"What do we take with us?"

"We shall each take a horse, and a Mexican pony to carry our food and
traps. If everything goes right and we find a bonanza, we can load them
up on the way back. Twenty dollars will buy a pony here. Then you will
want a critter each to ride. We are not going to get first-rate ones,
for if the Indians come on us it is fighting that we shall have to do,
not riding. Among those mountains no shod horse of the plains has a
chance with those Indian ponies, which can climb like goats and go at a
gallop along places where a horse from the plains wouldn't dare move.
Then you will want rifles and six-shooters. That is about all; I am
afraid our stock of money will hardly run to it, and I think we had
better work for a while in one of the diggings to make up what we shall
want."

"We have twenty pounds between us," Dick said, "and we can draw on our
fathers for twenty-five pounds each. The Consul here has, of course,
heard of my being wounded and left behind, and I expect he won't mind
cashing our draft."

"There will be more than we want," the miner said. "Still, it is as well
to be on the right side. If we don't find any gold up there, we shall
want a little when we get back to keep us going until something turns
up."

Three days later Dick was strong enough to go with his friend to the
Consul's; they found that Mr. Allen had spoken about Dick, and told him
that should he recover from his wounds, he could cash a draft for him
without any fear. Therefore in half an hour the lads returned to their
lodgings with three hundred and fifty dollars, having changed their