“Yes. With all this room goin’ to waste, why shouldn’t we get our room rent free?” “That’s a good idea, Mundon. We’ll have to do it, or hire a watchman, as soon as we begin to work the stuff. We might as well get used to it first as last.” “I’ll build the room for us. Over there against that east wall will be a good place for it.” “Perhaps there won’t be anything to need watching,” Ben said, with a grim smile; “but we’ll soon know now.” “There’s got to be somethin’. It ain’t in reason that there ain’t no gold left over in all this mess,” emphatically replied the other. “Well, we’ll hope so, till we know to the contrary. We’ll have to have some furniture, I suppose.” “Furniture?” “Why, a couple of beds, anyway.” “O, I’ll knock up a couple of bunks that’ll do for the time we’ll be here. I can make first-rate arm-chairs, too,--reg’lar sleepy hollers,--out of those barrels.” “That’ll be fine! I suppose we’d better use the boards out of that first shed?” “No; I’d put the mule in that one. Then he’d be farther away from our quarters. I’d knock down the second shed, the one where the roof is half gone. Found a name yet fur your mule?” “I’ve named him ‘Alchemist.’” “‘Alchymist’? Don’t that mean turnin’ no ’count things inter gold?” “Yes.” “Well, that’s ’propriate; ’cause he’ll work the ’rastra. Then, we kin call him ‘Alchy’ till we know the result; and if we don’t get anythin’ worth mentionin’ out of it we kin call him ‘Missed.’ That’ll be ’propriate, too.” “‘Alchy’ goes, then. And here’s to be his home. I think I’ll leave one window for his professorship. We’ll separate his apartments from ours.” He struck the dilapidated shed a blow as he spoke. “’Twill be more ’ristocratic,” observed Mundon. “S’pose I start the ’rastra while you’re doin’ that?” “Wish you would. Everything seems unimportant--where we sleep or where the mule sleeps--compared to the real business.” “A man’s got to be comfortable, or he can’t do good work. This here’s the best place for the ’rastra.” He took several long steps across a spot in the center of the floor. “I’ll level this off a little, so to have the floor of it even.” “You’re going to use those bricks?” Ben pointed to some bricks which marked the location of the furnaces. “I was calculatin’ to. But first we’ve got to remember that we’ve got to have a furnace, too.” “We have? What for?” “Why, we’ve got to melt our gold--after we git it.” “O! Well, why not leave that part of the old furnace that’s standing there?” “I was a-thinkin’ of doin’ that. We’ll build a rough chimney on the outside.” “Then we’ll have to have a crucible.” “Yes; that’s another thing I was goin’ to mention. Ever seen it done--gold melted in one?” “Yes; I’ve been watching them do it in Smith’s assay office.” “O, you have, have you?”