“He has a broken leg but did a reasonable job setting, which likely saved his life but it needed resetting. You likely heard him groan when I pulled on it then he passed out. I see you found his horse.” Cliff nodded toward Zack’s horse.

     “Yes, I managed to pull the saddle before the stench run me off.”

     “No doubt, Charlie said be busted his leg near to a week ago. This is one tough old buzzard; he managed to drag his carcass this far and stay alive. He’s been living off what he had in his saddlebags and what he found along the stream. He told me he set snares for rabbits and whatever he came across. When his horse fell I guess it spooked his packhorse; he said he ain’t seen hide nor hair of it.”

     Zack looked at Charlie’s face which looked hollow and pale with his eyes ringed in black. His clothes were dirty and torn and his hat was missing, something Charlie did not care to be without.

     Cliff pointed to a branch about as tall as Charlie and as big around as his wrist. “He fashioned a crutch to get along. It had to be painful.”

     “Did he say why he came upstream rather than down?” As Zack’s gaze turned to Charlie the older man’s eyes fluttered then opened, he grinned when he seen Zack.

     “Darn boss I didn’t think you cared. Where’s that no good horse wrangler?”

     “Back at the mill doing his job just like you should be. What in hell’s half acre are you doing out here?”

     The old man grinned. “Maybe fixin’ to get as rich as you.” He indicated the stream. “I panned some on this stream down near the valley floor and took out plenty. I checked several other streams then come back to this one and was headed farther up to find the source.”

     “Why did you come here instead of going down stream after you fell?” Zack asked.

     “I want to find the source. It’s a big one boss, I just know it is.”

     “That’s going to have to wait.” Cliff cut in.

     “Can’t we head on up stream for a day and try a few pans?” Charlie asked, almost begging but he knew the answer.

      “No!” Was Cliff’s harsh one word reply. He walked to his horse and removed the saddle.

     Zack followed. “How are we going to get him out of here?”

     “Slowly.” Using his horse blanket Cliff began rubbing his horse’s back. “Tonight he gets the best food we got and plenty of rest. In the morning I’ll find a deer. We need to get a fresh hide on that leg then let it dry until its hard, after that the old buzzard should be fit to ride. I hope you’re up to a long walk.”

     That night Charlie slept sound, groaning only when he tried to turn in his sleep. Zack was awakened each time Charlie groaned.

     The following day Cliff brought in a deer which added fresh meat to their diet but most important it provided a means of immobilizing Charlie’s broken leg so they could return to Quincy.

     The green hide took four days to dry enough to allow Charlie to ride. Most of the four days was spent with the old man trying to get Cliff or Zack to go upstream and test out a few pans.

     “Charlie I don’t know the first thing about panning, I’m a hard rock miner.” It was the second day after the hide had been wrapped around Charlie’s broken leg. The old man had tried the first day to get Cliff to go but gave up knowing it was a waste of air.

     “Awww Boss that’s alright if ya don’t know how to wash a pan. I can show ya right over yonder at the stream.”

     “Charlie if you don’t shut up about that panning I’m going to hog tie ya had hang ya from that tree yonder.” Cliff growled.

     “You’re getting about as grouchy as an old lobo with a sore foot in your old age. I’ll shut up and when this leg is all better I’ll be back and when I find that glory hole I ain’t even goina know your name.” Charlie sniffed indignantly and leaned back gazing into the sky thinking about the gold that could be waiting upstream.

     “I wish you didn’t know my name now.” Cliff mumbled under his breath and went to check the horse’s shoes for the third time.

     Zack took a piece of the ground next to Charlie and sat down. “I think Cliff is a bit antsy and wants to get out of here.”

     “Ya,” Charlie agreed, “his type don’t do so well when they’re tied down, he wants to be out and moving.”

     Zack nodded toward Charlie’s leg. “How that hide drying?”

     “Still a bit green, it’ll be a couple more days. It’s a shame we don’t need more meat that would give that old grouch something to do.” They both looked in Cliff’s direction. “You know boss he’s still the best man on the trail, you done the right thing bringing him in.”

     Zack only nodded his agreement.

     The morning of the fourth day after breakfast and the camp was picked up Cliff went to Charlie and rapped on the hide wrapped around his lower left leg then grinned. “You ready to ride old man?”

     “I was ready the day you found me.” Charlie replied.

     Cliff stood and grinned. “Good.” He turned and headed for the horses. “Come on boss its time we get gone.”

