"For work of this character," replied Tom, after a few moments
of thought, during which Harry Hazelton was silent, "we shall
want six hundred dollars a month, each, with two hundred dollars
apiece added for the fighting risk."

"The fighting risk?" questioned Mr. Dunlop.

"Well, we shall have Dolph Gage and his crowd to guard against, won't
we?" Reads counter-questioned.

"But such pay is absurd!" he protested.

"From your view-point, very likely, sir. From our view-point
it will be very ordinary compensation, and nothing but our desire
to learn more about mining will tempt us to go into it at the figure
we have named."

"Your price puts your services out of the question for my company,"
replied Mr. Dunlop, with a shake of his head.

"Very good, sir," Tom rejoined pleasantly. "No harm done, and
we need not talk it over any more. We wish you good luck in finding
proper engineers for your work. You will probably motor back to
Dugout tomorrow morning, won't you?"

"We'll have to," Mr. Dunlop answered. "We're not safe here until
we hire a few good men to come out here to keep Gage and his fellows
at a distance."

"That's true, sir," Tom nodded. "As you'll need a good many men