Yet here was his bargain! A slight laugh he gave vent to here startled him a little, it sounded so hard and so unmirthful, and so unlike, as he oddly fancied, what he really THOUGHT.

But WHAT did he think?
Nothing mean or revengeful; no, they never would say THAT.

When he had taken out all the surface gold and put the mine in working order, he would send them each a draft for a thousand dollars.

Of course, if they were ever ill or poor he would do more.

One of the first, the very first things he should do would be to send them each a handsome gun and tell them that he only asked in return the old-fashioned rifle that once was his.