"You bet you! The best claim in the diggin's." "How big is a claim?" demanded Harry. "Well, a hundred feet by fifty and as much more as I can get. Now vamoose." They "vamoosed." "Two thousand people, claiming a hundred feet and as much more as they can get, doesn't leave much room for the rest of us," sighed Harry. "Hello, there!" hailed another voice, more cheery. It was the "Root Hog or Die" professor. He also was equipped for mining, but he appeared to be a wanderer like themselves. "Have you struck anything?" asked Terry, as soon as they had shaken hands. "Not a sign. Have you?" "No. Can't find a place to dig in, even." "This prospecting is more of a science than I had thought," confessed the professor. He looked tired out. "I've been at it since morning. I had an idea the gold would show on the surface." "So did we," admitted Terry. "But the ground all looks alike--just common dirt!" "Yes, even where they're actually washing gold out," said the professor. "I've seen some gold, though. I saw one miner with a pan that gave about a dollar and a half, and I saw a clean-up in a sluice that netted eight dollars." "What's a sluice? One of those wooden troughs?" "Yes; but lumber for them is hand-sawed and costs a dollar a yard, and people are asking as high as a thousand dollars for a claim. I believe it's cheapest to hire somebody to locate a good claim for a fellow. The Russells and Gregory and some others who have had experience are hiring themselves out at $100 a day, I understand. There goes Green Russell now." "A hundred dollars a day! Whew!" gasped Terry. Captain Green Russell halted in passing. "Got here, did you?" he greeted, in friendly fashion. "Made your fortune yet?" "We may be standing on it, for all we know," answered Harry. "For all you know, you may," drawled Mr. Russell. "That's the trouble. The people come in here, like they do at Cherry Creek, and think the gold shows at grass-roots. But Gregory didn't find his lode by any pure luck, and the rest of us old-timers are here to teach the folks how, if they want to learn." "Could you put me on a good claim?" inquired the professor, eagerly. "Yes, sir; I'll prospect for you at $100 a day. You'd save time and probably money." "All right. I'll go with you and we'll talk it over." And on strode the professor and his instructor. "Hum!" remarked Harry. "The secret of making money is to have something the other fellow will pay for: sometimes that's goods, and again it's knowledge." The gulch really was a fascinating place. Such a hive of industry--saw and hammer at work, as well as pick and spade; but amidst it all there seemed to be no place for the Extra Limited. A general disappointment was in the air, with so many persons working hard and as yet getting nothing. "We'll travel 'round to Pat," quoth Harry, after a time. "He may have struck something by this."