right; only hurry up!" said Uncle Dick cheerfully, settling
himself back in his chair, "I reckon to turn in as soon as I've rastled
with your hash, for I've got to turn out agin and be off at sun-up."

They were all very quiet again,--so quiet that they could not help
noticing that the sound of Collinson's preparations for their supper
had ceased too. Uncle Dick arose softly and walked to the kitchen
door. Collinson was sitting before a small kitchen stove, with a fork
in his hand, gazing abstractedly before him. At the sound of his
guest's footsteps he started, and the noise of preparation recommenced.
Uncle Dick returned to his chair by the fire. Leaning towards the
chair of the close-shaven man, he said in a lower voice:--

"He was off agin!"

"What?"

"Thinkin' of that wife of his."

"What about his wife?" asked Key, lowering his voice also.

The three men's heads were close together.

"When Collinson fixed up this mill he sent for his wife in the States,"
said Uncle Dick, in a half whisper, "waited a year for her, hanging
round and boarding every emigrant wagon that came through the Pass.
She didn't come--only the news that she was dead." He paused and
nudged his chair still closer--the heads were almost touching. "They
say, over in the Bar"--his voice had sunk to a complete whisper--"that
it was a lie! That she ran away with the man that was fetchin' her
out. Three thousand miles and three weeks with another man upsets some
women. But HE knows nothing about it, only he sometimes kinder goes
off looney-like, thinking of her." He stopped, the heads separated;
Collinson had appeared at the doorway, his melancholy patience
apparently unchanged.

"Grub's on, gentlemen; sit by and eat."

The humble meal was dispatched with zest and silence. A few
interjectional remarks about the uncertainties of prospecting only
accented the other pauses. In ten minutes they were out again by the
fireplace with their lit pipes. As there were only three chairs,
Collinson stood beside the chimney.

"Collinson," said Uncle Dick, after the usual pause, taking his pipe
from his lips, "as we've got to get up and get at sun-up, we might as
well tell you now that we're dead broke. We've been living for the
last few weeks on Preble Key's loose change--and that's gone. You'll
have to let this little account and damage stand over."

Collinson's brow slightly contracted, without, however, altering his
general expression