"Might as well hit her a lick," he drawled to himself, and climbing to
the spot he drove the point of his implement into a crevice of the rock
and broke away a piece of two or three pounds in weight. This he took
in his big, red hands, which were numbing in the cold.
For a moment he looked at the fragment of quartz with unbelieving eyes.
He wet it with his tongue. Then a something that answered in Jim to
excitement pumped from his heart abruptly.
The rock was flecked all through with tiny specks of metal that the
miner knew unerringly.
It was gold.
CHAPTER XII
THE MAKING OF A CHRISTMAS-TREE
Despite the snow that fell that night, despite the near approach of
Christmas, old Jim's discovery aroused a great excitement in the camp.
That very evening the news was known throughout all Borealis, and all
next day, in the driving storm, the hill was visited, the ledge was
viewed, and the topic was discussed at length in all its amazing
features.
Teamsters, miners, loiterers--all, even including the gambler--came to
pay their homage at the hiding-place of one of Mammon's family. All
the mountain-side was taken up in claims. The calmest man in all the
hills was Jim himself.
Parky made him an offer without the slightest hesitation.
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