“A placer?”
“Yes, placer mine––gold washed down in the creek bed. But it’s a small thing compared with another discovery I’ve made. Up there––” Blake pointed up the steep ledges that he had climbed––“I found a bonanza.”
“Bonanza? What is that, pray?”
“A mint, a John D. bank account, a––Guess?”
“A gold mine! Oh, Tom, how romantic!”
“Yes; it’s free-milling quartz. We can mill it ourselves, and not have to pay tribute to the Smelting Trust. That’s romance––or at least sounds like it. You will pay for all the development work, in return for one-third share. I shall take a third, as the discoverer, and Chuckie gets the remaining third as grub-staker.” 229
“As what?”
“She is staking us with grub––food and supplies. If she had not sent for me to come and look over the situation, I should not have been here to stumble on this mine. So she gets a share.”
“I’m glad, glad, Tom! Isn’t it nice to be able to do fine things for others? I’m so glad for Chuckie’s sake, because, if Lafayette keeps on as he is doing now, he may win his father’s forgiveness.”
“What has that to do with Chuckie?”