At the time we introduce the tramp and Desmond Dare to our readers in this narrative, they had been knocking around the mountains in search of their mine and had met with failures on every side, and at length one night they camped in the gulch as described in our opening paragraphs, and Brooks spoke the words with which we open our narrative.

They were sitting beside their fire; both were partly attired as hunters and mountaineers, and both were well armed.  Brooks, who had practically been a bloat had lived a temperate life, had enjoyed plenty of exercise in the open air, and had experienced to a certain extent a return of his original physical strength and vigor.  At the time the whilom tramp made the disconsolate remark quoted, Desmond asked: 

“What do you propose to do—­give it up?”

“I don’t know just what to do, lad.”

“We’ve scraped together a little gold dust; possibly we may have money enough to engage in some legitimate business, and what we can’t get by the discovery of a mine, we may acquire in time in speculation.  You are shrewd and level-headed.”

“That would be a good scheme for you, lad, but not for me.  I am too far advanced in life to earn money by slow labor now.  What I propose is that you go back, take all the gold we have, and enter into trade; you are bright and energetic and may succeed.”

“And what will you do?”

“I shall continue my search for a mine, and some day I may strike it.”

Brooks was a college graduate, a civil engineer, and a mineralogist, and believed he had great advantages in searching for a mine, but, as has been indicated, thus far their tramp and search had been a dead failure.

“I’ll stick with you,” said Desmond.

“No, lad, you must go back.”

“I swear I will not; I like this life, and remember, we have gathered some wash dust and we may gather more.  I don’t know the value of what we have gathered from the bottom of that stream we struck, but I do know that it would take a long time to accumulate as much money in trade.  Remember, we have been in the mountains only six weeks.”

“That is all right, but we might stay here six years and not make a find.”

At that instant there came a sound which caused Brooks and Desmond to bend their ears and listen.  Some of the Indians were on the warpath; a band of bucks had been making a raid and had been pursued by the United States cavalry into the mountains.  Indians, as a rule, do not take to the mountains, but sometimes when pursued hotly they will separate into small bands and scatter through the hills; these fellows are dangerous.  They would have murdered any white men they might meet for their arms alone, without considering the spirit of wantonness or revenge that might animate them.

Brooks and Desmond rose from their seats beside the fire and moved slowly away.  At any moment an arrow or even a rifle shot might come and end the life of one or both.