The next morning, they all had breakfast and talked about what they would do. They decided they would start panning along the stream to find out where there was gold in it. There was a fallen tree in the stream, so they panned around that, and just as they had thought, they found a few gold nuggets.

"Where are we going to keep this stuff?" Bones asked quietly.

"We brought a container that we can bury," West replied. "These are some better nuggets." He looked up at the mountain. "That could mean that the gold is right up there. Rocks tumble down, knock off pieces of gold. It falls in this stream and travels with the current. I panned out there ahead of it, and there was nothing, so I think this right here is where it is."

"From what we deciphered on the map, I would agree with you," Carol said.

"So where do we start?" Jim asked.

"We go up there and look," West replied. "It's bound to be showing somewhere, and water flows right down that little channel there when it rains on that mountain."

They all looked up at the mountain. It certainly made sense. "So we follow the trail of the water?" Bones asked.

"It's a place to start."

Gordon pointed. "You see that?" he asked. "Mineral deposits. Chances are, there's definitely gold there. It deposits like everything else with the water and the move of the earth." He looked at the others. "You take Mister Kirk and the good doctor up there, and we scientists are going to…make our mining easier."

West just stood there a moment. "I'm sure you will," he said. He looked at Jim. "You heard him. Let's go."

"Jim," Carol said before he could follow West. "Be careful."

"I will," Jim replied.

They kissed, and Carol watched him walk away. She would stay and help with whatever Mister Gordon had in mind, but if Jim was going to mine up there, she was going with him.

Jim and Bones followed West up to the course that the water took around the side of the mountain. "Pay attention to the ground as we go," West said. "There could be some along the way."

They soon came to a rocky area that was hard to get through and the trail was precariously situated on the side of the mountain. Bones looked over the side. "Jim, did I ever tell you that I hate heights?" he asked.

"No, but I know how you feel about space travel," Jim replied.

"Do you see where we're walking? One slip and…"

"Bones. Let's just keep our attention on where we're walking, not…down there."

Bones stopped and leaned back against the side of the mountain. "I should have stayed with the others," he said.

"Come on now. You can't stop now."

"I may throw up on you."

"Your first words to me."

"They could be my last."

"Bones, we've been through a lot together now. Get a grip!" Jim shook him. "You're going up this mountain! You understand? That's an order!"

Bones stared at him a moment. "Fine," he said. "But if I…"

"No buts. Now get up that trail!"

West was fairly impressed with Jim. He had wondered if he exerted authority, and he supposed he found out now. Bones put his hat back on and started walking. Jim walked behind him just to make sure he did not stop and turn back. He would have to get used to this if they were going to mine for gold. He was not sure they would actually mine, but he figured they could know how much was up there and sell the mine.

The trail became steep as they went, and went through narrow passages. "Wow, I'm glad I'm no thicker than I am," Bones said. "I dread going back through that."

"Well, if you went through once, you can go back through," Jim replied.

They finally came to a cave. "This must be where the water is picking up the gold," West said.

They went into the cave and West lit the lantern that he had brought. They could definitely see something sparkling in the wall in lines. Jim just stood there a moment looking at the sparkling gold. "This is incredible," he said. He looked at West. "That's all gold?"

"That shiny gold stuff is," West replied. "We've found our source."

Jim touched the wall and some of the veins actually felt smooth. He had never touched gold that was in nature. "I thought it would be rough," he said.

"No. It's just gold like any other gold."

"There's a lot of it too."

"More than I expected."

"Well, this was the biggest strike in Colorado."

"Let's go back down and tell the others, and see what kind of contraption they're making to pan for gold."

By the time Jim, Bones, and West got back down to the camp, they could see that the others had been at work. They had set up what looked like a barrel made of wire…or mesh wire. All they had to do was put silt from the stream into it and turn it as water flowed through it. The gold and rocks would stay in the barrel as the sand and other debris washed out.

"That's quite a contraption, Artie," West said.

"It'll work too," Artemus replied. "It cuts down on some of the labor. We don't have to bend over that stream with this."

