fit was got ready;
and when Drummond was not at work he followed Agatha about. He said he
liked the woods, spoke of his employers with frank appreciation, and
declared that he was grateful because she had got him his post. Besides
this, he made no secret of a humble devotion to herself that she
sometimes found embarrassing and sometimes amusing. On the evening
before they left the mine, he joined the group outside the shack.

"Well," said Scott, rather dryly, "what do you want?"

"Miss Strange pulls out for the North to-morrow, and if she'll take me
I'm going along."

"Wait a moment," Scott said to Agatha, and then asked Drummond: "Why do
you want to go?"

"I mean to get even with Stormont; and I want to put Miss Strange as
wise as I can."

"Then we are to understand you expect nothing for the job?"

Drummond's black eyes sparkled. "You're my boss, so far, but I won't
stand for being guyed. It's not _your_ money I'm after."

"Perhaps the rejoinder's justifiable," Father Lucien remarked, smiling;
and Drummond turned to Agatha with a touch of dignity.

"I meant to make my pile by selling the ore to somebody, but you treated
me like a white man, and I guess the lode belongs to you. Well, if I
help you get rich and you want to give me something, I won't refuse, but
I'm not out for money. Say, you'll let me go?"

"Can you help?" Scott interrupted. "If you can, it looks as if you had
kept something back when you made the other deal."

Drummond grinned. "I kept something back from Stormont; when I put him
wise I put him off the track. But I'm playing straight with Miss Strange
and Thirlwell. You can bet on me!"

"Then we'll take you," said Agatha, with a deprecatory glance at
Thirlwell.

"You're not going to be sorry about it," Drummond declared, and when he
went away Agatha turned to Father Lucien.

"It's your business to judge men's character: do you think I have done
well?"

"I imagine the lad will make good. He has two incentives: he likes you,
and hates your adversary."

"Ah," said Agatha, smiling, "I wonder which is the stronger!"

Father Lucien spread out his hands and his eyes twinkled. "I am a
priest, Miss Strange, and must admit that I cannot tell. You have won
the young man's confidence; but his is a primitive nature, and hate
counts for much."

"You are an honest man," said Agatha. "After all, the truth is better
than compliments."

The party broke up soon afterwards, and early next morning