ting for gold," he
said; "don't you understand?"

"Are ye a miner?"

"Well, yes--a sort of one," he returned, with a laugh.

"Then ye'd better be scootin' out o' this mighty quick afore dad comes.
He don't cotton to miners, and won't have 'em around. That's why he
lives out here."

"Well, I don't live out here," responded the young man lightly. "I
shouldn't be here if I hadn't lost my way, and in half an hour I'll be
off again. So I'm not likely to bother him. But," he added, as the girl
still hesitated, "I'll leave a deposit for the pan, if you like."

"Leave a which?"

"The money that the pan's worth," said Fleming impatiently.

The huge sunbonnet stiffly swung around like the wind-sail of a ship
and stared at the horizon. "I don't want no money. Ye kin git," said the
voice in its depths.

"Look here," he said desperately, "I only wanted to prove to you that
I'll bring your pan back safe. Now look! If you don't like to take
money, I'll leave this ring with you until I come back. There!" He
slipped a small specimen ring, made out of his first gold findings, from
his little finger.

The sunbonnet slowly swung around again and stared at the ring. Then the
little red right hand reached forward, took the ring, placed it on the
forefinger of the left hand, with all the other fingers widely extended
for the sunbonnet to view, and all the while the pan was still held
against her side by the other hand. Fleming noticed that the hands,
though tawny and not over clean, were almost childlike in size, and that
the forefinger was much too small for the ring. He tried to fathom the
depths of the sun-bonnet, but it was dented on one side, and he could
discern only a single pale blue eye and a thin black arch of eyebrow.

"Well," said Fleming, "is it a go?"

"Of course ye'll be comin' back for it again," said the girl slowly.

There was so much of hopeless disappointment at that prospect in her
voice that Fleming laughed outright. "I'm afraid I shall, for I value
the ring very much," he said.

The girl handed him the pan. "It's our bread pan," she said.

It might have been anything, for it was by no means new; indeed, it was
battered on one side and the bottom seemed to have been broken; but it
would serve, and Fleming was anxious to be off. "Thank you," he said
briefly, and turned away. The hound barked again as he passed; he heard
the girl say, "Shut your head, Tige!" and saw her turn back into the
kitchen, still h