398 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



prizes before the eyes of its dupes and sometimes 

 an assay or a series of them gave me wild hopes 

 of striking a bonanza. But always the rich ore 

 was in pockets or the vein was so narrow that it 

 was too costly to follow it through the hard coun- 

 try rock. Yet at each council of war we decided 

 to go on, though more and more I left the collect- 

 ing of samples to the foremen and with Ned went 

 away for a day or more at a time. For he was a 

 hunter born and loved to wander afield with his 

 rifle while I was crazy over the coming weapon 

 and only used the rifle when the distance was too 

 great for the camera. 



