Page:Jackson Gregory--joyous trouble maker.djvu/228

212 has gouged at it and torn it loose and tumbled it down here. Where it's just waiting, ready to pack out; where all a man's got to do is come take it."

Turk lifted his frowning brows.

"Eh?" he said. "Come an' take it? An' with the tough crowd that's swarmin' all over Boom Town right now. … Why, Bill Steele, man, with this much clean gold layin' loose …"

He broke off abruptly, Steele's steady eyes met his unwinkingly.

"You've got the idea, Turk," he said quietly. "Also you've got a rifle in camp. There's a chance of my needing two men I can tie to. Crawl out now and get Rice to one side and talk with him. I want to look around a bit. I'll come up presently."

And when Turk, scrambling back up out of Hell's Goblet, heard a faint sound in the bushes on the further edge and, looking, saw nothing but a fleeing chipmunk, he scowled and grunted to himself:

"There you go, Turk, you ol' fool! Imaginin' things already."

And he promptly forgot both suspicion and chipmunk as he glanced at the nugget he was taking to stick under the eyes of Bill Rice.