of them.

"Now then--there's no gold left back of the boarding in those
stopes--practically none! The Molly is played out, picked like a walnut
of its meat! If they do develop down to the second porphyry level they
won't find anything to pay for the work. They have taken all the
sylvanite out of your mine and _Keith is trying to cover up that fact_."

Westlake stopped and eyed them. They took it differently. Mormon softly
whistled. Sam slid out his harmonica, cuddled in beneath his mustache
and played a little of the _Cowboy's Lament_. Sandy's eyes closed
slightly. They glittered like gray metal in the moonlight.

"Keith can't help the mine peterin' out," he said. "Jest why is he
hidin' it? So's he can sell new shares an' keep the price up of the old
ones. So's he can unload?"

"Plain enough. Now the Molly Mine stock isn't on the market. It is all
owned, as I understand, by Miss Casey and you three holding the
controlling interest, Keith the rest. It's been paying dividends from
the start. Keith will try to unload."

"He'll have to do it on the quiet or it 'ud have the same effect as if
the news came out about the mine," said Sandy.

"True. He may try to sell it to you."

"Not likely. He doesn't expect us to have the money. We haven't. I take
it he can't dump 'em in a hurry. That's why he's boardin' the stopes. If
he don't trail over here in a day or so I'll shack over to Casey Town
fo' a li'l' chat. I'd admire to go over the mine. Mebbe we'll all go.
Might even call a directors' meetin'. Quien sabe? Much obliged to you,
Westlake."

Westlake nodded. He understood that quiet drawl of Sandy's. If the li'l'
chat came off, Keith would not enjoy himself, he fancied.

"The question is what move to make an' when to make it. If Molly is one
thing she is game. We've got a good deal out of the mine an' it's all
come so far from the sale of gold to the mint, I take it. We don't
dabble in stocks. We're ahead. If the mine's gone bu'st she's done
nicely by us, at that."

Back of Sandy's talk thoughts formed in his brain that held a good deal
of comfort. Molly was no longer an heiress, if Westlake's news was true.
And he did not doubt it. Molly would not have to go back East. Her
relations with the Keiths would be broken. She had not spent all her
share of the dividends. Keith held some portion of this. Just how much
Sandy did not know. He had not held Keith to strict accountings, he had
trusted him to bank the funds. Tha