asn't
it kind of him, when he heard you were missing, to send all those
search-parties out? It must have cost him several hundred dollars. And
it shows that even the men we like the least are capable of generous
impulses. He told Father he wouldn't have it happen for anything--I
mean, for you to come to any harm. All he wanted, he said, was the
mine."

"Yes," nodded Wunpost, and she ran on unheeding as he drew down the
corners of his mouth. But he could agree to that quite readily, for he
knew from his own experience that all Eells wanted was the mine. It was
only a question now of what move he would make next to bring about the
consummation of that wish. For it was Eells' next move, since, according
to Wunpost's reasoning, the magnate was already whipped. His plans for
tracing Wunpost to the source of his wealth had ended in absolute
disaster and the only other move he could possibly make would be along
the line of compromise. Wunpost had told him flat that he would not go
near his mine, no one else knew even its probable location; and yet,
when he had gone to him and suggested some compromise, Eells had refused
even to consider it. Therefore he must have other plans in view.

But all this was far away and almost academic to the lovelorn John C.
Calhoun, and if Eells never approached him on the matter of the
Sockdolager it would be soon enough for him. What he wanted was the
privilege of helping Billy feed the chickens and throw down hay to his
mules, and then to wander off up the trail to the tunnel that opened out
on the sordid world below. There the restless money-grabbers were
rushing to and fro in their fight for what treasures they knew, but one
kiss from Wilhelmina meant more to him now than all the gold in the
world. But her kisses, like gold, came when least expected and were
denied when he had hoped for them most; and the spell he held over her
seemed once more near to breaking, for on the third day he forgot
himself and talked. No, it was not just talk--he boasted of his mine,
and there for the first time they jarred.

"Well, I don't care," declared Wilhelmina, "if you have got a rich mine!
That's no reason for saying that Father's is no good; because it is, if
it only had a road."

Now here, if ever, was the golden opportunity for remaining silent and
looking intelligent; but Wunpost forgot his early resolve and gave way
to an ill-timed jest.

"Yes," he said, "that's like the gag the Texas land-boomer