Tom now carefully emptied the crucibles. In the bottom of each
was found a tiny bead of half-lustrous metal, which miners and
assayers term the "button."

"The real stuff!" glowed Hazelton.

"Ye-es," said Tom slowly. "But the next question is whether the
buttons will weigh enough to hint at good-paying ore. Even at
that, these buttons are only from surface ore."

"But the ore underneath is always better than the surface ore,"
contended Hazelton.

"Usually is," Tom corrected. "If we get good enough results from
this assay it will at least be worth while to stake a claim and
work it for a while."

Harry waited with feverish impatience. Tom Reade, on the other
hand, was almost provokingly slow and cool as he carefully adjusted
the sensitive assaying balance and finally weighed the buttons.
Then he did some slow, painstaking calculating. At last he looked up.

"Well, sir?" asked Jim Ferrers.

"From this surface ore," replied Tom calmly, "twenty-eight dollars
in gold to the ton; silver, six dollars."

"That's good enough for me!" cried Ferrers, his eyes brightening.