ng of the shovel. There were, however, points to guide the
searcher, and Alton could deduce a good deal from each of them. Jimmy
the prospector had, it was evident, perished of hunger and exhaustion,
for Alton had traced the last stages of his journey backwards through
the snow, and the grim story of human endurance and anguish was plainly
legible. Here Jimmy had fallen, there lain still, and then dragged
himself forward before he rose again, while the uneven footsteps had
borne their own testimony. Also the bag of specimens was heavy, and
Alton decided that for a man in the last stages of exhaustion, the
river had furnished the only road. The silver was therefore somewhere
up the Valley, and as it was winter when Jimmy found it, it would lie
low down where the snow was cut off by the pines. Alton lay still a
minute with a curious glint in his eyes when the firelight touched them
which was a tribute to the dead man, and then filled his pipe again.

His journey had been marked by petty misfortunes, each of which might
become a more serious one, hitherto, and he was now alone. This might
be due to coincidence, but Alton, admitting that hypothesis, proceeded
to consider an alternative one which resolved itself into two. It was
generally known in Somasco that he and Jimmy had held the clue to a
secret that might be valuable, and strange prospectors for timber
rights and minerals occasionally strayed into the valley. Alton knew
that most of the bushmen and free prospectors had a standard of honour
which was somewhat higher than that usually lived up to in the cities.
They were quiet, fearless, free-handed men, the antitype of the
roystering desperadoes he had now and then seen them depicted as by
those who did not know them. There were, he, however, knew, among them
a few who it was probable had their own reasons for vacating the great
Republic, and these were men of distinctly different calibre. One or
more of them, it seemed, might have heard of his aspirations and be
following him. If so, it was evident that he would be in security
until he found the silver. Then the peril would begin.

This led to the second issue. Alton was quite aware that he had an
enemy whom he had got the better of on several occasions hitherto.
Partly because devious finesse is not always superior to shrewd sense
and fearless honesty, he had as yet held his own against Hallam of the
Tyee. Both knew that a time of prosperity was appro