"I guess there's only one thing to do then…let's get busy."

They worked all morning, and by the time it was lunch time, they had found several nuggets of gold, plus some gold flecks. Jim sat looking at the gold in the box they were keeping it in. He had no idea how much what they had was worth. However he could feel the weight of the gold as he held the box. He could not imagine how much it would be worth in several years.

After three weeks of prospecting, they had filled up a box with gold. They had definitely found the right place. They had even mined a little out of the cave, but the stream had given up a lot of gold. "I guess it's because no one has searched here before," Gordon said. "I've never seen that much gold in my life…except in Fort Knox."

"How much do you think it's worth?" Jim asked.

"Quite a lot. I think it will be plenty for you to get that ranch you're wanting, and once someone finds out what you've found here, you won't have any trouble selling it for a big price."

"It's hard to believe we found this much in three weeks. Isn't that unusual?"

"From what I know, it is. This must be a very rich vein for it to produce that much, but there's no way of knowing how long it's been rolling down this river."

"Long enough to hew out that cave up there."

Jim sat beside the campfire, and Carol sat down beside him. The weather had already started getting colder, and they had seen snow falling on the mountains. They had been through rain storms, and even a hail storm. "I guess we have to decide where we want our ranch," Jim said.

Carol leaned on his shoulder. "Maybe we should stay a little longer," she replied.

"Why? Mister Gordon says we have enough to buy a ranch."

"But what do we live on through the winter?"

"I'm sure there'll be some left over, and we sure don't want to stay here through the winter."

"Why not? We can stay warm here. We're shielded by the mountains."

"Yeah, but if there's a whole lot of snow, our camp will be buried, and what will we eat?"

"I suppose you're right."

"You like it here, don't you?"

"Yes. It's peaceful, and so beautiful. I could never have imagined myself loving a place like this."

"I lived on a farm when I was a kid. I think I can handle the basics of farming, but the building…I'm glad the others will be helping."

"It's rather exciting, don't you think?"

"Yeah."

Bones came over to them. "Gordon thinks we should pull out in another week or we're liable to get stranded up here," he said as he sat down on a rock.

Jim nodded. "I wonder why Q hasn't shown up lately," he said.

"I can do without him. Maybe he doesn't know where we are."

Jim laughed slightly at that suggestion. "I wouldn't bet on that."

"It was just a thought." Bones poked at the fire with a stick. "When is Mister West supposed to come back?"

"Tomorrow."

"You know, that's one thing about this day and time…when someone leaves, you can't contact them and find out where they are. I mean, what if they never come back? You just have to assume they're dead?"

"I don't know."

While they were sitting there, they heard a horse coming. They first thought it was West coming, but it was not. Bones looked at Jim as they stood up. "You gonna get a rifle?" he asked.

"I guess," Jim said. He went into his tent.

Spock and Uhura came over to Bones. Spock made sure his ears were covered as they waited for their visitor to approach. Artie was at the contraption spinning some more silt. He had a rifle standing beside him as well.

The man on the horse came down the trail. "Howdy!" he said.

"Howdy!" Bones replied. "You looking for something?"

"Just wondered how my neighbors are. I own the claim just west of here. My name's Thomas."

"Well, you've seen us now."

"You having any luck?"

Gordon stepped up then. "If we are, it's none of your business," he said.

"I'm just trying to be neighborly."

"You're just trying to be nosey. We don't like strangers around our diggings. Now, if you'll just get on back over to your own place, we'll get along fine."

Thomas stiffened at that, and just stared at them a moment. "Well, you're all an odd looking bunch," he said.

"You might be a little odd looking if you keep sitting there evaluating our place," Gordon said and shucked his rifle.

"Good day then."

Thomas turned his horse and rode on back over the trail…not getting in a hurry. "Come on," Gordon said to Spock.

Spock went with him and they climbed up to the top of the rise where they could see Thomas as he was riding along the trail down there. "Do you believe he intends to try and rob us?" Spock asked.

