aims. He says I'll need the money back East."

"Yes, you will," agreed Denver. "Five hundred isn't much. If I was flush
I'd do this for nothing."

"Oh, no," she protested, "I couldn't allow that. But if there
_should_ be a rush, and father's claims should be jumped----"

"You'd have the best of them, anyway. I wouldn't tempt old Murray too
far."

"No," she said, "and that reminds me--I hear that he's made a strike.
But say, here's a good joke on the Professor. You know he thinks he's a
mining expert, and he's been crazy to look at the diamond drill cores;
and the other day the boss driller was over and he told me how he got
rid of him. You know, in drilling down they run into cavities where the
lime has been leached away, and in order to keep the bore intact they
pour them full of cement. Well, when the Professor insisted upon seeing
the core and wouldn't take no for an answer, Mr. Menzger just gave him a
section of concrete, where they'd bored through a filled-up hole. And
Mr. Diffenderfer just looked so wise and examined it through his
microscope, and then he said it was very good rock and an excellent
indication of copper. Isn't that just too rich for anything?"

"Yeh," returned Denver with a thin-lipped smile. And then, before he
thought how it sounded: "Say, who is this Mr. Menzger, anyway?"

"Oh, he's a friend of ours," she answered drooping her eyelashes
coquettishly. "He gets lonely sometimes and comes down to hear me
sing--he's been in New York and everywhere."

"Yes, he must be a funny guy," observed Denver mirthlessly. "Any
relation to that feller they call Dave?"

"Oh, Mr. Chatwourth? No, he's from Kentucky--they say he's the last of
his family. All the others were killed in one of those mountain
feuds--Mr. Menzger says he's absolutely fearless."

"Well, what did he leave home for, then?" inquired Denver arrogantly.
"He don't look very bad to me, I guess if he was fearless he'd be back
in Kentucky, shooting it out with the rest of the bunch."

"No, it seems that his father on his dying bed commanded him to leave
the country, because there were too many of the others against him. But
Mr. Menzger tells me he's a professional killer, and that's why Old
Murray hired him. Do you think they would jump our claims?"

"They would if they struck copper," replied Denver bluntly. "And old
Murray warned me not to buy from your father--that shows he's got his
eye on your property. It's a good thing we're doing