sibilities. But, alas, Birdie was just a woman, and, in
consequence, from a worldly point of view, her drawbacks were many.
She was attractive--a drawback. She was given to a natural desire to
stand first with all men--another drawback. She was eminently
sentimental--a still greater drawback. But greatest of all she was a
sort of public servant in her position as caterer, and, as such, of
less than no account from the moment the "beast" had been satisfied.

She had her moments, moments when the rising good-nature of her
customers flattered her, when she was fussed over, and petted, as men
are ever ready to treat an attractive member of the opposite sex. But
these things led nowhither, from a point of view of worldly advantage,
and, being just a woman, warm-hearted, uncalculating and profoundly
illogical, she failed to realize the pitfalls that lay before her, the
end which, all unsuspecting, she was steadily forging towards.

Scipio, like the rest, came into camp for his dinner. His way lay
along the bank of the creek. It was cooler here, and, until he neared
his home, there were no hills up which to drag his weary limbs. He had
had, as usual, an utterly unprofitable morning amidst the greasy ooze
of his claim. Yet the glitter of the mica-studded quartz on the
hillside, the bright-green and red-brown shading of the milky-white
stone still dazzled his mental sight. There was no wavering in his
belief. These toilsome days were merely the necessary probation for
the culminating achievement. He assured himself that gold lay hidden
there. And it was only waiting for the lucky strike of his pick. He
would find it. It was just a matter of keeping on.

In his simple mind he saw wonderful visions of all that final
discovery. He dreamt of the day when he should be able to install his
beautiful Jessie in one of those up-town palaces in New York; when an
army of servants should anticipate her every desire; when the twins
should be launched upon the finest academies the country possessed, to
gorge their young minds to the full with all that which the minds of
the children of earth's most fortunate must be stored. He saw his
Jessie clad in gowns which displayed and enhanced all those beauties
with which his devoted mind endowed her. She should not only be his
queen, but the queen of a social world, which, to his mind, had no
rival. And the happiness of such dreams was beyond compare. His labor
became the work of a love which stimul