human
Taste good?
gpt
Not bad, if you're looking for mineral. They've got a distinct flavor all their own, but I wetted them to show the color up more plainly. Here is the outcrop of a syncline reef. It may carry gold and it may not, but it's wide enough, it's near the surface and it's as good a place as any. It dips deeper lower down, but I imagine you'll find it floating out again on the other side of the valley. Runs like the ribs of a ship, with the valley the hull. And the ship's rail, the gunwale in the rim-rock that outlines the auriferous deposit.
human
Your judgment goes with Casey's, he said.
gpt
Right across from here is where he located his claims, I take it. How about it, Mormon? Fits the description to a T.
human
Sure does, assented Mormon.
gpt
Thar's the notched boulder half-way up the hill, the three-forked dead pine on the ridge. If you locate here, marm, he said to Miranda,
human
It's all Greek to me, said the spinster.
gpt
How do we locate? I've come this far, an' I'll see the thing through to some sort of finish. Me an' young Ed'll camp here. I figger we can git the car up. It's gone through worse places. There's water down there in the crick. We've got grub. When it's gone we can buy more. How many claims can we take up an' what's the size of 'em, Mr. Westlake?