"On ore, or waste?" There was a sneer in his question which caused
Dick to stiffen a trifle; and Bill frowned, as if the question carried
an insult.

Still the younger man was inclined to avoid words.

"Naturally, we shouldn't put waste through the mill," he said coldly.
"We have opened up an old vein which the other managers did not seem
to think worth while."

"And so, I suppose, showing superior knowledge, you will demonstrate
that the men before you were a set of dubs? Humph! From babes and
fools come wisdom!"

His voice was hard and cynical, and his grim lips curled with a
slightly contemptuous twitch. The hot, impulsive streak in Dick leaped
upward. His eyes were angry when he answered.

"If you apply the latter to me," he retorted hotly, "you are going
pretty far. I don't know what business it is of yours. We have never
asked you for any advice, and we don't want any. I expect no favors
from any one, and if I did, am certain, in view of your attitude, that
I shouldn't ask them from you."

"Steady! Steady, boy!" admonished his partner's drawling voice at his
side. Dick did not utter other words that were surging to his tongue,
and finished with an angry shrug of his shoulders.

Bill turned coolly to the owner of the Rattler, and appeared to probe
him with his eyes; and his stare was returned with one as searching as
his own.

"Who are you?" Presby asked, as if the big miner were some man he had
not noticed before.

"Me? My name's Mathews. I'm superintendent of the Croix d'Or," Bill
answered, as calmly as if the form of question had been ignored.

"And I suppose the young Mister Townsend relies on you for advice, and
that he----"

"He don't need to rely on any one for advice," interrupted the soft,
repressed voice. "I rely on him. He knows more than I do. And say," he
added, taking a step toward Bully Presby, and suddenly appearing to
concentrate himself with all his muscles flexed as if for action,
"I've mined for thirty-five years. And I've met some miners. And I've
never met one who had as little decency for the men on the next claim,
or such bullying ways as you've got."

Presby's face did not change in the least, nor did he shift his eyes.
There was an instant's pause, and he showed no inclination to speak.

"'Most every one around these diggings seems to be kind of buffaloed
by you," Bill added; "but I sort of reckon we ain't like them. I'm
handin' it to you right straight, so you and me