How they had heard of it at all was not very evident, but as the eagles gather round the carcass and the flies about the fallen deer, so men with shovels and axes appear as by enchantment when gold is struck.

Distance counts as nothing, and neither thundering rivers nor waterless deserts can deter them.
Saunders listened with great contentment to the ringing of the axes and the sharp clink of the drills.

Men who labor strenuously from dawn to dark in the invigorating mountain air consume provisions freely, and, as the storekeeper was quite aware, those engaged on that lode would be compelled to purchase their pork and tea and flour from him.
"It was quite a smart idea to give Jim a commission on the sales, though I was kind of wondering if he'd have the sense to stay where he is and run the store," he said.

"If he hasn't been fool enough to outfit the boys on credit he must have been raking in money." Then he took up the lump of stone the prospector handed him and knocked most of it to pieces with the hammer; after which he handed one or two of the fragments to Devine, who grinned more broadly.
"Since Weston wants more specimens I guess he's got to have them," he explained.

"I don't know any reason why we shouldn't send him the best we can.