u to say so, Mr. Peril, though how a poor, ignorant
chap like me can prove a valuable friend to a swell like you is more
than I can make out."

At this the other smiled. "I don't know just what you mean by a
swell," he said. "But I suppose you mean a gentleman of wealth and
leisure. If so, I certainly am no more of a swell than you, nor so
much, for I have just expended my last dollar for this railroad
ticket, and have no idea where I shall get another. In fact, I do not
know where I shall obtain a supper or find a sleeping-place for
to-night, and think it extremely probable that I shall go without
either. I hope very much, though, to find a job of work to-morrow that
will provide me with both food and shelter for the immediate future."

"Work! Are you looking for work?" asked Tom, gazing at Peveril's natty
travelling-suit, and speaking with a tone of incredulity.

"That is what I have come to this country to look for," was the
smiling answer. "I came here because I was told that this was the one
section of the United States unaffected by hard times, and because I
had a letter of introduction to a gentleman in Hancock whom I thought
would assist me in getting a position. To my great disappointment, he
had left town, to be gone for several months, and, as I could not
afford to await his return, I applied for work at the Quincy and other
mines, only to be refused."

"Is it work in the mines you are looking for?" asked Tom Trefethen,
evidently doubting if he had heard aright.

"Yes, that or any other by which I can make an honest living."

"Well, sir, I wouldn't have believed it if any one but yourself had
told me."

"But you must believe it, for it is true, and I am now on my way to
Red Jacket because I have been told there is more work to be had there
than at any other place in the whole copper region, or in the State,
for that matter."

"And more people to do it, too," muttered Tom Trefethen, as he sank
into a brown-study.

By this time the train had climbed from the muddy level of Portage
Lake, which with its recently cut ship-canals bisects Keweenaw Point,
making of its upper end an island, and was speeding northward over a
rough upland. Its way led through a naked country of rocks and
low-growing scrub, for the primitive growth of timber had been
stripped for use in the mines. Every now and then it passed tall
shaft-houses and chimneys, belching forth thick volumes of smoke,
which, with their clustering v