“Two dollars a day for meals and lodging.”
“Isn’t that considerable?” asked Grant, rather dismayed.
“Yes, if one only earns fifty cents,” answered Tom, smiling.
“Do you like sleeping in such a crowd, Tom?”
“No; but there seems no other way, unless I bought a cabin, and I should feel too lonely.”
“But now there are two of us together. Why can’t we hire a cabin, and lodge and eat independently? We can take turns in doing the cooking, and it will be a good deal cheaper.”
“Do you know anything about cooking, Grant? I don’t.”
206“Yes; I took some lessons at the restaurant. I can teach you all I know myself.”
“Then we can establish ourselves to-morrow. There is a deserted cabin a little way up the gulch, which no one seems to care to occupy. It is in fair condition, and the last occupant kept house, so that there are dishes and cooking utensils. We can take possession, and then, if any one disputes our right, we can agree to pay rent.”
“That will be capital,” said Grant, in a tone of satisfaction.
For a month Grant and Tom Cooper worked assiduously, sometimes at one claim, sometimes at the other. The life of a miner is full of excitement. Even when he meets with poor luck, there is the prospect every day of making a rich find. But in the case of the two friends it was always hope deferred. At the end of the month they sat down to consider the situation.
“Well, Grant, we don’t seem to get much richer,” said Tom, taking a whiff from a clay pipe, which was his evening luxury after a hard day’s work.
207“We made fifty cents yesterday,” responded Grant soberly.
“Between us. That is twenty-five cents each.”
“On the whole, we have been losing ground during the last month. I am twenty dollars poorer than when I came here.”
“And I have fallen behind as much, or more than that.”
“Digging for gold isn’t what I thought it to be,” said Grant. “I was doing a good deal better in Sacramento.”
“That maybe; but we mustn’t forget that a man does strike luck once in a while.”
“It won’t do us any good to have some other man strike luck.”
“I see you are getting down-hearted, Grant.”
“Well, not exactly; but I think I’ve made a mistake. Neither of our claims amounts to much.”
“What do you propose, then?”
“I have nothing to propose,” said Grant modestly. “You are older and more experienced than I. I will follow your plan.”
“Then let us work three days longer. If, at 208the end of that time, nothing turns up, we will pull up stakes, and go elsewhere. We can’t afford to go on working and falling behind all the time.”
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CHAPTER XXIII. THE FIRST DAY AT THE MINES.
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CHAPTER XXV. ANOTHER LONELY CABIN.
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