hough he had often carried it forth when the time seemed
propitious.

But Eli had been looking around ever since they landed, and it was his
settled conviction that the country in that section had all the color of
a copper region.

Copper was Eli's little god.

He eternally dreamed of some day finding a ledge of such incredible
richness as would make all previous discoveries sink into utter
insignificance; and from his delightful share of the profits from the
mine he meant to satisfy that yearning for seeing foreign lands; for
long had he looked forward to the time to come when he could visit
Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Germany and all those countries he had read so
much about.

His only prospect of ever getting there, in his mind, lay in this
discovery of copper, and copper haunted him day and night.

Cuthbert knew all about his yearning, and in his own mind had long since
arranged it so that Eli would share his next trip abroad; but the other
knew not what luck was awaiting him and so he kept thinking of this
happy find, and his eyes were constantly on the watch for "signs."

And now more than ever before he was convinced that he must be in a
country where there was undiscovered copper veins.

That no one has as yet stumbled upon them did not strike the lad as
strange, for he knew that those who stalked through this wilderness
were, for the most part, ignorant trappers or Indians, who would not
know the value of a find if they fell over the richest outcropping ever
found.

Eli had studied up the subject in his leisure hours for some years past,
and was fully posted on all that pertained to its various branches.

So while he was walking ahead and looking with one eye for big game his
other optic was on the alert for any signs of an outcropping of the
rich metal that had been given the place of honor in his heart.

This accounted in some measure for his eccentric advance; for many times
he turned aside to bend low over some suspicious spot where his keen eye
had detected symptoms of a deposit.

Although disappointment came again and again Eli never despaired, for he
was certain he would sooner or later come upon that which he meant to
have, and the delay, while aggravating, could not crush his spirits.

Twice later on he found reason to believe he was getting nearer the
object of his ambition, for the signs were certainly growing stronger;
and thus he was being lured further and further away from the camp.

T