Evening star., 1934-03-18

aim in life was to get down to bedrock be-
side the bend in the stream and see II rich
gold had not been deposited in some crevice
there.
Pan after pan of the gravel was worked
that morning The job gradually became more
difficult, for there was more clay as they dug
deeper Sometimes a pan produced very little.
sometimes number of tiny nuggets rewarded
their efforts. And then shortly before the sun
reached the zenith, they hit bedrock.
Both boys uttered a shout of Joy at their
success. They filled their pans with dirt from
the very surface of the hard rock strata and
began to pan it. feverishly but carefully.
Tom had not yet half emptied his pan when
he suddenly uttered an amazed shout Fred
looked up and saw Tom fumbling in the mud
and water of his pan Finally, with trem-
bling fingers, he held up yellow nugget the
size Of small pea.
Look at that!" he cried. Isn't that
beauty?"
That's the biggest yeti" gasped Fred. Then
they both set to work again, pannng fur1-
ously.
TEN minutes later they were running and
! stumbling back to the shack with sack OF
gold far fuller than the one that had resulted
from a whole days work yesterday. They
greeted Grandpa Jenkins with shouts Of gee,
and dumped the cleaning yellow particles into
his horny fist. He chuckled as he fingered
Lll6In over. 1OOkS ike yOu yUuISStSIS NcIcnb b
such dumb tenderfeet after ALL" he admitted.
Eyes, sir, you've hit something sure enough.
You never can tell about these placer de-
posts, but I'll bet you'll pull tidy sum out
of that one before you finish with it."
Fred and Tom were pounding each other IN
their glee. Grandpa watched them for mo-
ment, then cut short the celebration.
Enough of that dang foolishness" he
growled. Don't let little bit of yellow metal
put you plumb loco. Come on and eat your
lunch now, and then get back to work. You
can use all them animal spirits for turning
over pay dirt"
While they ate Grandpa's beans and bacon
they deluged him with questions about his
experiences a prospector. But the old man
refused to be drawn out.
'If get to spinning some of the yarns I
can tell you," he grunted you'll never get
back to work. Time for that sort of palaver
when the vein runs out"
A ND So a half hour later they were on
their way back up the gulch. They had
almost reached the bend in the stream when
Fred suddenly stopped, grabbed Toms arm,
and uttered a choking cry.
"Tom! Lookl Somebody else is working our
strike"
They paused for a moment in amazement
and horror, then rushed forward, shouting at
the top of their lungs. At the sound the man
who was bending over a pan at the streams
edge Strengthened up and faced them It was
Buzz Crowder.
Hello there. boys" he said in mock sur
prise. care you working this gulch, too? My
brother and have been panning our way
downstream for several days, and think we've
hit it rich"
you're crazy, Buzz" Fred shouted angrily.
Eve found this place. We've been working II
for two days"
why, you must be mistaken Fred" Buzz
drawled. "I'm sure this is our strike. Fact Is,
my brother left early this morning for the
county seat to file a claim to 1t. He ought
to be back in an hour with all the pa
pers."
TO be concluded next SundaYl