a half. I had one extra shirt, and that was about all."
"That wasn't a very large supply. Where did you go from?"
"I was raised in Vermont. Worked on a farm for dad till I was twenty-two. Then with fifty dollars, which I had in the savings bank, I started for California. Well, I got there at last, but my funds were almost gone. I got a chance to do some rough work till I had enough to go to the mines. There I made something of a pile, enough to pay off the mortgage on the old farm, and have ten thousand dollars left. I've just come from there."
"Do you ever expect to go back to the mines?"
"Yes. I should not be satisfied now to remain at the East. Where are you going?"