y all the happiness that wealth could give. Indeed, he did not know
what he hoped; he was physically tired and although he felt strangely
restless his brain was dull. At length his eyes closed and for some
hours he slept brokenly.

Getting up at daybreak, he scrambled along the bottom of the gap until
he could look down on the other side, and presently turned with a start
as he heard a rattle of stones. Agatha, whom he had thought asleep,
advanced with a smile. She looked very fresh, and although he imagined
she was highly strung, her face was calm. For a few moments she said
nothing, but stood close by, gazing fixedly in front.

There was some mist on the low ground, but, for the most part, the tops
of the pines rose above the haze. The sky in the east was getting red,
and here and there one saw gleams of water and the gray backs of rocks.
That was all, for the landscape was blurred to the north, where a vague
gray line hinted at another range.

"The haze is tantalizing," she remarked by and by. "One could not see
when we got here and I have been waiting for the dawn."

"I hoped you slept. We made a long march yesterday."

"Did you sleep?"

"No," said Thirlwell. "Anyhow, not very much."

Agatha smiled. "Yet you haven't been thinking about the lode as I
have--thinking of nothing else for ever so long! Can't you imagine what
it means to feel I am near the place at last?"

"I can imagine it to some extent. If the ore carries as much silver as
we think, you can do what you like when you get your patent; build
laboratories, travel, make friends with clever people. In fact, your
money will buy you anything you want."

"Do you really believe that?" Agatha asked, with a hint of mockery in
her voice. "Do you imagine I have been thinking about the money?"

"I have thought about it," Thirlwell said, and stopped when she gave him
a curious glance. "Of course," he resumed, "there's some satisfaction in
feeling you have finished a difficult job."

"Now you're nearer the mark! But you don't feel in the mood for
philosophizing?"

"I'm often dull before breakfast," Thirlwell replied. "All the same, I'm
glad you're happy. In fact, I'm trying to be sympathetic."

"And you find it hard!"

Thirlwell colored, but looked at her steadily.

"Anyhow, if the thing's possible, I'm going to find the lode for you."

"Yes," she said, without moving her eyes from his face, "I know you'll
try to find it. You're trustworthy; you play