.M.C. 
 
 TORY OF THE GREAT ROCKIES 
 
 RLOTTE M.VAILE
 
 THE M. M. C.
 
 BOOKS BY CHARLOTTE M. VAILE. 
 
 THE ORCUTT GIRLS ; or, One Term at the 
 Academy. 315 pages. With five full-page 
 Illustrations by FRANK T. MERRILL. Cloth. 
 lamo. $1.50. 
 
 SUE ORCUTT. A Sequel to " The Orcutt 
 Girls." 335 pages. With five full-page Illus- 
 trations by FRANK T. MERRILL. Cloth. 
 
 I2IT10. jll.50. 
 
 THE M. M. C. A Story of the Great Rockies. 
 232 pages. With six full-page Illustrations by 
 SEARS GALLAGHER. Cloth. 8vo. $1.25.
 
 THE OLD MAN STOOD ALONF ON THE ROCKY SLOPE."
 
 THE M. M. C. 
 
 A STORY OF THE GREAT ROCKIES 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLOTTE M. VAILE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE ORCUTT GIRLS," "SUE ORCUTT' 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 SEARS GALLAGHER 
 
 BOSTON AND CHICAGO 
 W. A. WILDE COMPANY
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1898, 
 BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 THE M. M. a
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT 9 
 
 II. CAGED 34 
 
 III. DANGER AHEAD 58 
 
 IV. LEX MAKES A THIRD AT AN INTERESTING CON- 
 
 FERENCE 76 
 
 V. IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE 96 
 
 VI. WAITING FOR TIDINGS 120 
 
 VII. NEWS, BUT NOT LEX 143 
 
 VIII. THE MISSING BOY 162 
 
 IX. ONE MORE EFFORT 187 
 
 X. AT LAST 214 
 
 2072228
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " The old man stood alone on the rocky slope " 
 
 Frontispiece 32 
 
 " Her cousin . . . was in the breakfast room before 
 
 her, his hands stretching out to the fire " . -36 
 
 " Seating himself at the table, he fell to work " . 79 
 
 " There was a group of them around a rusty old 
 
 stove" 133 
 
 "In the moonlight he saw a tall man crossing the 
 
 threshold" 174 
 
 " He leaned easily back in his chair and waited for 
 
 her to go on " 202
 
 THE M. M. C. 
 
 of tfjc reat Bodms. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 
 
 "IF I'm not back at supper time, don't 
 
 wait for me. It's my last tramp, you 
 
 know, and I must make the most of it." 
 
 The girl who said it stood for a mo- 
 ment in the doorway of a cottage conspic- 
 uous for its spruce appearance in the 
 crowded line which made up the main 
 street of Silvercrest, then stepped briskly 
 out into the afternoon sunshine. 
 
 A pretty woman with a delicate face 
 and bright dark eyes looked after her 
 wistfully. She did not strike one as the 
 sort of person who would herself enjoy 
 
 9
 
 IO THE M. M. C. 
 
 tramping. " Oh, if you must go ! " she 
 said. " But don't spread your wings when 
 you get above timber-line and fly away 
 home without a good bye to any of us." 
 
 The girl looked back with a protesting 
 smile. " Do you think my heart is light 
 enough for that ? Oh, Cousin Kitty, 
 what an ingrate you make me ! " 
 
 An ingrate Alice Hildreth certainly 
 was not, and as she took her way through 
 the mining camp, stopping now and then 
 for a word with some group of children 
 who called her " Teacher," and asked sor- 
 rowfully if she were really going "way 
 back East," she could not escape a little 
 feeling of sadness. To return to the dear 
 New England home after a long absence 
 was surely a joyous thing, but to bid 
 good bye, perhaps forever, to people and 
 places that for six busy, happy months 
 had been part of her life was, after all, 
 not easy.
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. II 
 
 It was with no thought of the school in 
 this place that the girl had come to Colo- 
 rado at the first. The mission which had 
 brought her into the shadow of the great 
 Rockies had been that of companion to 
 an invalid aunt, who had hoped to regain 
 her broken health in a sunny city of the 
 plains. But when, at the close of an 
 unavailing winter, the latter had turned 
 with homesick longing to the East again, 
 Alice had remained behind, lured into the 
 very heart of the mountains, by the per- 
 suasions of that prosperous cousin who 
 had engaged himself in the mining inter- 
 ests of Silvercrest, and who, for the sea- 
 son, had charge of securing a teacher for 
 the public school. 
 
 He had offered her the position, 
 shrewdly guessing that some motive be- 
 yond that of a mere visit would be 
 needed to keep her for a summer in his 
 home, and the girl had accepted the offer
 
 12 THE M. M. C. 
 
 with delight. She had, indeed, felt it 
 her duty to confide to her cousin that 
 she was only nineteen (she fondly be- 
 lieved that she looked much older) and 
 that her experience in teaching was of 
 the slightest, but when the genial official 
 only smiled at the disclosure and offered 
 to " risk it," she had dismissed her doubts 
 and entered on the work with real en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 And now that work was ended. The 
 school had disbanded for the long vaca- 
 tion, and just at the beginning of winter, 
 bewailed of all the camp, the girl was 
 about to set her face towards home. 
 
 It was a thrifty young camp, this of 
 Silvercrest. Its name it had borrowed 
 from the great white peak which rose 
 conspicuous above its fellows, snow- 
 crowned through all the seasons. But 
 the name was not merely a poetic fancy. 
 A wealth of silver and gold lay in the
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 13 
 
 heart of the great rough pile, and seemed 
 indeed to be hidden through all the region. 
 It was only three years since a lucky pros- 
 pector stumbled on the first great " find," 
 but the town had already passed beyond 
 the stage of a " summer camp," and 
 waited only the coming of the railroad, 
 as its settlers confidently believed, for 
 the boom which should lift it at once 
 to the importance of a full-fledged city. 
 
 In appearance the place did not differ 
 much from others of its sort; a huddle 
 of houses between the mountains, one- 
 story frames for the greater part, many 
 of them still displaying building-paper 
 for clapboards and stove-pipes for chim- 
 neys, with a sprinkling of taller buildings, 
 among which one could not fail to note 
 the usual proportions of saloons and 
 lodging-houses. 
 
 The girl's walk did not lead her the 
 full length of the camp. Passing the
 
 14 THE M. M. C. 
 
 school-house, the most substantial build- 
 ing in the place and one which did 
 duty not only as a temple of learning 
 but occasional church and variety hall, 
 she turned from the main street and 
 took a path which led away among the 
 hills. Far out on this path lived her 
 friend, the old prospector. The special 
 object of her trip was to say good bye 
 to him. 
 
 It was a long walk she had before 
 her, but she took it after the manner 
 of one used to climbing, resting now 
 and then, while she gave herself up to 
 the delight of the widening and wonder- 
 ful landscape. Her eyes were bright, 
 and there was an unusual color in her 
 cheeks when she stopped at last before 
 a cave-like opening in the hill, close to 
 a miner's cabin. 
 
 It was not the first opening of the sort 
 which she had passed in the course of her
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 15 
 
 walk. Indeed, the country might be said 
 to be honeycombed with them, "prospect 
 holes," as they were called, but this was 
 the first at which she had sent more 
 than a passing glance. For a minute she 
 stood with the air of one listening in- 
 tently, then stepped inside the rocky 
 opening. It was the mouth of a tunnel 
 which extended for more than a hundred 
 feet into the mountain, so dark that her 
 eyes, filled with the light of the world 
 outside, could not distinguish the two 
 figures working at the farther end, till 
 one of them, turning, made a little spot 
 of brightness with the flame of the candle 
 stuck in his cap. Her own figure, out- 
 lined against the blue of the opening, 
 was plain to be seen, and she announced 
 herself now with a sudden call. 
 
 " Do you want a visitor ? " she cried, 
 and the next instant the two had stopped 
 their work and were hurrying towards her
 
 1 6 THE M. M. C. 
 
 with exclamations of welcome. One of 
 them was a boy apparently a little younger 
 than herself, but the other, who hastened 
 before him, was a man, who might have 
 been upwards of sixty ; a tall spare figure, 
 with a face half covered by a grizzled 
 beard, and quick gray eyes that looked 
 out from under shaggy brows and a 
 deeply lined forehead. 
 
 " Well, I should rather say we wanted 
 you!' 1 ' 1 he cried, seizing the girl's hand in 
 both of his. " It's queer, now, how things 
 come round. We were talking 'bout you 
 jest a minute ago, Lex 'n' I, an' I was say- 
 ing seemed as if I couldn't stan' it not to 
 see you again before you went away." 
 
 " Oh, I couldn't have gone without 
 that? said the girl, " and I came on pur- 
 pose. It's my last chance, you know, for 
 to-morrow I start." 
 
 He placed an empty powder keg for her 
 near the mouth of the tunnel, and seated
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. \J 
 
 himself on another beside it before he 
 answered, " So they tell me. Well, I 
 s'pose we hain't got any claim to keep you 
 here, now the school is done, but 'pears to 
 me it stopped too soon this year." 
 
 The girl shook her head, with a smile. 
 "Oh, no, Mr. Cornforth ! " she said. 
 " There have been six months of it, and 
 it's high time now for vacation. You 
 think so, don't you, Lex ? " she added, 
 turning to the boy, who stood near leaning 
 on his pick. 
 
 He did not reply with a smile as bright 
 as hers. " We boys weren't caring so 
 very much about it," he said. 
 
 " But I'll warrant the little teacher 
 was," said the old man, " and I can't say's 
 I blame her any." He looked at her in 
 silence for a moment, and then added 
 slowly, " An' so you're going back to the 
 old Bay State, right into the home corner? 
 I wouldn't mind if I was going back there
 
 1 8 THE M. M. C. 
 
 for a while myself. It's nigh on forty 
 years since I struck out." 
 
 There was a note of homesickness in 
 his voice as he said it that went straight 
 to the girl's heart. It was not the first 
 time she had heard him refer thus ten- 
 derly to the " home corner." Indeed, it 
 was the first bond of the friendship 
 which had grown so strong between them, 
 that she had come fresh from those same 
 New England hills which he had known 
 in his far-away boyhood. Not that they 
 were actually natives of the same town, 
 but the score or two of miles which lay 
 between his early home and hers did not 
 count for much with one who had wan- 
 dered across half a continent. It was, as 
 he had said, almost forty years since he 
 left those quiet hills to seek his fortune in 
 this strange far country. In the search 
 he had climbed the mountains, and 
 threaded the gorges, delved in the rocks,
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 19 
 
 and sifted the sands, but with all his toil 
 he had won nothing except the name 
 " Old Hopeful," spoken always with a 
 half-pitying smile by those who had 
 watched the unavailing struggle of his 
 life. Yet in spite of every disappoint- 
 ment, and through every hardship, he had 
 kept his own sturdy faith in the good time 
 coming and worked uncomplainingly on. 
 A type of his class, and a patient kindly 
 soul as ever bore the "whips and scorns 
 of time," was this old prospector. 
 
 He had paused after the last words, 
 and his eyes rested for a moment with 
 a far-away look on the landscape which 
 lay outside the tunnel. He glanced back 
 now, and seeming to read a question in 
 the girl's face, said quickly, 
 
 " I didn't come away because I hadn't 
 a good home, you understand. I never 
 had a thing to complain of. Our folks 
 were middling well off, an' my father was
 
 2O THE M. M. C. 
 
 working the old farm for all there was 
 in it to give us children an education. 
 He kind o' wanted to make a preacher 
 o' me, but when I was one 'n' twenty I 
 took the western fever bad, 'n' there was 
 no curing it back there." 
 
 " Did you ever wish you hadn't come 
 away?" asked Alice, impelled to the ques- 
 tion by the contrasting pictures which 
 framed themselves in her thoughts at 
 that moment. 
 
 "Well, no I can't say as I ever did," 
 said the prospector, reflectively. " I've 
 had a tolerable share of hard luck, but I 
 never wanted to give up the chance I 
 saw before me. And I couldn't have 
 made a preacher, anyhow," he added 
 shamefacedly. " I hadn't got the gift o' 
 gab, 'n' I never did feel easy setting 
 round in good clothes." 
 
 There was no danger of embarrass- 
 ment from the elegance of those he wore
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 21 
 
 now. His corduroy suit, though whole, 
 was of the roughest, and his boots, on 
 whose enormously heavy soles the letters 
 " O. K." were traced in huge round nail- 
 heads, had apparently never known the 
 color of anything but clay. 
 
 " But you'll come back to New Eng- 
 land sometime," said Alice, earnestly. 
 
 " Oh, sartin, sartin," said the pros- 
 pector, cheerily. " I count sure on see- 
 ing the old places again before I die, 
 but I can't leave this country, you know, 
 till I have something to show for all the 
 time I've spent out here." He sent a 
 sudden glance along the low, dark walls 
 in whose shadow they were sitting, and 
 added, "When I sell the M. M. C, I 
 guess I shall be ready to start." 
 
 The M. M. C. was the prospector's 
 latest and dearest hope. In actual pres- 
 ence, as it lay in the shadows behind 
 them, it seemed to Alice Hildreth only
 
 22 THE M. M. C. 
 
 a damp and gloomy cavern of the moun- 
 tains. Perhaps he read the thought in 
 her mind, for he raised his finger as he 
 leaned towards her, and his eyes gleamed 
 with the brightness of an eager confi- 
 dence, as he said, 
 
 " Mebbe it don't look like anything to 
 you, Miss Hildreth, but I tell you there's 
 ore in here of a sort that'll make folks 
 open their eyes some day, and, mark my 
 words, it won't be long now before we 
 catch the lead." 
 
 "Oh, if you only could, if you only 
 could ! " cried the girl. Her cheeks 
 grew fairly pale in the eagerness with 
 which her heart responded to his hope. 
 Then the fear made its way again, and 
 she added sorrowfully, " But I've heard 
 you say yourself that one can never be 
 really certain what is in a mine before- 
 hand." 
 
 " Oh, to be sure, you can't tell every-
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 2$ 
 
 thing," admitted the old man, his voice 
 dropping a little. " Signs will fail, an' 
 the way some veins act is enough to de- 
 ceive the very elect. Still, it ain't all 
 guess-work not by no manner o' 
 means." His voice grew confident 
 again, and he added, " I tell you it's a 
 long lane that has no turning, an' I've 
 always stood to it that spite of every- 
 thing, an' come what may, a man's best 
 course is to hold right on." 
 
 " It's holding on sometimes that 
 works the mischief," observed the boy, 
 in a low voice. 
 
 " Aye, aye, Lex," said the prospector, 
 answering the twinkle in the lad's eyes 
 with one in his own. " It won't do to 
 push that rule too far in special cases. 
 You 'n' I know that. 
 
 " You see," he continued, turning to 
 Alice with an air of explanation, " a 
 man's between hawk and buzzard all
 
 24 THE M. M. C. 
 
 the time in the mining business. There's 
 such a thing as holding on too long, an' 
 then again there's such a thing as letting 
 go too soon. I've taken my chances 
 both ways over 'n' over, and missed 
 it," he added, with a momentary knot- 
 ting of his forehead, "missed it every 
 time there was anything big at stake." 
 
 The reminiscent mood was on him 
 now, and he went on, urged by the in- 
 terest in his listener's face. 
 
 " There was the Down Easter. I sold 
 that property for a hundred dollars to 
 the men that took half a million out of 
 her. I'd worked it stiddy for a year, an' 
 put everything I could rake 'n' scrape 
 together into it, but I gave it up at last 
 as a bad job, an' the fellows that took 
 her opened the best vein in the camp 
 with the very first shot they put in." 
 
 He shut his teeth hard on the re- 
 membrance, and for a moment his sinewy
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 2$ 
 
 hands were clenched tightly together. 
 But the bitterness was gone from his 
 voice as he went on. 
 
 " After that it was just my luck to 
 miss it the other way. That time it 
 was in the Aunt Sarah. I'd got onto a 
 pay streak that time, no mistake, an 1 I 
 named it for the old maid aunt that 
 brought me up. She was one of the 
 stiddy-going kind ; you knew jest where 
 to find her every time. Well, somehow 
 I made sure that vein was going to act 
 jest like her, an' my pardner 'n' I refused 
 a handsome offer when we'd been work- 
 ing her a little while. But I'll be 
 thumped if she didn't peter out com- 
 pletely right away after that, and we 
 couldn't sell her for enough to fit us 
 out for another season." 
 
 This remembrance did not seem to 
 rankle like that of the Down Easter, 
 and there was a touch of drollery in his
 
 26 THE M. M. C. 
 
 voice as he added, " After that I never 
 named any more claims for my own re- 
 lations, only one for Uncle Jim Dexter. 
 I thought mebbe that would work contry- 
 wise too, but it didn't. It turned out to 
 be jest as shif'less 'n' slack-twisted as 
 the old man himself." 
 
 They all smiled at this, and then the 
 boy said softly, " But you named the M. 
 M. C. here for little Mary. You don't 
 forget that, do you ? " 
 
 He had come close to the old man's 
 side while the latter was talking, and 
 stood looking at him now with an af- 
 fectionate smile. They were close com- 
 rades, these two. The boy was a waif 
 who had drifted into the other's life 
 long years before, and since that day 
 had shared in every fortune that fell to 
 the prospector's lot. The latter gave a 
 quick nod at the low reminder. 
 
 "Yes, the M. M. C. is named for my
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 2J 
 
 little Mary," he said; "but that was her 
 doings, not mine. ' You must name it 
 for me, Daddy,' says she, ' and then 
 your luck will be sure to come.' An' do 
 you know, Miss Hildreth," he added, turn- 
 ing with an impressive gesture to his 
 visitor, " the way she looked when she 
 said that made me feel, then an' there, 
 that there was something in it. I tell 
 you these little folks see into things a 
 deal farther than we do sometimes." 
 
 Alice did not speak for a moment. 
 She felt, with a throb of pity which she 
 might have spared, that this old man, with 
 the deep lines in his face, and the long 
 hard years of disappointment behind him, 
 was still himself only a child at heart. 
 
 " Well, I'm sure it's a nice name," she 
 said, with an effort ; " I remember the 
 first time I heard it I wondered what 
 those letters stood for. I didn't know 
 then that you had a daughter."
 
 28 THE M. M. C. 
 
 She said the last words tenderly, for 
 she knew that this child, from whom he 
 had been separated for months, was the 
 idol of her father's heart. There had 
 been a romance in his life, short indeed 
 and late, but a living reality to him still 
 in the person of his little motherless 
 daughter. 
 
 " Yes, I have my Mary," he said, and 
 his face shone with a brightness it had 
 not worn even when he talked of the 
 fortune in the M. M. C. " I do wish 
 you could have seen her before you 
 went away. It don't seem right that 
 you should have been in camp so long 
 an' not have known my little girl. I 
 had a good mind to go and get her 
 when you took the school, but I'd prom- 
 ised her for a year to folks that can do 
 more for her than I can, an' I wouldn't 
 go back on my word. But you'll see 
 her one of these days when I bring her
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 29 
 
 East to get her education. That's what 
 I've set my heart on. It's the very first 
 thing I'll do when my luck comes." 
 
 He paused for a moment, then added 
 with a sudden trembling in his voice, 
 " If it warn't for her I don't know as I 
 should care much about the luck one 
 way or another. This rough life is 
 good enough for me. I've followed it 
 so long that mebbe I couldn't fit in 
 with any other now, but it ain't the 
 right sort for her. No, nor for Lex 
 neither," he exclaimed, stretching out his 
 hand to the boy. " He's fit for some- 
 thing better than to go knocking round 
 the world as I have, an' I want to give 
 him a fair start before I pass ' over the 
 range.' " 
 
 The boy's face quivered. It was a 
 strong young face, not showing emotion 
 too easily, but at this moment it was 
 all aflame with feeling.
 
 3<D THE M. M. C. 
 
 " Uncle Eben," he said, " you've done 
 more for me now than I can ever pay 
 you for. All I want is a chance to do 
 something for you." 
 
 They looked at each other for a mo- 
 ment with an affection -which took no 
 note of their visitor, and she, feeling that 
 if the good bye were to be said steadily, 
 she must say it soon, rose from her seat. 
 
 " You'll write to me now and then, 
 won't you ? " she said. " Of course I 
 shall send you a letter as soon as I get 
 back, and tell you about my journey, and 
 how everything looks in the home corner," 
 she loved the phrase for his sake, 
 " but you must tell me how things are 
 going here. I shall be so anxious to 
 know, and don't wait a minute to send 
 me word if you really strike it in the 
 M. M. C." 
 
 " We'll do it, we'll do it ! " said the old 
 man, eagerly. " Lex is handier at the pen
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 31 
 
 than I am nowadays, an' I guess he 
 won't need much urging to write to you. 
 But I tell you, you needn't be a bit sur- 
 prised if you get that word about the 
 M. M. C. on short order. We've settled 
 down to stiddy work in here now, for 
 there's a deal to be done before the year 
 runs out, an' it wouldn't be the strangest 
 thing that ever happened if we should 
 strike it before the new year comes." 
 
 They passed together out of the tunnel 
 as he spoke. The short afternoon was 
 almost spent, and purple shadows were 
 creeping across the mountains. 
 
 " I'll go down to camp with you, Miss 
 Hildreth," said Lex. He had been her 
 escort too often during the months in 
 which he had been her pupil to doubt her 
 willingness, and he added, turning to the 
 prospector, " I'll look in at the post-office 
 while I'm there. Maybe there's a letter 
 from Mary."
 
 32 THE M. M. C. 
 
 There was a last word of parting, a 
 clasp of the hands, and then the young 
 girl went her way, leaving the old man 
 standing alone on the rocky slope. It 
 had been many a year since any good 
 bye had been as hard for him to say as 
 this, and his eyes followed her with a 
 yearning tenderness till a bend in the 
 narrow trail took her out of his sight. 
 
 " Well, she's gone," he muttered to him- 
 self, " an' I wouldn't hold her back if I 
 could, but seems as if 'twas taking some- 
 thing right out of me to have her go." 
 
