blindfold--and who finally collapsed with a "Goll darn!--if I know where
I'm at!"--the five jumped onto a mud-encrusted vehicle and started for
the site.

Up hill and down hill, across one stream and then another; through
the dense timber and into the open again. Here their work began, Jack
handling the level (his Chief had taught him), Bangs holding the target,
MacFarlane taking a squint now and then so as to be sure,--and then the
final result,--to wit:--First, that the Maryland Company's property,
Arthur Breen & Co., agents, lay under a hill some two miles from
Morfordsburg; that Jack's lay some miles to the south of Breen's.
Second, that outcroppings showed the Maryland Mining Company's ore
dipped, as the Senior Breen had said, to the east, and third, that
similar outcroppings showed Jack's dipped to the west.

And so the airy bubble filled with his own and Ruth's iridescent
hopes,--a bubble which had floated before him as he tramped through the
cool woods, and out upon the hillside, vanished into thin air.

For with Ruth's arms around him, her lips close to his, her boundless
enthusiasm filling his soul, the boy's emotions had for the time
overcome his judgment. So much so that all the way up in the train he
had been "supposing" and resupposing. Even the reply of the town clerk
had set his heart to thumping; his uncle had sent some one then! Then
came the thought,--Yes, to boom one of his misleading prospectuses--and
for a time the pounding had ceased: by no possible combination now,
either honest or dishonest, could the two properties be considered one
and the same mine.

Again his thoughts went back to Ruth. He knew how keenly she would be
disappointed. She had made him promise to telegraph her at once if his
own and her father's inspection of the ore lands should hold out any
rose-colored prospects for the future. This he had not now the heart to
do. One thing, however, he must do, and at once, and that was to write
to Peter, or see him immediately on his return. There was no use now
of the old fellow talking the matter over with the director; there was
nothing to talk over, except a bare hill three miles from anywhere,
covering a possible deposit of doubtful richness and which, whether good
or bad, would cost more to get to market than it was worth.

They were on the extreme edge of the forest when the final decision was
reached, MacFarlane leaning against a rock, the level and tripod tilted
against his a