"Who?" inquired Alice, frankly laughing.
"Poo-Bah—he's the high mucky-muck round here, sort of 'man Friday' to the Octopus who's got his tentacles round these here environs."
"How did you get the dust?" asked John again, as with critical eyes he estimated the value of the contents of the poke.
"Well, I was sitting in front of our cabin on the claims with my brain working and my eyes on the 'quivi-vivi,' as them Frenchers would say, and I was ebolluting hot, and then I thought of grease! So I gets some lubricating oil, and then Nature does the rest; of course I was the instrument whereby the oil was placed in the sluices."
John grasped Frank's meaning and method. It flashed upon him at the mention of the lubricating oil.
"What do you mean to do with this gold?" Berwick asked.
"You are going to keep it."
"Oh, no, I can't do that; why give it to me? Why to me more than to Hugh?"
"Oh, he can get more. He's coming with me to God's country."
"Where?" asked Alice, more than ever bewildered.