"'It can't be,' he whispers. 'It can't be.' He throwed hisself on
to a goods' box, and buried his face in his hands. It gripes me to
hear a man cry, so I went to the creek for a pail of water.

"I never heard what Struthers said, but it don't take no Nick Carter
to guess.

"That was the fall of the Fryin' Pan strike--do you mind it?
Shakespeare George put us on, so me and the kid got in ahead of the
stampede. We located one and two above discovery, and by Christmas
we had a streak uncovered that was all gold. She was coarse, and we
averaged six ounces a day in pick-ups. Man, that _was_ ground! I've
flashed my candle along the drift face, where it looked like gold had
been shot in with a scatter-gun.

"We was cleaned up and had our 'pokes' at the post when the first
boat from Dawson smoked 'round the bend.

"Now, in them days, a man's averdupoise was his abstract of title.
There was nothing said about records and patentees as long as you
worked your ground; but, likewise, when you didn't work it, somebody
else usually did. We had a thousand feet of as good dirt as ever
laid out in the rain; but there was men around drulin' to snipe it,
and I knowed it was risky to leave. However, I saw what was gnawin'
at the boy, and if ever a man needed a friend and criminal lawyer,
that was the time. According to the zodiac, certain persons, to the
complainant unknown, had a mess of trouble comin' up and I wanted to
have the bail money handy.

"We jumped camp together. I made oration to the general gnat-bitten