He had become rather weary of his job until he saw the professor examining the wall of the cliff, then he braced himself up expectantly, but relaxed again when he saw the old man looking closely at a rock in his hand, which he carried away with him.
"He's found a colored stone that he likes," Ramon said to himself with a sneer of contempt at the professor who was always treasuring the brightly colored mineral specimens.
And it was this report that he carried to Kie Wicks: "They just fooled around, had a picnic, and climbed the hill above the claims. I don't believe they even know you jumped them."
"You mean you jumped their claims," corrected Kie Wicks.
Ramon laughed and slapped his leg. "That's a good one, yes, I jumped their claims."
"And you'd better get busy with the assessment work, too," advised Kie.
"Who pays me for that?" demanded the cross-eyed Mexican.
"There you go again! Always wanting money! I find you some good claims and a chance, maybe, to sell out at a big price in the future, and you want pay for doing the assessment work. You're an ungrateful cur!"
"Then I won't do the work. No pay, no work!"
But even as he spoke, Ramon knew that he would do whatever Kie Wicks asked him to do. The habit of obedience to this man was too strong in him. He had been a tool for this unscrupulous rogue for more than ten years. Just why, he could not have told, for Kie Wicks was not a generous master and the Mexican got little enough for his work. Rarely ever did he get any cash out of the storekeeper, and the supplies that Kie doled out were given grudgingly. Yet the man always returned, after promising himself many times that he was through.