"

"But, Mother," protested Virginia, "_he_ hasn't done any work yet.
They haven't made any strike at the mine. Why not let it go until they
pump out the water and really find some ore? And besides, how could
Wiley know anything about it? He's never been down the shaft."

"But--why you told me yourself----"

"I never told you anything!" burst out Virginia tearfully. "You just
jump at everything like a flea. And now you'll tell everybody, and
Wiley'll say I did it, and----"

"Virginia Huff!" cried her mother, dramatically, "are you in love with
that--thief?"

"He is not! No, I am not! Oh, I wish you'd quit talking to me--I tell
you he never told me _anything_!"

"Well, for goodness sake!" exclaimed the Widow pityingly, and stalked
off to think it over.

"You, Charley!" she exclaimed as she found Death Valley on the gallery
pretending to nail up a box, "you leave those things alone. Well, that's
all right; we've changed our minds and now we're going to stay."

"That's good," replied Charley, laying his hammer aside, "I've been
telling 'em so for days. It's coming everywhere; all the old camps are
opening up, but Keno will beat them all."

"Yes, that's right," assented the Widow absently, and as she bustled
away to begin her unpacking, Death Valley looked at Heine and leered.

"Didn't I tell you!" he crowed and, scuttling back to get his
six-shooter, he went out and began re-locating claims. That was the
beginning. The real rush came later when the pumps began to throb in
the Paymaster. A stream of water like a sheet of silver flowed down
the side of the dump and as if it's touch had brought forth men from
the desert sands, the old-timers came drifting in. Once more the
vacant sidewalks resounded to the thud of sturdy hob-nailed boots; and
along with the locaters came pumpmen and miners to sound the flooded
depths of the Paymaster.

It was a great mine, a famous mine, the richest in all the West; within
twenty months it had produced twelve million dollars and the lower
levels had never been touched. But what was twelve million to what it
would turn out when they located the hidden ore-body? On its record
alone the Paymaster was a world-beater, but the ground had barely been
scratched. Even Samuel Blount, who was cold as a stone and had sold out
the entire town, even he had caught the contagion; and he was talking
large on the bank corner when Holman came back through town.

Wiley drove in from the north, his