hat could be done
toward working Jack for a part, at least, of his money. With that
arrangement decided upon, when a message came from Hamlin's home that
Jack had returned and had gone to the hotel, they were ready, and in
company went to greet him and escort him home.

Sedgwick had to be invited also, and that suited them, for they both
desired to know what kind of a man he was. Both were satisfied, too, that
he had no money, or he would have obtained a credit where Jack had
obtained his exchange. When, at the first dinner, Grace had drawn from
him that he had been in Texas and had seen cowboys, they both guessed
where he had caught the trick which he had put in practice in Devonshire,
and, thenceforth, save as a careless friend that careless Jack had picked
up, they dropped Sedgwick from their calculations.

How Jack got his money was the greatest mystery; and so a few days after
his coming, his father said to him: "Jack, I hope you have come home to
stay. Look around and find some business that you think will suit you,
and I will buy it for you if it does not take too much money."

"Thanks, father," said Jack; "much obliged, but I have a few pounds of my
own."

"How much are miner's wages in Virginia City?" asked the old man.

"Four dollars a day; about twenty-four pounds a month," said Jack.

"And what are the expenses?" was the next question.

"Four shillings a day for board; three pounds per month for a room, and
clothes and cigars to any amount you please," said Jack.

"Why, you could not have saved more than L150 or L160 per annum at those
rates," said the old man.

"No," said Jack; "a good many may not do as well as that; but I had a few
pounds which were invested by a friend in Con-Virginia when it was three
dollars a share, and it was sold when it was worth a good bit more."

The old man had learned the secret. He asked one more question. "Did your
friend Sedgwick do as well as you did?"

Jack thought of Sedgwick's injunction, so answered:

"He made a good bit of money, something like L20,000, but he turned it
over to his father in Ohio. I think the plan is to buy a place near the
old home. He only brought a few hundred pounds with him. Indeed, he only
ran over to oblige me. We were old friends; at one time we worked on the
same shift in the mine."

The old man was satisfied. Moreover, he saw his opportunity.

"What a wonderful business that mining is," he said. "Stetson, the broker
over the w