Some days passed. The new-comer did not appear to find anything to do. He had sauntered out to the claim worked by Grant and Tom, and looked on, but had made no discoveries. He did not know whether to think they were prospering or not. He determined to obtain some information, if possible, from his landlord.

One morning, after the two friends had gone to work, he lingered at the table, asking for an extra cup of coffee as a pretext for remaining longer.

“Do you think my friend Grant and his chum are doing well?” he remarked carelessly.

“They can’t be making much,” answered Paul. “I think they are fools to waste their time here.”

“They must be making something,” said 247Mrs. Crambo. “They pay their board bills regularly.”

“Do they pay in gold-dust?”

“No; in coin.”

“Humph! what do they do with the gold-dust they get from the mine?”

“I don’t know. I never inquired.”

This was meant as a hint that Benton was unnecessarily curious, but he never took such hints.

“Is there any place in the village where they can dispose of it?”

“No,” answered Paul; “not that I know of. They would have to send it by express to Sacramento or San Francisco.”

“Where did you know Mr. Colburn?” asked Mrs. Crambo.

“We were employed together in Sacramento.”

“He seems to be a fine boy—or young man, perhaps I ought to call him. So steady, so regular in his habits.”

Benton shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh, he’s well enough,” he answered, “but he’s mighty close with his money.”

248“I approve of young men being economical,” said Mrs. Crambo.

“But not tight. Why, I once asked Grant to lend me five dollars and, would you believe it, he wouldn’t do it.”

“Did he receive more pay than you?”

“I should say not. I received a good deal higher pay than he, as I ought to, being older and more experienced.”

“Then,” said Mrs. Crambo shrewdly, “I can’t understand why you should need to borrow money from him.”

“A man is sometimes hard up, no matter how large his income may be.”

“It ought not to be so,” said Mrs. Crambo dryly. “Our income isn’t large, but I never ask any one to lend me money.”

“Oh, well, I suppose you are a good manager.”

“Yes, I flatter myself that I am a fair manager. I think it my duty to be.”

“What a tiresome woman!” thought Benton. “I hate people who are always talking about duty.”

This was not surprising, for Benton concerned 249himself very little about duty in his own case.

When he left the table, he said to himself, “It seems pretty certain that Grant and Cooper haven’t parted with any of their gold-dust. The question is, where do they keep it?”

That day Benton strayed into a restaurant and boarding-house in the village, kept by a man named Hardy, and learned incidentally that he wanted to sell out.

“What do you want to sell out for?” asked Benton.

“I have got tired of the place. It is too quiet for me. I want to go to San Francisco. There’s more life there, and more money can always be made in a city like that.”

“How has the restaurant been paying?” questioned Benton.

“I can’t complain of it. It has paid me about forty dollars a week, net; perhaps a little more.”

“I have been in the restaurant business myself,” continued Albert.

“Then you are just the right man to buy me out.”

250“Will you sell out for the money I have in my pocket?”

“How much have you?”

“‘I have fifteen dollars in my inside pocket,’ as the song has it.”

Hardy shook his head.

“I want a thousand dollars for the place,” he said.

“I will buy it, and pay you on instalments,” said Benton.

“Well, I might agree to that for half the purchase money. Pay me five hundred dollars down, and the rest you can pay at, say, twenty dollars a week. I am sure that is a liberal offer.”

“I don’t think so. Besides, I haven’t got five hundred dollars.”

“Can’t you borrow it?”

“I don’t know.” And then it occurred to Benton that perhaps Tom ............