sticated child would stand up and fight like a wildcat. And he
began to perceive too that she was not such a child--she was a woman,
with the experience of a child. In the ways of the world she was a mere
babe in the woods but in intellect and character she was far from being
dwarfed and her honesty was positively embarrassing. It crowded him into
corners that were hard to get out of and forced him to make excuses for
himself, whereas at the moment he was all lit up with joy over the
miracle of his second big strike. He had discovered the Wunpost, and
lost it on a fluke; but the Willie Meena was different--if he kept the
peace with her they would both come out with a fortune.

"Never mind now, kid," he said at last, "your father is all right--I
like him. And if he thinks he can get rich by building roads up the
canyon, that's his privilege; it's nothing to me. But you string along
with me on our mine down below and there'll be money and to spare for us
both; and then you can take your share and build the old man a road
that'll make 'em all take notice! About twenty thousand dollars ought to
fix the matter up, but if we get to gee-hawing and Dusty Rhodes mixes in
there won't be a dollar for any of us. We've got to stand together,
see--you and me against old Dusty--and that will give us control."

"Well, I didn't start the quarrel," said Billy, beginning to blink, "but
it makes me mad, just because father won't give up to have everybody
saying he's crazy. But he isn't--he knows just exactly what he's
doing--and some day he'll be a rich man when these Blackwater
pocket-miners are destitute. The Homestake mine produced half a million
dollars, the second time they opened it up, and if the road hadn't
washed out it would be producing yet and my father would be rated a
millionaire. If he would sell out his claims, or just organize a company
and give outside capitalists control----"

"Don't you do it!" warned Wunpost, who made a very poor listener,
"they'll skin you, every time. The party that has control can take over
the property and exclude the minority stockholders from the ground, and
all they can do is to sue for an accounting and demand a look at the
books. But the books are nothing, it's what's underground that counts,
and if you try to go down they can kill you. I learned that from Judson
Eells when he put me out of Wunpost--and say, we can work that on Dusty!
We'll treat him white at first, but the minute he gets gay