r laughter shocked
Northwick; it seemed immoral; he remembered that though he might seem a
defaulter, he was a man with a sacred trust, and a high purpose. But he
listened eagerly; if their enterprise were one that approved itself to
his judgment, the chance of their discussing it before him might be a
leading of Providence which he would be culpable to refuse. Providence
had answered his prayer in permitting him to pass the American frontier
safely, and Northwick must not be derelict in fulfilling his part of the
agreement. The Canadians borrowed the brakeman's lantern, and began to
study a map which they spread out on their knees. The one who seemed
first among them put his finger on a place in the map, and said that was
the spot. It was in the region just back of Chicoutimi. Gold had always
been found there, but not in paying quantity. It cost more to mine it
than it was worth; but with the application of his new process of
working up the tailings, there was no doubt of the result. It was simply
wealth beyond the dreams of avarice.

Northwick had heard that song before; and he fell back in his seat, with
a smile which was perhaps too cynical for a partner of Providence, but
which was natural in a man of his experience. He knew something about
processes to utilize the tailings of gold mines which would not
otherwise pay for working; he had paid enough for his knowledge: so much
that if he still had the purchase-money he need not be going into exile
now, and beginning life under a false name, in a strange land.

By and by he found himself listening again, and he heard the Canadian
saying, "And there's timber enough on the tract to pay twice over what
it will cost, even if the mine wasn't worth a penny."

"Well, we might go down and see the timber, any way," said one of the
party who had not yet spoken much. "And then we could take a look at
Markham's soap-mine, too. Unless," he added, "you had to tunnel under a
hundred feet of snow to get at it. A good deal like diggin' the north
pole up by the roots, wouldn't it be?"

"Oh, no! Oh, no!" said he who seemed to be Markham, with the optimism of
an enthusiast. "There's no trouble about it. We've got some shanties
that we put up about the mouth of the hole in the ground we made in the
autumn, and you can see the hole without digging at all. Or at least you
could in the early part of January, when I was down there."

"The hole hadn't run away?"

"No. It was just where w