e man was lying, in every particular, she began to feel
convinced.

"You left him well? He was feeling strong and well?"

"Never better," he assured her. "You can see what this wonderful
sunlight does, even to me."

"Yes, I see. And you left Starlight yesterday?"

"Yesterday afternoon. I had trouble running back. Otherwise we'd have
been here in the evening."

She glanced at him quickly. "We? Glen didn't come along? He isn't
here?"

"Oh, no, no, certainly not," he hastened to say. "I brought in a man
who--who is interested in the purchase we have made."

That served to arouse her sense of wonderment at what he had really
been doing with her money. He was attempting to deceive her concerning
Glen, and perhaps his entire story was a fabrication.

"Oh," she said. "Then you have purchased the mine--you and Glen?"

"Well--a few minor details remain to be concluded," he said
off-handedly. "We are not yet in actual possession of the property.
There will be no further hitches, however--and the claim is certainly
rich."

For the life of her she could not tell what lay at the bottom of the
business. The strange conflicts and discrepancies between Glen's very
own letters made the riddle utterly obscure. She felt that Searle was
fashioning falsehoods in every direction. That he had not visited Glen
at all was her fixed conviction. A sudden distrust, almost a loathing
for this heavy-browed man, was settling down upon her, inescapably.
Someway, somehow she must know about Glen for herself. Her own
attempted trip to Starlight had discouraged all thought of further
adventure, and no reliance whatsoever could be placed on Searle's
reports. Perhaps the reputed mining property was likewise a myth--or
if such a property existed, Glen might never have heard of it at all.
But Glen's letter--she was always forgetting that letter--the one he
had written to Searle.

She said: "Where is this mine that Glen has found?"

He colored slightly. "We have all agreed not to talk too much about it
yet. It's not very far from here--I can tell you that. Precautions
are necessary where a hundred men follow every prospector about, night
and day, if he happens to have found a bit of valuable ore. A thousand
men would be after this property if they knew the way to secure it."

Perhaps, after all, Glen, had purposely concealed this matter from
herself. Bostwick sounded plausible. Her mind reverted to her
brother's illnes