"That's it. Pitch in, boys." "I declare," said the judge; "they haven't eaten a mouthful and they've begun building." "They're old hands, and the sight of that show of pay-rock has kind o' stirred 'em up. It's all correct, though, jedge. We can look for storms every now and then, and the shelter won't be up any too soon if one of them busters should happen to be on its way." CHAPTER XXII A NEW SETTLEMENT There is nothing else like enthusiasm. That band of bearded miners went into their work like a crowd of boys building a snow fort. Ha-ha-pah-no and Na-tee-kah took full possession of the camp-fires and cooked for dear life. Judge Parks and Yellow Pine finished their inspection of the hole in the rock and of the ore which had been dug out of it, and then they went to help Sile and Two Arrows care for the horses and mules. "We won't unpack much till the house is up," said the judge. "You're satisfied with the outcrop, are ye?" asked Pine, a little proudly. "It's all you said it was, and that is all I could ask for. We can run a tunnel right in now, so we can work straight along, under cover, in bad weather." "That's the thing to do. I believe it will pay for itself from the very start." "If it does," said the judge, "it will be an uncommonly good mine for a gold-mine. Not one in ten but what empties the pocket of its first owner." "This one won't, then. It's as good a property as there is, and we can cover all the ledge with claims and get a good title to 'em. It's fresh ground, and no kind of interference--" "Unless the Apaches interfere." "They don't often come east so far as this, 'specially now that most of 'em have been cornered. Mining in these parts isn't the risky kind of business it used to be. Must say, though, that I felt kind o' streaked sometimes, last year, when I was a prospectin'." "There was risk in it, all alone; but nine rifles and a good breastwork will make a tremendous difference." "They will that, and there's no sech thing as takin' us in the rear. They can't climb over that ridge, nor that one." It was later than usual when anybody lay down that evening. Two Arrows and his sister had heard of mines before, but they had never seen one, and the whole matter was a great curiosity.