第57章

“Notatrace。Guesswemightaswellbemovingtowardscamp。“Theyreturnedtogether，Cribbenstellingthedentistofagroupofantelopehehadseen。

“Wemightlayoffto-morrow，an’seeifwecanplugacoupleofthemfellers。Antelopesteakwouldgoprettywellafterbeansan’baconan’coffeeweekinan’weekout。“

McTeaguewasanswering，whenCribbensinterruptedhimwithanexclamationofprofounddisgust。“Ithoughtwewerethefirsttoprospectalonginhere，an’nowlookatthat。

Don’titmakeyousick？“

Hepointedoutevidencesofanabandonedprospector’scampjustbeforethem——charredashes，emptytincans，oneortwogold-miner’spans，andabrokenpick。“Don’tthatmakeyousick？“mutteredCribbens，suckinghismustachefuriously。

“Tothinkofusmushheadsgoingovergroundthat’sbeencoveredalready！Say，pardner，we’lldigoutofhereto-

morrow。I’vebeenthinking，anyhow，we’dbettermovetothesouth；thatwaterofoursisprettylow。“

“Yes，yes，Iguessso，“assentedthedentist。“Thereain’tanygoldhere。“

“Yes，thereis，“protestedCribbensdoggedly；“there’sgoldallthroughthesehills，ifwecouldonlystrikeit。Itellyouwhat，pardner，IgotaplaceinmindwhereI’llbetnooneain’tprospected——leastnotverymany。Theredon’tverymanycaretotryan’gettoit。It’soverontheothersideofDeathValley。It’scalledGoldMountain，an’there’sonlyoneminebeenlocatedthere，an’it’spayinglikeanitratebed。Thereain’tmanypeopleinthatcountry，becauseit’sallhelltogetinto。Firstplace，yougottocrossDeathValleyandstriketheArmagosaRangefurofftothesouth。

Well，nooneain’tstuckoncrossingtheValley，notiftheycanhelpit。ButwecouldworkdownthePanamintsomehundredorsomiles，maybetwohundred，an’fetcharoundbytheArmagosaRiver，waytothesouth’erd。Wecouldprospectontheway。ButIguesstheArmagosa’dbedriedupatthisseason。Anyhow，“heconcluded，“we’llmovecamptothesouthto-morrow。Wegottogetnewfeedan’waterforthehorses。We’llseeifwecanknockoveracoupleofantelopeto-morrow，andthenwe’llscoot。“

“Iain’tgotagun，“saidthedentist；“notevenarevolver。

I——“

“Waitasecond，“saidCribbens，pausinginhisscrambledownthesideofoneofthesmallergulches。“Here’ssomeslatehere；Iain’tseennoslatearoundhereyet。Let’sseewhereitgoesto。“

McTeaguefollowedhimalongthesideofthegulch。Cribbenswentonahead，mutteringtohimselffromtimetotime：

“Runsrightalonghere，evenenough，andhere’swatertoo。

Didn’tknowthisstreamwashere；prettyneardry，tho