"You won't amount to much, either," accused Terry, with sudden thought, "after I tell people how you got that Injun head and how you shot your own barrel full of holes, and how you skedaddled out of that tent in Auraria and how Harry made you dance at Manhattan last summer!" Pine Knot Ike stared and glared and ruminated. "Mebbe you know somethin' an' mebbe you don't," he admitted. "But I air a man o' peace an' so air my pardners. To save hard feelin's, an' argufyin', how'll you sell what you call your rights in this hyar property, dust paid down on the spot?" "We'll sell for a hundred dollars," offered Terry. "Whar's your pardner--that lame feller?" "He'll be here; but he told me I could sell. Didn't he, George?" "Yes, he did. I heard him. He said to sell if we wanted to," confirmed George. "Whoop-ee!" summoned Ike, to the two men at the sluice. They dropped their tools and crossed over. One was the giant, before encountered. With an occasional side glance at George and Terry, they and Ike consulted together in low tones for a minute or so. Ike disappeared into the cabin, came out and, advancing a few steps, tossed a limp buckskin bag at Terry. "Thar's your hundred dollars in dust," he said, "'cordin' to agreement. You stick your name an' your pardner's on a bill o' sale, an' that other boy'll be witness, an' no hard feelin's." "How do we know this is $100?" challenged Terry, suspicious, and resolved upon being businesslike. One hundred dollars they had to have. But what luck! "Take it to some scales and weigh it, and have it certified to, fust, then," rapped the giant. "You won't find us gone when you come back. We're hyar to stay." That sounded like a fair proposition. "We can get it weighed at a store," prompted Terry to George. "Come on." "Quick work, boy!" praised George, as with Shep and with Jenny (who had been waiting to be unpacked) faithfully shambling after, they hastened for the nearest store. "One of us can skip out with it for Dutchman's Gulch and close our deal there, and the other can stay for Harry. Wish he'd turn up." "There he is now! See? Good!" "Where? He sure is! Riding horseback! And my dad and your dad and Virgie and Duke! He's got Duke!" "Yes, and Sol! That other man's Sol Judy!" cried Terry, rejoicing. "They've all come in! Bully for them! We can all go to Dutchman's Gulch--work our claim and find others--just pile up the dust! Hi-oh! Hurrah!" They shouted and waved, and cut down farther into the gulch to head off Harry's party, now filing up as if for the cabin. "Hello!" "Hello yourselves!" "Hello, Dad! Hello, Sol!" There was a great shaking of hands all around. "Where you going? How's Duke? Hello, Duke!" "Going to our mines, of course," answered Mr. Stanton. "Where are _you_ going?" demanded Harry. "What's Jenny packed for?"