     A long two months passed while Charlie’s leg slowly healed. The warm of summer would be leaving soon and the cool of fall would be setting in. Charlie had regained his natural strength and was walking with a small limp. He had slowly put together what he might need for his return to Hurricane Ridge. This trip he would take two packhorses that would carry a small sluice box as well as five drills and a six pound hammer, two shovels and a pick. The night before he was to leave he spent with Laredo and Cliff.

     Cliff sat his beer mug heavily on the table and looked hard at Charlie. “You get your tail in a crack again don’t expect me to come and pry it out. I got plans to winter right here in a nice warm saloon with a soft warm bed.”

     Charlie took on a hurt look. “And I though I had a couple darn good friends. How about you Laredo?”

     “You know how I feel about the cold and snow.” Laredo replied and swallowed the last of his beer.

     “Well ain’t that just the cats meow? My two so called best friends ain’t nothing more than fair-weather friends. Guess I’d best make plans to be back before the first snow.”

     Cliff nodded and grunted. “A wise man would but a wiser man would wait until spring.”

     Charlie chuckled and waved to the bartended for another round. “I ain’t never claimed to be wise, maybe a bit lucky at times but never wise.”

     The following morning Zack stood with Cliff and Laredo as Charlie headed up the road to the top of the Bristol Mountains. Charlie was happy, he had been itching to go for two weeks but his three friends had a feeling of dread.

     “Maybe six weeks to the first snow if it come early.” Cliff stated. “I figure I’ll give him three weeks then I’ll go bring the old goat in.”

     Laredo nodded in agreement. “I might as well ride along just incase you need help getting the old buzzard tied down. You know he ain’t going to want to leave if he has a snoot full of gold.”

     Twenty-seven days after leaving Quincy Charlie proudly sat atop the mountain looking back at Hurricane Ridge. He had hastily returned to the place where his horse had fallen then went up stream and began sinking holes along the creek. The holes he dug were heavy with gold and under the glass were rough with sharp edges a sure sign that the source was not far off. On the third day his first pan showed no gold where the previous days delivered several grams per pan.

     Charlie quickly filled with the excitement of youth. He returned down stream a hundred yards and once again found nothing in his pan. Moving downstream another fifty yards he came to a narrow place where the cliff had collapsed many years ago. On the downstream side his first pan was thick with gold, the best yet.

     Slowly he looked up allowing his eyes to follow the heap of dirt and rocks to its source. He placed his pan on the ground and slowly began to climb the rubble pile. The heap was not large but it was steep and it took about ten minutes to find his way to the top.

     At the top Charlie stood and relaxed. He was above the trees so he looked out over the sea of trees but seen nothing except a hawk lazily circling in the distance. Turning back to the mountain face he noticed it was crumbling decaying rock then he froze.

     A cold shiver ran from his feet to the top of his head making his scalp tingle. There in the face of the rock bluff was a finger of white quartz a foot wide that was lace with a band of glittering gold an inch wide. For minutes he was unable to move, all he could do was look, all he wanted to do was look. He had heard of such things but in all his years of prospecting he had never seen anything like this.

     Now Charlie sat looking back at Hurricane Ridge, the place was marked in his mind, he was sure he could pick out the spot from here across the valley.

     He was in no hurry to leave, in fact he wanted to stay but he was not a fool and only a fool would chance the winter here. He had reluctantly left knowing he would return in the spring.

     As he sat watching a small sound came to him. It was not a nature sound it was a sound made by man, a horseshoe striking stone. Charlie drew the rifle from its scabbard and pulled the hammer slowly back, cocking the weapon then he turned to look at the sound.

     He had only seconds to wait until a horse cleared the trees then a second and a third packhorse.

     “So you two come to stake a claim after all the work is done? You’re not only fair-weather friends you’re darn lazy.”

     Cliff and Laredo pulled up, startled then they seen Charlie to their right and relaxed.

     “We was thinking you might have broke your other leg.”  Laredo drawled in his slow Texan accent.

     “Well I still got two good ones and I ott to use um to run you two friends back to town.” Charlie hissed.

     Cliff nodded and grinned. “I’m all for getting back to town. I’ve been out in a few too many blizzards to be wanting to do it again.”                    

     Laredo and Cliff were relieved and Charlie was pleased to have someone to talk to other than his horse but not much was said after their meeting.

     That evening they made an early camp at a pond that sat among the towering trees. When the soup was heating and the biscuits were in the dutch oven they all sat and relaxed.

     “Well did you strike it rich?” Laredo asked mockingly.

