gainst
the weird hue of the sky, then vanish altogether. Once more in all
this vast, dread waste moves nothing save the vultures indolently
circling in the hot dome above.

Days later a dust-covered automobile worms its way through the traffic
in Los Angeles and comes to rest before a tall office building. Two as
dusty as the car descend from the tonneau, and one leaves the seat
beside the driver. Pedestrians stare curiously at the trio as, talking
and laughing in high spirits, they cross the pavement to the building's
entrance.

"Desert rats--mining folks," observes a wiseacre to his friend. "Look
at the girl and the chaps! Peach, eh? That's the life! Ho-hum!
Gotta get back to the old office, Bill. See you to-night at lodge, I
s'pose. S'long!"

In a lavishly furnished anteroom of a suite of offices on the top floor
of the building, Jerkline Jo and Hiram Hooker sank into overstuffed
chairs and relaxed, while the other man, in khaki and scarred puttees,
excused himself and entered the rooms beyond, carrying a suit case that
tugged at his arm until his shoulder sagged. He was absent from the
intercom a half hour.

"Well, boy," said Jerkline Jo, "it's all over, I guess. What an
experience! I thought I knew the desert and the rough life before, but
I wasn't out of my A B C's."

"It was glorious, though," said Hiram. "I wouldn't have missed it,
dear, for worlds."

"Nor I, either. But I don't wish ever to return. Once is enough."

After this they were silent. Both sat with eyes closed, dreaming of
the past and the beckoning future. Their dreams were finally
interrupted by the reappearance of Mr. John Downer, the mining engineer
for the Gold Hills Mining Co., in whose offices they now sat.

"Well," he began, smiling, "if you'll come in now, Mr. Floresta would
like to have a talk with you. Getting a bit rested, Miss Modock?"

Mr. Floresta, president of the Gold Hills Mining Co., was a pudgy, pink
man, carefully groomed and manicured and barbered, who radiated
businesslike good nature. On his rich mahogany desk lay a row of gold
specimens that glittered in the sunlight streaming in through a window.
He shook hands warmly with Jo and Hiram; and when all were seated they
talked of the trip for a time, and then the president plunged to the
heart of the business that had brought them together.

"Knowing that you were in a hurry, Miss Modock," he said, "I called a
meeting of the stockholders, and we r