ll the stress of the Croix d'Or it was the first time that
note had ever been used save in drill. The bells of the hoist arose
into a jangling clamor. They heard the wheels of the cage whirl as it
shot downward, the excited exclamations of men ascending, some of them
with tools in hand, the running of a man's feet, emerging from the
blacksmith's tunnel, the shout of the smith to his helper, and the
labored running of the cook and waiter across the cinders of the yard.
Bill slowly returned toward them.

"We'll have to get you to land it up there," he said, waving his arm
toward the cross high above. "Give us a hand here, will you? and
we'll throw this hitch again."

The entire force of the mine had gathered around them before he had
finished speaking, and, seeing the stone, understood. Joan caught her
riding skirts deftly into her hand, and, with Bill leading the way up
the steep and rock-strewn ascent, they climbed the peak. The burros
halted now and then to rest, straining under the heaviness of their
task. The men of the Croix d'Or sometimes assisted them with willing
shoulders pushing behind, and there by the mound, on which flowers
were already beginning to show green and vivid, they laid out the
sections of granite. Only the cook's helper was absent. Willing hands
caught the sections, which had been grooved to join, and, tier on
tier, they found their places until there stood, high and austere, the
granite shaft that told of one man's loyalty.

Dick gave some final instructions as to the rearranging of the grave
and the little plot that had been created around it, and they
descended in a strange silence, saddened by all that had been
recalled. No one spoke, save Bill, who gave orders to the men to
return to their tasks, and then said, as if to himself: "I'd like
mighty well to know where Lily Meredith is. We cain't even thank her.
Once I wondered what she was. Now I know more than ever. She was all
woman!"

And to this, Joan, putting out her hand to bid them good-by,
assented.

The night shots had been fired at five o'clock--the time usually
selected by mines working two shifts--supper had been eaten, and the
partners were sitting in front of their quarters when Bill again
referred to Mrs. Meredith. High up on the hill, where the new landmark
had been, erected, at the foot of the cross, the day shift of the
Croix d'Or was busied here and there in clearing away the ground
around the grave of the engineer, som