He laid
his cheek against the log and peered down the length of it, and
jumped down beside the bunk.
"Kid's found a gold mine of his own, and I'll bet on it," he
cried excitedly. "Looky, Cash!"
Cash was already looking, his eyebrows arched high to match his
astonishment. "Yeah. It's gold, all right. Old man Nelson's
hoard, I wouldn't wonder. I've always thought it was funny he
never found any gold in this flat, long as he lived here. And
traces of washing here and there, too. Well!"
"Looky, Boy!" Bud had the top off a can, and took out a couple of
nuggets the size of a cooked Lima bean. "Here's the real stuff
for yuh.
"It's yours, too--unless--did old Nelson leave any folks,
Cash, do yuh know?"
"They say not. The county buried him, they say. And nobody ever
turned up to claim him or what little he left. No, I guess
there's nobody got any better right to it than the kid. We'll
inquire around and see. But seein' the gold is found on the
claim, and we've got the claim according to law, looks to me
like--"
"Well, here's your clean-up, old prospector. Don't swallow any,
is all. let's weigh it out, Cash, and see how much it is, just
for a josh."
Lovin Child had nuggets to play with there on the bed, and told
the world many unintelligible things about it.
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