ther's personal affairs.
"Will you return soon?"

"Probably not soon." The voice was almost listless. "I put everything in
shape for an indefinite absence before I came away. To answer your
question: It's a wonder, bigger than I ever hoped. It'll still be a great
mine a generation from now."

Randall caught his breath. The big game was yet new to him, and the
volume of wealth suggested was cumulatively overpowering.

"Bigger than you expected!" he echoed. "Then that means--millions!"

Roberts glanced at his companion curiously. Slowly he smiled.

"Yes," he said, "it means millions. I haven't even an idea how many
eventually." The smile left his face, every trace of expression as well.
"I could sell for ten to-day if I wished; but I have no intention of
selling."

Randall sat looking at the other as if hypnotized. He forgot to ask
questions, forgot almost to breathe. To read of gigantic fortunes, the
property of absolute strangers living a thousand or thousands of miles
away, is one thing: to have one personally known, an actual acquaintance
in possession--it held him speechless, staring. The other's familiar,
tolerant laugh aroused him.

"Don't, please," said Roberts. "They've been doing that to me wherever I
show myself and write my name; that is, when they haven't been proving
relationship." He laughed again shortly. "It's wonderful how many
relatives I've discovered of late and friends I've made. Don't do it,
please."

Randall could still color and his face went red.

"I beg your pardon," he apologized, "I--"

"Nor that either," swiftly, almost curtly. "Just be yourself, natural. I
like you that way." He looked at the other openly, with frank intentness
that heralded the unexpected.

"It's possible," he digressed evenly, "that I'll be here some time, but
the chances are I'll only stay a day or so. After to-night we'll probably
not see much of each other, maybe nothing at all, ever. We're rather
different types and our roads lead differently." He smiled to dissipate
the mystification he saw gathering on the other's face. "This is a
preface. What I'm aiming at directly is to say a thing or two that have
been on my mind for some time--in case I don't have the opportunity
again." Once more the smile,--the same smile that had won the confidence
of the other against heavy odds in the beginning of their acquaintance.
"Do you mind if I'm a bit--fatherly to you?"

"No." Swift as thought, as panoramic memory, Ha