utside. Sand's blowin' up
from the lake and gits in their eyes, too. Ain't used to it yet. Come
on."

There were hollyhocks in front of the house and among them I stood
waiting for the old man to open the door.

"Susan," he said, as he stepped into the room, "this here world--this
one right here--is as full of surprises as a chicken is with--with--I
don't know what. Now, don't you take on none, but--come in, Bill."

The old woman started forward with a cry and threw her arms about me.
"There now," old Lim protested, wiping his eyes, "don't take on that
way. Everything's all right. Set down here now and let's be sensible.
That's it. Oh, she's all right, Bill--her folks stood at the stake.
Guinea's comin' down stairs."

Toward the stairway I looked, and Guinea stepped down into the room. And
oh, the smile on her lips as she came toward me! But she did not hold
out her hands--she came close to me, and her bended head almost touched
me, but her hands were held behind her, clasped, I could see. "Not yet,"
she said, looking up with a smile. "But you must not think ill of me,
must not be provoked. Let me have my whimsical way until my whole life
shall be yours."

"She's talkin' like a book!" the old man cried. "Let her talk like one,
Bill. Don't exactly grab her drift as I'd like to, but I know it's all
right. Gracious alive, why don't you women folks git him something to
eat? And, me, too, for I'm as hungry as the she bear that eat up the
children. I wish you'd all set down. Turn him loose, Susan. Ain't
nothin' the matter with him--hungry as a wolf, that's all. Now we are
gettin' at it."

With the door open and with a cool breeze blowing, with the sweetness of
ripening fruit in the air, with the hollyhocks nodding at us, we sat in
that modest room, at home in a strange place. I told them all that had
befallen me. I gradually led up to the discovery of the mine. "And now,"
I added, "we go back there, not poor, but rich. There is no telling how
many dollars they may give us."

"Not us, Bill," the old man interposed, slowly shaking his head; "not
us, but you. It's yours, all yours. You bought the land and all that's
on it or under it belongs to you."

"No, Mr. Jucklin, it belongs to you, to Alf and to me. There will be
enough for us all, but no matter how little, you and Alf shall share it.
I am just beginning fully to realize it--but I know that we are rich. It
is necessary for me to get back at once," I added. "I'll