The death, unexpected as it was, of Gideon Prawle, was a sad shock to Jack Howard.
The better he had come to know the rugged prospector the more he respected and liked the man.
Their intimacy had gradually grown to be most confidential and sympathetic.
Small wonder then that the brave boy dropped many sincere tears over the body of his friend after the breath of life had fled.
Jack sent a messenger after Charlie and Meyer, the messenger being directed to remain at the camp and watch over their interests at the creek.
Two days later all that was mortal of Gideon Prawle was laid to rest in the small cemetery on the green hillside back of the town of Trinity.
Then the boys, now directed by Jack as the responsible head of the mine’s affairs, took up the threads of the arrangements engineered by Gideon Prawle, and proceeded to carry them to a successful conclusion.
The loaded flat-boat was duly towed up to Trinity and the ore loaded on a car provided by the railroad company.
That night the car started for the Marysville smelting establishment in the center of a long freight train.
Jack preceded it on an afternoon local, while Charlie and Meyer, with a couple of stout Trinity men, returned to their camp on the flat-boat to make up a second load of ore for shipment on the same lines as the first.