mily took the beach around the bluff toward the
north. Ellen carried the rifle, for though there had been no time yet
to hunt, especially for the great bear that roamed Kon Klayu, she was
always on the alert. Boreland, happier than he had been since his
landing, was at last outfitted with a shovel and a gold pan, emblems of
his romantic calling.

Each storm that tore the Island produced a different effect on the
beach. When they rounded the bluff this morning, instead of finding
piles of seaweed and gravel tossed up as they had after the first great
gale, they were surprised at vast areas of bedrock from which every
vestige of sand had been swept away. Tiny rills of water, drainage
from the tundra banks above the beachline, flowed down the shallow
crevices of the clayey, hard substance.

Jean, who had never seen a nugget in its native state, was excitedly
searching for pieces of gold. Ellen smiled to see her, with Loll at
her heels, running hither and thither, expecting any moment to come
upon large, brassy-looking lumps resting like eggs on the hardpan.

Boreland skirted the edges of the bedrock.

They had reached the vicinity of Bear Paw Lake when abruptly he dropped
to his knees and looked keenly at the formation beneath him. In an
instant they were all running toward him.

He raised his face transfigured with an eager joy.

"Gosh all hemlock!" he exclaimed. "Here it is at last! Ruby
sand--_kon klayu_! Look, El! Jean!"

At the edge of the bedrock dark beach sand was mixed with minute
garnet-like particles that imparted to it a tinge of ruby. A first
glance revealed nothing but rills of water running down through the
sand carrying it through the depression in the bedrock. Like live
things the atoms crawled slowly along the seam. Suddenly each watcher
caught her breath. Amid the shifting flow there came a glint--then
another. A second later, in the roughened surface of the bedrock lay
flakes of virgin gold!

Gold!

No thrill that gold can buy ever equals the wild ecstasy experienced by
those who find it. Jean threw her arms successively about her happy
sister and brother-in-law, and finished by capering over the bedrock
with Loll as a willing partner.

When the first excitement had spent itself, Boreland sent the boy to
Kayak Bill and Harlan with word to bring shovels and the wheelbarrow.
It was necessary to gather and convey the pay-sand to a place of safety
before the next tide covered it