"Let us burn the brush first of all," said the doctor, when at last the middle of the gulch was reached. "That will clear the surface and scatter those pests overhead. Oh, my!" He broke off short as he went down into a concealed water hole which was several feet deep. "Here's another of the pleasures of hunting gold in Alaska!" and this was said so comically that everybody roared. Axes and knives had been brought along, and soon a large pile of the brush had been cut and piled in a heap and set on fire. As it was green, it burnt slowly and raised a large smoke, which made the mosquitoes scatter immediately. From that day until the end of the summer they kept a smudge fire for protection. The brush cleared from the sides of the gulch, which was very narrow, they went at the tundra, throwing the moss wherever it would be out of the way. This took a long time, and it was not until almost nightfall that they got down to the sand and gravel of the choked-up watercourse. "Now we'll see if there is anything in this gulch or not," said the captain, as he scooped up the first panful off the bedrock. "If there isn't, then we've had most all-fired hard work fer nuthin', eh?" And he started in to wash up the sand, gravel, and dirt, while the others looked on in breathless interest. CHAPTER XXIII. GOOD LUCK AND BAD. As the captain wanted to save every grain of gold in the pan, he washed very carefully, and it was fully five minutes before the last of the sand and dirt was disposed of and they could come to a calculation as to the value of the yellow metal left. For gold there was, true enough, shining brightly before their eyes--and there was more than this, too, for some of it was of a blackish color. The others could not believe in the value of this until Foster Portney assured them that he had frequently heard of black gold being turned up in the Yukon district. "Half an ounce at least," was the verdict arrived at by both the captain and Mr. Portney; "and that's eight dollars." "Then we had better stay, hadn't we?" said Earl. "Why, of course, Earl; you didn't expect to do much better than that, unless you struck nuggets." "One fellow over to Gold Bottom said he was taking out a hundred dollars to the panful," put in Randy. "Fairy stories, my lad," answered the captain. "A claim as will turn out eight dollars to the pan is mighty good--as good as I'm a-lookin' fer just now." "And we haven't gone very far into this gulch," put in the doctor. "It may be better further up." "And it may be worse," said Foster Portney, "although I'm inclined to think it will be better. We had best stake out our claims without delay."