stock, and, since the
mining-camp of Lame Gulch had been in existence less than a year, the
value of any mine up there was a very doubtful quantity. It was perhaps
the proximity of the camp to Springtown, that fired the imagination of
the Springtown public, perhaps the daily coming and going of people
between the two points. Be that as it may, the head must have been a
very level one indeed that could keep its balance through the excitement
of that winter's "boom." There were many residents of Springtown who had
a sentiment for the Peak, more intelligent and more imaginative than any
Marietta could boast, yet it is probable that the best nature-lover of
them all shared something of her feeling, now that she had come to
regard the Peak as the mountain on the other side of which the Lame
Gulch treasures lay awaiting their resurrection.

"Just the other side of the Peak!" What magic in those words, spoken
from time to time by one and another of the Springtown people. "Just the
other side of the Peak!" Marietta would say to herself, lifting to the
noble mountain eyes bright with an interest such as he in his grandest
mood had never awakened there before.

Suppose the "Horn of Plenty" should go to a dollar!--to five
dollars,--to ten dollars,--to twenty-five dollars! Her mind took the
leap with ease and confidence. Had not Bill Sanders said that there were
forty millions in it, and had he not seen the mine with his own eyes?
Marietta had a mental picture of a huge mountain of solid gold, and
when, to complete the splendor of the impression, men talked of "free
gold," the term seemed to her to signify a buoyant quality, the quality
of pouring itself out in spontaneous plenty. She heard much talk of this
kind, for the "H. O. P." was the topic of the hour, and her customers
discussed it among themselves. Forty millions almost in plain sight!
That was forty dollars a share, and she had five hundred shares! And all
this time she was thinking, not of wealth and luxury, but only of a snug
cottage in a side street, where there should be two windows in the
sitting-room, where she might sit and chat with Jim while she made her
flower-books, planning what they should do when he got well. How little
she asked; how reasonable it was, how fair! And if only the "H. O. P."
were to go to five dollars a share she would venture it.

Meanwhile people were bidding forty-five cents, and Inches had called
twice in one morning to ask if she would