, the glow of which
fell full upon his face, revealing every feature like carving.
His nose was hooked slightly, and to Dick it now looked like the
beak of an eagle. The somber eyes, too, expressed brooding and
mastery alike.

Despite himself, Dick felt again that he was in the presence of
power, and he was oppressed by a sense of foreboding.

"It was worth attention," said Bright Sun in the slow, precise
tones of one who speaks a language not his own, but who speaks it
perfectly. "The white man's gold is calling to him loudly. It
calls all through the day and night. Do these men with whom you
travel go to anything certain far over on the coast of the
Western ocean? No, they are leaves blown by the wind. The wind
now blows in the direction of the Black Hills, where the gold is
said to be, and to-morrow the wagon train turns its head that
way."

Dick sat up straight, and Albert, wrapped in his blanket, leaned
forward to listen.

"But the engagement with us all," said Dick, "was to go to the
Pacific. Albert and I paid our share for that purpose. Conway
knows it."

The Indian looked at Dick. The boy thought he saw a flickering
smile of amusement in his eyes, but it was faint, and gone in a
moment.

"Conway does not care for that," said the Indian. "Your
contracts are nothing to him. This is the wilderness, and it
stretches away for many hundreds of miles in every direction.
The white man's law does not come here. Moreover, nearly all
wish him to turn to the North and the gold."

Albert suddenly spoke, and his tone, though thin from physical
weakness, was quick, intense, and eager.

"Why couldn't we go on with them, Dick?" he said. "We have
nothing definite on the Pacific coast. We are merely taking
chances, and if the Black Hills are full of gold, we might get
our share!"

Dick's eyes glistened. If one had to go, one might make the best
of it. The spirit of romance was alive within him. He was only
a boy.

"Of course we'll go, Al," he said lightly, "and you and I will
have a tone of gold inside a year."

Bright Sun looked at the two boys, first one and then the other,
stalwart Dick and weak Albert. It seemed to Dick that he saw a
new expression in the Indian's eyes, one that indicated the
shadow of regret. He resented it. Did Bright Sun think that
Albert and he were not equal to the task?

"I am strong," he said; "I can lift and dig enough for two; but
Albert will also be strong, a