he looked about him with lively interest.

Leaving the town behind them, they soon began the ascent of a winding
canyon. After two or three turns, to Darrell's surprise, every sign of
human habitation vanished and only the rocky walls were visible, at
first low and receding, but gradually growing higher and steeper. On
they went, steadily ascending, till a turn suddenly brought the distant
mountains into closer proximity, and Mr. Britton, pointing to a lofty,
rugged range on Darrell's right, said,--

"There lies the Great Divide."

For two hours they wound steadily upward, the massive rocks towering on
all sides, barren, grotesque in form, but beautiful in coloring,--dull
reds, pale greens, and lovely blues and purples staining the sombre
grays and browns.

Darrell had grown silent, and his companions, supposing him absorbed in
the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, left him to his own reflections
while they talked on matters of interest to themselves.

But to Darrell the surrounding rocks were full of a strange, deep
significance. The colorings and markings in the gray granite were to him
what the insignia of the secret orders are to the initiated, replete
with mystical meaning. To him had come the sudden realization that he
was in Nature's laboratory, and in the hieroglyphics traced on the
granite walls he read the symbols of the mysterious alchemy silently and
secretly wrought beneath their surface. The vastness of the scale of
Nature's work, the multiplicity of her symbols, bewildered him, but in
his own mind he knew that he still held the key to this mysterious code,
and the knowledge thrilled him with delight. He gazed about him,
fascinated, saying nothing, but trembling with joy and with eagerness to
put himself to the test, and it was with difficulty that he controlled
his impatience till the long ride should come to an end.

At last they left the canyon and followed a steep road winding up the
side of a mountain, which, after an hour's hard climbing, brought them
to the mining camp. As the carriage stopped Darrell was the first to
alight, springing quickly to the ground and looking eagerly about him.

At a short distance beyond them the road was terminated by the large
milling plant, above which the mountain rose abruptly, its sides dotted
with shaft-houses and crossed and recrossed with trestle-work almost to
the summit. A wooden flume clung like a huge serpent to the steep
slopes, and a tramway descen