CHAPTER XXVI.
SLUICE BOXES AND PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER.
A nugget worth three thousand dollars was, by far, the largest find yetmade in that district, and the three young miners could scarcely believeit true, as they surveyed the lump in Earl's hands.
"Do you suppose it's pure gold?" asked Randy, as he took it from hisbrother. "It's heavy enough."
"I think it's almost pure," said Earl. "We've struck it rich this time.Be sure and keep your mouth shut, both of you, or we'll have all of GoldBottom up here," he added. "We've got at least four thousand dollars'worth of stuff out of there, so far, and goodness only knows how muchmore there is."
"Here come a couple of miners now," whispered Fred, happening to glancedown the gulch. He dropped some of the smaller nuggets into his pockets,while Randy took care of the rest. Earl let the large lump fall into thedirt and covered it up with tundra muck.
"Well, pards, how air ye makin' it?" asked one of the miners, as hehalted on the edge of the gulch.
"Oh, we're doing fairly well," answered Earl, as coolly as he could,although still highly excited. "Where are you bound?"
"Thought we'd try it over to Hunker Creek. Some good reports from therethis week."
"So I've heard," said Randy. "I wonder if it would pay us to go over."
"It might--everybody has an equal chance, ye know," said the secondminer. "Say, do ye calkerlate to git anything outer thet split?" he wenton, with a look of disdain on his face.
"I thought I would see what was in it," said Earl. "If a fellow don'ttry, he'll never find anything."
"Ye won't git nuthin' out o' thar; the split don't lay right. Better goup to the top end o' your claim; ye'll stand more chance thar." Andafter a few words more the two miners moved off, and the boys breathedeasier.
"That shows what he knows about it," said Earl, when he dared to broachthe subject. "Wouldn't he open his eyes if he knew the truth?"
"And wouldn't he be in for squeezing a claim right on top of us?" addedRandy. "No; we had best keep this find to ourselves, at least untilwe've found just what is in the split and how far away from the gulch itruns."
"Throw all the nuggets into the hole over yonder," said Earl, "and coverthem up. We'll take them to the tent to-night, and bury them in somesafe place. I'm going ahead." And he began to pick away as though hislife depended upon it, while Randy and Fred went over the sand, gravel,and dirt with their shovels and hands, to pick out some small nuggets,which they found to the number of forty-three, some not larger than agrain of rice, and others the size of coffee beans.
"Here is another lump," said Earl, presently, and brought out a thinsheet of gold, mixed with stone. "I shouldn't wonder if there is a layerof quartz rock somewhere along here, although I don't see anything of ityet. I guess this lump will produce thirty or forty dollars' worth ofgold more. Pretty good for five minutes' work." And he went at it againwith renewed vigor, scattering the sand and gravel behind him, like amother hen looking for worms.
An hour later the split was cleaned out so far as it could beaccomplished with the tools at hand. There remained a small crack still,running downward three feet, as Earl ascertained by testing it with aberry-bush switch. What there might be at the bottom of the crack therewas no telling, although it must contain some gold, if only in dust.Three additional nuggets had been unearthed, one as large as a pintmeasure and finer in appearance than any of the rest. Making sure theywere not observed, the first nuggets were again brought forth, and eachtook a portion of them to carry home. The largest was tied up in Earl'scoat, which he slung carelessly over his shoulder as he trudged along.
"Worth five to six thousand dollars if they are worth a cent," saidEarl, as he surveyed the lot in the privacy of their tent. "And wehaven't begun to wash up yet nor tested that little crack. This is thebest luck yet."
Some of their findings had already been put down in a hole under thebedding in the tent. The hole was now opened and the new findings added,Earl first making a list of the nuggets, to give to his uncle. Theground was pounded down hard after this, so that if anybody wanted todig the treasure up, he would find it a day's labor. Nearly all theminers buried their large finds, it being the only protection to be had.
