p,
and his smile broadened. Then it faded out as he beheld the usually
mild expression of the yellow-haired prospector now so set and
troubled.

"Gee!" he murmured in an undertone. Then, with an evident effort, he
offered a greeting.

"Ho, you, Zip! Drawn a blank way up ther' on your mudbank?"

Scipio looked up in a dazed fashion. Then he halted and seemed to pull
himself together. Finally he spoke.

"Howdy?" he said in a mechanical sort of way.

"Guess I'm a heap better," responded Sunny, with twinkling eyes.

Scipio gazed up at the store in a bewildered way. He saw the great
letters in which Minky's name and occupation were inscribed on its
pretentious front, and it seemed to bring back his purpose to his
distracted mind. Instantly the other's words became intelligible to
him, and his native kindliness prompted him.

"You been sick?" he demanded.

"Wal, not rightly sick, but--ailin'." Sunny's smile broadened till a
mouthful of fairly decent teeth showed through the fringe of his
ragged mustache.

"Ailin'?"

"Yep. Guess I bin overdoin' it."

"It don't do, working too hard in the heat," said Scipio absently.

"Sure," replied Sunny. "It's been a hard job avoidin' it. Ther's allus
folk ready to set me workin'. That's just the way o' things. What I
need is rest. Say, you ain't workin'?"

Scipio started.

"No. I'm looking for Wild Bill."

Sunny Oak jerked his head backwards in the direction of the window.

"Guess he's at work--in ther'."

"Thanks."

Scipio mounted the veranda and passed along to the door of the store.
Sunny's eyes followed him, but he displayed no other interest. With
ears and brain alert, however, he waited. He knew that all he required
to know would reach him through a channel that was quite effortless to
himself. Again he stretched himself out on the bench, and his
twinkling eyes closed luxuriously.

Minky's store was very little different from other places of its kind.
He sold everything that could possibly be needed in a newly started
mining camp. He did not confine himself to hardware and clothing and
canned goods, but carried a supply of drugs, stationery and general
dry goods, besides liquor in ample quantities, if of limited quality.
There was rye whisky, there was gin, and there was some sort of French
brandy. The two latter were in the smallest quantities. Rye was the
staple drink of the place.

The walls of the store were lined with shelves on every side, and the
she