could, with food for themselves and grain for the stock to last
them until they reached Needles. From there with fresh supplies
they pushed on up to Goldfield, found that camp in the throes of
labor disputes, and went on to Tonopah.

There they found work for themselves and the burros, packing
winter supplies to a mine lying back in the hills. They made
money at it, and during the winter they made more. With the
opening of spring they outfitted again and took the trail, their
goal the high mountains south of Honey Lake. They did not hurry.
Wherever the land they traveled through seemed to promise gold,
they would stop and prospect. Many a pan of likely looking dirt
they washed beside some stream where the burros stopped to drink
and feed a little on the grassy banks,

So, late in June, they reached Reno; outfitted and went on
again, traveling to the north, to the green country for which
they yearned, though now they were fairly in it and would have
stopped if any tempting ledge or bar had come in their way. They
prospected every gulch that showed any mineral signs at all. It
was a carefree kind of life, with just enough of variety to hold
Bud's interest to the adventuring. The nomad in him responded
easily to this leisurely pilgrimage. There was no stampede
anywhere to stir their blood with the thought of quick wealth.
There was hope enough, on the other hand, to keep them going.
Cash had prospected and trapped for more than fifteen years now,
and he preached the doctrine of freedom and the great outdoors.

Of what use was a house and lot--and taxes and trouble with
the plumbing? he would chuckle. A tent and blankets and a frying