d the shoe on him, and at last said he did
it, and was sorry for just one thing, that he didn't get all of us.
Said he'd 'a' blown the bunk-house and the office up in a week more,
and that he'd tried to get you two with a bowlder and had killed your
burros--well, when we swung him off, he was still cursing every one
and everything connected with the Croix d'Or."

He paused for an instant, then came closer, and lowered his voice.

"And that ain't all. He said just before he went off--just like
this--mind you: 'I'd 'a' got Bully Presby, too, because he didn't
treat me fair, after me doin' my best and a-keepin' my mouth shut
about what I knew of the big lead.' Now, what in hell do you suppose
he meant by that?"

CHAPTER XIV

"THOUGH LOVE SAY NAY"

"Of one thing I am sure," said Dick on the following day, when they
began to readjust themselves for a decision, "and that is that if we
can find work for them, there isn't a man on the works that I don't
want to keep. They are too true and loyal to lose."

"We could drive into the blacksmith's tunnel," Bill said; "and I've an
idea we might strike something when we pass under that hard cone just
above--well, just about under where Bells is. I saw it yesterday when
we were up there for the first time. That would give the millman and
his gang something to do. Some of 'em can take out the rest of the
green lead, and after that drift see if it comes in again. And the
others that can't do anything underground, can turn to and build up
the dam, with a few masons to help, and, when a new wheel comes, the
millman will know how to set that all right again. So, you see, we
don't have to lose any of them that has stood by us, so long as Sloan
is ready to take his gamble and the hundred thousand lasts. Before
that's gone, we'll just have to make good. And somehow I feel we
will."

As if to add to the mental trials of the half-owner of the Croix d'Or,
but another day elapsed after this decision and adjustment before he
received a letter from a Seattle broker offering him a price for his
interest in the mine. Thus wrote the agent:

"My client has the timber and water rights of your property in view
more than anything underground, which, on the advice of experts who
have visited the property in previous years, he seems to regard as
worthless. He informs me that you are, to all intents, representing
not only your own interest, but that of the other partner, who places
implicit