ey were
persuasive. Said he: 'Put that back in your pocket, you damned fool, and
come out of here."

Wade looked anxiously at his audience to see if she was shocked. She
didn't look so; only eager and sympathetic. He went on.

"Well, I went. He lugged me over to his room across the street and--and
was hospitable. He made me talk and I told him how I was fixed. He told
me who he was and said he thought he could find a job for me. And he
did. He was partner with a man named Hogan in an assay office and knew a
good many mine managers and superintendents. The next day I went to work
running an air-drill at four dollars a day. That's how I met Ed. We got
to be pretty good friends after that. Later I went over and roomed with
him. He was only two years older than I, but he always seemed about ten.
I told him about the Sangre--about the country I'd prospected in the
summer and we agreed to go over it together. In the spring, when the
snow was off, we started out. We bought a good outfit, two burros, a
good tent, and everything we could need. We expected to be away all
summer, but we struck gold about five weeks after we reached the
mountains. Struck it rich, too. All that summer we slaved like Dagoes
and by fall we had a prospect good enough to show any one. But we needed
money for development, and it was then I suggested to Ed that he write
to Mr. Walton. You see, I'd heard a good deal about his folks and about
Eden Village by that time. Evenings, after you've had supper and while
you're smoking your pipe, there isn't much to talk about except your
people and things back in God's country. And we'd told each other about
everything we knew by autumn. But Ed wouldn't consider his uncle; said
we'd have to find some one else to put in the money. So we had a
clean-up and I started East with a trunk full of samples and a pocket
full of papers. Ed gave me the names of some men to see. As luck had it,
I didn't have to go further than Omaha. The first man I tackled bit and
three months later we started development. Ed and I kept a controlling
interest. Now the--" Wade pulled himself up, gulped and hesitated--"the
mine is the richest in that district and is getting better all the
time."

"It's like a fairy tale, almost," said Eve.

"What is the name of the mine, Mr. Herrick?"

"Well--er--we usually just called it 'The Mine.' It isn't listed on the
exchange, you see. There aren't any shares on the market."

"Really? But I wasn't t