"Was it any more?" inquired Dan Tompkins.

"Well, boys, I s'pose I may as well tell you, and you may b'lieve it
or not, just as you like. That man is worth twenty thousand dollars
to-day."

There was a chorus of admiring ejaculations.

"Twenty thousand dollars! Did you ever hear the like?"

"Mind, boys, I don't say it's common to make so much money in so
short a time. There isn't one in ten does it, but some make even
more. What I do say is, that a feller that's industrious, and
willin' to work, an' rough it, and save what he makes, is sure to do
well, if he keeps well. That's all a man has a right to expect, or
to hope for."

"To be sure it is."

"What made you come home, Seth, if you were gettin' on so well?"
inquired one.

"That's a fair question," said Seth, "and I'm willin' to answer it.
It was because of the rheumatics. I had 'em powerful bad at the
mines, and I've come home to kinder recuperate, if that's the right
word. But I'm goin' back ag'in, you may bet high on that. No more
work in the shoe shop for me at the old rates. I don't mean that I'd
mind bein' a manufacturer on a big scale. That's a little more
stiddy and easy than bein' at the mines, but that takes more capital