quickly, but as he started for the door a rifle-cartridge fell
from his torn pocket. It rolled in a circle and as he stooped swiftly
to catch it the bullet came out like a cork and let spill a thin yellow
line.

"What's that?" she asked as he dropped to his knees; and he answered
briefly:

"Gold!"

"What--real gold?" she cried rapturously, "gold from a mine? Oh, I'd
like----"

She stopped short and Rimrock chuckled as he scooped up the elusive
dust.

"All right," he said as he rose to his feet, "I'll make you a present
of it, then," and held out the cartridge of gold.

"Oh, I couldn't!" she thrilled, but he only smiled encouragingly and
poured out the gold in her hand.

"It's nothing," he said, "just the clean-up from a pocket. I run
across a little once in a while."

A panic came over her as she felt the telltale weight of it, and she
hastily poured it back.

"I can't take it, of course," she said with dignity, "but it was awful
good of you to offer it, I'm sure."

"Aw, what do we care?" he protested lightly, but she handed the corked
cartridge back. Then she stood off and looked at him and the huge man
in overalls became suddenly a Croesus in her eyes.

"Is that from your mine?" she asked at last and of a sudden his bronzed
face lighted up.

"You bet it is--but look at this!" and he fetched a polished rock from
his pocket. "That's azurite," he said, "nearly forty per cent. copper!
I'm not telling everybody, but I find big chunks of that, and I've got
a whole mountain of low-grade. What's a gold mine compared to that?"

He gave her the rich rock with its peacock-blue coloring and plunged
forthwith into a description of his find. Now at last he was himself
and to his natural enthusiasm was added the stimulus of her spellbound,
wondering eyes. He talked on and on, giving all the details, and she
listened like one entranced. He told of his long trips across the
desert, his discovery of the neglected mountain of low-grade copper
ore; and then of his enthusiasm when in making a cut he encountered a
pocket of the precious peacock-blue azurite. And then of his scheming
and hiring American-born Mexicans to locate the whole body of ore,
after which he engaged them to do the discovery work and later transfer
the claims to him. And now, half-finished, with no money to pay them,
and not even food to keep them content, the Mexicans had quit work and
unless he brought back provisions all his claims would