"If thot was gold-bearin' rock, my gorry, we'd all of us be rollin' in wealth, fer the mountains is made of such.

Young feller, ye're wastin' yer time an' ivery dollar ye're sinkin' in these here claims ye've showed me--and thot's no lie I'm tellin' ye, but the truth, an' if ye believe it I'll soon be huntin' another job and ye'll be takin' the train back where ye come from." The professor eyed him uncertainly.

He looked at the great, singing pines that laced their branches together high over their heads.

Fred, he thought, had made a mistake when he hired experienced miners to do this work.

It might be better to let Murphy in....
"Still the timber on the claims is worth proving up, and more," he ventured cautiously, with a sharp glance at Murphy's spectacles.
"A-ah, and there yer right," Murphy assented with the upward tilt to his voice.