 He drew his sleeve across his eyes as 
 he walked towards his cabin. At the 
 door he paused and glanced up at the 
 western sky. Something in its appear- 
 ance fastened his attention, for he gazed 
 a moment with contracting brows, then 
 darted a quick glance towards a point at 
 the north where a great cliff projected 
 sharply from the mass of the mountains.
 
 ON THE EVE OF FLIGHT. 33 
 
 Gray clouds were shifting uneasily about 
 it, half concealing its rugged outlines. 
 The prospector's lips shaped themselves 
 into an inaudible whistle. He had lived 
 too much with Nature not to have a quick 
 perception of her moods, and there was 
 foreboding in his voice as he muttered, 
 " I never saw the clouds hang round 
 old Craggy that way when it didn't mean 
 the biggest kind of a storm. Mebbe, after 
 all, she won't get away to-morrow."
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CAGED. 
 
 TT was certainly a risk which Alice 
 L Hildreth had taken in prolonging her 
 stay in Silvercrest up to the very edge 
 of December. There was a distinct pos- 
 sibility that she might be shut in by 
 the snows of winter at the very time 
 she would be ready to start for home. 
 
 But Alice could not with good con- 
 science have shortened the six months' 
 term, which was all the schooling that 
 the camp provided for its children dur- 
 ing the year, and it must be admitted 
 that the danger of blockades had never 
 been much enlarged on in her presence 
 by those who were most interested in 
 her staying. Perhaps it should be said 
 
 34
 
 CAGED. 35 
 
 in their defence that, although a fall of 
 snow was something to be looked for 
 in this region from the earliest days 
 of October, as a matter of fact such 
 snows usually passed away quickly, and 
 autumn often prolonged itself with mel- 
 low brightness to the end of a charming 
 November. 
 
 In view of all this, the storm which 
 actually came, shutting the girl up in 
 this mountain fastness on the very eve 
 of departure, was a thing hard to bear. 
 There were many in the camp, less 
 weather-wise than the old prospector, 
 who knew, before they went to bed that 
 night, that the storm was close upon 
 them, but Alice was not one of these. 
 She finished the packing of her trunk 
 and fell asleep in undisturbed expecta- 
 tion of the journey which was to begin 
 in the morning. 
 
 With morning the whole face of the
 
 36 THE M. M. C. 
 
 world had changed. The snow had be- 
 gun stealthily at midnight, and seemed 
 not so much to be falling now as to 
 be pouring in sheets upon a landscape 
 about to be blotted from existence. Alice 
 had gone to bed with the curtain raised 
 that she might waken early, but a 
 heavier drapery than the one she had 
 lifted hung in clinging folds upon the 
 casement, and shut out even the poor 
 gray thing which had come to make 
 apology for morning. A stamping of 
 feet in the hall below at length aroused 
 her. She started up, realized with strain- 
 ing eyes what had happened, then, sick 
 at heart, dressed and hurried down-stairs. 
 
 Her cousin, John St. Cloud, was in 
 the breakfast room before her, his hands 
 stretched out to the fire, and drops of 
 melted snow shining in his close brown 
 beard. 
 
 "Well, little girl," he said, lifting his
 
 'HER COUSIN . . . WAS IN THE BREAKFAST 
 ROOM BEFORE HER."
 
 CAGED. 37 
 
 eyebrows with a questioning smile as 
 she entered, " it's a slip between the 
 cup and the lip for you this time, I'm 
 afraid." 
 
 The lip from which the cup had been 
 snatched away trembled for a moment 
 beyond Alice's power to steady. 
 
 " Cousin John," she said imploringly, 
 "dorit you think there's any chance of 
 the stage going out to-day ? " 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud lifted his brows a trifle 
 higher. " Not to put the case too 
 strongly, Alice, I don't think there is," 
 he said. He was very fond of this little 
 cousin of his, but a disposition to tease 
 her now and then was a temptation he 
 could not resist, and there was just a 
 suspicion of amusement in his voice as 
 he inquired politely whether she had 
 looked out of doors. 
 
 A small image of himself who was 
 perched in a high chair at the table broke
 
 38 THE M. M. C. 
 
 in upon the pause with a shrill exclama- 
 tion, " Oh, I know you can't go, Cousin 
 Alice ! The road is all stopped up, and 
 the stage would be snowed under if it 
 tried to go out. You've just got to stay 
 here with us. I heard papa and mamma 
 say so." 
 
 The tears rushed suddenly into Alice's 
 eyes, and it was well for her that a more 
 considerate member of the family entered 
 the room at that moment. Mrs. St. Cloud 
 saw instantly that their disappointed guest 
 was not receiving much consolation from 
 the masculine part of the household, and 
 she hastened to supply it as best she could. 
 
 " My dear," she said, putting her arms 
 around the girl, " I know this is a dreadful 
 disappointment, and I wouldn't have had 
 it happen for anything in the world, but 
 you really mustn't blame us if we can't 
 feel blue over the prospect of keeping 
 you with us a few days longer."
 
 CAGED. 39 
 
 " A few days," repeated her husband. 
 " Don't be too sure it's only for a few days. 
 It looks very much as if we were in for a 
 siege, and it means something besides 
 poetry to be snow-bound up here. We 
 were shut in four weeks last winter, and 
 the winter before " 
 
 "Jack," interrupted his wife, indignantly. 
 " How can you have the heart to frighten 
 Alice by talking in that way? Those 
 long blockades came later in the season. 
 Why, there's never been a time when the 
 valley was closed all through December ! " 
 
 " Not that we know of," admitted Mr. 
 St. Cloud. He began to say something 
 about the memory of the oldest inhabitant 
 in Silvercrest not reaching back very far, 
 but the distress in Alice's face finally 
 stopped him, and he said instead, " Well, 
 don't worry, child. You needn't be a bit 
 afraid of having to stay here all winter. I 
 only want to prepare you for the worst,
 
 40 THE M. M. C. 
 
 you know, so that you'll be agreeably sur- 
 prised if you should get off in a few days." 
 
 " Oh, depend upon it, we shall have an 
 open road again very soon ! " said Mrs. 
 St. Cloud. Then, feeling that she had 
 done her duty by Alice, she could not 
 help adding with a sigh, " Dear knows, I 
 wouldn't keep you in a place like this 
 against your will, but it'll be more lone- 
 some than ever for me when you're gone." 
 
 Mrs. St. Cloud, it should be remarked, 
 had never shared her husband's enthusi- 
 asm for life in a mining camp. For his 
 sake she endured it and made his home 
 the pleasantest place in Silvercrest, but in 
 her heart she protested against her rough 
 surroundings, and far less than Alice had 
 she ever really entered into the spirit of 
 the place. 
 
 There was no response to the last re- 
 mark, and the family seated themselves at 
 the breakfast table. Alice tried to make
 
 CAGED. 41 
 
 her part in the conversation, but there 
 was no getting away from the subject of 
 the storm, and it was an effort to make 
 the best of things, when she said pres- 
 ently, 
 
 " Well, I'm glad I took that walk yester- 
 day, even if I'm not going away to-day. 
 This snow would prevent my ever getting 
 out so far again, and I wouldn't have 
 missed seeing Mr. Cornforth once more 
 for anything." 
 
 " You and Old Hopeful seem to be 
 great friends," observed Mr. St. Cloud. 
 " He's always bragging you up lately 
 you and the M. M. C." 
 
 " Well, I don't know why he should 
 brag about me," said Alice, flushing a 
 little. " But the M. M. C. is a good sub- 
 ject if it's as good as he thinks it is. He 
 was telling me about it yesterday, and 
 he feels so sure there's a fortune in it." 
 
 " Oh, of course," said St. Cloud, rather
 
 42 THE M. M. C. 
 
 contemptuously. " He's always sure that 
 he's just on the point of striking it. He's 
 been sure for the last hundred years." 
 
 A look of real pain came into Alice's 
 face. This light way of referring to the 
 disappointments of her poor old friend 
 jarred upon her. " Oh, you don't think 
 he's going to be disappointed again, do 
 you ? " she said pleadingly. 
 
 St. Cloud shrugged his shoulders. As 
 a mining man of large experience and 
 superintendent of the most successful 
 mine in Silvercrest, he was not to be 
 drawn into the folly of passing judgment 
 on an undeveloped claim. He did not 
 reply at once, and his wife took up the 
 query, saying in her impulsive way, 
 
 " Well, if there's any truth in the old 
 saying that 'labor has a sure reward,' 
 Eben Cornforth ought to get something 
 for all his hard work." 
 
 " I don't take much stock in those old
 
 CAGED. 43 
 
 saws," observed St. Cloud. " That one 
 was made for the copybooks by some 
 Down-Easter who knew nothing about 
 the kind of labor that goes on in these 
 mountains." 
 
 " Well, it does seem to be luck, not 
 labor, that wins in mining," said Mrs. St. 
 Cloud, in a tone of disgust. " But I must 
 say I can't see any justice in it when a 
 good honest soul like Eben Cornforth 
 works year in and year out without hav- 
 ing a thing to show for it, and a man 
 like Dudleigh Drayton comes out here 
 and makes a fortune right away." 
 
 " Softly, softly," said her husband. " It 
 takes something besides luck to run the 
 mining business, and, if you please, min- 
 ing is one thing and prospecting is quite 
 another. Because a man has the patience 
 to keep on year after year, pecking holes 
 in the sides of the mountains, it doesn't 
 follow that he has any claim to the
 
 44 THE M. M. C. 
 
 prizes that fall to capital and business 
 ability. Those are two things that pro- 
 spectors don't have as a general rule, and 
 Cornforth is no exception." 
 
 He paused a moment, then added : 
 " But when you speak of Drayton, it's a 
 different matter. He's the sort of man 
 who'd make a success of anything he 
 took hold of, and he has plenty of 
 money to back him. When he comes 
 into a camp it means business. He 
 goes ahead to develop his property, sets 
 a mill running, brings in Eastern capi- 
 tal, and makes things lively. He's the 
 kind we need out here, and for my part 
 I don't grudge him his luck when he 
 opens up a pay streak." 
 
 He broke off suddenly with a laugh. 
 " There's Drayton now ! " he exclaimed as 
 the figure of a man passed the window. 
 " What's that saying of yours, Kitty, 
 about speaking of angels ? "
 
 CAGED. 45 
 
 " I hope you don't call him an angel ! " 
 said Mrs. St. Cloud. She arranged the 
 dishes on the table before her rather 
 nervously, and made haste to use her 
 napkin on little Tommy's face in the 
 minute that elapsed before her husband 
 ushered in their unexpected caller. 
 
 The latter was a tall, rather handsome 
 man, hardly yet in the prime of life, 
 with that indescribable something in his 
 looks and manner which marks the suc- 
 cessful man of affairs. The contrast 
 which had just been drawn between him 
 and the old prospector seemed to em- 
 phasize itself in every line of his alert 
 face, in every movement of his erect 
 figure, and in the very tones of his quiet, 
 confident voice. Without doubt Mr. 
 Dudleigh Drayton was the most pros- 
 perous and important man in Silver- 
 crest ; the most unscrupulous, too, some 
 might have added, but these were per-
 
 4.6 THE M. M. C. 
 
 haps envious of his rapid and brilliant 
 successes. 
 
 He accepted the cup of coffee which 
 Mrs. St. Cloud offered him, with an apol- 
 ogy for making so early a call, and ex- 
 plained that he wished to accompany the 
 superintendent to the mine in which they 
 were jointly interested. Then turning to 
 Alice, he said with a smile, " And so 
 you're a prisoner among us, Miss Hil- 
 dreth ? " 
 
 " Fairly caged," chuckled St. Cloud, and, 
 as if forgetful of the comfort he had lately 
 offered her, he added, " We concluded 
 we'd keep her here for the holidays." 
 
 "The holidays!" gasped Alice. "Oh, 
 but you said and the holidays are away 
 at the end of the month ! " 
 
 " Don't you mind him, Alice," said Mrs. 
 St. Cloud, giving her husband a reproach- 
 ful look. " It's just his talk." 
 
 " No, don't be frightened in advance,"
 
 CAGED. 47 
 
 said Mr. Drayton, and he added in a 
 sympathizing tone, " It would be dread- 
 fully dull for you here, wouldn't it ? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know about that," said 
 Alice. " I don't think I should mind 
 the dulness." She was silent for a mo- 
 ment, then in her straightforward, rather 
 serious fashion added, " But my school 
 is done now, and I've nothing to do 
 here. There really seems to be no 
 reason for my staying any longer, and 
 I feel as if I ought to be going home." 
 
 Perhaps her way of putting it struck 
 Mr. Drayton as odd, for his eyes rested 
 on her face for a moment with a look 
 half curious, half amused. He seemed 
 about to say something when the super- 
 intendent interrupted in his jovial tone, 
 
 " As for our camp being dull at the 
 holidays, that is all a mistake. I tell you 
 we have lively doings here along about 
 that time."
 
 48 THE M. M. C. 
 
 He appealed to Mr. Drayton for con- 
 firmation of the statement, and the latter 
 promptly assented, adding, however, as if 
 with some reluctance, that the amuse- 
 ments of the place were hardly up as 
 yet to those of Boston or New York. 
 
 " New York ! " exclaimed little Tommy, 
 who had been waiting with unusual for- 
 bearance for his chance at the conversa- 
 tion. " I've been to New York ! " 
 
 " Have you ? " said Mr. Drayton, who 
 was on friendly terms with Tommy. 
 "That's odd; I've been there, too." 
 
 " Does your grandmother live there ? " 
 demanded Tommy, getting excited. " Mine 
 does, and I've been all round. It's a lots 
 bigger camp than Silvercrest." 
 
 The laugh which followed this abashed 
 Tommy into silence, and his delighted 
 papa took advantage of the pause to 
 turn the conversation back to the pleas- 
 ures of camp at the holiday season.
 
 CAGED. 49 
 
 " You mustn't think, Alice, that we 
 folks up here let the days go by with- 
 out getting any fun out of them. Last 
 Christmas we had a Santa Claus to beat 
 the nation regular team of mountain 
 elks, good as any reindeer in Lapland, 
 and the way they went dashing through 
 camp was a caution. We always man- 
 age to get up something uncommon, and 
 there's a regular tournament at snow- 
 balling and snow-shoeing, not to mention 
 some sort of high jinks in the evening." 
 
 He evidently felt that he had done 
 the subject in fine style, but his wife 
 inquired rather scornfully, " And at the 
 New Year's ? " 
 
 " Oh, at New Year's there's more of 
 the same sort, and " he paused in ob- 
 vious effort to recall some other diver- 
 sion of the camp, then with a sudden 
 twinkle in his eyes, and a glance at Mr. 
 Drayton, added, " Occasionally we have
 
 5O THE M. M. C. 
 
 something in the way of fireworks 
 thrown in extra." 
 
 " I should think fireworks would be 
 better for Fourth of July," observed 
 Alice. 
 
 Her cousin laughed, and Mr. Dray- 
 ton's moustache twitched a little, but 
 Mrs. St. Cloud said in a tone which 
 indicated that she at least did not think 
 the joke a particularly good one, " He 
 doesn't mean torpedoes and sky-rockets, 
 my dear. The fireworks he refers to 
 are strictly private and not intended 
 for amusement." 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know what you 
 mean," said Alice, and she appealed, in 
 some bewilderment, to her cousin for an 
 explanation. 
 
 " Ask Drayton," said the superintend- 
 ent. " He knows more about it than I 
 do." 
 
 Mr. Drayton looked as if he hardly
 
 CAGED. 51 
 
 appreciated this tribute to his superior 
 knowledge, but he answered easily. " I 
 suppose your cousin refers to the re- 
 location of mining claims the first of 
 January. A pistol-shot at midnight 
 sometimes announces the fact that the 
 old year is ended and a piece of prop- 
 erty has changed hands. There was 
 a time when the new year set a good 
 many echoes rattling among these hills, 
 but there are not so many nowadays." 
 
 "No," said St. Cloud. "In these 
 times, if a man has a claim that's worth 
 anything, he generally works it promptly, 
 and if it isn't worth anything, nobody 
 cares to take it away from him." 
 
 He saw that Alice still looked per- 
 plexed, and to make the matter really 
 clear to her, said seriously: "You see, 
 Alice, the holder of an unpatented min- 
 ing claim is obliged by law to put a 
 hundred dollars' worth of work or im-
 
 52 THE M. M. C. 
 
 provements upon it every year. The year 
 is regarded as ending on the thirty-first 
 day of December, and if this work is not 
 done then, the owner forfeits his title, and 
 the claim is open to re-location; so you see 
 if a mining man has anything to lose, he'd 
 better not be napping when the year goes 
 out, and if he has anything to make, he'd 
 better look to it bright and early." 
 
 " I see," said Alice. She had learned 
 much about mining during her stay in 
 Silvercrest, but this particular phase of 
 it was quite new to her. She looked 
 thoughtful for a minute, and then said, 
 " I should think it would be awfully 
 hard for a man to lose his claim in that 
 way, if he had meant to get all the 
 work done and somehow failed of it just 
 at the last." 
 
 " Not a bit too hard," said St. Cloud. 
 " When a man locates a claim, it's his 
 business to attend to it. If he puts off
 
 CAGED. 53 
 
 doing his assessment work till the end 
 of the year and expects to crowd it all 
 in at the last minute, it serves him 
 right if he gets left. Eh, Drayton ? " 
 
 Mr. Drayton did not speak for a 
 moment, then he said carelessly, " As 
 far as I'm concerned, I'm willing that 
 the man who can should make the most 
 of his chance, when I leave anything in 
 his way." 
 
 The subject dropped with this. Mr. 
 Drayton fell to discussing snow-men with 
 Tommy, and shortly after left the house 
 with Mr. St. Cloud. At the door, 
 however, he turned back, and said to 
 Alice, who was looking out at the win- 
 dow with a very pensive face, - 
 
 " I really hope, Miss Hildreth, that you 
 won't be kept here long against your 
 will, but if it should happen so, don't be 
 afraid you'll have no work to do. Some- 
 thing will be sure to turn up to meet
 
 54 THE M. M. C. 
 
 the demands of an energy like yours." 
 He smiled as he said it, then, with a 
 pleasant "good morning," withdrew. 
 
 For some minutes Alice turned that 
 speech in her thoughts as she watched 
 the two sturdy figures making their way 
 through the snow. She suspected it had 
 been spoken more in jest than earnest, 
 but that did not prevent her finding a 
 bit of good counsel in it. It was cer- 
 tainly not likely that anything very im- 
 portant would " turn up " for her to do, 
 but there were ways enough in which 
 she might be helpful to her friends, and 
 this, after all, was the best cure for ennui. 
 She determined that she would at least 
 not be idle, and with more real heroism 
 than it sometimes takes for larger things 
 she threw herself into Mrs. St. Cloud's 
 plans for the day and the entertainment 
 of Tommy, who was restless from the 
 lack of his usual out-door play.
 
 CAGED. 55 
 
 But a chance of doing something quite 
 unexpected really seemed to open before 
 her that evening. She was playing back- 
 gammon with her cousin when he said 
 suddenly, 
 
 " Oh, there's a bit of news you'll be 
 interested to hear, Alice, apropos of that 
 friend of yours whom we were discussing 
 this morning." 
 
 " You mean Mr. Cornforth?" she asked, 
 lifting her head quickly. 
 
 " Yes ; I heard to-day that he got word 
 last night his little girl was sick, and 
 .started off at once for Redridge." 
 
 "Dear me!" cried Mrs. St. Cloud. 
 " How could he go with this storm just 
 coming on ? " 
 
 " I guess the question with him was how 
 he could go if he waited," said her husband. 
 
 " Well, it's a mercy he got the word," 
 said Mrs. St. Cloud ; " I wonder if the 
 child is very sick."
 
 56 THE M. M. C. 
 
 Alice did not speak for a moment. 
 The surprise and pity of it quite over- 
 whelmed her. Evidently Lex had found 
 the letter with its sorry tidings at the 
 post-office when he came down the even- 
 ing before. The finding at least was 
 something to be thankful for. Aloud 
 she said, " I wonder if Lex went too." 
 
 " No; I understood that Cornforth went 
 alone," said St. Cloud. 
 
 " Then Lex shall come here and stay 
 with us until he gets back!" cried Mrs. 
 St. Cloud. " It would be miserable for 
 him out there alone in that cabin, and 
 I always did like that boy." 
 
 Alice gave her a quick, grateful look. 
 " Oh, that would be splendid for Lex," 
 she said, " and besides, I could help him 
 with his studies as long as I stay. He's 
 a real good scholar and would like that. 
 I wonder if Mr. Cornforth will get back 
 before I go away," she added, making a
 
 CAGED. 57 
 
 rapid forecast of how much they might 
 be able to accomplish. 
 
 " Not much probability of that, I should 
 say," replied St. Cloud. " The road to 
 Redridge is like Jordan, ' a hard road to 
 trabble,' and Cornforth isn't likely to take 
 it again in a hurry, especially if his child 
 is sick." 
 
 " It's a very bad time for him to go," 
 said Mrs. St. Cloud, with a sigh. 
 
 " Very," assented her husband. And 
 then he gave his dice-box an impatient 
 shake and told Alice it was her turn to 
 play.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 
 
 JVAR. ST. CLOUD had undoubtedly 
 spoken the truth when he said that 
 to be snow-bound in the Rocky Moun- 
 tains meant something besides poetry. 
 That isolation which comes as a brief 
 winter experience, not without its own 
 peculiar pleasure, to the secluded farm- 
 house or the rural village of the East, 
 bears slight resemblance to the shutting 
 up within itself of a little mountain town 
 at the time of a snow blockade. In a 
 place like Silvercrest, lying far away from 
 the railroad, the only communication left 
 with the outer world is through the ad- 
 venturer on snow-shoes, and even he 
 58
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 59 
 
 does not risk the trip without strong 
 motive. 
 
