Jack felt in his pockets, and with something like joy found that his flask was not there. “No,” said he, “I haven’t got it. But come, Jacob, you want rest. I’ll give you something better than spirits to drink when we reach the tent. Come.”
The man submitted. They went out and, locking the door, walked quickly and silently away.
Many and anxious were the thoughts that chased each other through the busy brain of our hero during that dreary midnight walk. Before it was ended, he had almost resolved upon a plan of action, which was further matured while he prepared a can of strong hot coffee for poor Jacob Buckley.
“This is how the matter stands,” he said to Captain Samson next morning, during a private conversation, while Buckley and the others were at breakfast in the tent. “I, who am not a teetotaller, and who last night became a gambler, have pledged myself to do what I can to save Jacob Buckley from drink and gaming. To attempt that here would be useless. Well, we are at our lowest ebb just now. To continue working here is equally useless. I will therefore leave you for a time, take Buckley and Wilkins with me, and go on a prospecting tour into the mountains. There it will be impossible to drink or gamble; time may cure Buckley, and perhaps we may find gold! Of course,” he added, with a sad smile, “if we do, we’ll return and let you know.”
The captain approved of this plan. Jacob Buckley and Watty Wilkins at once agreed to go, and immediately after Daniel’s burial, the prospecters set out. The entire party, including Polly, convoyed them as far as Redman’s Gap, where, wishing them good-speed, they parted company. Then the three adventurers passed through the Gap, and were soon lost in the wild recesses of the mountain range.
Chapter Eight.
Success.
For more than a month did the prospecting party wander among the Californian mountains in quest of gold, but found none—at least not in paying quantities.