to the front, respected by all, but genuinely liked
by only a very few.

Jack Burton had regarded him as a friend for years, but even Jack could
not claim a very close intimacy with him. He merely understood the man's
silences better than most. His words were very rarely of a confidential
order.

He was emphatically not a man to attract any girl very readily, and Dot's
attitude towards him had always been of a strictly impersonal nature. In
fact, Jack himself did not know whether she really liked him or not. Yet
had he set his heart upon seeing her safely married to him. There was no
other man of his acquaintance to whom he would willingly have entrusted
her. For Dot was very precious in his eyes. But to his mind Fletcher Hill
was worthy of her, and he believed that she would be as safe in his care
as in his own.

That Fletcher Hill had long cherished the silent ambition of winning her
was a fact well known to him. Only once had they ever spoken on the
subject, and then the words had been few and briefly uttered. But to
Jack, who had taken the initiative in the matter, they had been more than
sufficient to testify to the man's earnestness of purpose. From that day
he had been heart and soul on Fletcher's side.

He wished he could have given him a hint that evening as he looked up to
see the girl standing in the doorway; for Dot was so cold, so aloof in
her welcome. He did not see what Hill saw at the first glance--that she
was quivering from head to foot with nervous agitation.

She set down her tray and gave her hand to the visitor. "Doesn't Rupert
want a drink?" she said.

Rupert was his horse, and his most dearly prized possession. Hill's rare
smile showed for a moment at the question.

"Let him cool down a bit first," he said. "I am afraid I've ridden him
rather hard."

She gave him a fleeting glance. "You have come from Trelevan?"

"Yes. I got there this afternoon. We left Wallacetown early this
morning."

"Rode all the way?" questioned Jack.

"Yes, every inch. I wanted to see the Fortescue Gold Mine."

"Ah! There's a rough crowd there," said Jack. "They say all the uncaught
criminals find their way to the Fortescue Gold Mine."

"Yes," said Hill.

"Is it true?" asked Adela, curiously.

"I am not in a position to say, madam." Hill's voice sounded sardonic.

"That means he doesn't know," explained Jack. "Look here, man! If you've
ridden all the way from Wallacetown to-day you can't go back to Tre