e a white middy blouse, and her brown, bare forearms flashed
pleasantly in the spring sun. Her brown hair was disarranged by the wind
that found a passway down the river, and her eyes shone with the sheer,
unadorned love of living. Evidently she had just enjoyed a brisk paddle
through the still stretches of the river. With sure, steady strokes she
pushed the craft close to the little, board landing where Ben stood. She
reached up to him, and in an instant was laughing--at nothing in
particular but the fun of life--at his side.

The man glanced once at Fenris, spoke in command, then turned to the
girl. "All rested from the ride, I see," he began easily.

Her instincts keyed to the highest pitch, for an instant she thought she
discerned an unfamiliar tone, hard and hateful, in his voice. But his
eyes and his lips were smiling; and evidently she was mistaken. "I never
get tired," she responded. She glanced at the tools in his arms. "I
suppose you've found a dozen rich lodes already this morning."

"Only one." He smiled, significantly, into her eyes. Because she was a
forest girl, unused to flattery, the warm color grew in her brown
cheeks. "And how was paddling? The water looks still enough from here."

"It's not as still as it looks, but it is easy going for a half-mile
each way. If you aren't an expert boatman, however--I hardly think--I'd
try it."

"Why not? I'm fair enough with a canoe, of course--but it looks safe as
a lake."

"But it isn't." She paused. "Listen with those keen ears of yours, Mr.
Darby. Don't you hear anything?"

Ben did not need particularly keen ears to hear: the far-off sound of
surging waters reached him with entire clearness. He nodded.

"That's the reason," the girl went on. "If something should happen--and
you'd get carried around the bend--a little farther than you meant to
go--you'd understand. And we wouldn't see any more of Mr. Darby around
these parts."

Her dark eyes, brimming with light and laughter, were on his face, but
she failed to see him slowly stiffen to hide the sudden, wild leaping of
his heart. Could it be that he saw the far-off vision of his triumph?

His eyes glowed, and he fought off with difficulty a great preoccupation
that seemed to be settling over him.

"Tell me about it," he said at last, casually. "I was thinking of making
a boat and going down on a prospecting trip."

"I'll tell you about it, and then I think you'll change your mind. The
first cataract