 It was ten days now that Alice had 
 been a prisoner, and through all that 
 time storm had followed storm, defying 
 all the efforts of the settlers to open the 
 valley road, and heaping the snow deeper 
 and yet deeper around the camp. The 
 girl wondered what would be the end 
 of it, and when her cousin showed her 
 one day a photograph of the place as it 
 appeared during the first winter of its 
 existence, a scene consisting of a dozen 
 stove-pipes projecting blackly above a 
 waste of snow, she really felt a pass- 
 ing terror. 
 
 " The cabins were under the snow, 
 you see," the exhibitor had explained, 
 "and the people actually lived there for 
 a while with tunnels connecting their 
 doors. But it couldn't happen again," 
 he added cheerfully. " There are too
 
 6O THE M. M. C. 
 
 many of us here now, and we'll manage 
 to keep the sky above our heads if we 
 don't do anything else." 
 
 In all this time nothing had been seen 
 of the boy, Lex Flemming, and Mrs. St. 
 Cloud's generous plan for his comfort 
 still remained only a plan. Alice could 
 not understand it. She had thought he 
 would want to tell her about the old 
 prospector's sudden departure, and she 
 had felt sure he would wish to reassert 
 the championship at snow-shoeing which 
 he had held for two winters among his 
 mates, but even for this he did not ap- 
 pear in the camp. His absence began 
 to trouble her, and Mrs. St. Cloud's ex- 
 planation of it did not tend to lessen 
 her anxiety. 
 
 " It wouldn't surprise me any to hear 
 that he's sick," she declared with emphasis. 
 " I'm sure it's enough to make him sick to 
 live in that lonesome way, cooking meals
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 6 1 
 
 for himself that most likely aren't fit to 
 eat, and staying all alone at night, with 
 the wind howling round the cabin, and 
 nothing to keep any one from coming in 
 who chose to lift the latch. It's bad 
 enough for men to live that way, but for 
 a boy like Lex it's simply awful." 
 
 She proposed to her husband that he 
 should send a man out to the cabin to 
 make inquiry, but he laughed at the 
 suggestion. " Now don't you worry 
 about that boy," he said. " He's used to 
 roughing it, and he wouldn't thank us 
 for treating him like a baby. If he 
 doesn't come down, it's because he's got 
 something else on hand. Just you wait. 
 He'll show up when he gets ready." 
 
 And as if to make good the superin- 
 tendent's words, Lex did appear that 
 very day. His friends at the cottage 
 saw him coming, and between them 
 both he had hard work to answer ques-
 
 62 THE M. M. C. 
 
 tions fast enough when they had him 
 fairly inside the door. These were of 
 course at first about Eben Cornforth, 
 and of him Lex had but little to tell. 
 
 " There wasn't much in the letter," he 
 said, when pressed for its exact wording. 
 " All it said was that little Mary was 
 sick, and he'd better come as quick as 
 he could. He didn't wait long to start, 
 I can tell you, for he knew there wasn't 
 a minute to lose." 
 
 " And I suppose you haven't heard 
 from him since," said Mrs. St. Cloud. 
 
 " No," said the boy, sorrowfully. " I 
 thought the mail would come in to-day, 
 it's been so pleasant, and that there 
 might be a letter, but there wasn't any." 
 
 "Well, you mustn't let that trouble 
 you," said Alice. " Why, I haven't had a 
 letter from home since the blockade began!" 
 and for the moment she really felt that there 
 was some advantage in the deprivation.
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 63 
 
 "No," said Mrs. St. Cloud, "there's 
 everything to prevent one getting letters 
 nowadays, and I presume Mr. Corn- 
 forth is all taken up with the child, 
 anyway." 
 
 She leaned forward in her chair now 
 and looked at the boy with closer scrutiny. 
 It was time to ask how he himself was 
 faring in his guardian's absence. But to 
 all that she had feared on his account Lex 
 made cheerful denial. His health and 
 appetite were perfect, and he slept 
 soundly of nights. Why not ? The 
 roaring of storms without did not disturb 
 him safe in the cabin. As for tramps, 
 there were none abroad now; but if one 
 should come along some darksome night, 
 Lex (smiling broadly) declared that he 
 should give him a share in his bunk 
 and sleep the better for his company. 
 As for feeling it a hardship to cook his 
 own meals, he was used to that, and with
 
 64 THE M. M. C. 
 
 all modesty would submit that he could 
 fry bacon or " toss a flapjack with the 
 best of them." Evidently there was no 
 making a martyr of the boy while he 
 himself was on the stand to testify. 
 
 Mrs. St. Cloud drew a long breath as 
 he finished. Then she said, " Well, I'm 
 sure it's a credit to you, Lex, to take 
 such a cheerful view of things, but for 
 all that it isn't a good way for you to 
 live ; it isn't a safe and proper way ; and 
 now we want you to stay with us the 
 rest of the time till Mr. Cornforth gets 
 back. That's been the plan from the 
 first, only we couldn't get a chance to 
 tell you so." 
 
 Lex blushed like a girl. The surprise 
 and pleasure of such an invitation almost 
 took his breath away, but something evi- 
 dently stood in the way of his acceptance. 
 " I should like to come," he began, " and 
 it's ever so kind of you to ask me, but "
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 65 
 
 He hesitated, and Mrs. St. Cloud broke 
 in impatiently, " Indeed, I shan't believe 
 you think it's kind of us at all if you don't 
 come. There can't be any reason why 
 you should stay out there if you'd rather 
 be here. It wouldn't be a bit of trouble 
 to us, and we've set our hearts on it. 
 Alice, tell him the plan you have to make 
 the time really worth something to him, 
 and I'm sure he won't refuse after that." 
 
 She nodded at him confidently with the 
 last words, then answering a call from the 
 kitchen left the two together. 
 
 " Oh, you must come, Lex ! " said Alice, 
 earnestly. " Mrs. St. Cloud really wishes 
 it very much, and so do I. It would be so 
 much pleasanter for you, and only think 
 what a chance you'd have to go on with 
 your studies with me to help you. There's 
 arithmetic, now ! You didn't leave off at 
 the right place. Suppose we take it up 
 again, and I'll engage that you shall be
 
 66 THE M. M. C. 
 
 master of everything in percentage if we 
 have a week together. Come, Lex ; it's a 
 chance ! " 
 
 Her eyes sparkled as she spoke, but the 
 boy's face had grown very sober. " Oh, 
 Miss Hildreth!" he said, "I should like 
 that chance, but I can't take it. I'm work- 
 ing every day in the M. M. C. That's 
 what I've been doing ever since Uncle 
 Eben went away, and I've got to keep 
 right on with it." 
 
 For a minute Alice was quite taken 
 aback. " Why, Lex," she said, " is it 
 really necessary for you to work out there 
 while Mr. Cornforth is gone ? " 
 
 " It's because he's gone that I must 
 work ! " cried the boy. " You see, Miss 
 Hildreth, the assessment for this year isn't 
 worked out. Uncle Eben meant to do it 
 this month he's been working in one 
 of Drayton's mines all the fall but he'd 
 only done a few days' work in the
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 67 
 
 M. M. C. when the letter came, and he 
 dropped everything." 
 
 The girl's eyes widened with a sudden in- 
 telligence. In a flash she remembered the 
 talk at the breakfast table on that morn- 
 ing of disappointment, and realized just 
 the danger which threatened the old pros- 
 pector's claim. " Oh, dear me ! " she said, 
 and then she dropped her hands at her 
 sides, and looked at Lex with a blank dis- 
 may. But even with this light on the sit- 
 uation she still could not quite see the 
 need of his self-denying resolution. 
 
 " But, Lex," she cried, "you can't do all 
 that work alone, can you ? " 
 
 " No," said the boy ; " I only wish I 
 could. But my work counts for half as 
 much as a man's, that's what Drayton 
 paid me when I was working for him last 
 spring, and all I do will lessen the 
 amount that's left for him to do when he 
 gets back."
 
 68 THE M. M. C. 
 
 " But if he shouldn't get back at all ! " 
 
 The boy's face darkened and his hand 
 tightened on the arm of the chair. 
 " Then my work wouldn't hold the 
 claim," he said slowly. " But I believe 
 he will get back. Anyhow, I'm going 
 to do all I can and take the chances." 
 
 Perhaps he feared she might think him 
 ungrateful in thus rejecting the plan which 
 had been so generously made for him, for 
 after a moment he said earnestly, 
 
 " You wouldn't wonder at the way I 
 feel about this, Miss Hildreth, if you 
 knew all he's done for me. He took 
 me in after my own folks died, when I 
 was only a little chap, with nobody in 
 the world to look after me, and he's 
 stood by me through thick and thin ever 
 since. He's given up chances on account 
 of me, that might have been a fortune 
 to him, and I wouldn't fail him now, 
 when there's a chance of doing some-
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 69 
 
 thing for him, for anything in the 
 world." 
 
 " Oh, and I wouldn't have you, Lex ! " 
 cried Alice. Her own heart was too 
 loyal in its affections, too instantly re- 
 sponsive to the sense of duty, to fail to 
 appreciate the boy's feeling in this mat- 
 ter, and there was complete sympathy 
 in her voice as she said, " I didn't under- 
 stand it before, but now that I do, I see 
 that you couldn't possibly take any other 
 course. I couldn't myself if I were in 
 your place." She was silent a moment, 
 then added, " I suppose he knows what 
 you're doing." 
 
 His face had brightened as she spoke, 
 but he shook his head at the last words. 
 " No, we didn't have any talk about the 
 work," he said. " It seemed as if he 
 couldn't think of anything but little Mary 
 after that letter came. I did start to say 
 something once, but all he said was, ' If
 
 7O THE M. M. C. 
 
 she gets better, I'll be back in time, and 
 if she don't ' he didn't finish it out, 
 but I guess he meant it wouldn't make 
 much difference to him then, one way 
 or another." 
 
 His voice, which had been so strong 
 and confident, trembled, and for the first 
 time there was a note of despondency in 
 in it as he added, " If I only knew he'd 
 get back! Sometimes I get awfully 
 worried thinking about the work all by 
 myself." 
 
 It was Alice's turn to be confident 
 now. " But you mustn't worry, Lex ! " 
 she said. " I'm sure things will come 
 out right. Why, they always come out 
 right when we do our duty, as you are 
 doing yours." 
 
 She little knew how this faith of hers 
 would be tested in the days that were 
 coming, but in the strength of it now 
 her face was all aglow with hope and
 
 DANGER AHEAD. /I 
 
 courage, and the look in her eyes might 
 have driven fear from an older and more 
 doubtful soul than the boy's. 
 
 " I'm afraid you make too much of 
 my part in it," he said, "but I shall re- 
 member that you believe that things will 
 come out right if I do my best." 
 
 There was a little more talk between 
 them, and then Alice went to find Mrs. 
 St. Cloud, for she wanted to set the 
 case in its true light, and prevent that 
 warm-hearted lady from urging her in- 
 vitation farther. But this was not as 
 easy as she had thought. Mrs. St. 
 Cloud was not prepared to accept the 
 girl's view of the matter, and indeed was 
 somewhat exasperated that she had so 
 quickly adopted it. 
 
 It was not at all likely, she said, that 
 Eben Cornforth would get back in time 
 to accomplish any work; it was by no 
 means certain that anybody would try
 
 72 THE M. M. C. 
 
 to re-locate his claim if he didn't ; and 
 it was most doubtful of all whether there 
 was anything of value in it, when all 
 was said. But if there were, she de- 
 manded, reaching her climax with posi- 
 tive heat, what was the best mine in the 
 world worth compared with the safety 
 and advantage of a boy like Lex Flem- 
 ming ? 
 
 She was not to be dissuaded from 
 arguing the matter with him herself, but 
 in this she gained nothing, and she gave 
 it up at last with a fairly good grace. 
 
 " Well, Alexander Flemming," she said, 
 with a show of dignity, " I think you're 
 a very obstinate boy, and it's no use to 
 argue with you any more. You'll take 
 your own way, I suppose, and though 
 it isn't my way, and I don't like it the 
 least bit, I'm free to say I don't like you 
 any the less for taking it." 
 
 The dignity was all gone with the last
 
 DANGER AHEAD, 73 
 
 words, and to show her complete good- 
 will she gave him at parting a basket 
 filled with the best stores of the pantry. 
 " Just to help out the bacon and flap- 
 jacks, you know," she said, and she added 
 with a smile, " If you should change your 
 mind about coming here when you see 
 how good our mince pies are, just remem- 
 ber that the invitation stands." 
 
 He went off in the best of spirits, but 
 it was really a pity he had not stayed a 
 little longer, for he might have heard 
 a piece of news of more interest to him, 
 perhaps, than to any other person, except 
 one, in the camp. Mr. St. Cloud had 
 learned it a little ahead of the general 
 knowledge, and brought it with him when 
 he came home to supper. 
 
 It seemed that Mr. Dudleigh Drayton 
 was " in luck again." Word had just 
 been brought to him of a rich find in 
 the Nonesuch, one of his outlying mines ;
 
 74 THE M. M. C. 
 
 the exact size of it was not yet known 
 Drayton had gone out to investigate ; 
 but if report said true, he had struck a 
 "bonanza," and no mistake. 
 
 In answer to a question from his wife, 
 Mr. St. Cloud explained that the None- 
 such was located about three miles north 
 of town, on the farther side of Ben 
 Doon. 
 
 " Why, that's the very mine that Mr. 
 Cornforth has been working in this fall, 
 and it's close by the M. M. C. !" exclaimed 
 Alice. 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud said he believed so, but 
 this evidently did not add to his interest 
 in the matter. To Alice, however, it 
 brought a thrill of genuine excitement. 
 Her first delighted thought was that this 
 discovery in the Nonesuch was an omen 
 of good to Eben Cornforth 's claim, and 
 then it occurred to her that there was 
 more danger than before of his losing
 
 DANGER AHEAD. 75 
 
 it if there was any flaw in his title at 
 the end of the year. She could hardly 
 think of anything else all the evening, 
 and she wondered constantly how Lex 
 would feel when he knew it. One thing 
 was certain : he would be more bent than 
 ever on doing his utmost at that assess- 
 ment work.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LEX MAKES A THIRD AT AN INTERESTING 
 CONFERENCE. 
 
 MEANWHILE Lex was steadily 
 pushing his way towards home. 
 There were no long swift runs to be 
 made now by the aid of his snow-shoes. 
 It was an uphill journey all the way and 
 could only be taken step by step. Still 
 the distance did not seem long to him. 
 He was a strong, stout-hearted lad, and 
 he whistled blithely as he went higher 
 and higher into the rugged whiteness, 
 pausing now and then to give a shout 
 of greeting to some miner at his door, 
 or to send a mocking answer to the cry 
 of a coyote lurking somewhere in the 
 shadow of the pines. 
 76
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 77 
 
 The moon was rising behind the cabin 
 when at last he reached it. It was such 
 a cabin as one finds everywhere among 
 the Rockies ; set close against the 
 mountain, indeed, partly within it, its 
 sides formed of logs and clay and pro- 
 tected by a low, dirt-covered roof. But 
 Eben Cornforth had a considerable 
 spice of Yankee genius, and a dwelling 
 built by him was sure to have more 
 than the ordinary degree of mountain 
 comfort. The window set in the front 
 of this was larger than the average, the 
 door fitted better and boasted a stout 
 wooden latch. Inside, too, there were 
 marks of contrivance. The stools, the 
 shelves, the table swung with leather 
 hinges to the side of the room, and the 
 little camp-stove, less picturesque than 
 a fireplace of stones in the corner, but 
 vastly more comfortable, all spoke of 
 a thrifty inhabitant.
 
 /8 THE M. M. C. 
 
 The darkness and emptiness of the 
 place threw a momentary gloom over 
 the boy as he opened the door. Here, 
 where the old prospector's voice had 
 so often sounded in cheery welcome, 
 the sense of his absence came most 
 keenly. But a fire quickly lighted and 
 blazing with a crackle, a candle twin- 
 kling on the table, and, above all, the 
 contents of Mrs. St. Cloud's basket went 
 far to banish the lonesome feeling. 
 How good those pies and doughnuts 
 were ! If the giver could have seen 
 the rate at which they disappeared, she 
 would certainly have been convinced 
 that her worst fears were true as to the 
 starvation fare on which Lex had been 
 living during his guardian's absence. 
 
 He was thinking of her now, and of 
 Alice Hildreth, as he lay on the wolf- 
 skin before the fire. Their hearty 
 friendliness had more than paid him for
 
 'SEATING HIMSELF AT THE TABLE, HE FELL TO WORK."
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 79 
 
 his trip to camp, though he had missed 
 the letter which was the chief object of 
 going. He wondered whether he had 
 really expressed his appreciation of that 
 generous invitation which they had 
 urged so warmly. And then he thought 
 a little sadly how pleasant it would have 
 been if he could only have taken advan- 
 tage of the little teacher's offer to help 
 him in his studies. With that came 
 another thought; the evenings were 
 long and he had nothing to do; why 
 not study his arithmetic by himself and 
 surprise her at the end of the week with 
 the progress he had made ? The idea 
 pleased him more and more as he con- 
 sidered it, and, springing to his feet at 
 last with the basket still not wholly 
 emptied, he took his arithmetic and 
 slate from the shelf, and, seating him- 
 self at the table, fell to work. He had 
 a faculty for figures, an " oncommon
 
 80 THE M. M. C. 
 
 good head," as the old prospector some- 
 times admiringly declared, and now, in 
 the glow of his resolution, he worked 
 swiftly and with no thought of the 
 passing time. 
 
 It was the dulness of his pencil, and 
 the discovery of the fact that his knife 
 was missing, which gave sudden pause 
 to his interest. To a boy in his situa- 
 tion the loss of a good jack-knife seemed 
 nothing short of a calamity, and when 
 he had hunted in every pocket, and 
 made a rapid search through the room 
 without finding it, Lex looked exceed- 
 ingly troubled. A vigorous racking of 
 his memory, however, presently disclosed 
 that he had used the knife in the mine 
 a short time before starting for camp. 
 He thought he knew the very spot 
 where he must have left it, and with an 
 impulse to recover it at once if possible, 
 he seized his cap and a bit of candle
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 8 1 
 
 and hurried out of the cabin. The 
 M. M. C. was only a few rods distant. 
 He would make the search and return 
 at once. 
 
 A minute, and he stood inside the 
 rocky opening. Here he paused and 
 lighted the candle, then took his way 
 down the narrow tunnel till he came 
 to an irregular opening in the left wall 
 close to the top. It was the mouth of 
 a small natural cave which the pros- 
 pector had opened in the course of his 
 work. Lex had been in it once before 
 that day. It was here that he had used 
 his knife in breaking a curious stalactite 
 from the roof. He scrambled into it 
 again now, and diving into one of its 
 dark, low corners, peered around for his 
 missing treasure. He had not been 
 mistaken. There it was lying just as 
 he had left it. He gave a whistle of 
 joy at the sight and was putting it in
 
 82 THE M. M. C. 
 
 his pocket when he was startled sud- 
 denly by the sound of footsteps in the 
 passage outside. 
 
 For a moment the glad thought crossed 
 his mind that the old prospector had re- 
 turned. He crept forward with a cry. 
 Then the sound of voices in conversa- 
 tion reached him, and with a flashing 
 conviction of his mistake, he blew out 
 his candle, and crouching on the floor 
 of the cave listened intently. 
 
 At first he could gather but little of 
 the talk, for it was carried on in low 
 tones, and accompanied frequently by the 
 blows of a hammer which rang here and 
 there against the rocky walls, but the boy 
 was not slow in drawing his own conclu- 
 sion as to this unexpected visit. These 
 men, whoever they were, had come to 
 make examination of the M. M. C. Prob- 
 ably they hoped to make the claim their 
 own should the opportunity be theirs at
 
 LEX A T AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 83 
 
 the end of the year. So much Lex 
 guessed by the help of his fears; but 
 when, listening strenuously, he caught the 
 name of the Nonesuch, with allusions to 
 the rich vein just opened, he saw an ad- 
 ditional reason for this sudden interest in 
 Eben Cornforth's claim. 
 
 Drawing close to the mouth of the cave, 
 he placed himself in a better position for 
 listening, just in time to hear the louder 
 of the two voices exclaim : " Well, it may 
 be the Old Gopher is on the right track 
 this time. It really looks that way." 
 
 Lex did not recognize the voice, but he 
 had no trouble in recognizing an allusion 
 to Eben Cornforth under the title of " Old 
 Gopher," a name frequently applied to 
 prospectors who have distinguished them- 
 selves by making many and futile "holes 
 in the ground." 
 
 "It does, for a fact," continued the same 
 voice after a little pause filled with the
 
 84 THE M. M. C. 
 
 clinking sound of the hammer. " It's one 
 of my mistakes that I didn't locate this 
 myself. I had the chance before Corn- 
 forth did." 
 
 "Oh, well," said the other voice, in 
 lower, fuller tones, which to the listener in 
 the case suggested Mr. Dudleigh Drayton, 
 " oh, well, we'll do something towards 
 correcting that mistake very soon now, 
 unless the Old Gopher, as you call him, 
 takes very positive means to prevent." 
 
 " Well, if he means to do it, he'll have 
 to get back here pretty quick," returned 
 the other. " It's just as I expected ; his 
 assessment isn't half worked out. I know 
 how much was done when he quit work 
 last year, and he's only done a little drift- 
 ing since then." 
 
 " I kept him at work for me till a couple 
 of weeks ago," remarked Mr. Drayton 
 (Lex was sure now that he was indeed the 
 speaker) ; " but I can't say I had this in
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 85 
 
 view," he added, as if candor compelled 
 him to admit that the result was not due 
 to his own clever designing. 
 
 " That's just Cornforth's luck," grunted 
 his companion. " He never sees where 
 his own advantage lies in time to take it." 
 
 " His talents don't run in that line," re- 
 turned Mr. Drayton ; " but when it comes 
 to hard work, why, Cornforth has a gift of 
 no mean order. For driving a tunnel on 
 a contract I don't know any man his equal. 
 You can always depend on him to stand 
 by his job, and do it just as he agrees to." 
 
