about his head, and while he gasped with the effort, came down
with a heavy jar upon the drill. So intent was he that he did not
notice the three figures scrambling along the narrow log-work staging
pinned against the rocky side above the fall, until his companion
flung a word at him. Turning with a start, he dropped his hammer.

He saw Gordon hold out a hand to Laura Waynefleet, who sprang down
from the staging upon the strip of smooth-worn stone that stretched
out from the wall of the canyon above the fall. Wheeler was a few
paces behind them. Nasmyth looked around for his jacket, and,
remembering that he had left it in the gully, he moved forward to
shake hands with his visitors.

"I scarcely expected to see any of you here. You must have had a hard
scramble," he said.

Gordon waved his hand. "You don't say you're pleased, though after the
trouble we've taken, it's a sure thing that you ought to be," he
declared. "Anyway, I'm not going back up that gully until I've had
supper. Wheeler's held up because his folks haven't sent him some
machines, and I came along to see if I'd forgotten how to hold a
drill. I don't quite know what Miss Waynefleet came for."

Laura laughed good-humouredly. "Oh," she said, "I have my excuse. My
father is at Victoria, and I have been staying with Mrs. Potter for a
day or two. She lent me a cayuse to ride over to Fenton's ranch, and
the trail there leads close by the head of the gully."

Mattawa looked up at Gordon with a grin. "If you want to do some
drilling, you can start right now," he remarked. "Guess Nasmyth
doesn't know he has a back on him."

Gordon took up the hammer, and, when Wheeler went back to the gully to
inquire whether one of the men at work there would undertake some
timber-squaring he wanted done at the mill, Laura Waynefleet and
Nasmyth were left together. It was wetter than was comfortable near
the fall, and, scrambling back across the staging, they sat down among
the boulders near the foot of the rapid that swirled out of the pool.
Nasmyth looked at Laura, who smiled.

"I am afraid I have taken you away from your work, and I haven't
Gordon's excuse," she said. "He, at least, is able to drill."

Nasmyth laughed. "I observe that Tom seems very careful of his
hands," he returned. "As to the other matter, I am very glad you did
come. After all, drilling isn't exactly a luxurious occupation; and
while, as Tom remarked, I'm a little uncertain about my back, I'm
qui