Chapter XXVI - XXXI Summary

Convinced by a press, which typically glorifies the profits of the mining industry in Nevada, the narrator catches the rising "Silver fever." Many articles from various newspapers give incredible reports about the fortunes that can be accumulated simply by securing a few feet of property. The Nevada Mountains are apparently rich with silver. The anticipation is such that the narrator decides to take three of his friends along and journey to Humboldt County, an area that is reputed for its richness.

Thus in December, a party consisting of a sixty-year-old blacksmith, two young lawyers and the narrator, depart for Humboldt County. The team of silver prospectors buys a wagon and two old horses and hurries down toward Humboldt County with eighteen hundred pounds of equipment and provision. They travel for fifteen days over two hundred miles across...