came home," and that rich copper
deposit cropped up before his eager eyes.

Few boys there be who fail to have a hobby of some sort--with some it is
the pretty general craze for stamp collecting, others go in for coins,
autographs, birds' eggs, specimens of birds, weapons of worldwide
people, rabbits, pigeons--well, the list is almost inexhaustible, when
you come to think of it.

Cuthbert's weakness, as has already been seen, lay in the line of travel
and exploration, and the chances were that as he grew older he would
develop into a bona fide Livingstone or a Stanley, eager to see faraway
lands where the feet of a white man had probably never before wandered,
and the mystery of which he might be the very first to unearth.

With Eli it was copper, morning, noon and night; he asked a thousand
questions about the ore, where it had been found, what the character of
the rocks peculiar to the region, and all such things, making copious
notes the while, until as his comrade Cuthbert said, he should be about
one of the best posted fellows in that line in the country--still, up to
this day he had not met with such a measure of success as to turn his
head; though Eli was a most determined chap, and bound to hold on after
the manner of a bulldog, once he had taken a grip.

Perhaps Owen also had his particular hobby; but if so the others had as
yet been granted little opportunity of realizing what it was.

Given time and it would no doubt develop itself.

Cuthbert had a good deal of patience, and prided himself on his waiting
qualities, so that he made little effort to hasten matters.

As he had planned, however, while he sat by the glowing fire, which felt
very good on this cool night, he drew out the bunch of charts, and began
to absorb himself in the maze of lines and figures, anticipating that
when Owen saw what he had before him he must evince more or less
curiosity concerning the same, and offer to pass upon their genuine
value.

The Canadian lad sat for some time staring into the fire, as though lost
in self-communion; and Cuthbert could easily imagine that affairs
connected with his life in this country were engrossing his attention.

Many a sly look did Cuthbert flash over that way, for somehow there
seemed to be a wonderful fascination about Owen's personality that
appealed strongly to him, though he found it utterly impossible to
analyze this feeling, in order to make out whether it was pure sympathy
toward on