 " Oh, Cornforth has a gift for being 
 ' poor but honest ' ; there's no denying 
 that," said the other, dryly. "We can't 
 all of us expect to have the same gift, eh, 
 Drayton ? " 
 
 There was no audible response to this ; 
 but after a moment Mr. Drayton remarked: 
 " I suppose there's just a chance of Corn- 
 forth's getting back in time to do some-
 
 86 THE M. M. C. 
 
 thing more at this. He was very much 
 impressed with the importance of driving 
 work here a little while ago, and threw 
 up a steady job with me for the sake of 
 getting at it." 
 
 " Yes, that was his notion then," re- 
 plied the other, " but it doesn't count. 
 If his girl is sick, he won't leave Red- 
 ridge in a hurry. Besides, he's got a 
 claim over there, and most likely he'll 
 stay and work on that. These pros- 
 pectors always have a lot of claims scat- 
 tered up and down the country, twice 
 as many as they can look after. I'll war- 
 rant that if Cornforth doesn't hear of 
 the Nonesuch, and in this weather 
 news doesn't travel fast, he won't get 
 back to Silvercrest in time for this." 
 
 There was a moment of silence. Then 
 Mr. Drayton said, with a ripple of amuse- 
 ment in his low, quiet tones, " We were 
 talking about re-locations at St. Cloud's
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 87 
 
 the other morning, and that little cousin 
 of his said she thought it was awfully 
 hard for a man to have his claim taken 
 away from him, if he had meant to get 
 all his work done. She seemed to be 
 rather horrified at our New Year's busi- 
 ness." 
 
 The remark was greeted with a re- 
 sounding laugh. " Maybe they take the 
 will for the deed in the country where 
 she was raised," retorted Mr. Drayton's 
 companion ; " but out here a man's got 
 to show his faith by his works and do 
 it on time or get left. ' It's every man 
 for himself and the Devil take the 
 hindmost.' " 
 
 "Oh, for that matter," said Mr. Dray- 
 ton, coolly, " we don't look out for our 
 own advantage any more sharply here 
 than they do back East. With us the 
 stakes run higher, and call for quicker 
 play, that's all."
 
 88 THE M. M. C. 
 
 His companion added something, with 
 another laugh, but the words were lost 
 to the listener in the cave. A minute 
 later, when he knew that they had passed 
 the mouth of his hiding-place without 
 pausing, he crept still closer to it and 
 peered eagerly after them. They were 
 standing together at the farther end of 
 the tunnel, and as the light of their 
 candles fell on their half-turned faces, 
 Lex saw them both distinctly. Mr. 
 Drayton's companion, as he had already 
 guessed, was a mining expert much in 
 the employ of the other gentleman. He 
 had broken a fragment from the wall, 
 and was examining it with close atten- 
 tion. 
 
 " Cornforth has been following a blind 
 lead," he said at length. " He hasn't 
 cut the true vein, but in the light of 
 the Nonesuch it looks a good deal as if 
 he was getting near it. He was brag-
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 89 
 
 ging the last time I saw him about the 
 showing here, and he wasn't altogether 
 wrong. For that matter he has more 
 sense than most of the prospectors. He 
 knows a ' hawk from a handsaw ' when 
 he sees it." 
 
 He crumbled the lump of dark earth 
 in his hand as he spoke and threw it 
 from him, then brought his candle to 
 bear more closely on the wall itself, 
 scanning the marks of labor on it 
 sharply. " It looks as if some one had 
 been working here just lately," he said, 
 in a puzzled tone. 
 
 Then his eye was caught by Lex 
 Flemming's pick which lay on the floor 
 near him, beside a little heap of rock 
 and earth. It was a lighter pick than 
 that generally used by miners, and after 
 looking at it an instant he remarked, 
 " If there is anybody at work, it must 
 be the boy. Perhaps that's the way he
 
 90 THE M. M. C. 
 
 amuses himself while the old man's 
 gone." 
 
 If the speaker had turned at that 
 moment, he might have caught a 
 glimpse of the boy to whom he had re- 
 ferred so lightly, his white face framed 
 in the opening of the wall, and his eyes 
 blazing through the darkness like those 
 of some hunted animal. When he did 
 turn, there was nothing to be seen. Lex, 
 aware that the men were about to re- 
 trace their steps, had crept into the 
 farthest recess of the cave, behind an 
 angle of its jagged wall. 
 
 He had not done it too soon. A 
 moment later he heard Mr. Drayton ex- 
 claim, "What's this? Have they been 
 blasting out up here ? " 
 
 He was standing before the mouth of 
 the cave, stretching himself up and 
 peering in with an expression of curi- 
 osity.
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 91 
 
 " Oh, that's a natural cave," replied 
 his companion, coming up behind him, 
 and looking for an instant over his 
 shoulder. " They open up sometimes 
 in these limestone deposits. There's 
 another of the same sort in the Little 
 Polly, over at Bedrock. Cornforth told 
 me about this last winter, and I looked 
 through it then. There's nothing in it. 
 Do you want to go through ? " 
 
 "No, thank you," said Mr. Drayton. 
 " I'll take your word for it." 
 
 He had no fancy for bending his neck 
 and crawling about in dark places unless 
 there was something to be gained by it, 
 something which in his practical mind 
 took the shape of probable business 
 advantage. For another moment the 
 light of his candle shone on the glisten- 
 ing roof of the strange little room ; then 
 he turned away and left it once more to 
 darkness and the boy.
 
 92 THE M. M. C. 
 
 Till the last echoing footstep had died 
 away Lex kept his place, scarcely daring 
 to breathe, and motionless as the wall 
 beside him ; then, with a fast-beating 
 heart, he crept to the mouth of the 
 cave and let himself down to the floor 
 of the tunnel. The moonlight made a 
 shining path through the open door, 
 and hurrying towards it he looked 
 eagerly out. At a little distance, climb- 
 ing the hill, with their faces towards the 
 Nonesuch, he could see his late visitors; 
 then, fearful lest with some backward 
 glance they might still discover him, he 
 shrank once more out of sight. 
 
 And then, for a few short moments, 
 his heart swelled with an exulting sense 
 of triumph. He knew the secret of 
 these men, but they did not know his. 
 They did not guess that their words had 
 fallen into the ear of one who would do 
 his utmost to thwart them.
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 93 
 
 His utmost ! Ah, the thought came 
 next, like a rushing wave, sweeping 
 away the poor brief sense of triumph, 
 that the utmost he could do was all too 
 little against this impending danger. 
 It was the danger he had foreseen from 
 the first, but it wore a new look to him 
 now in the sudden and definite shape it 
 had just assumed. If Eben Cornforth 
 should not come back in time ! The 
 cold sweat started on the boy's forehead 
 as he faced the thought. It seemed to 
 him he could not stand by and see the 
 fortune for which the old man had toiled 
 so long slip from his hand into the grasp 
 of others. 
 
 For there was a fortune, there must 
 be a fortune, in the M. M. C, since Dud- 
 leigh Drayton wished to possess it! 
 Perhaps no other fact could have meant 
 so much to Lex Flemming. And then 
 his thoughts turned with a sudden fierce-
 
 94 THE M. M. C. 
 
 ness upon Drayton himself. Till now 
 this man had been a hero to the boy. 
 He had gloried in his large successes 
 and offered him a shy devotion, but 
 the feeling was swept away in a tide 
 of swift revulsion. He felt that he 
 hated the shrewd, prosperous man, and 
 he longed for the power to defeat and 
 defy him. 
 
 And then, in the midst of his anger 
 and bitterness, like the touch of some 
 quieting angel, came the thought of 
 Alice Hildreth and the memory of 
 words she had spoken only a few hours 
 before. He wondered what she would 
 say to this, she, who had been so sure 
 that all must come right if only he did 
 his duty steady and true. If she would 
 say it again with that same look in her 
 eyes, it seemed to Lex that he could 
 believe it still, in spite of Dudleigh 
 Drayton and the world.
 
 LEX AT AN INTERESTING CONFERENCE. 95 
 
 With slow steps he walked back to 
 the cabin. His arithmetic was lying 
 open on the table, but there was no 
 interest for him now in its pages. The 
 only problem that he cared to solve 
 was this of the M. M. C. 
 
 Presently he threw himself on the 
 bunk in the corner, with its bed of pine 
 needles and blankets, and, troubled as 
 he was, he was soon asleep.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 
 
 AACHEN Lex woke the next morn- 
 ' ing, the sun, an hour high, was 
 shining in at the window of the little 
 cabin. He started to his feet and, for 
 a moment, wondered whether his ex- 
 perience of the night before had not 
 been all a dream. But a very little 
 wide-awake reflection convinced him of 
 its reality, and brought back the anxiety 
 in which he had fallen asleep. He 
 made a hasty breakfast and then started 
 for the Nonesuch ; for he could not set 
 himself to his ordinary work till he knew 
 what the discovery was which had so 
 soon brought its influence to bear on 
 the M. M. C. 
 
 9 6
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 97 
 
 The Nonesuch was a comparatively 
 new property. Not much money had 
 been spent as yet either on buildings 
 or machinery, and only a few men were 
 employed in the work. This morning, 
 however, its brightening fortunes were 
 already apparent. Mr. Drayton and the 
 foreman were standing by the ore-house 
 as he approached, evidently laying plans 
 for its enlargement. Neither of them 
 observed him, and he, holding his head 
 a little higher than usual, passed directly 
 to the entrance of the mine. This was 
 not a tunnel like that of the M. M. C., 
 but a shaft descending straight into the 
 mountain. A moment later, after a 
 quick descent in an ore-bucket, he stood 
 among the workmen at the bottom. 
 They were old acquaintances and willing 
 enough to detail the news of yesterday. 
 
 " It's a three-foot vein of the best ore 
 in these diggin's," said one of them,
 
 98 THE M. M. C. 
 
 " and if it don't boom everything on 
 this hill come spring, I'm a tenderfoot. 
 We got onto it about noon yesterday, 
 and you can bet your life all hands 
 were glad of the change. We've been 
 breaking our drills for the last month 
 on the hardest piece of granite that was 
 ever stuck in the way of a tunnel, and 
 the boss himself was getting sick of 
 the job. ' If we don't get through this 
 before long, boys, we'll try it on another 
 tack,' says he, yesterday morning, and 
 it wasn't six hours afterwards that we 
 broke into this. I put in the shot 
 myself that did the business." 
 
 He turned again to his work with 
 the remark, " I reckon you'll be look- 
 ing for something of this sort in the 
 M. M. C. Old Hopeful will think he's 
 got a sure thing now." 
 
 " Oh, we've known that from away 
 back," said the boy, coolly; but he did
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 99 
 
 not wait for further conversation. He 
 did not want to be asked any questions 
 about the state of the work, or the 
 time when he expected Eben Cornforth 
 home. 
 
 As he turned, he came face to face 
 with Mr. Drayton, who had descended 
 the shaft during the talk. " Good morn- 
 ing, Lex," said that gentleman, cheer- 
 fully. " Are you looking for a job ? 
 If you are, we'll take you on right 
 away. We need more hands in here." 
 
 There was a heartiness in his manner 
 to which the boy gave no response. 
 An angry flush had risen in his face. 
 " I don't want any job but the one I've 
 got," he said stiffly. " I'm putting all 
 my time on the M. M. C." 
 
 Mr. Drayton raised his eyebrows 
 slightly. " Oh, then you have your 
 hands full," he said ; and in another 
 moment the two had passed.
 
 TOO THE M. M. C. 
 
 That day Lex worked as he had 
 never worked before. One watching him 
 might have wondered what prize had 
 been offered for the strokes which fell 
 from his pick so hard and fast. It 
 seemed to the boy himself that new 
 power had been given to his arms, but 
 there were moments when his heart 
 grew faint under the bitter question, 
 Was it for the man he loved that he 
 was spending his strength, or would it 
 in the end turn only to the advantage 
 of his enemy? 
 
 As the day wore on, and weariness 
 came, his doubts grew deeper, and the 
 longing to talk his trouble over with 
 some friend took strong possession of 
 him. It seemed to him he could not 
 bear this thing alone, and with the 
 feeling came more and more often the 
 thought of Alice Hildreth. She was 
 only a girl ; she could not help him-
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. IOI 
 
 He said it to himself over and over, 
 but the remembrance of her sympathy 
 brought insistently back the desire to 
 see her and tell her all his anxiety. It 
 would be worth something just to know 
 that she cared. 
 
 With steady patience he finished his 
 day's work ; then, when all the world was 
 growing dark, without as well as within 
 the tunnel, he left the place. Supper and 
 a visit to the snares he had set among the 
 pines held him for another hour. A pres- 
 ent of ame for Mrs. St. Cloud would be 
 
 O 
 
 a fine excuse for the visit, he said to him- 
 self, and the luck which awaited him in 
 the shape of a splendid pair of "snow- 
 shoe rabbits " seemed a good omen. The 
 trip to camp in the keen bracing air 
 helped to raise his spirits, and when Alice 
 Hildreth met him at the cottage door 
 there was nothing in his face to suggest 
 that anxiety was the cause of his coming.
 
 102 THE M. M. C. 
 
 She was alone in the house with Tommy, 
 and the welcome they both gave him 
 might have lightened a heavier heart 
 than his. 
 
 " Oh, I'm so glad you've come, Lex," 
 said the child, "for papa and mamma have 
 gone out for all this evening, and I'm to 
 sit up as long as I please with Cousin 
 Alice, and she's going to tell me stones. 
 I guess she'll let you hear them, too." 
 
 The girl sent a rather rueful look at her 
 visitor. Now he had come she would 
 have liked to put her charge to bed, but 
 Lex smiled good-naturedly at Tommy. 
 After the strain of the last twenty-four 
 hours it was a relief to think of something 
 besides work and trouble, and for his talk 
 with Alice he could wait. There was 
 sure to be a chance by and by. 
 
 But the story-telling was quickly made 
 over to him, and the theme, rabbits, was 
 one on which he was extremely well
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 103 
 
 posted. He told his eager young lis- 
 tener all about the beautiful pair he had 
 brought, how they changed the gray coats 
 they had worn in summer for white ones 
 when the hills put on their winter cover- 
 ing, and how they gained their peculiar 
 name from their broad, flattened feet so 
 well adapted to travel on the fields of 
 snow. It was not as easy to find them 
 about Silvercrest now as it had been once, 
 for their race had suffered in the long 
 blockades when people hunted them in 
 every corner to eke out their slender store 
 of provisions. All this, with tales of his 
 own fortune in many a rabbit hunt, Lex 
 told in answer to the child's swift ques- 
 tions; but the little fellow's eyes grew 
 sleepy at last, and the promise that some 
 day he should himself go hunting with 
 Lex sent him amiably off to bed. 
 
 And now it was time for that other 
 story, the story which was for Alice's ear
 
 IO4 THE M. M. C. 
 
 alone. The boy did not wait when his 
 opportunity came. " Miss Hildreth," he 
 began, with a look of trouble on his bright 
 face, which had not been there before, " I 
 came down to-night on purpose to tell you 
 something. I don't know as I ought to 
 bother you with it, but it seems as if I 
 must tell somebody, and you've been so 
 good to me and Uncle Eben. Things 
 look worse than they did for the M. M. C. 
 Something's happened since I was here 
 yesterday." 
 
 " You mean the strike in the None- 
 such ?" cried Alice. "Oh, I thought of 
 you when I first heard of that." 
 
 " Yes, the Nonesuch is at the bottom 
 of it," said the boy. " You see they've 
 made a great find in there, and that can't 
 help meaning something to us, we're so 
 close to it. Of course it would be the best 
 kind of luck for us if it wasn't for the way 
 our assessment work stands, but now "
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 1 05 
 
 He paused an instant, and Alice ex- 
 claimed : " That's just what I was afraid 
 of! You think now there's more danger 
 than before, that people will try to get 
 it away from you." 
 
 " I don't ' think' I know it," cried the 
 boy. " They were in there last night, 
 Drayton and Kempton, and they make 
 sure of getting it when the new year 
 comes." 
 
 He told his story now with flashing 
 eyes and tense, nervous voice, repeating 
 the conversation he had overheard, and 
 not omitting the allusion to her nor the 
 opinion which had been ventured as to 
 the way in which he amused himself. It 
 was a climax of excitement at which his 
 listener's cheeks grew pale when he told 
 how these men had stopped at the mouth 
 of his hiding-place, within the very sound 
 of his smothered breathing, and turned 
 away again all unconscious of his presence.
 
 IC6 THE M. M. C. 
 
 " They said there was nothing in 
 there, but I was there," he ended bit- 
 terly. " Maybe I don't count for any- 
 thing, but if I could only spoil their 
 game ! " 
 
 He stopped with his lips drawn hard, 
 and for an instant Alice could not speak. 
 She had listened to this story with her 
 heart swelling as if it would burst. To 
 her these midnight visitors seemed no 
 better than plotting robbers, the worst 
 of robbers indeed, since they would take 
 advantage of the old man's absence to 
 rob him of his treasure. 
 
 " Oh, Lex," she cried, starting to her 
 feet, " what can we do ? We must do 
 something to stop them." 
 
 If she had poured out a torrent of 
 sympathy, it would not have meant as 
 much to Lex as that little word " we." 
 It filled him with a quick, sweet sense of 
 companionship in his trouble. He lifted
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. IO/ 
 
 his eyes gratefully to hers, but shook 
 his head as he answered slowly, 
 
 " I can't see any sure way out of it 
 unless he gets back in time. I wrote 
 him a letter this morning, and when he 
 gets it he'll know how things stand. 
 But he may miss of getting it; and if 
 she's worse, he won't pay any attention 
 to it ; I know that. If I could only get 
 somebody to work in his place, it would 
 fix everything, but there's the trouble." 
 
 " Why, there must be plenty of men 
 about here," cried Alice, catching at this 
 new idea. 
 
 " Not so many as there were a while 
 back," said Lex. " It's the worst time 
 in the year to get help in a place like 
 this. The prospectors are mostly work- 
 ing out their own assessments, we're 
 not the only ones in the lurch, and 
 the rest, that are good for anything, 
 have got some job for the winter. Still,
 
 108 THE M. M. C. 
 
 there 'd be a chance for me if I only had 
 the money to pay, but Uncle Eben didn't 
 leave me any to speak of. He wasn't 
 caring about the work, anyway, and I 
 suppose he thought he might need all 
 he had for her," 
 
 The light of a sudden hope had kindled 
 in the girl's blue eyes. Was it a ques- 
 tion of money, then ? " Oh ! " she cried, 
 and then, with her breath coming quick, 
 " How much would it take ? " 
 
 " Let me see," said the boy. " Uncle 
 Eben had put in five days' work when 
 he went away, and at three dollars a 
 day " He paused, but Alice's thought 
 leaped to the end of the calculation 
 quicker than his. 
 
 " Then eighty-five dollars would pay 
 for the work that's left to be done ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh, fifty would cover it," said the boy, 
 "for there's all my work. But there's
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 1 09 
 
 no use talking of money," he added, al- 
 most impatiently. " I haven't got five 
 dollars, not to speak of fifty." 
 
 " Yes, you have, Lex," said Alice, lean- 
 ing forward and laying both her hands 
 on his. " Yes, you have, for /'ve got it, 
 and it shall be your own for this." 
 
 He looked at her in such utter aston- 
 ishment, that she repeated more slowly. 
 " I tell you it is yours, yours to use for 
 him on this work in the M. M. C. I 
 only need enough money to get home, 
 and I have a great deal more than that, 
 for the St. Clouds wouldn't take a cent for 
 my board. Oh, I feel as if I had been 
 earning it for this very purpose." 
 
 The tears rushed into the eyes of the 
 boy. "Oh, Miss Hildreth," he began, 
 but she would not let him finish. 
 
 " No, no, don't thank me," she said. 
 " Don't say a word. Oh, if you knew 
 how glad I am to do it! Why, I'm the
 
 1 10 THE M. M. C. 
 
 one to be grateful myself for having such 
 a chance." 
 
 He turned his face away for a moment, 
 and the tears came faster than before. 
 Was ever another friend who gave help 
 like the little teacher? 
 
 " He\\ thank you," he said at last, in 
 a broken voice. " And he'll pay you 
 back, too. Nobody ever lost a dollar by 
 him. But if anything should happen 
 that he couldn't, I'll pay you myself with 
 the very first money I earn." 
 
 " The pay I want is the right to feel 
 that I've helped him," she cried. " Oh, 
 if his fortune should come after all these 
 years, and you and I had helped to bring 
 it ! " She clasped her hands in a trans- 
 port of happiness. Then, with a sudden 
 anxiety, queried, " But are you perfectly 
 sure you can get somebody ? " 
 
 " I'll rustle round pretty lively, and see 
 if I can't," said the boy. There was a
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. Ill 
 
 new note of courage in his voice. He 
 dropped his head with the air of one 
 thinking intently, and she, seeing his pre- 
 occupation, was silent, too. In the still- 
 ness of her thoughts she reviewed the 
 rather startling step she had just taken, 
 but without the slightest misgiving. She 
 was a New England girl, trained to the 
 most careful use of money, but she felt 
 sure that every member of the household 
 at home would approve her action in 
 this matter. She could hear her father 
 say in his hearty voice, "You did right, 
 my child ; you did right." And she could 
 see her mother turn her face away lest 
 the smile of tender approval in her eyes 
 should melt too quickly into tears. She 
 started when Lex spoke again, and from 
 the home scene which had risen so vividly 
 before her brought back her thoughts to 
 the scene which was passing here. 
 
 " I think my best way would be to try
 
 112 THE M. M. C. 
 
 to get one of the Glynns," he said. 
 " There's two brothers of them, and they 
 are working on their own claim, the 
 Lonely. They're Cornishmen, and sharp 
 after the money, but first-rate miners and 
 the kind you can tie to. Jerry was in for 
 supplies three weeks ago, and I heard 
 him telling that they were about through 
 with their assessment then." 
 
