e. She also enclosed one
dollar in advance to test the sample for gold and silver and then, as an
afterthought, she enclosed another bill and told him to test it for
copper, lead, and zinc. There was something in that rock--she knew it
just as well as she knew that Wiley was in love with her, and this was
no time to pinch dollars. For ten years and more they had stuck there in
Keno, waiting and waiting for something to happen, but now things had
come to such a pass that it was better to know even the worst. For if
the mine was barren and Wiley, after all, was only trying in his dumb
way to help, then she must pocket her pride and sell him her stock and
go away and hide her head. But if the white quartz was rich--well, that
would be different; there would be several things to explain.

Yet, if the quartz was barren, why did Wiley offer to buy her stock, and
if it was rich, why did he sell his tax deed? And if his father stood
ready to pay ten cents a share for two hundred thousand shares of stock
why did Wiley refuse to redeem her mother's holdings for a petty eight
hundred dollars? He must have the money, for his diamond ring alone was
worth well over a thousand dollars; and he had tried repeatedly to get
possession of this same stock which he now refused to accept as a gift.
Virginia thought it over until her head was in a whirl and at last she
stamped her foot. The assay would tell, and if he had been trying to
cheat her--she drew her lips to a thin, hard line and looked more than
ever like her mother.

The work at the Paymaster went on intermittently, but Blount's early
zest was lacking. For eight, yes, ten years he had waited patiently
for the moment when he should get control of the mine; but now that he
held it, without let or hindrance, somehow his enthusiasm flagged.
Perhaps it was the fact that the timbering was expensive and that his
gropings for the lost ore body came to nothing; but in the back of his
mind Blount's growing distrust dated from the day he had bought
Wiley's quit-claim. Wiley had come to the mine full of fury and
aggressiveness, as his combat with Stiff Neck George clearly showed;
but after he had gone down and inspected the workings he had sold out
for one hundred dollars. And Wiley Holman was a mining engineer, with
a name for Yankee shrewdness--he must have had a reason.

Blount recalled his men from the drifts where they had been working and
set them to crosscutting for the vein. It was t