e a picture of myself in that role. Oh,
my! See me twirl that wand! Helen, you shall climb those rocks. But I
don't like your friend. I sha'n't send you to Champery. No--Champery's
off the map for you."

CHAPTER II

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE WISH

Explanations of motive are apt to become tedious. They are generally
inaccurate too; for who can reduce a fantasy to a formula? Nor should
they ever be allowed to clip the wings of romance. But the painter who
bade his subject sit under a sodium light would justly be deemed a
lunatic, and any analysis of Spencer's character drawn from his latest
prank would be faulty in the extreme.

In all London at that moment there was not a more level headed man of
his years. He was twenty-eight, an expert mining engineer, and the
successful pioneer of a new method of hauling ore. Even in Western
America, "God's own country," as it is held to be by those who live
there, few men "arrive" so early in life. Some, it is true, amass
wealth by lucky speculation before they are fitted by experience to
earn the price of a suit of clothes. But they are of the freak order.
They are not to be classed with one who by hard work wrests a fortune
out of the grim Colorado granite. Spencer had been called on to endure
long years of rebuff and scorn. Though scoffed at by many who thought
he was wrong, he persisted because he knew he was right.

Ofttimes Fate will test such a man almost to breaking point. Then she
yields, and, being feminine, her obduracy is the measure of her
favors, for she will bestow on her dogged suitor all, and more than
all, that he desired.

The draft from Leadville, crammed so carelessly into a pocket when he
followed the three to the door, was a fair instance of this trick of
hers. A tunnel, projected and constructed in the teeth of ridicule
and financial opposition, had linked up the underground workings of
several mines, and proved conclusively that it was far cheaper to
bring minerals to the rail in that manner than to sink expensive
shafts, raise the ore to the top of a mountain, and cart it to its old
level in the valley.

Once the thing was indisputable, the young engineer found himself rich
and famous. To increase the feeders of the main bore, he drove another
short gallery through a mining claim acquired for a few dollars,--a
claim deemed worthless owing to a geological fault that traversed its
whole length. That was Fate's opportunity. Doubtless she smiled
m