For a moment Aldous ceased speaking.
"Please--go on!" said Joanne.
"They found gold," repeated Aldous.

"They found so much of it, Ladygray, that some of them went mad--mad as beasts.

It was placer gold--loose gold, and MacDonald says that one day he and Jane filled their pockets with nuggets.

Then something happened.

A great storm came; a storm that filled the mountains with snow through which no living creature as heavy as a man or a horse could make its way.