'Everybody is laughing at you, an--'
"Then I done a leap for life for the kid, 'cause the murder light
blazed up white in his face, and he moved at the man like he had
something serious in view.
"'Run, you idiot!' I yells to Struthers as I jammed the youngster
back into the cabin. All of a sudden the gas went out of him and he
broke, hanging to me like a baby.
"'It can't be,' he whispers. 'It can't be.' He throwed hisself on
to a goods' box, and buried his face in his hands. It gripes me to
hear a man cry, so I went to the creek for a pail of water.
"I never heard what Struthers said, but it don't take no Nick Carter
to guess.
"That was the fall of the Fryin' Pan strike--do you mind it?
Shakespeare George put us on, so me and the kid got in ahead of the
stampede. We located one and two above discovery, and by Christmas
we had a streak uncovered that was all gold. She was coarse, and we
averaged six ounces a day in pick-ups. Man, that _was_ ground! I've
flashed my candle along the drift face, where it looked like gold had
been shot in with a scatter-gun.
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