The Three Partners | Page 4

indifference towards the whiskey which Stacy was offering to the
stranger.
"What yer gettin' off there?" said Steptoe, facing Dick almost brutally.
"YOU know your tangled legs wouldn't take you straight up the trail,
and you had to make a circumbendibus. Gosh! if you hadn't scented
this licker at the top you'd have never found it."
"No matter! I'm glad you DID find it, Dick," said Demorest, "and I
hope you'll find the liquor good enough to pay you for the trouble."

Barker stared at Demorest. This extraordinary tolerance of the drunkard
was something new in his partner. But at a glance from Demorest he
led Dick to the demijohn and tin cup which stood on a table in the
corner. And in another moment Dick had forgotten his companion's
rudeness.
Demorest remained by the door, looking out into the darkness.
"Well," said Steptoe, putting down his emptied cup, "trot out your
strike. I reckon our eyes are strong enough to bear it now." Stacy drew
the blanket from the vague pile that stood in the corner, and discovered
a deep tin prospecting-pan. It was heaped with several large fragments
of quartz. At first the marble whiteness of the quartz and the glittering
crystals of mica in its veins were the most noticeable, but as they drew
closer they could see the dull yellow of gold filling the decomposed
and honeycombed portion of the rock as if still liquid and molten. The
eyes of the party sparkled like the mica--even those of Barker and
Stacy, who were already familiar with the treasure.
"Which is the richest chunk?" asked Steptoe in a thickening voice.
Stacy pointed it out.
"Why, it's smaller than the others."
"Heft it in your hand," said Barker, with boyish enthusiasm.
The short, thick fingers of Steptoe grasped it with a certain aquiline
suggestion; his whole arm strained over it until his face grew purple,
but he could not lift it.
"Thar useter be a little game in the 'Frisco Mint," said Dick, restored to
fluency by his liquor, "when thar war ladies visiting it, and that was to
offer to give 'em any of those little boxes of gold coin, that contained
five thousand dollars, ef they would kindly lift it from the counter and
take it away! It wasn't no bigger than one of these chunks; but Jiminy!
you oughter have seed them gals grip and heave on it, and then hev to
give it up! You see they didn't know anything about the paci--(hic) the

speshif--" He stopped with great dignity, and added with painful
precision, "the specific gravity of gold."
"Dry up!" said Steptoe roughly. Then turning to Stacy he said abruptly,
"But where's the rest of it? You've got more than that."
"We sent it to Boomville this morning. You see we've sold out our
claim to a company who take it up to-morrow, and put up a mill and
stamps. In fact, it's under their charge now. They've got a gang of men
on the claim already."
"And what mout ye hev got for it, if it's a fair question?" said Steptoe,
with a forced smile.
Stacy smiled also. "I don't know that it's a business question," he said.
"Five hundred thousand dollars," said Demorest abruptly from the
doorway, "and a treble interest."
The eyes of the two men met. There was no mistaking the dull fire of
envy in Steptoe's glance, but Demorest received it with a certain cold
curiosity, and turned away as the sound of arriving voices came from
without.
"Five hundred thousand's a big figger," said Steptoe, with a coarse
laugh, "and I don't wonder it makes you feel so d----d sassy. But it
WAS a fair question."
Unfortunately it here occurred to the whiskey-stimulated brain of Dick
that the friend he had introduced was being treated with scant courtesy,
and he forgot his own treatment by Steptoe. Leaning against the wall he
waved a dignified rebuke. "I'm sashified my ole frien' is akshuated by
only businesh principles." He paused, recollected himself, and added
with great precision: "When I say he himself has a valuable claim in
Red Gulch, and to my shertain knowledge has received offers--I have
said enough."
The laugh that broke from Stacy and Barker, to whom the infelicitous

reputation of Red Gulch was notorious, did not allay Steptoe's irritation.
He darted a vindictive glance at the unfortunate Dick, but joined in the
laugh. "And what was ye goin' to do with that?" he said, pointing to the
treasure.
"Oh, we're taking that with us. There's a chunk for each of us as a
memento. We cast lots for the choice, and Demorest won,--that one
which you couldn't lift with one hand, you know," said Stacy.
"Oh, couldn't I? I reckon you ain't goin' to give me the