 The details of this plan shaped them- 
 selves as he spoke, and he added, " I'll 
 start out for him by daylight to-morrow. 
 It's a big trip to the Lonely, and up-grade 
 most all the way, but that makes it down 
 hill coming back, and if he agrees, we may 
 get in again by night. I guess he will ; 
 I'll tell him I've got the money to pay." 
 
 "Yes, tell him that," said Alice; "but 
 don't say a word about me. It's just the 
 same as if Mr. Cornforth had left it. 
 Hadn't I better get the money now ? " 
 she added, rising.
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 113 
 
 " No, we don't have to pay in advance, 
 and if anything should happen to me on 
 the way, 'twould be lost, you know," said 
 the boy. " I'd rather wait till I get back." 
 He said the words so lightly that they 
 scarcely made an impression on her 
 thought. 
 
 " All right," she said, " I'm ready when- 
 ever you are." And then she added 
 earnestly, " But you must be sure to 
 come and see me as soon as you get 
 back ; I shall be so anxious to know 
 whether you succeed." 
 
 " I'll report, if I can, to-morrow night, 
 or at any rate by noon the next day," he 
 said. " You shall hear from me within 
 thirty-six hours." 
 
 He rose as he spoke, and put out his 
 hand as if to seal the promise. For a 
 moment' they stood looking into each 
 other's eyes like two children with a 
 secret between them, and a boundless
 
 H4 THE M - M - c - 
 
 trust, each in the heart of the other. 
 Then Lex said, " I must be getting home 
 now, if I'm to make that trip in good 
 shape to-morrow." 
 
 She did not try to detain him. They 
 said good night a few minutes later, and 
 the boy passed out of the cottage ; but 
 when he had crossed the threshold he 
 turned back to say, with his heart in his 
 voice, 
 
 " There's nobody but you that would 
 have done it, Miss Hildreth, and we'll 
 never forget it of you, Uncle Eben and 
 I, never." 
 
 He choked as he said the last word, 
 then, with another good night, he was 
 off. 
 
 Till his swift, dark figure was out of 
 sight, Alice stood holding her lamp in 
 the doorway, watching; and when she 
 returned to her place by the fire her heart 
 still followed him. Of the long, hard
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 115 
 
 journey he would undertake in the morn- 
 ing she took little thought. In fancy 
 she saw him already returned, his errand 
 crowned with success, and that success 
 seemed to her eager hope the sure be- 
 ginning of the better days for which the 
 old prospector had waited so long and 
 patiently. 
 
 When the St. Clouds came home, they 
 found her still sitting by the fire, an un- 
 usual brightness in her eyes, and a soft, 
 warm color in her cheeks. " So you 
 stayed up for us, in spite of my telling 
 you not to," said Mrs. St. Cloud, dropping 
 into a chair beside her. " It was naughty, 
 but I'm glad you did; for I can't wait to 
 tell you about the entertainment we've 
 planned for Christmas eve at the school- 
 house. We want you to help us in get- 
 ting up some tableaux." 
 
 " I'll do everything I can," said Alice, 
 cordially. " I may be here myself to
 
 Il6 THE M. M. C. 
 
 share the fun when the evening comes, 
 you know." 
 
 It was the first time she had ever 
 admitted the possibility, but she did it 
 cheerfully now. Her longing to go home 
 was, for the time, quite swallowed up in 
 the desire to see the end of this strange 
 drama in which she had so suddenly be- 
 come an actor. 
 
 Mrs. St. Cloud brought her hands to- 
 gether with a soft little clap, and her 
 husband gave his cousin a smile of pecul- 
 iar approval. 
 
 "You're a sensible girl, Alice," he said. 
 " I knew you were made of the right sort 
 of stuff when I brought you up here." 
 
 For a moment, in the glow of pleasure 
 which his words gave her, Alice felt that 
 she would like to tell him everything 
 which had passed that evening between 
 herself and Lex, but a moment's hesita- 
 tion killed the impulse. She remembered
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. II? 
 
 too well the impatience he had once ex- 
 pressed towards mining men who allowed 
 their claims to go unworked till the last 
 month of the year, to feel that he would 
 have any sympathy with Eben Cornforth 
 in the danger that now threatened his 
 property, and it was not easy to speak 
 of the assistance which she herself had 
 promised. That it was best to do what 
 she had done, incomparably best, was one 
 of the things likely to be hidden from 
 a man as wise and prudent as Mr. John 
 St. Cloud. Nevertheless, she felt a little 
 guilty in keeping her secret, and she paid 
 for it by the blush with which she pres- 
 ently said that she had had a visit from 
 Lex Flemming that evening, and that 
 he had brought a pair of rabbits for 
 Mrs. St. Cloud. 
 
 " Oh, how nice of him ! " exclaimed 
 the lady. " I've been wishing for a week 
 that we could have a rabbit pie." Then,
 
 Il8 THE M. M. C. 
 
 with a quick note of inquiry in her voice, 
 " Perhaps he's beginning to think better 
 of staying with us ? I hope you urged 
 the invitation." 
 
 Alice laughed. If Mrs. St. Cloud only 
 knew how far such suggestion had been 
 from their talk that evening ! " Hell 
 not change his mind about that," she 
 said decidedly. " He's not thinking of 
 anything now but the work in the 
 M. M. C." 
 
 " Well, he ought to change his mind," 
 replied Mrs. St. Cloud, and she appealed 
 the question to her husband, whether 
 it were not the height of folly for Lex 
 to refuse a comfortable home in his guar- 
 dian's absence for the sake of standing 
 by the M. M. C., as he called it. 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud was moving from the 
 room, looking rather sleepy. " Well, I 
 guess his standing by the M. M. C. won't 
 make much difference one way or an-
 
 IN LEAGUE FOR DEFENCE. 119 
 
 other," he said ; " but let him do as he 
 pleases. Most likely he's shy about com- 
 ing here. I was shy myself at his age." 
 
 Mrs. St. Cloud looked as if she rather 
 doubted the statement, but she only said, 
 with a shake of her head, that if Lex 
 came to grief in his lonesome life, it 
 would not be her fault, but rather the 
 fault of those who had not helped her 
 to overcome his scruples. 
 
 Alice's only response to this was a 
 radiant smile. There was no room in 
 her happy heart to-night for the fear that 
 any harm would come to Lex in acting 
 the unselfish part he had chosen.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 
 
 IT was a dull, gray world to which Alice 
 woke on the morning after that visit 
 from Lex. The tops of the mountains 
 were all lost in banks of dubious-looking 
 clouds, and there was a chilly dampness 
 in the air which suggested more snow. 
 
 " Oh, why couldn't it have been pleas- 
 ant just for to-day ! " thought the girl. 
 It seemed to her that Nature ought to 
 have lent her brightest skies to aid the 
 boy on his tedious journey, and she went 
 down to breakfast in a depressed and 
 rather resentful state of mind. 
 
 The conversation at table did not 
 tend to raise her spirits. Mr. St. Cloud 
 began it by a casual remark about the 
 
 120
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 121 
 
 mail-carrier, who, it appeared, was ex- 
 pected to leave camp on his weekly trip 
 that morning. 
 
 " Lyford's got a bad day for his job," 
 he observed, with a glance out the win- 
 dow ; " I shouldn't like to be in his shoes 
 to-day." 
 
 Alice started. " You don't think he'll 
 be in any special danger, do you ? " she 
 asked, with a troubled accent on the 
 words. 
 
 " Oh, my dear," cried Mrs. St. Cloud, 
 impatiently, " don't you know that people 
 are always in ' special danger ' when they 
 go about among the mountains at this 
 season ? There are no end of things 
 that may happen." 
 
 The danger to which her own thoughts 
 had been most recently directed occurred 
 to her at that moment, and for the girl's 
 benefit she proceeded : " Why, Mrs. Haw- 
 ley was telling us last night how her
 
 122 THE M. M. C. 
 
 brother was struck with snow-blindness 
 going through Bailey's Basin the other 
 day. He had been out all the morning 
 with the snow in a perfect glare, and 
 before he knew what was coming every- 
 thing began to grow indistinct around 
 him. It got worse and worse, till finally 
 he couldn't see his hand before his face. 
 He wandered around in the Basin for 
 hours, and would have frozen to death if 
 a couple of miners hadn't found him just 
 at nightfall. He hasn't been able to 
 bear a ray of light since, and the pain 
 in his eyes is something fearful." 
 
 It was impossible to omit a single 
 detail with a listener whose face showed 
 such interest as Alice Hildreth's. The 
 girl had grown fairly pale over the story. 
 What if such a fate as this should befall 
 Lex Flemming, with the possible differ- 
 ence that help should not reach him at 
 all?
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 12$ 
 
 It was a relief when Mr. St. Cloud 
 said in a careless tone, " Well, there's 
 no danger of Lyford's going blind to- 
 day. The last thing that's likely to 
 trouble him is too much sunshine on 
 the snow." 
 
 Alice sent him a grateful glance, 
 but the comfort his words had given 
 was snatched away in another moment. 
 She had just time to draw a long breath 
 before he added, " Of course the real 
 danger a carrier has, on a day like 
 this, is from slides. There's no getting 
 rid of that, with the snow lying every- 
 where as heavy as it does now. The 
 slightest thing may bring it down with- 
 out a moment's warning." 
 
 " Oh, but surely people don't need to 
 go through the places where there is 
 such danger," cried Alice. 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud shook his head. 
 " There are no safe paths among these
 
 124 THE M > M - c - 
 
 mountains for any long distances now," 
 he said. " If a man has far to go, he's 
 sure to have to strike through some 
 skittish places. If he isn't willing to 
 run his risk, and a pretty close one, 
 too, he'd better stay at home in times 
 like these." 
 
 " I don't think all the mail in Chris- 
 tendom is worth it," exclaimed Mrs. St. 
 Cloud, " and yet," she added with a sigh, 
 " it would be intolerable to live in a 
 place like this without letters or papers." 
 
 " Of course it would," said her hus- 
 band, " and somebody has to take the 
 risk of bringing them in. After all, 
 there's no use making such a horror 
 of the business. There's a certain fas- 
 cination in the very danger, and the 
 fellow who goes in for it gets good pay 
 with lots of glory to boot." 
 
 He glanced from his wife to Alice as 
 he spoke, and half smiled at the distress
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 12$ 
 
 in her face. " Come, come," he said, 
 giving her cheek a friendly pat. " I 
 thought you were just the sort of girl 
 to appreciate that kind of pluck. You're 
 always telling Tommy about those old 
 heroes who spent their time killing 
 dragons and breaking each other's 
 heads. You fairly smacked your lips 
 yesterday when you read, 
 
 "'Let me, this instant, rush into the fields, 
 And reap what glory life's short harvest yields.' 
 
 Well, that's just what your mail-carrier's 
 doing, and I think you ought to hurrah 
 for him as well as for those old advent- 
 urers." 
 
 She could not help smiling at this, 
 but with a quivery sort of smile. To 
 admire heroism in the abstract was one 
 thing, but to think calmly of Lex Flem- 
 ming pushing his way through the aw- 
 ful dangers of these mountains was
 
 126 THE M. M. C. 
 
 distinctly another. " I don't think I 
 ever quite realized before about these 
 snow-slides," she said, in a low voice. 
 
 It really seemed as if Mrs. St. Cloud, 
 with the kindest heart in the world, was 
 set to make the girl miserable that 
 morning. " Why, of course you've 
 known about them, child," she said. 
 " You read in the paper yourself how 
 the gorges are all packed with rocks 
 and timber that the slides have brought 
 down, and how the men who are trying 
 to open the road have to keep some one 
 on the lookout all the time, for fear of 
 other slides rushing down and burying 
 them." 
 
 Yes, Alice had certainly read this and 
 other facts not less pointed. She even 
 remembered making a note of them as 
 incidents likely to interest the friends at 
 home who would want to know all about 
 this strange, wild region in the heart of
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 
 
 the Rockies. But it seemed to her at 
 this moment as if she were actually hear- 
 ing of snow-slides for the first time, such 
 new significance did the danger gain 
 from the thought of Lex Flemming and 
 his journey to the Lonely. 
 
 She was silent, looking so utterly de- 
 jected, that Mr. St. Cloud made haste 
 to say, " Well, don't think any more 
 about snow-slides, or snow-blindness, or 
 any other of our little pleasantries up 
 here. We won't any of us start out to- 
 day. As for Lyford, he's no tenderfoot. 
 He knows what he's got before him and 
 he'll see himself through." 
 
 Far as he was from touching on the 
 real point of the girl's anxiety, his words 
 did give her a kind of relief. Lex, too, 
 was " no tenderfoot." No doubt he knew 
 what was before him when he decided 
 on his journey to the Lonely. " If any- 
 thing should happen to me on the way "
 
 128 THE M. M. C. 
 
 She remembered the words now and 
 how lightly he had said them. Those 
 perils which had been so strangely absent 
 from her thoughts had surely been 
 present to him, a mountain lad and " to 
 the manner born." 
 
 It was poor comfort, but all she had 
 to cling to, and she made the best of it 
 through that day. After all, there was 
 no actual storm. The clouds hung 
 stubbornly about the mountains and 
 threw out occasional flurries of snow, 
 but those were not serious enough to 
 hinder any traveller long who had urgent 
 business before him, as she gathered 
 from Mr. St. Cloud, when, wincing a 
 little, she referred again at dinner to the 
 mission of the mail-carrier. This was 
 worth something, and as night came on 
 she could not help thinking that Lex 
 might have accomplished his journey, 
 and even now be drawing near with
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. I2Q 
 
 the word he had promised to bring 
 her. 
 
 But he did not come, and after a rest- 
 less evening, her thoughts made a reso- 
 lute rebound. She said to herself that 
 she ought not to have looked for him at 
 all. He had not himself expected to 
 come to-night. " You shall hear from 
 me within thirty-six hours;" that was 
 his promise, and she must bide his time 
 with patience. 
 
 For a while the next morning it was 
 not hard to keep her resolution. The 
 sun shone as it only shines in Colorado 
 in December, making the mountains 
 glisten as if all the gold and silver in 
 their cold, dark bosoms had been drawn 
 forth by some enchanter's wand and 
 spread in burnished sheets upon their 
 sides. The air was as mild as the air of 
 October, and the whole camp seemed 
 bestirring itself to a new and cheerful life.
 
 130 THE M. M. C. 
 
 " He'll certainly come this morning," 
 Alice said to herself, and with more 
 success than on the previous day she 
 tried to throw herself into the interests 
 of those around her. Mrs. St. Cloud 
 was busy with preparations for a lunch- 
 eon party, and to help her in the mak- 
 ing of various dainties, to " set the house 
 to rights," and add the thousand touches 
 that always seem needed when company 
 is coming, were welcome occupations. 
 But more and more often as the day 
 wore on, Alice stole to the window and 
 sent a wistful glance down the street. 
 The thirty-six hours were passing, they 
 had almost passed, and still there was no 
 sign of Lex. Noon came without him ; 
 the afternoon sped on its way, but did 
 not bring him ; and now an anxiety 
 which could neither be dismissed nor 
 argued down took possession of the 
 poor little watcher. Was it possible
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 131 
 
 that he had forgotten, and was already 
 back at his post in the M. M. C. ? No, 
 the memory of his look as he gave her 
 his promise made it easier to believe 
 anything than that. 
 
 If she could have seen her cousin, she 
 would certainly have confided in him now. 
 But Mr. St. Cloud did not come home to 
 his usual meal, and Mrs. St. Cloud was 
 too much engrossed with company to be 
 burdened with an anxiety which she would 
 feel so keenly. There was nothing for the 
 girl to do but to keep her secret in the 
 silence of her own thoughts, with a des- 
 perate effort not to show her uneasiness 
 too plainly. 
 
 But her face was too transparent to con- 
 ceal her feelings. Her paleness was a 
 subject for exasperating sympathy on the 
 part of the visiting ladies, and more than 
 one, rallying her on her supposed home- 
 sickness, ventured the cheerful prediction
 
 132 THE M. M. C. 
 
 that the blockade was really drawing to a 
 close, and she would soon be free to start 
 for home. As if she cared for that now ! 
 As if she cared for anything in the whole 
 wide world except to get tidings of Lex 
 and to know that he was safe ! 
 
 She slipped away at last from all the 
 talk, and in sheer desperation stole out of 
 the cottage. It seemed to her she could 
 bear her suspense better in the open air. 
 A fairly well-beaten path led through the 
 camp, and she followed it, not caring 
 where she went, while her eyes moved 
 restlessly along the edges of the moun- 
 tains and her thoughts brooded over the 
 one absorbing question, what had become 
 of Lex. If any harm had befallen him, 
 she felt that she could never forgive her- 
 self for the part she had borne in starting 
 him on his perilous mission. 
 
 The path ended at last in depths of 
 unbroken snow, and facing about she
 
 THERE WAS A GROUP OF THEM AROUND A 
 RUSTY OLD STOVE."
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 133 
 
 slowly retraced her steps. As she passed 
 the chief store of the place, a wish that 
 Mrs. St. Cloud had expressed that day for 
 some small article of household use came 
 suddenly to her remembrance, and half 
 mechanically she opened the door. 
 
 The store, which was devoted impar- 
 tially to dry-goods and groceries, was in 
 the same room with the post-office, and, 
 as the girl remembered when she had 
 stepped inside, was a favorite gathering- 
 place for idlers. There was a group of 
 them now around a rusty old stove at the 
 further end of the room, one of them en- 
 grossed in the latest copy of The Moun- 
 tain Blast, and the others intent on a 
 game of checkers, which two of their 
 number were playing as they sat on a 
 couple of upright soap-boxes. 
 
 They all glanced up as she entered and 
 gave her respectful nods of recognition. 
 For a few moments their desultory con-
 
 134 THE M - M - c - 
 
 versation dropped ; then it was resumed, 
 and Alice, waiting at the counter while 
 the clerk supplied another customer, lis- 
 tened almost unconsciously. 
 
 " Well, it looks as if we were getting 
 somewhere near the end of this block- 
 ade," said the man who had been read- 
 ing the paper. " We're bound to have 
 an open road in a few days now, if 
 there warn't but ten miles between our 
 men and the Sandville , gang day before 
 yesterday." 
 
 " Ten miles is a good deal of road to 
 clear," returned one of the group, in 
 a less cheerful tone, "when there's as 
 much snow on it as there is now; 
 specially when more's liable to come 
 down any time on top o' that." 
 
 " Well, there hain't been much coming 
 down for the last two days," returned 
 the other. "All we need, to put the 
 business through, is a little more of
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 135 
 
 such weather as we've had to-day, and 
 for my part, I b'lieve we're going to get 
 it. It's an off year for long blockades, or 
 all the old-time reckoning fails. What's 
 the use of being shut in for a month 
 last winter, if it don't make us any safer 
 for this?" 
 
 The other sniffed contemptuously. Evi- 
 dently he was no great believer in the 
 law of compensation. " The old-time 
 reckoning ain't so powerful long," he 
 retorted. "'Cordin' to what the Utes 
 tell there's been longer blockades in 
 this valley than any we've seen, and 
 there warn't any two years between 'em 
 neither." 
 
 " Don't quote the Utes to me," re- 
 turned the man of the newspaper, with 
 his cheerfulness still unimpaired. " I've 
 got no use for Injuns. I say we've got 
 to get rid of 'em. There's no protect- 
 ing ourselves against their tales of what
 
 136 THE M. M. C. 
 
 happened before the memory of the 
 Fifty-niners." 
 
 There was a laugh at this, and the 
 pessimist, now fully roused to the neces- 
 sity of defending his gloomy views, ex- 
 claimed : " You say we hain't had any 
 snow to speak of for the last two days. 
 I own we didn't get much here yester- 
 day, but there's no knowing how much 
 of a storm they had higher up the 
 range. It won't surprise me any to hear 
 from it." 
 
 What the cheerful man might have 
 replied to this is not clear, for all atten- 
 tion was diverted at that moment by 
 the opening of the door, and the en- 
 trance of a man who looked a much- 
 worn and weather-beaten traveller. 
 
 At the sight of him there was a 
 burst of exclamations : " Hullo, Sandy ! 
 Howdy ? Where'd you come from ? " 
 
 The traveller returned -the greetings,
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 137 
 
 and moving towards the stove, with a 
 long limping gait, spread out his hands 
 to the warmth. " I come from Lone 
 Rock yesterday, from Pine Notch to- 
 day," he said hoarsely. 
 
 " I reckon you must be prospectin' 
 fer a claim in the other world to be 
 travellin' so fur across the mountings 
 now," said one of the checker-players. 
 
 " Those that stay at home may strike 
 at it afore I do," said the traveller, 
 grimly. He looked from one to another 
 of the group in significant silence before 
 he asked, " Have any of you seen the 
 Glynn boys lately ? " 
 
 Alice Hildreth started, and, moving a 
 step nearer to the circle about the fire, 
 listened breathless. 
 
 " One of 'em was in fer supplies three 
 weeks ago," said the checker-player. 
 " They 'lowed then to stay out at the 
 Lonely all winter."
 
 138 THE M. M. C. 
 
 "Wall, they ain't thar now," said the 
 traveller, solemnly. " An' what's more, the 
 cabin ain't thar neither." 
 
 He paused for a moment; then, with 
 growing excitement in his manner, went 
 on, " Thar's been a slide down the side 
 o' the Blue Bonnet, and it's wiped off 
 the Glynn boys' cabin slick 'n' clean. 
 I've jest come from thar, an' I tell ye 
 thar ain't so much as a splinter nor a 
 dump-pile left. Thar ain't nothing left 
 but the hole o' the Lonely with a great 
 rock rolled afore it. I clum the rock, 
 an' went in to look fer the boys, but 
 they warn't thar. I reckon they went 
 down with the wreck." 
 
