"Boys," asked Masterson, "can't you take our camping equipment along? It's a shame to have it rot here."
"All right," said Jack. "I think we may be able to sell it for you. Come on, we'll get to work now!"
"You're not such a bad chap," said Eph when he heard Jack agree to Masterson's suggestion.
"He's the finest chap on earth!" exclaimed Tom.
"That he is," added Dick Donovan.
"He is a model young man," declared Professor Jenks, overhearing Tom's last remark.
Jack flushed with pleasure and embarrassment. It was very gratifying to know that his friends thought highly of him, but at the same time he wished they would not give him that uneasy feeling with their sincere compliments. So he hurried away, asking the others to follow him toward getting together Masterson's outfit.
While the dumpy little geologist went once more to search for strange specimens, the boys readily set to work and in a very short time the camping equipment was placed on board the Wondership.
When the boys arrived at Yuma, Masterson found no difficulty in selling the camping outfit to old man McGee, who decided to make one more try to find the Three Buttes.
"Don't you think you're too old, and that the gold, after all, may not be there?" Tom asked the eccentric miner.