“Thanks for the compliment; but I warn you, this claim of mine is not very rich. I’m thinking of trying somewhere else.”
“Don’t you get any gold?”
“Oh, a few ounces a day.”
“That suits me for a beginning,” said Yank decidedly. “Come on, boys!”
The miner hopped back into his hole, only to stick his head out again for the purpose of telling us:
“Mind you keep fifteen feet away!”
With eager hands we slipped a pick and shovels from beneath the pack ropes, undid our iron bucket, and without further delay commenced feverishly to dig.
Johnny held the pail, while Yank and I vied with each other in being the first to get our shovelfuls into that receptacle. As a consequence we nearly swamped the pail first off, and had to pour some of the earth out again. 158 Then we all three ran down to the river and took turns stirring that mud pie beneath the gently flowing waters in the manner of the “pot panners” we had first watched. After a good deal of trouble we found ourselves possessed of a thick layer of rocks and coarse pebbles.
“We forgot to screen it,” I pointed out.
“We haven’t any screen,” said Johnny.