won't have any trouble
after this, because if we do--well, we'd have to find out which was
the better man."

Bully Presby's eyes flashed a singular look. It seemed as if they
carried something of approval, and at the same time a longing to test
the question of physical superiority. And then, abruptly, he laughed.
Astonished by this strange, complex character, Bill relaxed, and
turned toward his partner. Dick, seeing that the interview was ended,
as far as the necessity for saying anything was concerned, moved
across the bridge, and Bill took a last hard stare at the mine owner.
The latter laughed again, with his cold, cynical rumble.

"I think," he said, "that when the Cross shuts down for good, I'd like
to give you a job. When it does, come and see me."

Without another look, word, or sign of interest, he turned his back on
them, and marched up the hill toward the Rattler.

CHAPTER X

TROUBLE STALKS ABROAD

August had come, with its broiling heat at midday and its chill at
night, when the snow, perpetual on the peaks, sent its cold breezes
downward to the gulches below. Here and there the grass was dying. The
lines on Dick's brows had become visible; and even Mathews' resolute
sanguinity was being tested to the utmost. The green lead was barely
paying expenses. There had come no justification for a night shift,
and use of all the batteries of the mill, for the ledge of ore was
gradually, but certainly, narrowing to a point where it must
eventually pinch out.

Five times, in as many weeks, Dick had crossed the hill and waited for
Miss Presby. Twice he had been bitterly disappointed, and three times
she had cantered around to meet him. Their first meeting had been
constrained. He felt that it was due to his own bald discovery that
he wanted her more than anything in life, and was debarred from
telling her so. In the second meeting she had been the good comrade,
and interested, palpably, in the developments at the Croix d'Or.

"You should sink, I believe," she had said hesitatingly, as if with a
delicate fear that she was usurping his position. "I know this
district very well, indeed; and there isn't a mine along this range
that has paid until it had gone the depth. Do I talk like a miner?"

She laughed, in cheerful carelessness as if his worries meant but
little to her.

"You see, I've heard so much of mines and mining, although my father
seldom talks of them to me, that I know the geological formati