"At the same time, gentlemen, I know your kind well enough.

Both of you talk of fighting as though you dreaded it, but I'll tell you, gentlemen, that I wouldn't _dare_ to try any nasty tricks on either of you." "We understand each other, then," Tom nodded.

"Now, then, let us try to make up our minds just where we would want to stake off this claim if the gold assays as well as it looks." At the beginning Tom and Harry built a little pile of stones.
Then, by mere pacing they laid off what they judged to be the fifteen hundred feet of length which the government allows to a single mining claim.
"We can attend to the proper width later," suggested Tom.

"Now, what do you say if we make for camp at once.

I'm not hungry; still, I think I could eat my half of a baked ox." The instant that the trio reached camp, Jim Ferrers, with an unwonted mist in his eyes, began to juggle the cooking utensils.