"I believe it's a real possibility," Gordon replied. "No one comes up to a gold claim just to be neighborly. He was looking around to see if we had found anything. Most likely was curious about our contraption, and probably assumes we're watching him now. We'll have to keep watch. There's no law out here except what we make ourselves."

"I see."

Jim and Bones came up beside them. "You think he's really leaving?" Jim asked.

"Not a chance," Gordon replied. "He could have others out there. We best keep an eye out. That ridge right over there is a good place. We'll have one here and one over there."

"Maybe we should leave earlier than we planned."

"We could, but we have a right to our claim. If we could stay a few more weeks, there's no telling what we could have. In this next week, we might find nothing, but we might find a lot more."

"Yeah, but if we end up getting shot or killed, it won't help us."

"True, but sometimes you have to fight for what's yours."

Bones looked at Jim. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I think he knows a lot more about this than we do," Jim replied.

"I'll keep watch here or there."

"I will take the ridge there," Spock volunteered.

"You can signal me if you see anyone over there, and I'll signal the camp."

"This is one of those times I wish we had our communicators," Jim said.

"We'll just have to improvise like we've been doing."

Spock went over to the other ridge, and he could see the rider who had left the camp, but Spock had a good hiding place so that he would not be seen where he was. As he settled down into place, Uhura joined him. "I figure two pairs of eyes are better than one," she said.

"You are possibly right," Spock replied. "Our spy is behind that rock there and should emerge soon. If he does not, it is logical to assume that he has met someone where he is sure he is out of sight."

"We've been up here all this time and no one has bothered us. Why now?"

"Perhaps word has spread about a claim being sold here. It would most likely bring curiosity since we are in the time of the gold rush."

"Why can't they just get their own claim?"

"It is well-known that there are people who do not want to work for what they want, but seek to take what another has, and to find a way to get rich quickly."

"Aren't we trying to get rich quickly?"

"Yes, but we are legally attempting that. We must have enough to get ourselves started on or we will have nowhere to go, and nothing to work with."

"This just worries me, Spock. Are we going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives? Or is Q going to wait until we get settled in and then suddenly throw us back where we belong?"

"I do not know. However, as long as we are here, we must try to survive as well as we can."

"What must the others be thinking? Q did come and tell us what happened. He seemed to gloat about it."

"He has a very big ego, and I believe it is deserved since he seems to be impervious to everything."

"What does he want? And why hasn't he visited anymore?"

"Perhaps he wants to see how well we do. We have established that it is a game to him, and the captain seems to be the object of that game. It is logical to believe that he will challenge the captain at a time when a decision will be the hardest."

Uhura looked at Spock. "You mean, you think he will make him choose whether to go back or not?" she asked.

"I do. It is the only logical move in this game. A decision that will be critical."

"Critical to what?"

"I do not know, but I believe it will not be easy."

Spock looked through the "telescope" that Gordon had given him. "Our spy has not come from behind that cluster of rocks," he said.

"Can you see him?" Uhura asked.

"No. I would surmise that that is the reason he chose that place to stop."

"What should we do?"

"If we see them move, we will signal Doctor McCoy."

"I'll go back and give a warning now."

"Good thinking."

Uhura hurried back down from the ridge and ran down to the camp. "Captain!" she called when she was close.

Jim stopped what he was doing and Uhura ran over to him. "The spy stopped behind a cluster of rocks," she said. "We can't see him from the ridge up there."

Jim looked at Gordon. "I guess we should get ready for trouble then," Jim said.

Gordon got rifles for all of them. "Could you see if there were any others with him?" Jim asked.

"No," Uhura replied. "If there were any others, they were hidden behind the rocks too."

Just as they were in position, Bones waved to them from his perch. "That means they're moving," Uhura said.

Bones came down from his lookout, and Spock was soon down from his as well. "Some of you get up into those rocks right there," Gordon said. "That way they can't have us all in their sights."

Bones and Carol went up to one area, and Spock and Uhura went up to the other. Jim stood there with Gordon. "You think they'll just come in shooting?" Jim asked.

"I don't know, but we better be ready for anything," Gordon replied.