 His voice sank to a whisper with the 
 last words; then, clearing his throat, he 
 continued, " I 'low it must have hap- 
 pened sometime yesterday, fer thar was 
 right smart of a storm up that way. It 
 was no one-horse slide, I can tell you.
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 139 
 
 I could see whar it started up above 
 the bend. The ground was all tore up, 
 and the pines had been snapped off 
 like pipe-stems. I reckon ye wouldn't 
 know the place, any of ye, but I staked 
 a claim 'longside of the Lonely once, 
 and I knowed it, like I'd know the old 
 farm back in Posey County." 
 
 There was a strange pathos in the 
 last words, coming as they did upon his 
 wild description of the ruin which had 
 been wrought so far from the home of 
 his boyhood. His voice sank, and he 
 dropped on the soap-box from which 
 one of the checker-players had consid- 
 erately risen. 
 
 There was a minute of silence. The 
 gloomy-eyed man, who had expected to 
 hear from the storm, looked round the 
 group with lips significantly compressed. 
 Then he said slowly, " I told Jerry 
 Glynn 'twas resky staying out there this
 
 140 THE M. M. C. 
 
 winter, but he 'lowed they were safe 
 enough." 
 
 " Safe ! " ejaculated the traveller, with 
 a short, hoarse laugh. " If thar's any- 
 body safe in these mountains now, it's 
 them that's under the snow already. 
 My pardner 'n' I've been driving a tun- 
 nel in a claim we've got, over by the 
 Gray Narrows, and the slides have been 
 running mighty near us for the last few 
 days. One missed us by a few rods 
 last Sunday, an' the next day, jest as 
 we were eating dinner, another came 
 whooping down right above us. We 
 jumped for the tunnel, and we didn't 
 make it a bit too soon. The next 
 minute the slide struck the cabin and 
 carried it off, dinner 'n' all. Pard 'n' I 
 thought 'twas about time for us to quit. 
 We can stan' a middlin' amount o' snow, 
 but when it comes to having slides fer 
 steady diet, it takes away a man's ap- 
 petite."
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS. 141 
 
 A grim smile passed round the group. 
 Then, as if with common impulse, all 
 arose. 
 
 " There ain't much time to lose if 
 we're going to get the boys out to- 
 night," said one, as they moved together 
 towards the door. 
 
 " No," responded another ; " but they'll 
 never know we've done it, if they've 
 been under the snow since yester- 
 day." 
 
 In the pause which followed the slam- 
 ming of the door it seemed to Alice 
 Hildreth as if all the world had grown 
 suddenly still, and all its hopes and in- 
 terests had died utterly away. She was 
 conscious of nothing except a sudden hor- 
 ror, a weight which like an avalanche itself 
 seemed to have fallen upon and stopped 
 the very beating of her heart. For a 
 minute longer she stood motionless in 
 her place, then turned her white face
 
 142 THE M. M. C. 
 
 towards the door, and without hearing 
 the voice of the clerk, who told her that 
 she had left her purchase on the counter, 
 passed silently out.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 
 
 A \ T AS this the reason, then, that Lex 
 had failed to keep his promise ? 
 Had he sacrificed his brave young life 
 in the effort to save the M. M. C.? 
 
 The questions rushed upon her as 
 she stood once more under the open 
 sky. In the anguish of them she put 
 her hands before her face, as if to shut 
 out the sight of a world which dealt so 
 cruelly with its children, and leaned with 
 a sudden faintness against the door which 
 she had managed to close behind her. 
 
 The next moment she heard her cousin's 
 
 voice. He was passing at the instant 
 
 with Mr. Drayton, and sprang to her 
 
 side with a quick anxiety. " My dear 
 
 143
 
 144 THE M - M - c - 
 
 girl, what has happened ? " he cried. 
 "Are you ill?" 
 
 She tried to speak, but could only 
 shake her head, and Mr. Drayton said 
 in a low voice, " She has been hearing 
 about that snow-slide." 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed St. Cloud, accepting 
 the explanation with an accent of relief. 
 " Well, it's bad business, bad business, 
 but you mustn't let it use you up like 
 this." He looked at her white, drawn 
 face, as if wondering that sympathy with 
 strangers could carry her so far, then 
 added soothingly, " There are almost 
 miraculous escapes sometimes, and for 
 that matter, it isn't absolutely certain 
 that the men were there." 
 
 He took her on his arm and moved 
 forward, glad to see that she brightened 
 a little at the last words. After all, was 
 it certain that Lex was there? That 
 was the doubt at which her thoughts
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 145 
 
 clutched for the moment with a sudden 
 hope. She would have spoken, but her 
 cousin had turned to Mr. Drayton. 
 
 " I know where this cabin was," he 
 said, with a sort of fierce impatience in 
 his tone, " and the place was clearly 
 unsafe. It's amazing that men should 
 think of staying in such a spot for the 
 winter." 
 
 " But the case is no unusual one," said 
 Mr. Drayton, in his cool, even tones. 
 " There are hundreds of such cabins 
 scattered through these mountains. Men 
 live in the track of the avalanche, and 
 know they're doing it, rather than leave 
 their claims for the season. And the 
 single cabins are not the only ones in 
 danger. There are mines like the Cy- 
 clone, and the Dare Devil, and the 
 Happy-go-lucky, located with all their 
 buildings in places just as unsafe. I got 
 a letter the other day from a mining
 
 146 THE M. M. C. 
 
 engineer up at Cyclone. ' The slides are 
 booming round here,' he writes. ' There's 
 no knowing when one in the draw may 
 pick us up. If you don't see me again 
 so long.'" 
 
 " That's it," said St. Cloud, with a nod. 
 " That's a sample of the reckless spirit 
 that seems to take possession of some 
 people when they get into these moun- 
 tains. It's time to put that kind of dar- 
 ing under bonds to common sense." 
 
 " And it's time too," said Mr. Drayton, 
 speaking with more emphasis than he 
 commonly used, "for men who invest 
 large sums in property out here to take 
 the dangers of this country into full con- 
 sideration. There's been too much haste 
 and too little caution in the setting up 
 of some of our best plants here in the 
 San Juan. I tell you the whole question 
 of protection against snow-slides in this 
 region has yet to be fairly grappled with.
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 147 
 
 There's no need of having lives lost and 
 thousands of dollars' worth of property 
 smashed up every winter if sufficient 
 measures were taken to prevent. Of 
 course such measures involve time and 
 money, but sooner or later they have to 
 be taken." 
 
 " No doubt of it," said St. Cloud, " but 
 just now there's too much of a scramble 
 getting out the almighty dollar for most 
 people to think of anything else." 
 
 He had almost forgotten the immediate 
 catastrophe in discussing the general dan- 
 ger. He remembered it again now, and 
 his voice softened, as he said, with his 
 eyes resting on the knot of men gather- 
 ing down the street, " There'll be a large 
 party going out to the Lonely. No mat- 
 ter how hardened our people become to 
 the thought of danger for themselves, 
 they're all sympathy when some poor 
 fellow is actually caught."
 
 148 THE M. M. C. 
 
 He glanced at Alice, and her eyes met 
 his at that moment with an imploring 
 look. She could speak now, and with a 
 great effort said, "Tell them tell them, 
 they must look for Lex Flemming too. 
 He went out to the Lonely yesterday, and 
 he hasn't come back." 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud stopped suddenly in his 
 walk and looked at his cousin as if doubt- 
 ing whether he had heard her right. 
 "Lex Flemming out there!" he ejacu- 
 lated. " What on earth possessed the 
 boy to go? This is serious business," 
 he added, turning to Mr. Drayton. 
 
 " I should think so," said the latter. " Is 
 it certain that he went, and that he hasn't 
 come back ? " he asked almost sharply, 
 as he turned to Alice. 
 
 " He said he should go," she faltered. 
 "And I think oh, yes, I'm sure that 
 he hasn't come back. He would have 
 come to see me if he had."
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 149 
 
 Mr. Drayton did not speak for a mo- 
 ment. The surprise in his face had given 
 place to a look almost as grave as hers. 
 Then he said quietly, " The men that 
 go out must know this and make all pos- 
 sible search," and, lifting his hat slightly 
 to the girl, he passed quickly down the 
 street. 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud went on to the cottage 
 with Alice. The guests were gone, and 
 he told his wife briefly of the reported 
 disaster. He did not allude to the pos- 
 sibility that Lex Flemming was involved 
 in it. He left that for Alice, only saying 
 as he laid his hand on her shoulder, that 
 the girl was "a good deal cut up." She 
 wasn't used to hearing of such things. 
 
 " The more pity that any of us are ! " 
 cried Mrs. St. Cloud. Her eyes filled 
 with tears, and the resentment that was 
 always smouldering in her heart against 
 the land of her husband's adoption flamed
 
 150 THE M. M. C. 
 
 up in her voice as she added, " This is 
 a cruel, cruel country ! It isn't right 
 that people should try to live here in 
 the winter. It's well enough while sum- 
 mer lasts, but they ought to go away 
 when winter comes everybody ought 
 to go away." 
 
 " Oh, not everybody, every winter," 
 said her husband, rather beseechingly, 
 " only those who live in unsafe places. 
 The mines in these mountains will never 
 be developed by people who only make 
 summer work of it, Kitty." 
 
 " And if they never should be ! " she 
 cried, with the passion still in her voice. 
 " The gold and silver might stay in the 
 ground for all of me ! I don't believe 
 'twas ever meant that men should spend 
 their lives, burrowing like moles in the 
 dark, for the sake of digging them out." 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud turned away, his lips 
 shaping an inaudible whistle. There was
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 151 
 
 no arguing with a person who took this 
 view of things, and he wondered, as he 
 left the cottage, to what depths of melan- 
 choly his wife and cousin would plunge 
 each other when left to themselves. 
 
 But the older lady was ready now to 
 act the part of comforter. She had too 
 tender a heart not to feel for one who 
 was suffering from the shock even more 
 than herself. Since she entered the 
 house Alice had not spoken, but sat still 
 in her hat and cloak, her hands clasped 
 in her lap, and her face wearing a strained 
 unnatural look that was dreadful to see. 
 
 "Don't take it so hard, dear," said 
 Mrs. St. Cloud, sitting down beside her. 
 " It's an awful thing to happen, perfectly 
 awful ; and I never can get used to it 
 that people should be swept out of life 
 in such a fearful way, but we must make 
 the best of it. There have been worse 
 cases than this, over and over. Thank
 
 152 THE M. M. C. 
 
 Heaven there were only two men this 
 time, and probably neither of them had 
 a family. Miners who live out in that 
 way are almost always single men, with 
 nobody nearer to them than their poor 
 old mothers, who, most likely, lost sight 
 of them long ago." 
 
 Her eyes rilled again at the last 
 words, but Alice's were still dry. " Oh," 
 she said, in a strange, low voice, " it may 
 be that there were three instead of two ! 
 It may be that Lex Flemming was 
 there ! He went out to see if he could 
 get one of those men to help in the 
 M. M. C, and he hasn't come back." 
 
 Mrs. St. Cloud lifted her hands with 
 a cry. For a moment dismay held her 
 speechless, then, with characteristic feel- 
 ing, she burst out: "Oh, why didn't he 
 stay here with us, as I wanted him to ? 
 I always knew that trouble would come 
 of his living out there alone, with no-
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 153 
 
 body to look after him or know what 
 he was doing." 
 
 The last words were like an arrow sent 
 straight to the girl's heart. For a moment 
 she drooped and shivered, then, feeling as 
 if her very silence were falsehood, cried : 
 " I knew he was going. He told me all 
 about it the night he was here, and I I 
 thought it was best. I wanted him to go." 
 
 The tears came now in a flood, and 
 throwing herself into Mrs. St. Cloud's 
 arms she sobbed as if her heart would 
 break. 
 
 There was a moment in which it was 
 hard for Mrs. St. Cloud hard as any- 
 thing she had ever done to keep silence. 
 Then all the reproaches she might have 
 uttered were swept away in one great 
 wave of pity. With the simple impulse 
 of motherly kindness she drew the girl 
 closer in her arms and whispered: "There, 
 there, cry all you want to, dear. But we
 
 154 THE M - M - c - 
 
 mustn't give up. I don't believe, I won't 
 believe, that the worst has happened." 
 
 And indeed, after the first shock, her 
 thoughts found an opening for hope which 
 Alice had altogether missed. How could 
 one feel sure that Lex had gone out at the 
 time he intended? In the unfavorable 
 weather of yesterday what more likely 
 than that he had deferred his journey and 
 started this morning instead? It certainly 
 seemed possible, and for Mrs. St. Cloud's 
 sake Alice would not question the hope, 
 but over against it in her own thoughts 
 stood the obstinate doubt whether any 
 consideration for himself was likely to 
 have weighed with Lex against the effort 
 he was so eager to make. 
 
 The doubt, not the hope, was confirmed 
 when Mr. St. Cloud came home to his 
 supper. The most definite inquiries had 
 been set on foot concerning Lex, and it 
 had been positively learned, from a miner
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 155 
 
 who had chanced to see him, that the boy 
 had crossed the camp equipped for a jour- 
 ney early on the previous morning. No 
 one had heard of his return ; he was 
 not at the cabin, and the solution of his 
 absence must certainly be looked for in 
 the ruin at the Lonely. 
 
 That was a most distressful evening at 
 the cottage. Mr. St. Cloud went back to 
 his place at the mine, making some excuse 
 for doing so in the absence of the foreman 
 of the night shift, who had gone out with 
 the rescuing party. Perhaps he was glad 
 to escape from the gloom of his own 
 household. His report had thrown Mrs. 
 St. Cloud into the depths of despair, and 
 only the effect on Tommy, who was wild 
 with excitement, kept her from giving 
 way to it completely. It was Alice, not 
 she, who preserved any show of fortitude 
 now. But it was an unspeakable relief to 
 the girl when the coming in of neighbors
 
 156 THE M. M. C. 
 
 made it possible for her to slip away to 
 her own room. They could sit and talk 
 of the disaster with Mrs. St. Cloud, recall- 
 ing the details of all like catastrophes 
 which had occurred within their remem- 
 brance, but the misery of listening was 
 beyond Alice's power to endure. 
 
 In the solitude of her own room she 
 wept, she prayed, she paced the floor, re- 
 calling every word of that last interview 
 with Lex, and wondering at the happiness 
 which had thrilled her when she made her 
 quick, glad offer of help. In place of 
 it now there was only the torturing con- 
 sciousness that but for that offered help he 
 would not have undertaken his errand. 
 For the errand itself she had no longer 
 any thought or care. Again and again 
 there came back to her Mrs. St. Cloud's 
 impetuous question, what was the best 
 mine in the world worth compared with a 
 boy like Lex, and each time her heart
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 157 
 
 gave the answer with throbs of unuttera- 
 ble anguish, " Nothing nothing noth- 
 ing." 
 
 She had gone to bed, but not to sleep, 
 though it was long past midnight, when 
 she heard Mr. St. Cloud's night-key in 
 the door below. He had not expected 
 to be back till morning. He had said 
 he might have news of the Lonely when 
 he came. Was it possible that he had 
 brought it already ? 
 
 She sprang up, threw on her dress, 
 and with bare feet flew down the stairs 
 and into the parlor behind him. Mrs. 
 St. Cloud, who had not gone to bed at 
 all, but had lain dozing on the lounge, 
 had roused at his entrance. He looked 
 from one to the other of their pale ques- 
 tioning faces, and gave the word for 
 which he knew they were waiting, without 
 an instant's delay. 
 
 "Not yet," he said. "They haven't
 
 158 THE M. M. C. 
 
 found him yet. But take courage. He 
 was not with the Glynn boys when the 
 slide came down." 
 
 The opening of a prison door never 
 brought hope to a prisoner which was 
 sweeter than that word to Alice. She 
 could not stand for trembling, nor speak 
 for the thankfulness which filled her at 
 that moment. It was Mrs. St. Cloud 
 who, in a pitying whisper, asked, " And 
 the others ? Was it all over with them ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. St. Cloud, "and it 
 must have been over soon. Poor fel- 
 lows, it's doubtful if they knew what 
 killed them." He paused a moment, 
 then added : " Our men made extraordi- 
 nary time getting to the Lonely, but a 
 party from the Silver Circle was there 
 before them, and there was nothing left 
 for them to do. Hank Johnson came 
 in ahead of the others to bring the 
 news. The rest are coming down with 
 the bodies."
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. 159 
 
 There was a little silence. Mrs. St. 
 Cloud broke it by asking with a sudden 
 shrillness: "But where is Lex Flemming, 
 then ? Where can he be if he wasn't 
 at the Lonely?" 
 
 " I wish I knew," said her husband. 
 " We're completely in the dark about 
 him. But I suspect that he reached the 
 Lonely after the slide came down, and 
 then went farther in the hope of bring- 
 ing help to the boys." 
 
 " But you said help had come ! " cried 
 his wife. " Didn't those men from the 
 Silver Circle know anything about him?" 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud shook his head. " No," 
 he said, " they have not heard of him. 
 Word had reached them in another 
 way." 
 
 " Then he is lost ! He is certainly 
 lost!" cried Mrs. St. Cloud. "Perhaps 
 he has been buried in some other slide ; 
 perhaps "
 
 160 THE M. M. C. 
 
 But her husband interrupted almost 
 sternly. " Don't torture your imagina- 
 tion any more to-night. Take a little 
 comfort, if you can, from the certainty 
 that he escaped this particular slide." 
 He turned towards Alice and added in 
 a softer tone : " It's an old saying, little 
 girl, and rather a dubious one, that no 
 news is good news. There's at least 
 this grain of wisdom in it, that in the 
 absence of any tidings, we ought not 
 easily to accept the worst. Go to bed 
 now and try to sleep." 
 
 He turned her towards the door as he 
 spoke, and with a whispered good night, 
 she went quietly out. For a moment, in 
 the relief which had come with freedom 
 from that worst fear, her anxieties had 
 seemed almost to take to themselves 
 wings, but they came back to her now, a 
 dark clamoring brood, which she could not 
 still nor drive away.
 
 NEWS, BUT NOT LEX. l6l 
 
 But Alice was too young to spend an 
 entire night in tears and watching. An 
 hour later she had obeyed her cousin and 
 fallen asleep. But in her dreams her 
 thoughts still followed the boy. She was 
 wandering up and down the mountains, 
 searching for him through the waste of 
 rock and snow, calling his name across 
 dreadful chasms and under awful cliffs, 
 but getting no answer, rinding no sign.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 
 
 A ND all this time where was Lex? 
 ** To answer that question fully we 
 must go back to the morning when he left 
 the old prospector's cabin and set out on 
 the journey to the Lonely. It did not 
 lessen his ardor for the undertaking that 
 the sky was unfriendly that morning. 
 One older and more prudent than he 
 might have questioned whether it would 
 not be well to defer the errand till another 
 day, but the suggestion did not occur to 
 the boy. He made a hearty breakfast and 
 equipped himself for his journey. With 
 a piece of charcoal he blackened his under 
 eyelids as a precaution against snow-blind- 
 ness should the day grow bright, after all ; 
 162
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 163 
 
 put on his buckskin leggins ; thrust his 
 feet under the straps of his snow-shoes 
 narrow, well-seasoned boards of nearly 
 twice his own length took his pole in 
 his hand and was off. In better spirits 
 never traveller started. 
 
 He passed through the camp before its 
 inmates were fairly astir, only pausing 
 once for a long, grateful look at the cot- 
 tage where the little teacher lay asleep, 
 and then began his toilsome ascent 
 towards the Lonely. 
 
 The claim lay high up on the side of 
 the Blue Bonnet, one of the many peaks 
 which stood crowded in the neighborhood 
 of Silvercrest. It had taken its name in 
 the early days from some fancied resem- 
 blance it bore to the old-fashioned poke 
 bonnets once in vogue among matrons 
 in the East. It was gray, not blue, this 
 morning, and its outlines were hidden by 
 the clouds which shifted uneasily around
 
 1 64 THE M. M. C. 
 
 them. Into the midst of them Lex soon 
 made his way. He had his pocket com- 
 pass with him, but he did not need it now. 
 He knew his course and followed it, 
 higher and still higher across the rugged 
 slopes, his courage never failing nor the 
 strength of his stout, young limbs. 
 
 Something more than half the journey 
 had been made when a furious gale, with 
 a sudden deluge of snow, burst upon him. 
 With the instinct of a mountaineer he felt 
 that, fierce as it was, the storm would be 
 short, and crept under the edge of a great 
 rock for shelter till it was over. Here he 
 ate the lunch of bread and bacon with 
 which he had provided himself, and 
 waited, peering often through the thick 
 white curtain of the falling snow, to see 
 if the sky gave any sign of clearing. 
 
 Once he thought he heard the sound of 
 rushing snow on the slope above him. 
 Then his heart beat fast, but he steadied
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 165 
 
 it with the thought that if a " snow cap " 
 should come down and blockade him in his 
 hiding-place he could dig himself out with 
 his snow-shoes. It was too near the edge 
 of the cliff for any great mass of snow to 
 find a resting-place. 
 
 At length the storm spent itself, and the 
 boy crept from his den, glad to stretch his 
 cramped limbs, and eager to pursue his 
 interrupted journey. But now a harder 
 task than ever lay before him. It was 
 with difficulty that he could push his way 
 through the soft new snow which lay 
 above the old crust, and the time in which 
 he had hoped to make his trip had length- 
 ened by weary hours, when at last, footsore 
 and almost spent, he drew near its end. 
 
 As he rounded the last bend of the 
 mountain, he looked eagerly ahead for 
 a sight of the longed-for cabin. The next 
 moment he stood in his tracks gazing 
 around him with the bewildered air of one
 
 1 66 THE M. M. C. 
 
 who fears that he has lost his way. But 
 only for an instant. The bare, scarred 
 earth, the scattered rocks, the broken and 
 uprooted trees, the missing cabin, all told 
 him in another moment, that the " Demon 
 of the Mountains " had swept across the 
 place. And the men he had come to 
 seek! Had they lost their lives in that 
 wild, swift rush ? 
 
