ession
that was not altogether pleasant. Winn, suddenly looking up from his
hard thinking, was a bit startled by it; but as it instantly melted
into one of smiling sympathy, his confidence in the man remained
unbroken. Had he seen Mr. Gilder two hours earlier, instead of one,
his opinion of the individual who had just prepared such a capital
breakfast, expressed so great friendliness, and now showed him so
plainly the unpleasant predicament into which he had fallen, would have
been decidedly different.

At that time Mr. Gilder was kneeling beside an opening in the floor of
a log-hut, in the centre of the island, and lifting from it a tray of
odd-looking but beautifully made tools. The hut was small and rudely
constructed. It was surrounded by a dense forest growth, and stood in
a tiny clearing from which no road or trail could be seen to lead. All
its appointments were of the most primitive description, and yet a
single glance into its interior would have impressed one with the
belief that its occupants were millionaires. The effect of piles and
stacks of greenbacks, enough to form the capital of a city bank or fill
the vaults of a sub-treasury, amid such surroundings, would certainly
have startled even those accustomed to the handling of great wealth.
The bills, all of which were new and crisp, were done up in neat
packages, each of which was marked with the number of hundreds or
thousands of dollars it contained. In one corner of the room stood a
small printing-press of exquisite make. Besides this press, a
work-bench, table, and several rude stools, the single room of the hut
contained only the piles of greenbacks.

A man sat beside the table counting and sorting a large number of
bills, the worn appearance of which showed them to have been in active
circulation for some time. This man was small, and had a weazened face
devoid of hair except for a pair of bushy, iron-gray eyebrows, beneath
which his eyes gleamed as cunningly bright as those of a fox. He
answered to the name of Grimshaw; and as he counted bills with the
deftness and rapidity of a bank cashier, he also paid a certain amount
of attention to the remarks of his companion, who was talking earnestly.

"I tell you what it is, Grim," the other was saying, as he bent over
the secret opening in the floor, "it's high time we were moving. This
is a first-class location, and we've done well here; but you know as
well as I do that our business require