That's all I want." On the second day Joe and Mr.Bickford consolidated their claims and became partners, agreeing to divide whatever they found.

Hogan was to work for them jointly.
They did not find their hired man altogether satisfactory.

He was lazy and shiftless by nature, and work was irksome to him.
"If you don't work stiddy, Hogan," said Joshua, "you can't expect to eat stiddy, and your appetite is pretty reg'lar, I notice." Under this stimulus Hogan managed to work better than he had done since he came out to California, or indeed for years preceding his departure.

Bickford and Joe had both been accustomed to farm work and easily lapsed into their old habits.
They found they had made a change for the better in leaving the banks of the Yuba.

The claims they were now working paid them better.
"Twenty-five dollars to-day," said Joshua, a week after their arrival.