The Yaqui led the way to the face of the cut and showed the spot, a hole beneath the pile of riven rock; and a Mexican, not to be outdone, grabbed up a handful of powdered porphyry and indicated where the dynamite had pulverized it. "_Bien_," said Phil, pawing solemnly around in the bottom of the hole; and then, filling his handkerchief with fine dirt, he carried it down to the creek. There, in a miner's pan, he washed it out carefully, slopping the waste over the edge and swirling the water around until at last only a little dirt was left in the bottom of the pan. Then, while all the Mexicans looked on, he tailed this toward the edge, scanning the last remnant for gold--and quit without a color. "_Nada!_" he cried, throwing down the pan, and in some way the Mexicans sensed the fact that the mine had turned out a failure. Three times he went back to the cut and scooped up the barren dust, and then he told the men they could quit. "No more work!" he said, affecting a dejected bitterness. "_No hay nada_--there is nothing!" And with this sad, but by no means unusual, ending to their labors, the Mexicans went away to their camp, speculating among themselves as to whether they could get their pay. But when the last of them had gone Phil beckoned Bud into the tent and showed him a piece of quartz. "Just take a look at that!" he said, and a single glance told Hooker that it was full of fine particles of gold. "I picked that up when they weren't looking," whispered De Lancey, his eyes dancing with triumph. "It's the same rock--the same as Kruger's!" "Well, put 'er there, then, pardner!" cried Bud, grabbing at 'De Lancey's hand. "We've struck it!" And with a broad grin on their deceitful faces they danced silently around the tent, after which they paid off the Mexicans and bade them "_Adios!_" XIV It is a great sensation--striking it rich--one of the greatest in the world. Some men punch a burro over the desert all their lives in the hope of achieving it once; Bud and Phil had taken a chance, and the prize lay within their grasp. Only a little while now--a month, maybe, if the officials were slow--and the title would be theirs. The Mexican miners, blinded by their ignorance, went their way, well contented to get their money. Nobody knew. There was nothing to do but to wait. But to wait, as some people know, is the hardest work in the world. For the first few days they lingered about the mine, gloating over it in secret, laughing back and forth, singing gay songs--then, as the ecstasy passed and the weariness of waiting set in, they went two ways. Some fascination, unexplained to Bud, drew De Lancey to the town. He left in the morning and came back at night, but Hooker stayed at the mine. Day and night, week-days and Sundays, he watched it jealously, lest some one should slip in and surprise their secret--and for company he had his pet horse, Copper Bottom, and the Yaqui Indian, Amigo.