Jim looked around him for a place he could dive for cover, and decided on a large boulder that stood at the side of their camp. "I'm going over there behind that boulder," he said.

"I'll take this one," Gordon replied.

They went on for their cover and waited. Soon, they saw a rider top the rise riding slowly, and then two more…soon there were two more, which made five. When they got close enough, Jim got his rifle ready. "You have got five seconds to turn those horses around and move back out of here!" he yelled.

The sudden yell startled the riders and they stopped where they were. They all looked around for who had said that. "We don't want to hear anymore of that neighborly lie either!" Jim yelled. He realized they could not pinpoint his location because of the echoes.

The five riders sat there a moment. "They may not be as green as you thought they were," one of them said. "They're all hid."

"Are you going or are we gonna let you taste some lead?" Jim asked. "You've got six rifles aimed at you!"

"They're not kidding," one of the riders said. "Let's go."

Four of the riders turned around to leave, but the first one just sat there a moment, not wanting to give up, but he knew he could not handle the situation alone, so he had to go along with the others. When they got back over the rise, Bones hurried back up to his lookout to make sure they left. He could see them sitting on the trail arguing. Jim came up beside him. "They don't seem to be in a hurry to go," Bones said.

"Watch this," Jim whispered. He perched his rifle on a rock and aimed right behind one of the horses. He fired and the horse jumped so high it almost bucked its rider off, and all the other horses were startled as well. Two of the riders fell out of the saddle, and the horses were off at a run.

Jim looked at Bones and smiled. "How's that?" he asked.

"Oh, it'll do for now," Bones replied. He aimed and fired behind them, and the two who had lost their horses started running.

Jim and Bones both fired behind them making sure they were good and discouraged from coming back. Jim laughed as they were going back down the hill. "That was kinda fun," he said.

Bones had to smile himself as they got back down to the camp. "I think we discouraged them," he said to Gordon.

"Let's hope," Gordon said. "And let's do a little more of this before the day is out."

"Uhura and I will keep watch," Carol said as she took her rifle in one hand and a pistol in the other.

"Annie Oakley," Jim said and kissed her.

"I might be Calamity Jane."

Jim laughed. "Are you saying you're gonna be my calamity?"

"OH yes."

Carol turned and started up the hill giving him a flirtatious look over her shoulder. Uhura followed her and they went back up to the lookout position.

Jim and Bones got a shovel and started putting silt into the contraption while Spock turned the handle and Gordon poured water over it. They had moved several times since they had been there, and had found more as they got closer to the area where the cave was. Jim thought they had been wet most of the time they had been there, and sometimes when he lay down at night, he felt as though he never knew he went to sleep because it seemed like it was morning again in a minute or two.

Bones propped on his shovel as they were waiting for the silt to be sifted. He had never shoveled so much dirt in his life as he had on this claim. He definitely forgot everything that was going on around them though. He hardly thought about what his life had been before now. He only thought about the claim and what they were working for.

By the time the sun was going down, they had found a few more gold pieces to add to their collection. "What should we do with this while we're asleep?" Jim asked.

"We could bury it," Gordon answered. "And I think over beside that big boulder would be the perfect place."

"Are we going to keep watch?"

"I think we should. I'll take first watch."

"I will go with you," Spock said as he walked up to them. "I am not quite ready for sleep."

"Fine then," Jim agreed. "Bones and I can take second watch."

Jim crawled into his tent with Carol. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him over to her for a kiss. "I don't think I'm letting you sleep yet," she whispered.

"Oh you're not?" Jim whispered. "How do you know I want to sleep?"

Carol giggled, trying not to let anyone else hear her. "I'll be glad when we have a house," she whispered.

"Me too. And then you can laugh at me."

"Stop."

"Stop?"

"Don't try to make me laugh."

"I'm not making you laugh."

Bones was lying in his tent hoping that those cowboys would not come back. He knew they had discouraged them…for now. He supposed this was part of the disadvantage of living out in the middle of nowhere. People could show up and there was no law. One could be murdered and buried or thrown into a canyon and no one would be the wiser. And they were not even in their own time. There were only two people of this time who knew it.

