again."

Joe and his friend found the miners social and very ready to give
them information.

"How much do I make a day?" said one in answer to a question from
Joshua. "Well, it varies. Sometimes I make ten dollars, and from
that all the way up to twenty-five. Once I found a piece worth fifty
dollars. I was in luck then."

"I should say you were," said Mr. Bickford. "The idea of findin'
fifty dollars in the river. It looks kind of strange, don't it, Joe?"

"Are any larger pieces ever found here?" asked Joe.

"Sometimes."

"I have seen larger nuggets on exhibition in San Francisco, worth
several hundred dollars. Are any such to be found here?"

"Generally they come from the dry diggings. We don't often find such
specimens in the river washings. But these are more reliable."

"Can a man save money here?"

"If he'll be careful of what he gets. But much of our dust goes
there."

He pointed, as he spoke, to a small cabin, used as a store and
gambling den at one and the same time. There in the evening the