Very much refreshed, the boy ran back to the miners' shack.
Years ago two miners worked together for months and finally came to know each other as Tom and Jack.
Crews deserted their ships, clerks deserted the company, trappers turned miners and took to the gold-bars.
John Black, the Presbyterian 'apostle of the Red River,' preached special sermons on Sunday for the miners.
Reaching the draw that the miners had described, he recognized it at once, worked his way around it and came back.
A "miners' meeting," called on the spot, decided that the dog had sufficient provocation, and Buck was discharged.
The miners found what the great banks have always found, that the presence of unused gold is a nuisance and a curse.
But, in spite of his harsh manner towards the wrong-doer, 'the old man,' as the miners affectionately called him, kept law and order.
Though the miners were of the same class as the 'argonauts' of California, they never broke into the lawlessness that compelled vigilance committees in San Francisco.