the same. And each time he said it he turned to Wilhelmina, who
gravely nodded her head. It was his mine; he had found it and only given
her a share of it, and of course they must stand together; but as
machine after machine came whirling down the canyon and the bids mounted
higher and higher a wistful look came into Wilhelmina's eye and she went
down and sat with her father. It was for him that she wanted the money
that was offered her--to help him finish the road he had been working on
so long--but she did not speak, and he too sat silent, looking on with
brooding eyes. Something seemed to tell them both that trouble was at
hand, and when, after the first rush, a single auto rumbled in, Billy
rose to her feet apprehensively. A big man with red cheeks, attired in a
long linen duster, descended from the curtained machine, and she flew to
the side of Wunpost.

It was Judson Eells; she would know him anywhere from the description
that Wunpost had given, and as he came towards the hole she took in
every detail of this man who was predestined to be her enemy. He was big
and fat, with a high George the Third nose and the florid smugness of a
country squire, and as he returned Wunpost's greeting his pendulous
lower lip was thrust up in arrogant scorn. He came on confidently, and
behind him like a shadow there followed a mysterious second person. His
nose was high and thin, his cheeks gaunt and furrowed, and his eyes
seemed brooding over some terrible wrong which had turned him against
all mankind. At first glance his face was terrifying in its fierceness,
and then the very badness of it gave the effect of a caricature. His
eyebrows were too black, his lips too grim, his jaw too firmly set; and
his haggard eyes looked like those of a woman who is about to burst into
hysterical tears. It was Pisen-face Lynch, and as Wunpost caught his eye
he gave way to a mocking smirk.

"Ah, good morning, Mr. Eells," he called out cordially, "good morning,
good morning Mr. Lynch! Well, well, glad to see you--how's the bad man
from Bodie? Meet my partner, Miss Wilhelmina Campbell!"

He presented her gallantly and as Wilhelmina bowed she felt their
hostile eyes upon her.

"Like to look at our mine?" rattled on Wunpost affably. "Well, here it
is, and she's a world-beater. Take a squint at that rock--you won't need
no glasses--how's that, Mr. Eells, for the pure quill?"

Eells looked at the specimen, then looked at it again, and slipped it
in