But the preparations were made; even the fact that Mrs. Huzzard was seized with an unreasonable attack of rheumatism on the eve of departure did not deter them at all.
“Unless you need me to stay here and look after you, we’ll go just the same,” decided ’Tana. “A squaw won’t be much of a substitute for you; but she’ll be better than no one, and we’ll go.”
So the squaw was secured, through the agency of her husband, whom Overton knew, and who was to take their camp outfit up the river for them. This was one reason why Mrs. Huzzard, as she watched them depart, was a little thankful for the visitation of rheumatism.
Their camp was only a day old when ’Tana announced her willingness to dance if only good fortune would come to her.
It seemed a thing probable, for as Overton poured water slowly from a tin pan into the shallow little stream, there were left in the bottom of the pan, as the last sifting bit of soil was washed out, some tiny bits of yellow the size of a pin-head, and one as large as a grain of wheat.
’Tana gave a little ecstatic cry as she bent over it and touched the particles with her finger.
“Oh, Dan—it is the gold!—the real gold! and we are millionaires!—millionaires, and you would not believe it!”
He raised his finger warningly, and shook his head.
“Wait until we are millionaires before you commence to shout,” he advised. “It is a good show here—yes; but, after all, it may be only a chance washing from hills far enough away. Show them to Harris, though; 155 he may be interested, though he appears to me very indifferent about the matter.”
“He don’t seem to care,” she agreed. “He just looks at us as though we were a couple of children he had found a new plaything for. But don’t you think he looks brighter?”