"Ef I hadn't been a fool, and lost all my money, I'd go along with you."
"I should like the company of some one who had already been at the mines," said Ben.
Then it occurred to him that his new acquaintance might possibly have encountered Dewey in his wanderings. At any rate, it would do no harm to inquire.
"Did you ever meet a man named Dewey at the mines?" he asked.
"Friend of yours?"
"No; I never saw him, but I have promised to hunt him up. I have some important news for him."
"Dewey!" mused the miner. "Somehow that name sounds familiar like. Can you tell what he was like?"
"I never saw him, but I can get a description of him."
"I'm sure I've met a man by that name," said the miner thoughtfully, "but I can't rightly locate him. I have it," he added suddenly. "It was at Murphy's, over in Calaveras, that I came across him. A quiet, stiddy young man-looked as if he'd come from a city-not rough like the rest of us-might have been twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old-didn't drink any more'n you do, but kept to work and minded his own business."
"That must be the man I am after," said Ben eagerly. "Do you think he is at Murphy's now?"