the purpose;
he'd be suspicious of it, and he'd come down to investigate, and
someone would be sure to crimp our deal."

"But what is your plan for the deal, Mr. Gardiner?" asked Harris. "We
can't go into the mountains with a load of bills and buy a mine like
a man might buy a steer. There'll have to be papers, titles, and such
things, I suppose, to make it right with us and with the Government."

"Of course," Gardiner agreed. "We will take the money with us, but we
won't give it to him until we get the papers. We'll just let him see
it--nibble it a little, if you like--and then we'll lead him into
town with it, like you lead a horse with oats. The sight of so much
money will keep him coming our way when nothing else would. And we'll
slip him a hundred or two, and get a little receipt for it, just to
prevent him changing his mind if he should be so disposed."

"And suppose I don't like the look of the mine when I see it?"

"Then you bring your money back down with you and put it into farm
lands, or anything else that takes your fancy. After you look it
over, if you don't want to go in on it, Mr. Harris, perhaps Riles and
I can raise enough ourselves to swing the deal, but you see we
thought of you from the first, and we will stay with our original
plan until you have a chance to decide one way or another."

"Well, that sounds fair," said Allan, and his father nodded. "But we
haven't sold the farm, and until we do I guess there isn't much money
in sight."

"Bradshaw'll sell the farm quick enough if I send him word," his
father assured him. "He may not get it all in money, but he'll get a
good part of it, and he has ways o' raisin' the balance so long's the
security is good. I've half a mind t' wire him t' close 'er out."

At this moment there came a knock on the door, and a boy presented a
telegram for Gardiner. He opened it, read it, and emitted a whoop
like a wild Indian. "They're coming through," he shouted, "coming
through! How does half of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars look
to you, Mr. Harris?"

Harris reached out eagerly for the telegram, while Allan, his arm
thrown over his father's shoulder, read it in boyish excitement:

"If investigation confirms Government reports we will pay two hundred
fifty thousand. Our representative leaves at once for personal
interview."

The name at the end of the telegram was unknown to either Harris or
his son, but Gardiner assured them it was one to conjure