 For a moment the boy's heart stood 
 still, then it leaped with a sudden hope. 
 His quick eyes noted that the disaster was 
 new. No snow had fallen yet on the 
 freshness of the desolation. Some time 
 since the storm which held him a prisoner 
 it must have occurred, and though the un- 
 fortunate miners had been caught in the 
 ruin of their dwelling, it might not be too 
 late to save them. 
 
 There was not a moment to be lost. 
 With the thought came the instant con- 
 sciousness that it rested with him to bring
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 1 67 
 
 help to the spot, and his knowledge of the 
 country brought quick suggestion. A 
 mile farther on was a group of mines 
 known as the Silver Circle. Here a con- 
 siderable number of men were employed 
 in the winter's work, and a party might be 
 secured for immediate action. He made 
 no pause in starting, only to mark with 
 his eyes a spot among the drifts far down 
 the mountain, where a projecting piece of 
 timber seemed to indicate a portion of the 
 cabin ; then, worn as he was, but not con- 
 scious of it now, he set eagerly forward on 
 his new errand. 
 
 But it was not given to Lex to accom- 
 plish that errand. In the midst of his 
 journey one incautious step sent him out 
 of his course and cut off at once all 
 chance of doing anything for the unfortu- 
 nate owners of the Lonely. He could 
 hardly himself tell how it happened. A 
 minute before he had noticed a cabin set
 
 1 68 THE M. M. C. 
 
 under a ledge of rock at some distance 
 below him, and had paused, half inclined 
 to make his way to it, in the hope of find- 
 ing occupants who might at once help 
 him in the work of rescue. But the ques- 
 tion whether indeed it had occupants 
 made him hesitate. Nothing is more 
 common in some parts of the Rockies 
 than the deserted cabin, the relic often of 
 some hope cherished for a while and then 
 abandoned by the seeker after gold and 
 silver. This cabin had not fallen to de- 
 cay, but it gave no sign of life. There 
 was no smoke curling above its roof. It 
 gave no answer to the shouts which Lex 
 sent towards it with all the strength of his 
 lungs. And, reflecting that if, on reach- 
 ing it, he should find no one, he must 
 retrace his steps with much delay and dif- 
 ficulty, the boy rejected his first thought 
 and started impetuously on. 
 
 Then was it that he made that fatal
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 169 
 
 misstep on an icy place whose danger the 
 light new snow concealed, and before he 
 could stop or in the least control his 
 course, he went plunging down the slope, 
 clutching wildly at objects on either side, 
 and half buried in the mass of snow that 
 slid with him. 
 
 A minute, and he had struck the ledge 
 which rose above the solitary cabin. His 
 snow-shoes, which had flown from his 
 feet, had darted on and reached the spot 
 before him. And now the boy lay still, 
 closing his eyes to the dizzy vision of 
 mountains, rocks, and trees rushing madly 
 past him. When he opened them again, 
 the world stood still, and conscious though 
 he was of racking pain, he made the 
 mental comment, as he raised himself 
 on his elbow and looked around, that he 
 might have "gone farther and fared worse." 
 
 That he had fared badly enough, how- 
 ever, was quite clear to him when he
 
 I/O THE M. M. C. 
 
 attempted to rise. The pain which 
 darted through one ankle showed only 
 too plainly that he had suffered a severe 
 sprain. That he was really disabled he 
 would not at first admit, but the failure of 
 his desperate attempts to walk at last con- 
 vinced him, and the tears which sprang to 
 his eyes were not forced by pain, but by 
 the certainty that in this mishap he had 
 lost the power to pursue his journey. 
 
 There was nothing for him now but 
 to make his way as best he could to the 
 cabin and try his chances there. But first 
 he must secure his snow-shoes. Luckily 
 the tough fibre of the wood had borne 
 the strain, and neither of them was broken. 
 He regained them both; then, clamber- 
 ing on hands and knees, dragged himself 
 painfully to the rough dwelling, and 
 pushed open the unbolted door. 
 
 At first sight of the interior his hope 
 of finding help rekindled. There were
 
 THE MISSING BOY. I/I 
 
 signs of human occupancy, though no one 
 was in sight. The house itself was merely 
 the entrance to a hole in the mountain 
 back of it, which, to the boy's experienced 
 eye, showed as an incipient mine. He 
 sent a cry through ringing depths, and 
 waited breathlessly. But no answer came 
 back, and he realized, with a thrill of de- 
 spair, that the post was vacant, and that 
 the disaster at the Lonely must remain 
 for the present his own secret, powerless 
 as he was to help. 
 
 And now, with the thought of his own 
 necessities pressing upon him, he made 
 closer examination of the cabin. There 
 were blankets lying on a bunk in the 
 corner; there was a heap of dry pine 
 boughs beside the circle of stones which 
 served as a fireplace ; and a sight more 
 welcome still to the famished boy just 
 inside the mine was a small store of pro- 
 visions.
 
 THE M. M. C. 
 
 The hope which had seemed dead for 
 a moment revived again in his heart. 
 Surely the owner of these things had 
 not abandoned them ! Some errand must 
 have called him away, and even now he 
 might be close at hand. The thought 
 gave the boy new energy. He kindled 
 a fire, melted snow, and prepared him- 
 self food, sure of the approval of the 
 master of the house if he should return, 
 and with ears alert for the first sound 
 of his coming. But he did not come. 
 The expectation grew fainter as the night 
 drew on, and when at length, spent with 
 the labor and pain of the day, Lex lay 
 down to sleep, he knew that his last poor 
 chance of sending help to the Lonely 
 was gone. The only hope left to him 
 now was that he might get back to 
 Silvercrest in the morning. 
 
 But this hope did not outlast the rest- 
 less night. The morning found his foot
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 173 
 
 more swollen than before, and the least 
 attempt to bear weight upon it gave 
 him intolerable pain. Feverish and heart- 
 sick, the boy entered on the longest, 
 dreariest day that he had ever known. 
 To bathe his aching foot, to gaze from 
 the cabin door across the dreary solitudes 
 in the hope of descrying some human 
 figure, to think with shuddering horror 
 on the probable fate of his friends at 
 the Lonely, and with gloomy forebodings 
 on the future of the M. M. C, these 
 were its occupations. The friendly cabin 
 seemed to him now the gloomiest of 
 dungeons, and in the bitterness of his 
 heart he felt that no imprisonment had 
 ever been so hard to bear as his. 
 
 The day wore to an end at last, and 
 in sheer exhaustion, though seemingly 
 with no power to sleep, Lex stretched 
 himself once more on his poor bed. It 
 was far in the night when he was startled
 
 THE M. M. C. 
 
 by the pushing open of the door. In 
 the moonlight he saw a tall man crossing 
 the threshold and then draw suddenly 
 back with an exclamation of amazement. 
 
 The rough figure in a suit of smoked 
 buckskin, with boots reaching nearly to 
 the thighs, and a broad hat slouching 
 about the swarthy, bearded face, was just 
 such a figure as Lex had been looking 
 for, but he found himself at the moment 
 surprised and unable to speak. 
 
 It was the newcomer who recovered 
 himself first. " Hullo, youngster ! " he 
 exclaimed, advancing with long strides 
 towards the boy. " How on earth did 
 you come here ? " 
 
 " I took a slide I wasn't counting on 
 up above," said Lex, meeting his look 
 with frank confidence, " and it knocked 
 me up so I couldn't get on. Your shack 
 was the nearest cover, and I had to crawl 
 in and make free with your things."
 
 HE SAW A TALL MAN CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.'
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 175 
 
 " That's right ! That's right ! " said 
 the stranger, heartily. " Help yourself to 
 anything you find laying in your way. 
 That's my rule. But what was you shoe- 
 ing it across the Blue Bonnet for? You 
 don't belong hereabouts." 
 
 " No," said Lex. " I came up from 
 Silvercrest, and my business was at the 
 Lonely." 
 
 He broke off suddenly from the ac- 
 count of himself, and cried sharply : 
 " There's been a slide there ! Things 
 are awfully torn up, and there ain't a 
 sign of the Glynn boys' cabin left." 
 
 " I know all about that," said the man, 
 with a nod. " I just came from there 
 myself. You see," he continued, seating 
 himself on the side of the bunk, " I ran 
 out of coffee yesterday, and went over 
 to the Silver Circle to see if I could get 
 some. I meant to be back before this, 
 but while I was there the boys got word
 
 1/6 THE M. M. C. 
 
 of that slide and I went over with 'em 
 to help." 
 
 " Oh ! " gasped Lex. Then the word 
 which he had been so anxious to take 
 had been carried by some other. He 
 did not stop to inquire how this had 
 come about ; he only asked the result 
 of the search, and the certainty that his 
 poor friends could not have been saved 
 by any effort of his was, with all the 
 horror of the story, a kind of relief. 
 
 " But what took you to the Lonely ? " 
 queried the man, with returning curiosity 
 as to his guest. Then, as if a sudden 
 thought had struck him, he exclaimed: 
 " I reckon you must be the chap that 
 the Silvercrest folks were talking about. 
 A party of 'em came up to look for the 
 Glynn boys just as we got through. 
 They said there was a fellow by the 
 name of Flemming missing." 
 
 " Did they ? " cried Lex. He knew
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 
 
 that Alice Hildreth must have told them, 
 and though the fact showed her anxiety, 
 he could not help feeling a touch of 
 pleasure. " Well, I guess I'm the one 
 they meant," he said. 
 
 He had no objection to telling the 
 stranger his story now. Indeed, it was 
 a relief to talk to some one after the soli- 
 tude of this dreadful day. " What I 
 started out for," he said frankly, "was 
 to see if I could get Jerry Glynn to do 
 some work for me I mean for Uncle 
 Eben Cornforth. He's the man I've 
 lived with ever since I was a little chap. 
 Maybe you know him." 
 
 "What, Old Hopeful?" exclaimed the 
 other. " Well, I reckon. I knew him 
 twenty years ago at Leadville, but I 
 hain't seen him this good while." 
 
 His face lighted as he spoke, and Lex, 
 spurred by a sudden hope, went on 
 eagerly : " You see he's got a good claim
 
 178 THE M. M. C. 
 
 a little ways out of Silvercrest a first- 
 rate claim. It's the M. M. C., and we 
 meant to work the assessment out this 
 month. But his little girl was taken 
 sick, and he had to go off to Redridge 
 to see her when he'd only worked a few 
 days. He hasn't got back yet, and I'm 
 awfully afraid he'll lose the property. 
 That's why I wanted to get Jerry. I 
 thought I could strike a bargain with 
 him to help me finish up the work." 
 
 " Well, you've struck a streak of bad 
 luck all round," said the man. " But I 
 reckon the Glynns ain't the only men 
 to be had. I'd turn in myself and help 
 you if it warn't for the Lady Bird here." 
 He made a gesture towards the hole 
 at the back of the cabin, and added : 
 " My pardner failed me a few days back, 
 and that left me in the lurch. By the 
 time I get my own work done there won't 
 be much left of the year."
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 179 
 
 The boy's face fell, and the speaker 
 seeing it said kindly, " But I might do 
 something for you at Silvercrest. I 
 thought of going down to the funeral 
 to-morrow. Owen Glynn used to be a 
 pardner of mine, and I want to see him 
 through." 
 
 " I mean to go in, too," said Lex, try- 
 ing to speak confidently. " I guess my 
 foot'll be well enough by that time." 
 
 " Let's see your foot," said the miner. 
 He dropped on the floor beside the 
 boy, and unwound the wet rags from 
 the disabled member. Lex did not 
 wince though the touch was none of 
 the gentlest. He was watching the 
 man's face intently for the first sign 
 of his judgment on the case. It came, 
 after a minute, in a low whistle and an 
 emphatic shake of the head. 
 
 " Don't you think I can go in to- 
 morrow ? " pleaded Lex.
 
 180 THE M. M. C. 
 
 The miner was not in the habit of 
 mincing unpleasant truths. " Don't you 
 fool yourself," he said. " You'll do mighty 
 well if you get out of here inside a 
 fortnight. I've known fellows to be laid 
 up better'n a month with this sort of 
 thing." 
 
 The room swam suddenly before the 
 boy's eyes. He turned his face from' 
 his companion, drew a fold of the rough 
 blanket over it, and writhed in silence. 
 The man was silent, too, but with a 
 hand as gentle now as a woman's he 
 bandaged up the foot, saying as he fin- 
 ished, " If I go into camp to-morrow, 
 I'll get something or other in the way 
 of stuff to rub it up with." 
 
 Lex looked piteously out from his 
 cover. He tried to say " Thank you," 
 but the words stuck in his throat. It 
 seemed to him at that moment that he 
 had nothing in the world to be thankful
 
 THE MISSING BOY. l8l 
 
 for. His heart rebelled against his fate 
 and vehemently refused to accept it. 
 What ! Sit down to nurse an aching 
 foot when the time was on for action, 
 and limp back to his post, beaten and 
 helpless, when the game was lost ! It 
 seemed to Lex just then that he would 
 rather have shared the fate at the 
 Lonely. 
 
 Presently the owner of the Lady Bird 
 pulled off his boots and lay down beside 
 him. There had been no further words 
 between them, but the man caught the 
 sound of a smothered sob, and in tones of 
 drowsy kindness said, " Hurts, don't it ! " 
 
 "Oh, it ain't that! it ain't that!" 
 moaned the boy. 
 
 Silence fell between them again. The 
 man was dropping off to sleep, but the 
 boy lay wide awake, thinking. Should 
 he act upon the suggestion his new 
 friend had made, and ask him to em-
 
 1 82 THE M. M. C. 
 
 ploy some one for the work in the 
 M. M. C. ? It was a possibility at which 
 he grasped for a moment, but the objec- 
 tions which urged themselves against it 
 were pressing and final. The offer of 
 the money was a secret between himself 
 and Alice Hildreth, and boy as he was, 
 Lex felt that it would be unmanly to 
 give it to the gossip of the mining 
 camp or force her to transactions with 
 a stranger. Besides, if he were unable 
 to do any of the work himself, the sum 
 required in payment would be greater 
 than she had promised. No, unless he 
 could see her himself, unless he could 
 arrange the business and share the 
 work, he would not take advantage of 
 her offered kindness. 
 
 A sob deeper than before escaped 
 him, and the miner, starting at the 
 sound, raised himself on his elbow. 
 
 " Look here, youngster," he said, " if
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 183 
 
 you're a-fretting about that claim, you just 
 hold up. I reckon Old Hopeful ain't 
 a-going to cry about it, if he does lose 
 it. It ain't the first one he's had, and it 
 won't be his last. There's as good fish 
 in the sea as ever was caught, and as 
 good mines in these mountains as ever 
 was opened. Take your luck as it comes, 
 and don't cry for a spent shot." 
 
 " But it ain't like losing a common 
 claim," burst out Lex, unable any longer 
 to restrain himself. " They've just struck 
 it rich in a mine close by, and the man 
 that owns that has laid his plans to get 
 the M. M. C. He came in one night 
 with another man to see how things 
 stood, and I heard all the talk, when 
 they didn't know I was there. It's Dud- 
 leigh Drayton that's aiming to get it, 
 and he never misses." 
 
 The man was sitting upright now, 
 thoroughly awake. He drew his hand
 
 1 84 THE M. M. C. 
 
 across his beard for a moment in silence, 
 then said slowly : " Well, young feller, 
 you keep a stiff upper lip. There's more 
 ways than one to hold a claim. If you 
 can't do it with a pick, try it with a 
 Winchester, I say." 
 
 The eyes of the two met at the 
 words, a fierce meaning in the older 
 pair, a gleam of momentary consent in 
 the boy's. Then the speaker added : 
 " You rest easy here till I get done with 
 the Lady Bird. Then we'll go in to- 
 gether. Blame me if I won't stand by 
 you in this business and see you 
 through ! " 
 
 A quarter of an hour later the man 
 was sound asleep, but a conflict sharper 
 than ever was raging in the mind of the 
 boy. He knew that in an appeal to 
 firearms the issue was always uncertain, 
 and moreover he had grave doubts 
 whether Eben Cornforth would approve
 
 THE MISSING BOY. 185 
 
 such a course. With all his rough ex- 
 perience the old prospector had remained 
 a man of peace. It was one of his boasts 
 that he had never defended a property 
 with a shot-gun. Would he be willing 
 that another should do it for him? 
 
 And there was another doubt which 
 forced itself on the poor boy's troubled 
 thought. Could he safely rely on the 
 good faith of this stranger comrade, to 
 hold for another what he might so 
 easily secure for himself ? The thought 
 shamed him as it came, but, try as he 
 would, he could not fling it off. 
 
 Miserable and exhausted, he fell asleep 
 at last. Then, while the little teacher 
 dreamed of him, he, too, had a dream of 
 her. He thought she stood beside him, 
 as she stood on that last evening, her 
 face aglow with generous feeling and 
 clear, untroubled hope in her shining 
 eyes. He woke with a start of pain,
 
 1 86 THE M. M. C. 
 
 and, covering his face with his hands, 
 said bitterly to himself: "She doesn't 
 know how things have gone against us ! 
 She doesn't know."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 
 
 A ND so, with doubts and dreams and 
 bitter heartache, that night wore 
 away for Lex and Alice. To Lex the 
 light came first, for pain and fever made 
 the waking from his troubled sleep only 
 too easy. One faint hope woke with him, 
 and lifting himself cautiously, not to dis- 
 turb the man who lay unconscious be- 
 side him, he set his feet to the floor and 
 tried for an instant to stand erect. The 
 next moment he lay back among the 
 blankets, white to the lips, his eyes closed 
 and a look of suffering on his face which 
 faded slowly out into one of utter de- 
 spair. It was the despair of all the hope 
 and purpose which had filled his life dur- 
 187
 
 1 88 THE M. M. C. 
 
 ing these last strenuous weeks. He knew 
 now that there was nothing left for him 
 to do except, and for an instant the 
 dull ache at his heart changed to a sharp 
 tingling pain, except to send word of 
 his defeat to the girl whose generous 
 friendship had made his cause her own. 
 
 He had worded the little message in 
 his thoughts many times before he had 
 a chance to put it on paper, for his host 
 slept on with a tranquillity which was 
 almost maddening to the restless boy. 
 There was a question, indeed, whether 
 it could be put on paper at all, for there 
 seemed to be none in the cabin except 
 the old newspapers tacked against the 
 wall. But the ingenuity of the owner, 
 when at last he roused himself to the 
 business of the day, supplied the need. 
 The underside of the label from a can 
 of tomatoes, which he opened with lav- 
 ish hospitality, for breakfast, furnished a
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 189 
 
 smooth white space, and under the queer 
 gay cover, Lex wrote his sorrowful note. 
 
 " It's for the little teacher," he said, 
 entrusting it to his host when the latter 
 set out for Silvercrest, " and I should be 
 ever so much obliged if you'd give it to 
 her. She's been a good friend to me, 
 and I'm afraid she worries about my not 
 getting back." 
 
 " I'll do anything I can for you," said 
 the man, heartily, and he added, with 
 genuine sympathy in his face and voice: 
 " It's terrible hard lines for you to have 
 to stay behind here. I wouldn't leave you 
 if it warn't for this 'ere funeral. I reckon 
 it's more lonesome when I'm gone." 
 
 "Oh, I don't mind staying alone," said 
 Lex. " I'm glad you're going, so I can 
 send the note. Maybe Miss Hildreth 
 will be at the funeral. They'll most 
 likely have it at the school-house, and 
 you can give it to her there."
 
 THE M. M. C. 
 
 " But how shall I know who she is ? " 
 queried the miner, and he added with a 
 twist of his mouth, as he looked down 
 at his rough clothes, " I ain't much of 
 a figger to - make up to ladies." 
 
 "Oh, she don't mind folks' clothes," 
 cried Lex. " And as for knowing her, 
 you can't miss of that. There's nobody 
 else that looks like her? 
 
 He paused as if to find some suitable 
 word of description, then, with obvious 
 despair of doing so, added, " You can't 
 tell what the difference is till you see 
 her, but you'll know her by the look in 
 her eyes and the soft pretty color she's 
 got. And if she isn't at the school-house, 
 please leave it for her at St. Cloud's. 
 There's where she lives, in the white 
 house at the head of the street." 
 
 It is doubtful if Lex Flemming's am- 
 bassador got any definite idea of Alice 
 Hildreth's personal appearance from the
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 191 
 
 boy's intimation of its superiority to that 
 of all other maidens, but he had no hesi- 
 tation in deciding that she was not in 
 the school-house when he joined the 
 group assembled there. The few women 
 whispering in a corner were evidently 
 the wives of miners, and without waiting 
 to make needless inquiries he decided 
 to occupy the time which still remained 
 before the brief service in despatching 
 the errand at the cottage. 
 
 As he drew near the house, he saw a 
 girl leaning on the gate before it, a white 
 shawl about her head, and her face lifted 
 towards the mountains. She looked al- 
 most as young as the boy himself. Could 
 this be the teacher? It seemed impossi- 
 ble. But the one word of distinct de- 
 scription which Lex had given flashed 
 upon his memory at that moment and 
 brought decision. There was indeed a 
 " soft pretty color " in her face, just a
 
 THE M. M. C. 
 
 touch, pale though it was to-day, of the 
 color which tinges arbutus blossoms on 
 New England hills in spring, and the 
 Western man noted it with quick appre- 
 ciation. 
 
 Wrapped in her own thoughts, she did 
 not see him till he stood before her. 
 Starting, and flushing under his evident 
 scrutiny, she was turning away when his 
 voice arrested her. 
 
 " Be you the teacher ? " he asked. 
 
 The girl turned back with a smile. 
 This man, whose face she had forgotten, 
 was probably the father of one of her 
 pupils. " I was the teacher a little while 
 ago," she answered, in a soft, pleasant 
 voice. 
 
 The man drew a step nearer. " Do 
 you know a boy by the name of Lex 
 Flemming ? " he asked. 
 
