w and ice would be
here for long and weary months. My mining would then be over until
another summer. I had been successful beyond my dreaming and could
afford to rest, but I dreaded the tediousness and loneliness of winter.

One evening, while dozing in the depths of the easy chair, I saw a form
bending above the sand and gravel in the next room. I fancied I heard a
pleased and gentle laugh like Olga's of old, and I asked timidly, "What
is it, friend?"

"Here is gold. Will you pan out this sand and gravel? You will be
repaid." And again I heard the gentle laugh.

"What," said I in astonishment, "will I there find gold?"

A gesture of assent was given.

"Then this cabin and others must stand upon rich, gold-bearing ground?"

A second gesture of assent.

With that I wakened. I immediately procured a gold pan from my cabin,
and used it for a few hours to good advantage.

The ground was truly rich; and Olga's form was lying in a bed literally
lined with gold. There was wheat gold as well as dust and small nuggets.
In my agony of mind at her sudden death it had never occurred to me
while digging that the gravel might contain anything of value; but it
was plain to me now. Only for my dream I would surely have shovelled the
sand thoughtlessly outside where someone might have made the discovery
to my own loss.

Not long afterward a strange incident occurred. It happened in the
following way. It was raining and past midnight, being one of the last
rainstorms before the regular freeze-up it was proving to us there was
no shortage of water in the clouds which seemed wide open, and it was
pouring in torrents. For four hours I had been using the pick and shovel
in the frozen gravel under the adjoining cabin, and had finally gone to
sleep, lulled by the patter of the regularly falling rain upon the roof.

Suddenly I was aroused with a fear of--I knew not what. I instantly
sprang from my bed, striking a match, and getting into my clothing as
rapidly as possible, I made my way through the storm into the next
cabin. It was then but a moment's work to lift Olga's casket to the
floor from its icy bed beneath. As I did so a small stream of water
burst its way through below the flooring and began pouring over the
side of the excavation, at the bottom of which only a moment before had
rested Olga's casket.

Like a flash I understood the situation. The small trench around the
cabin had filled with water and become obstructed, wh