Sitting down by candlelight, with the flaps of the tent carefully closed from curious eyes, they brought out their scales and calculated the worth of the find. As Maybe Dixon figured it, they had between seven hundred and fifty and eight hundred dollars' worth of gold. "Think of that for one day's work!" cried Si. "Why, it is more than a man can earn in a year on a farm!" "Hush, Si! not so loud," said Mark, warningly. "Somebody may hear you." "That's so, I forgot," answered the former farm lad. "I'll be more careful after this," he added, in a whisper. "We have certainly done very well," said Maybe Dixon. "Maybe to-morrow we'll do still better." "We're getting nuggets, that's certain," said Mark. "At this rate it won't take us long to get a fortune together." "Oh, we can't expect such luck to last," said Bob. "Why not, I'd like to know?" demanded Si. "Now we have struck our gait, let us keep it up." "I am willing to keep it up--if I can," laughed the former sailor boy. "Nothing would suit me better." With great care they put the nuggets away in a gold bag. Maybe Dixon had been carrying it around with him, but now it was decided to hide the bag. "I know a place," said Si, and mentioned a hollow tree just back of the tent. "Nobody would look for it there." He had just spoken when from outside of the tent there came a sudden strong sneeze. "Hullo! somebody is out there!" cried Maybe Dixon. "He must have heard what I said!" gasped Si. Mark sprang for the flap of the tent and threw it open. Outside all was dark, and a puff of wind blew out their candle. "I see a man!" cried Bob, pointing to a dim figure, hurrying toward some brush a hundred feet away. "Hi! stop!" he yelled. But the man kept on and soon disappeared in the gloom of the night. CHAPTER XXIV THE RESULTS OF A CAVE-IN "That proves one thing," said Mark, after the brief excitement was at an end. "Some folks in this camp are pretty nosy." "Maybe it will prove more'n that," returned Maybe Dixon. "You think there are thieves around?" asked Bob, quickly. "Would it be something to wonder at, lad--with so much gold in the hands of the miners? Some men would rather steal than work." "That's a fact," said Si. "And we'll have to be careful of what we have." "I'd like to know who that man was," observed Mark. "Did you get any kind of a look at him at all, Bob? You've got the best eyes in this crowd." "He looked to be rather tall. I didn't see his face." "Then you couldn't place him?" "No." They returned to the tent and the candle was again lit. By its feeble rays they put the gold in the bag and placed the bag in a tin box which had contained spices. "I don't think we'd better use the hollow tree," said Si. "That feller, whoever he was, must have heard me mention it."