ower dynamo. For all his bulk
he was as lean as a panther and as sinewy. There was virility in the
very economy of his motions, in the reticence of his speech. Not even
a fool could have read weakness there. When he followed Sheba into the
living-room, power trod in his long, easy stride.

Paget was superintendent of the Lucky Strike, a mine owned principally
by Macdonald. The two talked business for a few minutes over their
cigars, but Diane interrupted gayly to bring them back into the circle.
Adroitly she started Macdonald on the account of a rescue of two men
lost in a blizzard the year before. He had the gift of dramatizing his
story, of selecting only effective details. There was no suggestion of
boasting. If he happened to be the hero of any of his stories the fact
was of no importance to him. It was merely a detail of the picture he
was sketching.

Gordon interrupted with a question a story he was telling of a fight he
had seen between two bull moose.

"Did you say that was while you were on the way over to inspect the
Kamatlah coal-fields for the first time?"

The eyes of the young man were quick with interest.

"Yes."

"Four years ago last spring?"

Macdonald looked at him with a wary steadiness. Some doubt had found
lodgment in his mind. Before he could voice it, if, indeed, he had any
such intention, Elliot broke in swiftly,--

"Don't answer that question. I asked it without proper thought. I am a
special agent of the General Land Office sent up to investigate the
Macdonald coal claims and kindred interests."

Slowly the rigor of the big Scotchman's steely eyes relaxed to a smile
that was genial and disarming. If this news hit him hard he gave no sign
of it. And that it was an unexpected blow there could be no doubt.

"Glad you've come, Mr. Elliot. We ask nothing but fair play. Tell the
truth, and we'll thank you. The men who own the Macdonald group of
claims have nothing to conceal. I'll answer that question. I meant to
say two years ago last spring."

His voice was easy and his gaze unwavering as he made the correction,
yet everybody in the room except Sheba knew he was deliberately lying
to cover the slip. For the admission that he had inspected the Kamatlah
field just before his dummies had filed upon it would at least tend to
aggravate suspicion that the entries were not _bona-fide_.

It was rather an awkward moment. Diane blamed herself because she had
brought the men together socially.