d him."

"An' the bear was gone, too, did ye say?"

"Yes; nothing left of it. I suppose the Indians came for it. Perhaps
Glen was with them, and so I missed another chance of seeing her."

During this conversation Frontier Samson had been standing. But now he
sat down upon the ground, and remained for some time in deep thought.
He filled and lighted his pipe, and smoked in silence, while Reynolds
continued his work upon the sketch.

"When d'ye expect to leave camp?" Samson at length asked.

But Reynolds made no reply. He went on steadily with his work, while
the old man watched him with twinkling eyes.

"Completely gone," he mused. "Deaf to the world. Can't hear nuthin'.
It's a sure sign."

"What's that? Were you speaking?" Reynolds suddenly asked.

"Speakin'! Sure. Why, me tongue's been goin' like a mill-clapper,
though ye never heard a word I said."

"I was lost, I guess," and Reynolds smiled as he turned toward the
sketch.

"So I imagined. But, then, I fergive ye, fer I was young once meself,
an' in love, too, so I know all the signs. I only wanted to know when
ye expect to hit the trail on yer great adventure?"

"To-morrow," was the emphatic reply. "This place won't keep me an hour
longer than I can help. I am sick of it."

"How d'ye expect to travel?"

"On foot, of course; straight over the mountains."

"D'ye realise the dangers?"

"Dangers are nothing to me; I am used to them."

"But s'pose I should tell ye it's impossible to git behind the Golden
Crest?"

"Then, I like to do the impossible. There are plenty to do the
ordinary things. I want to do the extraordinary, the so-called
impossible. Did you ever hear the song that the Panama Canal diggers
used to sing to cheer them up?"

"No; what is it?"

"I only know four lines; they go this way:

"'Got any rivers they say are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?
We specialize on the wholly impossible,
Doing the things that no man can do.'

"I like those words, and they have heartened me more than once."

"They're sartinly stirrin', an' I like the spirit of 'em," the
prospector replied. "But it seems to me that ye've got to use common
sense as well as spirit. Now reason tells me that ye need someone to
help ye in this undertakin' of yours, an' why shouldn't that someone be
me?"

"You! Could you help me?" Reynolds eagerly asked. "Will you go with
me?"

"I might on a sartin condition."

"A