At about Midnight, Spock woke Bones up, and Gordon woke Jim up to take their watches. Jim thought getting up at Midnight might be worse than just staying up until then. Bones yawned as they went up to their lookout spot. "I think I'm gonna shoot that guy off his horse if he comes up here again," Bones said. "He is causing me to have to sit up here on this ridge instead of lying in my tent sleeping."

"Get in line," Jim replied.

They sat down among the trees that shielded them from being seen. There were also some rocks there. Bones stared up at the night sky. "Just look at all those stars, Jim," he said. "These people around here have no idea what's out there. Dangerous beings who want to dominate everyone else. Alien beings who are so logical, they can't even think outside the box. Exploding supernovas that could wipe us all out in an instant."

Jim looked at him. "That's not all that's out there, Bones."

"Yeah, if you can get past all that, you might find something good."

"Like the snow globe in space that's just waiting to break?"

"Yeah…but it's not there yet. And you have to admit, we did run into trouble there."

"Yeah, but it wasn't because of the globe, and it didn't break and all the air gush out into space."

"It could have. I mean, just look what all happened."

"Bones. Don't talk like that here or they're liable to put you in an insane asylum."

"I'd like to see them try."

"Mister West is supposed to come back tomorrow. If he and Gordon leave on another mission, we're leaving here too. We'll go and find our luck somewhere with what we have."

"Jim, we have no idea where we're going."

"Bones, we're not that dumb. Just because we're not in our time doesn't mean we can't find our way."

"Maybe not, but where are we going?"

"I don't know. Where should we go to have the most success?"

"We don't have any guarantee that we're going to have success anywhere, Jim. We should sell this mine to some company. They could mine all that gold out of that rock. They'll pay us a good amount for that."

"Yeah, but how do we know how much it's worth?"

"I have an idea." Bones smiled as he thought.

"Oh, I want to hear that one if it brings a smile like that to your face."

"Don't worry. You'll hear it."

Jim looked at him. "Why not now?" he asked.

"Because I see someone down there," Bones whispered.

Jim looked over the ridge and he could definitely see a rider down there. They watched as he tied his horse under a tree and then started toward their camp on foot. "What should we do?" Bones whispered.

"Well, we can't let him sneak in there to the others," Jim replied. "I wonder if he's the only one."

Just then, they heard the hammer of a gun click. "Not quite," someone whispered.

Jim and Bones froze, wondering how they let someone sneak up on them like that. "Turn around real slow," the man said. "And drop those rifles."

Jim turned around and faced their captor. He was the same one who had come into the camp before. "I ought to kill you," the man said.

"You won't get away with this," Jim replied.

"Who's going to stop me?"

"Me," Spock said as he grabbed the man's shoulder from behind. He looked down at the man as he lay on the ground and then looked at Jim. "I heard something."

Jim sighed. "I'm glad you did," he said. "I don't know how that guy sneaked up on us like that, but there's another one down there."

They all turned and looked down at the other man who was now getting close to the camp. "I'm gonna smoke his behind," Bones said as he aimed his rifle.

The guy jumped a foot as Bones' rifle barked and a bullet grazed his hide. He yelped and turned to run back where he had come from. "Bones, how did you become such a sharp shooter?" Jim asked.

"Practice," Bones said.

"With what? When?"

"I used to practice with a phaser rifle just to put that shot right in the precise spot I was aiming at. Even competed a time or two."

Jim was dumbfounded for a moment. "You never told me that," he said.

"I don't have to tell you everything. Besides, that was before I ever met you when I…never mind."

"I learn something new about you guys all the time."

"I don't see any more out there."

"Maybe that one will discourage them."

"What shall we do with this one here?" Spock asked, referring to the unconscious robber.

"I'm not sure. I guess we can tie him up and take him back to town when we leave here," Jim said. "Or someone will have to take him to town tomorrow."

"I believe this situation is becoming more complicated all the time."

Jim thought it was too. Now, they were taking prisoners. He was hoping day would come quickly without anymore incidents like this.