But the few precious yellow grains which they found now and then lured them on, as these same grains have lured other hundreds and thousands since the dawn of civilization.

Day after day they persisted in their efforts; night after night about their camp-fire they inspired each other with new hope and made new plans.

The spring sun grew stronger, the poplar buds burst into tiny leaf and out beyond the walls of the chasm the first promises of summer came in the sweetly scented winds of the south, redolent with the breath of balsam and pine and the thousand growing things of the plains.
But at last the search came to an end.

For three days not even a grain of gold had been found.

Around the big rock, where they were eating dinner, Rod and his friends came to a final conclusion.