On Saturday Mr. Portney came back, bringing with him three Indiansloaded down with lumber and hardware. He was much surprised to see Fred,and was on the point of giving the lad a good talking to when Randycalled him aside and explained the situation. Earl, also, put in a goodword for Fred; and then, when the Indians were paid off and discharged,the subject was dropped, by both boys telling of the wonderful findwhich had been made. Of course Foster Portney was greatly interested,and he smiled when Randy particularly mentioned how Fred had brought outthe first nugget and caused Earl to investigate further.
"You certainly deserve credit for that, Dobson," he said. "You shallhave your full share of whatever the nugget proves to be worth. As forthat little split, the only thing we can do is to blow it open withdynamite, and, luckily, I brought a can of the stuff from Dawson forjust such an emergency."
Foster Portney had heard about Guardley, and had also heard that someCanadian mounted police, who had arrived at Dawson City, were on TomRoland's trail. Guardley had turned up at Forty Mile Post whipped halfto death, and it was doubtful whether he would get over his punishment.
On Sunday the question of whether Fred Dobson should remain as one ofthe party or not was fully discussed. The lad offered to work fornothing if only given his board and such clothing as he needed, andRandy and Earl said Fred could certainly cook as well as any of them andwas getting more used to using a pick and a shovel every day. Seeingthat his nephews wanted the runaway to be taken in, Mr. Portney at lastsaid he would "let it go at that."
"I'll feed you and clothe you," he added, "and if we come out all rightnext spring I'll pay your passage back to Basco and give you a littleextra in the bargain. But you've got to hustle the same as the rest ofus; that is, as far as your strength and health will permit." And Fredsaid he understood and was thankful for the chance, and would do hislevel best. And he did do his level best from that hour forth. Hisexperience had been a bitter one, but at the same time it had been thebest in the world for him,--exactly what he needed.
The days which followed were busy ones. With the lumber brought in,Foster Portney and the boys constructed three sluice boxes, which, aftercompletion, were set up at convenient points in the gulch, where thewater might easily be turned on and off in them. Each box was fifteenfeet long and a foot square, open at each end and at the top, the latterhaving a few braces across to keep the sides stiff. At the bottom of thebox small cleats about an inch high were placed at intervals of fifteeninches apart, the last cleat, at the lower end of the box, being atrifle higher than the rest.
A sluice box done, it was carried to the spot selected for it andplanted firmly, with its lower end in the stream and its upper endelevated from one to two feet. Then the upper end of the stream was runinto it by means of a water trough. The box was now ready for use. Byshovelling dirt in at the upper end and allowing the water to runthrough, the dirt was gradually washed down and out at the lower end,leaving the heavy gold to settle to the bottom and pile up along theupper sides of the cleats previously mentioned. At night the water wasturned aside and the day's accumulation of gold was scraped away fromthe cleats.
"We can do a good deal more with the boxes than we can with the pans,"said Foster Portney. "And what washing we want to do must be done beforecold weather sets in and the gulch freezes up."
It must not be supposed that the slit in the rocks had been forgotten.To the contrary, all hands had often spoken of it, and as soon as thesluice boxes were finished every one in the claim turned to the place.Two sticks of dynamite were placed in the slit and set off, and the rockblown into a thousand fragments.
The blast revealed an opening beneath the slit which was a yard wide andtwice as deep. This opening was filled with loose sand and dirt, and atthe bottom of all was a thi
ck layer of gold dust, slightly mixed withsilver. They scraped the dust up with great care, and found that itwould very nearly fill a quart measure. They hunted eagerly for nuggets,but no more could be found, and the quartz rock Earl had hoped forfailed to appear.
"Never mind; we can't expect too much luck," said Mr. Portney. "A heapof dust like this is find enough for one day. Let us scrape the holethoroughly and cart the dirt down to the nearest sluice box." This wasdone and they examined the vicinity carefully for another slit, but noneappeared. This pocket, like that on Prosper Gulch, was now exhausted,and with a sigh Randy and Earl turned away to the regular work ofwashing for dust. Each had one of the boxes allotted to him, whileFoster Portney took the third. Fred occupied his time between the threeand in cooking the meals; and thus the balance of the summer slipped byuntil the day came when Mr. Portney announced that they must beginbuilding a cabin and prepare for the long Alaskan winter which wouldspeedily close in around them.