     Charlie proudly pulled a heavy pouch from his shirt pocket and tossed it to the younger man. “That was three days panning.”

     Laredo hefted the pouch and was surprised at the weight, he whistled. “Must be a hundred dollars here.” He tossed the pouch to a surprised Cliff.

     “If the panning was so good why are you coming out so soon?” Cliff asked as he hefted the pouch.

     Charlie grinned but remained silent allowing his friends to wonder. Then he dipped his hand into his shirt pocket again and came out with a hunk of quartz streaked with gold. He tossed the rock to Laredo. “I pried this off with my hands.”  

     Laredo could only gawk openmouthed while Cliff stared wide eyed. When the two friends were able to talk it was one question after another. In the end Laredo suggested they go back to Charlie’s discovery and begin the harvest.

     Charlie only shook his head. “It’ll still be there come spring, guess I lost the urge to look for gold right now. Right now we need to get out of these mountains before we get snowed in.”

     “Yah I’ll agree with that but I don’t think it’ll snow that soon.” Cliff added. 

     Snow was another month in coming but that did not slow the news from spreading about another large gold strike in the Bristols. Before the first snow men were packing Quincy by the hundreds.

     When Zack opened his road to the top of the Bristols in late April the town of Quincy had swelled by two thousand men. Charlie seemed to be consonantly watched by those that wished to follow him to his strike.

     Three days before the road was opened Charlie and Cliff left Quincy in the middle of the night. For two days Cliff did a good job of hiding their trail. After the mad rush of men left Quincy, Zack and Laredo left heading for Charlie’s strike. Once Zack was at the site he could evaluate what Charlie had found.

     It was mid May by the time Zack and Laredo found their way to Charlie’s strike. Cliff and Charlie had been using shovels and picks to follow the vain of gold. During the day they would dig out hunks of quartz and at night they would use a hammer to break the rotten quartz into smaller hunks that were easier to handle.

     Zack had spent the winter telling Charlie how to start his hole and follow the vain. Now that Zack was at the mine he was impressed with the progress. The vain was about what he had expected.

     It would take money and a lot of it to find out if this was only a finger off of the mother lode or if it was just a random pocket. The shaft was ten feet down and showing no sign of ending although it was not getting wider.

     Zack spent two days with Charlie and Cliff then he and Laredo loaded the packhorses with the ore and headed back to Quincy. They would get the gold assayed and Zack would register the claim in Charlie’s name. After all that Laredo would return with more packhorses.

     The last thing Zack told Charlie was, “Remember, if that vain starts to narrow stop digging and pull out. It’ll likely end up a dry hole so it will be time to sell.”

     Throughout the summer Laredo carried the ore out of the Bristols by packhorse. He was not bothered by thieves but he did not sell the ore. That was left to Zack who never left Quincy.

     In September Laredo returned with Charlie and Cliff. They were a gaunt pair of old men but both had a twinkle in their eyes that only the success of youth could bring.

     “We lost the vain.” Charlie said as he entered Zack’s hotel room.

     “I was wondering if that might happen. How far into the mountain did you get?”

     “About fifty feet. It took the first ten foot drop then turned east.” Charlie replied. “It never tapered or gave any warning it just ended.” 

     Zack poured a scotch; he knew Charlie would not take one so he did not offer. “It happens that way sometimes. Is the eastern tunnel shallow?”

     “I think it is, maybe as deep as twenty feet under the surface.” Charlie explained.

     Zack sipped his scotch in thought. “You could go back and use a little explosive and have a look. Likely the rest of the vain is below. Sometime in the past as the mountains were being formed the mountain was thrust up and broke of that small portion.”

     Charlie sat in silent thought for a few minutes. “I’ve always wanted to find the big one and now I have. I got no more desire to return. How much is in the bank?”

     “Just over one hundred fifteen thousand dollars.”

     “That’s enough for the four of us. I’ll sell the claim; you got any idea who might be interested?”

     Zack grinned broad. “How about the Sunny Girl? They have put out a few feelers for hard rock claims.”

     “How much do you figure you could get?” Charlie asked.

     Zack thought a few seconds. “With what you’ve taken out of there already and the way the vain ended I’d say at least fifty thousand and another thing, I don’t need any part of this mine. It is the three of you that worked it. It looks like you were right Charlie. You just might end up as rich as I am if you keep going like this.”

     Charlie got up grinning. “You know how I feel about money. I need only enough to buy my next beer and right now its beer time. Boss could I borrow five dollars?”