"I think we're all ready to start south at sunrise," Graham said presently, and looked at Turner. "Can you guess why your partners haven't turned up?" "No," answered the man. "I'll allow that I've been expecting them the last day or two. Perhaps they couldn't strike your trail, and there's a chance that when they made the cache, starving, they found there wouldn't be grub enough to take them up and down." "It's possible," said Andrew, and looked at the others. "Though I think we've staked off the best of the vein, it seems a pity that you couldn't secure some of the rest." "It can't well be done," Carnally explained. "A man can locate only one claim on the same lode; but if the ore pans out as good as it looks, I'll be content with the terms you promised me." "I'm the one who's got left," Turner broke in. "I've packed your truck and done your hardest work, and don't get five cents for it. It wouldn't rob you if you let me stake a claim." "The difficulty is that you'd have to sell it to Mappin," Andrew reminded him. "That's so," Turner admitted. "If I tried to go back on that man, it would be the worse for me. The way I'm fixed is mighty rough." "You got your grub," said Graham; "you ran a big risk of being left to starve; and you might have got shot. It strikes me you had better quit Mappin's service and try how honesty pays." They left camp at sunrise and met with no misadventures on their journey south. It was nearly completed and they expected to reach the mine in a few more days when Carnally called Turner as he was loading the canoe one morning. "You can let up on that job. We won't want you any more," he said bluntly. Turner looked at him dismally. "Are you going to fire me here?" "You've hit it," said Carnally. "We'll give you grub for two meals, and if you hustle you ought to make the camp back at the awkward portage by noon to-morrow. You'll find a cache with provisions that should last you to the mine by the water's edge. As I'll give Watson orders you're not to have a canoe, we should be down at the settlement a week before you get there." "Well," Turner acquiesced, "I guess it's no use grumbling." He was leaving the camp when Andrew called to him. "Though I suppose you would have jumped our claim without hesitation, I don't want to be too hard, and we have found you a useful help. If you will call on me at the Landing, I think I can promise you three dollars for every day you have been with us. But it's conditional on your playing no tricks!" "Your partner doesn't leave me many chances," Turner grinned. They launched the canoe and were paddling down-stream when Carnally alluded to the matter. "I don't know that the fellow could make trouble for us; but he's safer up here until we get our records filed," he said. Then he swung his paddle and the canoe drove faster toward a rapid. CHAPTER XXVIII GERALDINE