way to stop it by convincing himself
of its madness. Besides, in view of all the circumstances, it was his
duty as a gentleman to show some concern for her condition after the
accident and the disagreeable contretemps which followed it.

Thus Bray! Alas, none of these possibilities occurred. He found the
spring had simply lapsed into its previous unsuggestive obscurity,--a
mere niche in the mountain side that held only--water! The stage road
was deserted save for an early, curly-headed schoolboy, whom he found
lurking on the bank, but who evaded his company and conversation.
He returned to the camp quite cured of his fancy. His late zeal as a
water-carrier had earned him a day or two's exemption from that duty.
His place was taken the next afternoon by the woman-hating Parkhurst,
and he was the less concerned by it as he had heard that the same
afternoon the ladies were to leave the summit for Sacramento.

But then occurred a singular coincidence. The new water-bringer was
as scandalously late in his delivery of the precious fluid as his
predecessor! An hour passed and he did not return. His unfortunate
partners, toiling away with pick and crowbar on the burning ledge, were
clamorous from thirst, and Bray was becoming absurdly uneasy. It could
not be possible that Eugenia's accident had been repeated! Or had she
met him with inquiries? But no! she was already gone. The mystery
was presently cleared, however, by the abrupt appearance of Parkhurst
running towards them, but WITHOUT HIS PAIL! The cry of consternation and
despair which greeted that discovery was, however, quickly changed by
a single breathless, half intelligible sentence he had shot before him
from his panting lips. And he was holding something in his outstretched
palm that was more eloquent than words. Gold!

In an instant they had him under the shade of the pine-tree, and were
squatting round him like schoolboys. He was profoundly agitated.
His story, far from being brief, was incoherent and at times seemed
irrelevant, but that was characteristic. They would remember that he had
always held the theory that, even in quartz mining, the deposits were
always found near water, past or present, with signs of fluvial erosion!
He didn't call himself one of your blanked scientific miners, but his
head was level! It was all very well for them to say "Yes, yes!" NOW,
but they didn't use to! Well! when he got to the spring, he noticed
that there had been a kind of