"Now how are we to divide?" said Bob, looking at Maybe Dixon. "We boys agreed long ago to share and share alike." "I am willing to go in the same way, so long as all keep on working," said Maybe Dixon. "We can divide up whatever we find into four parts instead of three." All of the boys were satisfied and said so, and then they shook hands with their new partner. It was agreed that for the present Bob and Mark should work together as one "team" and Si and Maybe Dixon as another. All agreed to go down the stream a little further and try another creek Mark had discovered. The following week found them harder at work than ever. Mark's back often ached from the labor, but he did not complain. His thoughts, and the thoughts of all, were centered on finding gold. The second week's work netted them fifty dollars and the third week brought in nearly a hundred. All of the gold was placed in a chamois bag, secreted in a chink of the cabin wall, behind a slab of wood. During the third week several other gold seekers drifted into that locality and three claims were staked out. But our friends staked no claim, content to wander around until they struck "something worth while," as Mark put it. The Indians had not shown themselves again, but from one miner who came up the creek they learned that a shack two miles away had been plundered by the red men and the owner half killed. A posse had gotten after the Indians and one had been badly wounded. The rest of the band had fled to parts unknown. CHAPTER XXIII NUGGETS OF VALUE "Well, where shall we try our luck next?" It was Mark who asked that question. He was resting in front of the cabin mending a hole in his shirt. The hard work of the past six weeks had told on his clothing and he often had to sit down and do some mending. The young gold hunters had been fairly successful but not nearly as much so as they wished. The chamois bag held about four hundred dollars' worth of dust, which meant a hundred dollars each for the partners. "Good enough wages," said Bob. "But I came out here to win my fortune." "And so did I," answered Mark, and then asked the question, "Well, where shall we try our luck next?" "This district seems about used up," said Si. "I move we go to some other place." "A man told me yesterday things looked good over to a place called Three Cross Gulch," said Maybe Dixon. "If you want to try it over there, say the word, and I'll be with ye." "How far is that from here?" questioned Mark. "He said about twenty miles." "Then we will have to give up the cabin." "That is so, too, but we didn't expect to stay here all the time, anyway." "Of course we didn't." "Let us go to Three Cross Gulch to-morrow!" cried Si, impetuously. He was getting the gold fever good and strong, now that he saw gold was really to be had. "Three Cross Gulch it is!" exclaimed Bob; and so it was settled.