ust had been as high as my average of hope over strikes I've
made myself, I would have been a billionaire long ago."

"I never heard you talk of prospecting," remarked 'Tana. "All the rest do
here, and not you--how is that?"

"Oh, prospecting strikes one like a fever; sometimes a man recovers from
it, or seems to for a while. I had the fever bad about two years ago--out
in Nevada. Well, I left there. I sunk my stock of capital in a very big
hole, and lost my enthusiasm for a while. Maybe I will find it again,
drifting along the Kootenai; but as yet it has not struck me hard. From
what I can gather, this fellow must simply have dropped on a nugget or
little pocket, and something must have made him distrust his partner to
such an extent that he kept the secret find to himself. So there evidently
has been no testing of the soil, no move toward development. We may never
find an ounce of metal, for such disappointments have been even where very
large nuggets have been found. You must not expect too much of this
search. Golden hope lets you down hard when you do fall with it."

But, despite his warnings, he made arrangements for their river journey
with all speed possible. The three of them were to go; and, as chaperon,
Mrs. Huzzard was persuaded to join their queer "picnic" party, for that
was the idea given abroad concerning their little trip to the north. It
was to be a venture in the interests of Harris--supposedly the physical
interests; though Captain Leek did remark, with decided emphasis, that it
was the first time he ever knew of a man being sent out to live in the
woods as a cure for paralysis.

But the preparations were made; even the fact that Mrs. Huzzard was seized
with an unreasonable attack of rheumatism on the eve of departure did not
deter them at all.

"Unless you need me to stay here and look after you, we'll go just the
same," decided 'Tana. "A squaw won't be much of a substitute for you; but
she'll be better than no one, and we'll go."

So the squaw was secured, through the agency of her husband, whom Overton
knew, and who was to take their camp outfit up the river for them. This
was one reason why Mrs. Huzzard, as she watched them depart, was a little
thankful for the visitation of rheumatism.

Their camp was only a day old when 'Tana announced her willingness to
dance if only good fortune would come to her.

It seemed a thing probable, for as Overton poured water slowly from a tin
pan into the