"Oh, sure," was the response.

Again Charles checked his two partners' expressions of satisfaction
with the arrangement.

"One other thing, old man. We're a party of four, and we all have
a vote on questions like this. Young Liverpool is ahead with the
main outfit. He's got a say so, and he isn't here to say it."

"What kind of a party might he be?" Tarwater inquired.

"He's a rough-neck sailor, and he's got a quick, bad temper."

"Some turbulent," Anson contributed.

"And the way he can cuss is simply God-awful," Big Bill testified.

"But he's square," Big Bill added.

Anson nodded heartily to this appraisal.

"Well, boys," Tarwater summed up, "I set out for Californy and I
got there. And I'm going to get to Klondike. Ain't a thing can
stop me, ain't a thing. I'm going to get three hundred thousand
outa the ground, too. Ain't a thing can stop me, ain't a thing,
because I just naturally need the money. I don't mind a bad temper
so long's the boy is square. I'll take my chance, an' I'll work
along with you till we catch up with him. Then, if he says no to
the proposition, I reckon I'll lose. But somehow I just can't see
'm sayin' no, because that'd mean too close up to freeze-up and too