been when the portals of High School
closed behind him forever. In fact, just as he was now placed in
his prospects he faced a bitter discouragement; he was on the
threshold of a new calamity.

His mother, who took in fine sewing, had developed a serious eye
trouble that threatened to put an end to her earning power, and to
leave her totally blind unless she submitted to a very delicate
operation within a few weeks. Of course, his mother's welfare
was stronger than any other consideration with Ralph, but he had
a vague idea that operations cost a great deal of money. At least,
he had been told so by his nearest neighbor, Tom Walsh, a farmer
who lived several miles from the town of Oakvale, which was the
station from whence he would have to take his mother by train to
New York. A day's journey, a week or more in the hospital, and
incidental expenses---even with the aid of his precious hoard and
the inadequate sum these furs would bring him---how could he ever
raise enough to help her, in time?

With another deep sigh, he replaced the worn account book, and
rested his head against the mossy hollow in the stone, gazing
disconsolately up through the branches of the trees at the jagged
cliffs that towered high above the mountain trail for a while,
nothing was heard in ravine or glade save the brawling of the
crystal-clear brook that went dashing and tumbling over the stones
of its rough bed, in a mad race to its fall of twenty feet or
more, or the crunching of succulent twigs and leaves of cottonwood,
or the snapping of dead wood, as old Keno moved leisurely about
from one spot to another. Side by side, on a jutting crag that
leaned far out over the brook, sat a splendid pair of golden eagles,
joyously preening their plumage in the spring sunshine. The birds
aroused no special interest in Ralph's mind, however, on this
particular morning; he had seen them many times before, while
rambling over the mountains with his father. But the sight of
their glittering napes awakened memories of that loved and admired
man.

"Dad used to say---and I guess he believed it, too---that iron in
paying quantities lies just beneath the stones of our little farm,"
mused Ralph. "We might become rich, mother and I, if we could only
get money enough to open up our mine."

One of the eagles, rare birds in that part of the Country, evidently
alarmed or annoyed at the approach of some intruder on their domain,
some animal or human bein