"What, the guy that knows all about rocks and such like?" burst out
the miner.

"I believe I have achieved some small fame in that line," said the
professor.

"Wa'al if this don't beat pay dirt I'm a Piute," exclaimed the miner.
"Give us your hand, Professor. I was on my way ter see you when that
thar buzz wagon busted me higher nor a turkey buzzard."

"On your way to see me?" echoed the professor in amazed tones.

"Yes, siree bob, that very identical thing," was the bronzed miner's
reply.

"But I don't quite understand. You see I----"

"That's all right, Professor. We'll git down ter pay dirt direc'ly,"
said the miner. "You know of the Scientific Society in Bosting, of
course?"

"I am a member of that body, sir," was the dignified reply of the
little man.

"Well, they giv' me your name. Said you was the biggest bug on rocks,
minerals and sich in the country and so I sets out to pay a call on
you."

"But you were many miles from where I live," said the professor. "The
railroad, or the trolley----"

"Don't carry folks for nothing," interrupted Zeb, "and nothing's my
capital right now."

"You mean that you were walking from Boston?" asked the professor.

"That's right," was the reply. "Landed there on ship from round the
Horn last week. Got paid off but some sneak thief in the boarding
house I was stopping at got my roll. So I had to hoof it."

"But what did you want with me?" asked the professor.

"I wanted you ter tell me ef that thar stuff in the glass tube is
worth anything or nothing," was the reply.

"Why, do you know where there is more of it?" asked the professor, and
the boys could see that he was oddly excited, although preserving an
appearance of outward calm.

"Yes, siree," was the emphatic reply. "I know whar thar's enough of it
to load a freight train."

"Shades of Huxley!" gasped the professor, actually turning pale. "Do
you mean that?"

"I sure do, Professor. It's all down on a map what Blue Nose Sanchez
give me afore he passed in his checks."

CHAPTER XV.

A TALE OF THE COLORADO.

"Do you fully realize what you are telling me?" asked the professor.
The doctor and the nurse had left the room, and the miner, the
scientist and the boys were alone.

"Course I do," was the rejoinder of the yellow-bearded giant with the
bandaged head. "There ought ter be a fortune in it 'cording to what
Blue Nose Sanchez said. Was he lyin', Professor?"

"I don't think so. But tell us