We con ease 'em through, I guess. It does seem as
though it would be foolish to hang on here any longer." Carefully
as he made his tests, Cash weighed the question of their going.
"This last report kills any chance of interesting capital to the
extent of developing the claim on a large enough scale to make it
profitable. It's too long a haul to take the ore out, and it's
too spotted to justify any great investment in machinery to
handle it on the ground. And," he added with an undernote of
fierceness, "it's a terrible place for man or beast to stay in,
unless the object to be attained is great enough to justify
enduring the hardships."
"You said a mouthful, Cash. Well, can you leave your seven
radishes and three hunches of lettuce and pull out--say at
daybreak?" Bud turned to him with some eagerness.
Cash grinned sourly. "When it's time to go, seven radishes
can't stop me. No, nor a whole row of 'em--if there was a
whole row."
"And you watered 'em copiously too," Bud murmured, with the
corners of his mouth twitching. "Well, I guess we might as well
tie up the livestock. I'm going to give 'em all a feed of
rolled oats, Cash. We can get along without, and they've got to
have something to put a little heart in 'em.
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