eem to have a good trade."

"What makes you think so?"

"You have a good stock. You would not keep so many goods unless you
had a call for them."

"Have I ever seen you before?" asked Ernest abruptly, for the idea
grew upon him that he and his new customer had met somewhere under
peculiar circumstances.

"I don't know. I don't remember you," answered the customer, shrugging
his shoulders. "I haven't been in California long. I suppose you were
born here."

"No; very few of those now living in California were born here. I once
lived in Iowa. Were you ever there?"

"Never," answered the customer. "I've been in Missouri, but never in
Iowa."

"I have never been in that State. Are you going to stay here?"

"I don't know. It depends on whether I can make any money. I suppose
you don't want to hire a clerk?"

"No."

Ernest said to himself that this man, with his shifty looks and
suspicious appearance, would be about the last man he would think of
engaging.

"Perhaps Mr. Ames would give you a chance to work some of his claims,"
he suggested.

"I will look about me a little before I apply to him," replied the
customer.

"Did you come here alone?" he asked after a pause.

"No. A friend came with me--Luke Robbins."

The stranger started a little when Ernest pronounced this name, so
that young Ray was led to inquire, "Do you know Luke?"

"How should I know him? Is he a young man?"

"No; he is probably about your age."

"I suppose he came with you from Nebraska?"

"Iowa."

"Oh, yes, Iowa. He isn't in the store, is he?"

"He is working for Mr. Ashton on one of his claims."

At this point a new customer came in, and the visitor, after a brief
delay, left the store.

When Ernest had waited upon the new customer he look for the first
visitor, but missed him.

"I wonder who he was," he reflected, puzzled. "I am sure that I have
seen him before."

But think as he might, he could not trace him.

Yet with this man he had had a very exciting experience in Oak Forks,
for it was no other than Tom Burns, the tramp who had entered his
cabin during the night and robbed him, and later had attacked him when
digging for Peter's hidden treasure. It had been only a few months
since they had met, but Tom Burns, during that time, had grown a thick
beard, which had help to disguise him.

It is hardly necessary to explain how Burns had found his way out to
Oreville. It was his business to tramp about the country, and