er you do."

For the next few days, nothing of any special import occurred at the
camp. Houston, soon after the arrival of Morton and Ned Rutherford,
had written to his uncle that preparations were now about completed,
and everything was so nearly in readiness that he and his party had
better come out immediately to one of the western cities, from which
they could be summoned by telegraph on short notice. Accordingly, Mr.
Cameron had already left New York, and in company with his attorney
and the English expert, was now on his way west, Mrs. Cameron also
accompanying him as far west as Chicago, where she was to stop with
friends while he went on to the mines, as she had insisted that she
would feel much happier to be nearer her husband and Everard, so that
she could more easily reach them in the event of any trouble at the
mines.

Van Dorn was progressing well with his work, and the machine would
soon be ready for its trial test, though he said he would in all
probability first have to go to Silver City, in order to have replaced
one or two small but important parts which had been broken in the
long, westward journey.

Lyle, in the midst of the strange happiness which had lately come to
her heart, had not forgotten her resolve to search for the proofs, of
such importance to her. On the contrary, she had now a new and
powerful incentive which gave additional zest to her efforts,
although, thus far, they had proved unsuccessful.

One afternoon, after having made a particularly thorough but fruitless
search, she stole quietly out of the house, and following the little
path along the shore of the lake, soon found herself in her favorite
retreat among the rocks, a secluded place from which there was no sign
of human habitation; only the mountains in their vast solitudes were
visible, their silent grandeur more eloquent than words. It was a spot
that she had loved even in her childhood, and which had, in later
years, been her resort for study and reflection.

In a brief interview with Jack, at the cabin, the previous evening,
she had told him of her increasingly distinct recollections of her
mother, of the angry words between Maverick and his wife which she had
overheard, and of her search which she felt would yet result in her
obtaining possession of the necessary proofs of her identity.

To her surprise, Jack, while commending the course which she was
taking, yet seemed strangely averse to talking much with her upon