They subsided, and a silence fell which no one seemed inclined to break.
"Well," said Semple impatiently, "come on! Speak up! Whar's all this assorted lot of theories I been hearing in the say-loons ever since that nugget was turned up?"
A man with the most extraordinarily ragged garments got to his feet and began to speak in a pleasant and cultivated voice.
"I have no solution to offer this company," said he, "but I am, or was, a New York lawyer; and if my knowledge of partnerships will help any, this is the New York law." He sketched briefly the New York rulings on partnerships, and sat down.
"Much obliged, I'm sure," said Semple cordially. "We're glad to know how they've figgered it out down thar. Only trouble, as far as I see, is that they ain't usually findin' many nuggets down that neck of the woods; so they ain't precisely fitted the case. Anybody know anything nearer to home?"
"I panned in Shirttail Bar last two months," blurted a hoarse and embarrassed individual, without rising, "and down thar they had a reg'lation that airy nugget that weighs over a half ounce that is found before the dirt is thrown in the cradle belongs to the man that finds it, and not to the company. Of course this here is a pan, and not a cradle."
"That's more like business. Anybody know if anywhar they do it the other way around?"
"Anybody got any idees as to why we shouldn't follow Shirttail in this matter? Dog-gone you! _Set down!_ You ain't got nothin' to say here."
"Ain't I got a right to be heard in my own case?" he demanded.
"This ain't your case," persisted John Semple stoutly; "it's decidin' what the policy of this camp is goin' to be regardin' nuggets. Your dog-gone case is mighty unimportant and you're a prejudiced party. And if you don't set down, I'll come down there and argue with you! If none of you other fellows has anything to say, we'll vote on it."
We then and there decided, almost unanimously, to follow Shirttail.
"Now," resumed Semple, after this matter had been disposed of, "there's a bunch of these yere keskydees around throwin' assorted duckfits all this morning; and as near as I can make out they say somebody's jumped their claim or their camp, or something. Jim, supposin' you and your tin star saunter down and eject these jumpers."