This letter quite cheered up Grant. He was anxious to find out how it seemed to be digging for gold. He counted over his savings and found he had a little over a hundred dollars. But lack of money need not have interfered with his plans. On the same day he received a letter from Giles Crosmont, from which we extract a paragraph:
Remember, Grant, that when you get ready to go to the mines, you can draw upon me for any sum of money you want. Or, should you lose your place, or get short of money, let me know, and I will see that you are not inconvenienced for lack of funds. I am thinking of making a little investment in your name, which I think will be of advantage to you.
“That’s a friend worth having,” said Grant to himself. “If I had a father, I should like to have him like Mr. Crosmont. He certainly could not be any kinder.”
He wrote back that he was intending to start on the following day for Howe’s Gulch, and would write again from there. He concluded thus: “I thank you very much for your kind offer of a loan, but I have enough to start me at the mines, and will wait till I stand in need. When I do need money, I won’t hesitate to call upon you, for I know that you are a true friend.”
He went round to see the blacksmith the next forenoon.
“How do you happen to be off work at this hour?” asked Mr. Cooper.
“I’m a gentleman of leisure, Mr. Cooper.”
“How is that, Grant? You haven’t been discharged, have you?”
“Well, I’ve lost my place. Mr. Smithson has sold out his restaurant, and the new man has a friend of his whom he is going to put in my place.”
“I’m sorry, Grant,” said the blacksmith in a tone of concern. “It doesn’t seem hardly fair.”
“Oh, it’s all right, Mr. Cooper. I am going out to the mines, as I always intended to do. I shall start to-morrow morning.”
“I wish you luck. I don’t know how Tom is getting along.”
“Then I can tell you, for I’ve had a letter from him. He writes that he is doing fairly well.”
“I guess he ain’t doing as well as he did on the old farm at home,” he said.
“He writes very cheerfully and wants me to come out.”
“He’s too proud to own up that he’s disappointed. Just tell him that if he wants to come back to Sacramento and help me in the shop, I can give him two dollars a day and his living.”