didn't mean----" Harding began, but Benson stopped him.

"I know. It's my weakness you're afraid of. However, you must let me
pay my share of the provisions and any transport we may be able to get.
That's all I insist on now; if you feel more confidence in me later, I
may reopen the other question." He paused and added: "You are two very
good fellows. I think I can promise not to play the fool again."

"Perhaps we'd better talk about something else," Blake suggested.

They broke camp early next morning, and Benson struggled manfully with
his craving during the next week or two which they spent in pushing
farther into the forest. It was a desolate waste of small, stunted
trees, many of which were dead and stripped of half their branches,
while wide belts had been scarred by fire. Harding found the unvarying
sombre green of the needles strangely monotonous, but the ground was
comparatively clear, and the party made progress until at length, when
the country grew more broken, they fell in with three returning
prospectors.

"If you'll trade your horses, we might make a deal," said one when they
camped together. "You can't take them much farther--the country's too
rough--and we could sell out to one of the farmers near the
settlements."

Blake was glad to come to terms, and afterwards another of the men
said, "We've been out two months on a general prospecting trip. It's
the toughest country to get through I ever struck."

His worn and ragged appearance bore this out, and Harding asked: "Are
there minerals up yonder? We're not in that line; it's a forest
product we're looking for."

"We found indications of gold, copper, and one or two other metals,
besides petroleum, but didn't see anything that looked worth taking up.
Considering the cost of transport, you want to strike it pretty rich
before what you find will pay as a business proposition."

"So I should imagine. Petroleum's a cheap product to handle when
you're a long way from a market, isn't it?"

"Give us plenty of it and we'll make a market. It's an idea of mine
that there's no part of this country that hasn't something worth
working in it if you can get cheap fuel. Where the land's too poor for
farming you often find minerals, and ore that won't pay for transport
can be reduced on the spot, so long as you have natural resources that
can be turned into power. With an oil well in good flow we'd soon
start some profitable industry and put up a ci