“Pretty fair,” said one of the party.

“Have you got room for three more?”

“Yes—­come along.  You can select claims alongside and go to work if you want to.”

“What do you say, Joe?”

“I am in favor of it.”

“We are going to put up here, Hogan,” said Mr. Bickford.  “You can do as you’ve a mind to.  Much as we value your interestin’ society, we hope you won’t put yourself out to stay on our account.”

“I’ll stay,” said Hogan.

Joe and Joshua surveyed the ground and staked out their claims, writing out the usual notice and posting it on a neighboring tree.  They had not all the requisite tools, but these they were able to purchase at one of the cabins.

“What shall I do?” asked Hogan.  “I’m dead broke.  I can’t work without tools, and I can’t buy any.”

“Do you want to work for me?” asked Joshua.

“What’ll you give?”

“That’ll depend on how you work.  If you work stiddy, I’ll give you a quarter of what we both make.  I’ll supply you with tools, but they’ll belong to me.”

“Suppose we don’t make anything,” suggested Hogan.

“You shall have a quarter of that.  You see, I want to make it for your interest to succeed.”

“Then I shall starve.”

The bargain was modified so that Hogan was assured of enough to eat, and was promised, besides, a small sum of money daily, but was not to participate in the gains.

“If we find a nugget, it won’t do you any good.  Do you understand, Hogan?”

“Yes, I understand.”

He shrugged his shoulders, having very little faith in any prospective nuggets.

“Then we understand each other.  That’s all I want.”

On the second day Joe and Mr. Bickford consolidated their claims and became partners, agreeing to divide whatever they found.  Hogan was to work for them jointly.

They did not find their hired man altogether satisfactory.  He was lazy and shiftless by nature, and work was irksome to him.

“If you don’t work stiddy, Hogan,” said Joshua, “you can’t expect to eat stiddy, and your appetite is pretty reg’lar, I notice.”

Under this stimulus Hogan managed to work better than he had done since he came out to California, or indeed for years preceding his departure.  Bickford and Joe had both been accustomed to farm work and easily lapsed into their old habits.

They found they had made a change for the better in leaving the banks of the Yuba.  The claims they were now working paid them better.

“Twenty-five dollars to-day,” said Joshua, a week after their arrival.  “That pays better than hoeing pertaters, Joe.”

“You are right, Mr. Bickford.  You are ten dollars ahead of me.  I am afraid you will lose on our partnership.”

“I’ll risk it, Joe.”

Hogan was the only member of the party who was not satisfied.