wrote the notice for his centre stake � this pasture is reserved for the and � bill read it over with approval saying � too much gold as them s my sentiments i reckon i might as well so the name of charles was added to the notice and many an old sour s face relaxed that day at sight of the of a kindred spirit how s the inquired when they strolled back into camp to hell with was bill s reply me and s goin a for too much gold when we get rested up too much gold was the creek of which all sour dreamed whereof it was said the gold was so thick that in order to wash it gravel must first be into the boxes but the several days rest preliminary to the quest for too much gold brought a slight change in their plan inasmuch as it brought one a had been working for wages all summer at miller creek over on the sixty mile and the summer done had strayed up too much gold like many another helplessly adrift on the gold tides that swept across the land he was tall and his arms were long like man s and his hands were like soup plates twisted and and big from toil he was slow of utterance and movement and his eyes pale blue as his hair was pale yellow seemed filled with an immortal dreaming the stuff of which no man knew and himself least of all perhaps this appearance of immortal dreaming was due to a supreme and innocence at any rate this was the men of ordinary clay put upon him and there was nothing extraordinary about the composition of bill and the partners had spent a day of visiting and gossip and in the evening met in the temporary quarters of the � a large tent where rested their weary bones and bad sold at a dollar a drink since the only money in circulation was dust and since the house took the down weight on the scales a drink cost something more too much gold than a dollar bill and were not drinking principally for the reason that their one and common sack was not strong enough to stand many excursions to the scales say bill i ve got a on the string for a sack of flour announced bill looked interested and pleased was scarce and they were not supplied for the quest after too much gold flour s worth a dollar a pound he answered how like do you calculate to get your finger on it trade m a half interest in that claim of our n answered what claim bill was surprised then he remembered the he had off for the and said oh i wouldn t be so about it though he added give m the whole thing while you re about it in a right free handed way bill shook his head if i did he d get clean and fm on as how the ground is believed to be valuable an too much gold that we re go half just because we re monstrous short on after the we can make him a present of the whole if somebody ain t disregarded our notice bill objected though he was plainly pleased at the prospect of exchanging the claim for a sack of flour she ain t jumped assured him it s no and it stands the took it serious and they begun where you left off clean over the divide too i was with one of them which has just got in with in his legs it was then and for the first time that they heard the slow and groping utterance of ay like the looks he was saying to the ay ay a claim the partners winked at each other and a few minutes later a surprised and grateful was drinking bad with two hard hearted strangers but he was as hard headed as they were hard hearted the sack too much gold made frequent journeys to the scales followed each time by s eyes and still did not up in his pale blue eyes as in summer seas immortal dreams swam up and burned but the swimming and the burning were due to the tales of gold and prospect he heard rather than to the he slid so easily down his throat the partners were in despair though they appeared boisterous and jovial of speech and action don t mind me my friend bill his hand upon s shoulder have another drink we re just s birthday here this is my an what might your name be this learned his hand descended on s back and clumsy self consciousness in that he was for the time being the centre of the rejoicing while pleased and asked them to have a drink with him it was too much gold the first and last time he treated until the play changed and his soul was roused to unwonted but he paid for the liquor from a fairly healthy looking sack not less n eight hundred in it calculated the eyed and on the strength of it he took the first opportunity of a conversation with proprietor of the bad and the tent here s my sack said with the intimacy and of one old to another just weigh fifty dollars into it for a day or so more or less and we ll be yours truly bill an me thereafter the journeys of the sack to the scales were more frequent and the of s day he even to sing the old s classic the of the forbidden fruit but broke down and drowned his embarrassment in another round of drinks even honored him with a round or two on the house and he and bill were decently drunk by the time s eyelids began too much gold to and his 