 The color flew from the girl's cheeks. 
 She clasped her hands on the gate and
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 193 
 
 leaned towards the stranger with a breath- 
 less eagerness. " Oh, yes ! " she cried. 
 " Do you know where he is ? " 
 
 " Well, I reckon I do," replied the man, 
 with deliberation. " I know where he was 
 at seven o'clock this morning, and I'll go 
 bail fer it he ain't fur from there now. 
 He's got a mighty slim chance to travel." 
 
 He thrust his hand into his pocket 
 as he spoke, and drew out that brilliant 
 bit of paper. " He wrote something in- 
 side o' that fer you," he said, extending 
 it towards her. 
 
 The thought that she might have some 
 message to send in reply, and the attrac- 
 tion of her face, kept him standing while 
 she read it. It ran, 
 
 MlSS HlLDRETH : 
 
 Dear Teacher, I couldn't keep my promise to 
 you though I tried my best. Things have gone 
 against us. I got to the Lonely all right, but I 
 found the cabin had gone in a slide, and I thought
 
 194 THE M. M. C. 
 
 if I could get help quick, maybe we could save the 
 boys. So I struck over towards the Silver Circle, 
 but I slipped on the way and sprained my foot. 
 Then I couldn't get on or come back. I crawled into 
 a cabin that was near by, and that's where I am 
 now. There's no knowing how long I shall have 
 to stay here. The man says it may be weeks. I 
 guess it's all up with the M. M. C. There's no way 
 now unless he happens to get back in time. Good 
 bye, and thank you for all your kindness. 
 Your respectful pupil, 
 
 ALEXANDER FLEMMING. 
 
 He had written it with dry eyes, de- 
 termined to make no further drain upon 
 her pity by any moan of his. But the 
 girl read it through tears that brimmed 
 over, and fell in great, hurrying drops 
 upon the paper. Whether they were 
 tears of joy or sorrow she could not 
 have told ; such a rush of mingled feel- 
 ing came with the reading of those short, 
 unsentimental lines. He was safe then, 
 safe ! The visions of sudden death, which
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 195 
 
 had tortured her through so many dread- 
 ful hours, faded from her thoughts not to 
 take shape again. Thank God, he was 
 safe ! Yes, but his hope was gone. The 
 brave, strong purpose, dear to him almost 
 as his life, was broken. She knew, she, 
 with her true, loyal heart, what it had 
 meant to him when he wrote, " It's all 
 up with the M. M. C." She knew in 
 what bitterness of soul he must have ac- 
 cepted the issue. Oh, if she could save 
 him from this ! 
 
 And with the longing there came to 
 her at that moment a thought like an 
 inspiration, a thought which had never 
 entered her mind before, but which leaped 
 instantly into clear and definite resolve. 
 The tears in her eyes seemed all at once 
 to flash themselves dry. She straightened 
 herself, and the shawl fell from her head. 
 Then, in a low, thrilling voice, she said, 
 
 " It is not all up with the M. M. C. !
 
 196 THE M. M. C. 
 
 Tell Lex I said so. There is one way 
 left, and I will take it." 
 
 The boldness of her thought seemed 
 to overwhelm her for a moment. She 
 paused ; then, in the same voice, but more 
 gently, said, " I'm so glad he's safe ! Tell 
 him I've thought about him all the time. 
 And tell him to keep up courage, and 
 trust in God. He can make things come 
 out right." 
 
 She said the last words solemnly, 
 looking straight into her listener's eyes; 
 then, as if unable to hear or speak an- 
 other word, turned suddenly away. 
 
 The man stood as if rooted to the 
 spot till the door of the cottage closed 
 behind her ; then, with his face work- 
 ing curiously, started down the street. 
 " Well, of all the messages that ever 
 was giv' to me, if that don't beat 'em ! " 
 he muttered to himself. 
 
 Some incongruity between the word
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 197 
 
 and himself as the bearer of it appeared 
 to strike him, for he muttered his own 
 name twice as if it were an expletive. 
 " But I'll give it to him, jest as she said 
 it," he muttered presently. " It's mighty 
 queer doctrine fer these parts, but she 
 looked as if she knew what was inside 
 of it. I reckon there must be some- 
 thing between 'em God and that girl." 
 
 At that moment Alice was standing 
 alone in her chamber, her hands clasped, 
 and her face pale with the purpose 
 which had so suddenly laid hold of her. 
 Again she read that little note, and her 
 heart refused to echo its despair. No, 
 everything had not been done to save 
 the M. M. C. There was one thing 
 more to do, and she would do it. She 
 would go for help to Mr. Dudleigh 
 Drayton himself! 
 
 She did not give her resolution a 
 moment's time to cool. Two minutes
 
 198 THE M. M. C. 
 
 later she was on her way to Mr. Dray- 
 ton's office. As yet, no shadow of doubt 
 had fallen upon her purpose. She felt 
 like one divinely called to set a wrong 
 right, and her heart leaped forward to 
 the mission. As she walked she con- 
 sidered what she should say, and her 
 Puritan training brought swift sugges- 
 tion. She remembered the story of 
 David and the prophet Nathan, and it 
 pleased her to fancy herself standing 
 before this rich, ambitious schemer, as 
 the man of God had stood before the 
 king, laying bare the covetousness of 
 his heart, and the wrong he purposed to 
 his humble neighbor. She would tell 
 her story well, and when his soul was 
 stirred with indignation, she would cry 
 out like the prophet, "Thou art the man/" 
 In this exalted state of mind she 
 reached the door of Mr. Drayton's of- 
 fice. The short, business-like call, " Come
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 199 
 
 in," with which he answered her knock, 
 brought her once more into the world 
 of ordinary action. She turned the 
 knob, with a sudden flutter at her heart, 
 and obeyed the call. 
 
 Mr. Drayton was sitting at his desk, 
 with a cigar in his mouth, apparently 
 quite engrossed with a column of figures 
 down which his pencil was rapidly mov- 
 ing. He glanced up carelessly in an- 
 other moment, and, starting at the sight 
 of his unusual caller, tossed his cigar 
 aside and came towards her with ex- 
 tended hand. 
 
 "Why, Miss Hildreth," he said, "you 
 give me an unexpected pleasure ; but 
 this is a morning of surprises. Have 
 you heard the good news ? " 
 
 " About Lex Flemming ? " she said, 
 barely touching his proffered hand. 
 " Yes, I have heard it. It was that 
 which made me come to see you."
 
 2OO THE M. M. C. 
 
 " Well, I am glad to exchange congratu- 
 lations," said Mr. Drayton, a little puzzled, 
 but quite at ease. " Lex is a splendid fel- 
 low, and deserves better of fortune than to 
 lose his life in a snow-slide. The whole 
 camp has been anxious about him, but 
 you, I fancy, most of all. I believe he 
 was one of your best scholars." 
 
 "Yes," said Alice, and then she was 
 silent again. It was astonishing how hard 
 it had grown to disclose the real object of 
 her coming. Her fingers worked ner- 
 vously with the buttons of her cloak and 
 she knit her forehead in the effort to find 
 some suitable beginning for her intended 
 speech. 
 
 He had set a chair for her and resumed 
 his own seat, wondering a little at her 
 evident embarrassment, but he filled the 
 pause again with ready politeness. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, the news must be a relief 
 to you. Missing people are not always
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 2OI 
 
 heard from so quickly, and, hidden away 
 as the boy is in that out-of-the-way corner, 
 it is very remarkable that news of him 
 should have reached us so soon. The 
 Fates must have taken pity on your sus- 
 pense. I am sure the sight of your face 
 yesterday would have moved the sternest 
 of them." 
 
 The girl grew more nervous than be- 
 fore. It would never do to let the conver- 
 sation drift like this. She felt that she 
 must speak out, and at that moment, by a 
 lucky suggestion of memory, something to 
 say did actually occur to her. It was not 
 at all a good beginning for a speech like 
 that of Nathan, but somehow she had for- 
 gotten all about Nathan, and she could 
 not wait for anything better. 
 
 " Mr. Drayton," she exclaimed, leaning 
 suddenly towards him, " do you remember 
 telling me on that first morning of the 
 blockade, when you called at my cousin's,
 
 2O2 THE M. M. C. 
 
 that I mustn't worry about having no work 
 here in Silvercrest, for I should be sure to 
 find something to do ? " 
 
 Mr. Drayton smiled. " I believe I do 
 remember saying something of that sort. 
 And have you found anything to do ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Alice, " something very 
 important. But the trouble is I can't do 
 it myself." 
 
 " Oh, you have found something for 
 somebody else to do ! " laughed Mr. Dray- 
 ton. " Well, that is not usually a difficult 
 matter. People often have that good fort- 
 une." 
 
 He leaned easily back in his chair now 
 and waited for her to go on, expecting 
 some appeal for charity, to which, for the 
 sake of the fair solicitor, he was prepared 
 to respond generously. He supposed his 
 manner to be quite inviting, but appar- 
 ently she did not find it so. Her color 
 rose at his amused laugh, and there was a
 
 HE WAITED FOR HER TO GO ON."
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 203 
 
 note of injured feeling in her voice as she 
 said, " But, indeed, I would do it if I 
 could ! It's because I'm so helpless, in 
 spite of all my trying, that I come to you.' 1 
 
 She forced herself to make no pause 
 now, and went on swiftly: " Mr. Drayton, 
 the reason that Lex Flemming went out 
 to the Lonely was because he wanted to 
 get some one to help him in the M. M. C. 
 He was troubled because the assessment 
 work for this year isn't done, and he 
 couldn't bear the thought that Mr. Corn- 
 forth might lose it, when he has worked 
 so hard all his life and been disappointed 
 so many times." 
 
 She paused, looking imploringly at 
 Mr. Drayton, but he only said rather 
 coldly, " Cornforth should have taken 
 measures in time to protect his prop- 
 erty." 
 
 " Yes," faltered Alice, " but you know 
 he worked for you till late in the season,
 
 204 THE M. M. C. 
 
 and then he had to leave everything to 
 go to his little girl, when he had only 
 just begun on the M. M. C. She was 
 very sick; she might be dying. He 
 couldn't refuse such a call." 
 
 Mr. Drayton frowned a little. 
 
 " Of course not," he said. " But Corn- 
 forth is too old a miner not to under- 
 stand the risk he takes when he puts 
 off working his claim till the last mo- 
 ment allowed by law. His working for 
 me was a matter of his own choice. 
 These prospectors need a lesson now 
 and then to teach them the importance 
 of promptness." 
 
 For a moment Alice's eyes grew dim, 
 but with a great effort she forced back 
 the tears. After all, she must plead, not 
 arraign. 
 
 "But Lex!" she cried. "He is not 
 to blame, and he has tried so hard to 
 save it ! He worked every day after
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 
 
 Mr. Cornforth went away, living out 
 there alone though we wanted him to 
 stay with us because he thought he 
 ought to be doing everything he could 
 in the mine. He said his work would 
 count for half as much as a man's, and 
 he hoped Mr. Cornforth would get back 
 in time to finish the rest. But he grew 
 more anxious after that strike in the 
 Nonesuch, and felt that he must have 
 some one to help him." 
 
 She dropped her eyes at the mention 
 of the Nonesuch, blushing in spite of 
 herself. 
 
 " I suppose he thought that / might 
 relocate the M. M. C.," said Mr. Dray- 
 ton, coolly. " Well, I should be likely 
 enough to do so if the owner abandoned 
 it. It is in the neighborhood of my 
 property, and whether there is anything 
 in it or not, it might be worth my while 
 to hold it."
 
 2O6 THE M. M. C. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Alice. " I know that. 
 But I thought if you understood every- 
 thing, you would rather not have it." 
 
 He looked uncomfortable for a mo- 
 ment. She had said a word now that 
 somehow embarrassed him. She did not 
 realize it, but went on more earnestly 
 than before, her voice gathering the ring 
 of a deeper and truer appeal. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Drayton, it would be so 
 hard for Lex to see it lost after all he 
 has done ! He worked there so steadily, 
 denying himself every pleasure, and then 
 he took that terrible journey to the 
 Lonely, though he must have known 
 all the danger. He never turned from 
 his purpose for one moment, only when 
 he tried to get help for the men who 
 were lost in the slide. And now he is 
 hurt and can do nothing more. He 
 may have to stay out there for weeks. 
 It is the hardest thing that could have
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 2QJ 
 
 come to him. Oh, I can think just how 
 he feels, shut up there with his pain, held 
 back from all that he was so anxious to 
 do ! It must seem to him as if all the 
 world had gone against him, and there 
 was no use in trying. It will hurt him 
 all his life a failure like this, and he 
 is so young and brave ! " 
 
 Mr. Drayton was moved. He valued 
 courage and energy, no man more 
 highly than he, and little as he felt 
 disposed to sympathize with Eben Corn- 
 forth in a loss which his own prudence 
 might have prevented, he felt sincerely 
 sorry for the boy. His voice gave no 
 sign of relenting, however, when he 
 said, 
 
 " But, Miss Hildreth, if I should make 
 no effort to secure the M. M. C., there 
 are others who would do so. My fail- 
 ing to act could make no difference in 
 the end to Cornforth."
 
 208 THE M. M. C. 
 
 " Oh, not if others had a chance ! " 
 cried the girl. " But I thought you 
 could prevent all that. I thought you 
 could find some men who would finish 
 the work for Mr. Cornforth, and surely 
 no one could take it away from him 
 then? 
 
 It is not likely that Mr. Dudleigh 
 Dray ton had ever received a proposition 
 in his life which surprised him as much 
 as this. For a moment he was startled 
 out of his habitual courtesy, and stared 
 at the girl as if doubting whether he 
 had really understood her. 
 
 She flushed under the look, then, feel- 
 ing that she had omitted an important 
 item, said quickly, " There was money 
 at Lex's disposal to pay for all the 
 work." 
 
 " Oh," said Mr. Drayton, recovering 
 himself. " So Cornforth had forethought 
 enough to provide that ! He should
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 2OQ 
 
 have attended to the business of secur- 
 ing help and saved the boy all this 
 anxiety." 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Cornforth didn't leave the 
 money," cried Alice, roused instantly to 
 the old prospector's defence. " It is 
 from a friend of his." 
 
 "A friend!" repeated Mr. Drayton. 
 " And why does not this friend take the 
 measures which you have suggested to 
 me ? " 
 
 A flame of color swept over the girl's 
 face and neck. " His friend is not " 
 she began, but her voice broke. Under 
 the scrutiny of those keen gray eyes 
 she could not finish the sentence as she 
 had intended. With a rushing humiliat- 
 ing sense of her own helplessness, she 
 cried, " His friend is not of much ac- 
 count ! " and hid her burning face in 
 both her hands. 
 
 If she had looked at Mr. Drayton
 
 210 THE M. M. C. 
 
 instead, she would have seen at that 
 instant a wave of new intelligence sweep 
 over his face, and then a sudden break- 
 ing up of all its sternness. When she 
 lifted hers a moment later, she did not 
 see it, for he had turned away. He was 
 standing before a window apparently quite 
 unconscious of her presence. She choked 
 down a sob and rose from her seat. She 
 had disclosed a part of her story which 
 she had meant to keep a secret, and she 
 had broken down. There was nothing 
 for her now but to escape as decently 
 as she could from the scene of her failure. 
 She only waited for Mr. Drayton to turn. 
 But he did not turn at once. Man 
 of the world as he was, it needed a few 
 minutes to adjust himself to the feeling 
 which had come over him. He had not 
 changed his opinion as to his right to 
 do the thing he had intended, nor was 
 he smitten with self-reproaches. But the
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 211 
 
 simplest thing in the world had happened. 
 He had come suddenly face to face with 
 another's generous action, and it stirred 
 him to a new, unselfish impulse. He 
 saw it all, the sacrifice of her earnings, 
 which this girl had offered to save the 
 old man's hope, and from his point of 
 view the sacrifice seemed vastly greater 
 than it ever had to her. For a moment 
 his own rules of action seemed poor and 
 mean. An older rule, which he had 
 almost forgotten in the rush of his pros- 
 perous life, came back to him, and the 
 words, " Even as ye would that men 
 should do unto you," sounded in his 
 ears. It was the nobler rule. He saw 
 and felt it. With the insight of the 
 moment he obeyed it. 
 
 When he turned, his face was very 
 grave, but there was something in it 
 which the girl had never seen before. 
 
 " Eben Cornforth is a fortunate man,"
 
 212 THE M. M. C. 
 
 he said. " He could have no better 
 friend." 
 
 He looked at her with a strange gentle- 
 ness for a moment; then, with a smile 
 and something of his old easy manner, 
 added, " We'll see what we can do in this 
 matter. I think I can contrive to act as 
 Cornforth's agent, that is what you wish, 
 I believe, and set some men to finish 
 his work. But as for the pay please 
 let me attend to that. It would be the 
 better way. Cornforth and I have had 
 dealings before, and I'll settle with him 
 when he comes back." 
 
 The tears came now. There was no 
 keeping them back, nor the sob with 
 which her throat was full at that moment. 
 " Oh, you are very, very kind ! " she said, 
 and her hand went out to him now with 
 a pleading eagerness. " I can't tell you 
 how much I thank you, and oh, they 
 will thank you even more than I."
 
 ONE MORE EFFORT. 213 
 
 " No, indeed," said Mr. Drayton, hold- 
 ing her hand. " It is you they shall 
 thank." 
 
 She was gone a moment later, and he 
 was alone in his office. But the figures 
 on his desk had apparently lost their 
 interest. For some minutes he sat ab- 
 sorbed in thought, then he pushed his 
 papers together and passed out to the 
 street.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AT LAST. 
 
 IT seemed to Alice Hildreth that new 
 heavens and a new earth were around 
 her when she stepped out of Mr. Drayton's 
 office on that never-to-be-forgotten day. 
 Even the mountains had lost their awful 
 sternness, and with the sunshine on their 
 brows seemed smiling down upon the 
 world in a great benignant calmness. 
 After all, Nature was not cruel nor were 
 men. There was kindness everywhere, 
 and hope and joy. 
 
 In the midst of her happiness she re- 
 membered suddenly that Mrs. St. Cloud 
 had as yet no share in the gladness of 
 this news from Lex, and ashamed of her 
 own forgetfulness, she quickened her 
 214
 
 AT LAST. 215 
 
 steps and hurried back to the cottage. 
 She found Mrs. St. Cloud in the sitting- 
 room with Tommy, surrounded by build- 
 ing-blocks, and giving her attention rather 
 impatiently to the extensive constructions 
 with which the young architect was cover- 
 ing the carpet. 
 
 " Oh, Tommy," she was saying, as the 
 girl burst into the room, "don't let's 
 make any more of those horrid smelters 
 and ore-houses. Let's build a meeting- 
 house with a big, high steeple, such as 
 they have back East." 
 
 Whether Tommy would have taken 
 kindly to the suggestion is doubtful, but 
 the sight of Alice's radiant face at that 
 moment gave sudden pause to his 
 mother's interest in his affairs. " Has 
 Lex come ? " she cried, starting towards 
 the girl, while her dress swept like an 
 avalanche across the ruined smelter. 
 
 " No ; but he has been heard from.
 
 2l6 THE M. M. C. 
 
 He is safe," gasped Alice. She told the 
 story as fast as her half-breathless state 
 would allow, and even the exasperated 
 Tommy forgot his grievances, and de- 
 molished the last of his promising young 
 mining-plant with a flying somersault 
 when she had ended. As for Mrs. St. 
 Cloud, she hugged the girl in an ecstasy, 
 while she protested between cries of joy 
 that it was almost too good to be true. 
 
 But there was one point on which, 
 as her feelings settled to a calmer state, 
 she was not quite satisfied, and indeed 
 she felt that she had some grounds of 
 complaint against Alice herself. This 
 was the fact that Lex Flemming's mes- 
 senger had been allowed to come to 
 the cottage and go away again unknown 
 to herself. 
 
 " I shouldn't have thought you would 
 have let that man get away without my 
 seeing him," she said reproachfully. " I
 
 AT LAST. 217 
 
 don't suppose he knows a thing about 
 taking care of a sprain, or has a bandage 
 in his cabin. I'd have given him a roll 
 of my linen, and told him just how to man- 
 age. I declare, Alice, I wonder at you." 
 
 But Mrs. St. Cloud was not to be 
 cheated of her kindly service. It was 
 not too late for it now; and she at once 
 set about making the bandages, to which 
 she added a pair of her husband's softest 
 hose and a bottle of liniment. To these 
 Alice further added a note, and " Gulli- 
 ver's Travels," a gift which she felt sure 
 would be a boon to the boy during the 
 days of his enforced idleness. 
 
 Provided with these things, the two 
 started out to find the bearer of the day's 
 great news, but they were too late to find 
 him at the school-house. The brief ser- 
 vice was already over, and he had taken 
 his place in the funeral train which was 
 moving through the camp.
 
 2l8 THE M. M. C. 
 
 A weird spectacle it was. A dozen 
 miners drew the rough coffins containing 
 the bodies of their unfortunate comrades 
 on a hand-sled, towards the hollow among 
 the hills which had been set apart as a 
 burial ground. There were no symbols of 
 mourning. In their working-clothes, and 
 mounted on snow-shoes, the bearers moved 
 steadily on, followed by a score or more of 
 people from the camp. 
 
 To Alice, at least, there was an inex- 
 pressible pathos in the scene, and she 
 watched it with eyes full of tears till a 
 bend in the road hid it from view. She 
 had not known these men for whom the 
 camp kept its moment of silence, but their 
 lives had seemed to touch hers in their 
 strange tragic ending, and perhaps the 
 pitying tenderness with which her heart 
 mourned their fate was the gentlest tribute 
 which the world gave them. 
 
 Later in the day, when the cortege had
 
 AT LAST. 219 
 
 returned, Mrs. St. Cloud, with the help of 
 her husband, found the man she was so 
 anxious to meet, and delivered to him her 
 package, with copious instructions as to 
 the care of the wounded foot. The instruc- 
 tions, however, she was not at all sure he 
 grasped. He seemed to her a remarkably 
 stupid person, as she told Alice after- 
 wards, and she declared that she should 
 not be surprised if he did just the oppo- 
 site of everything she told him. 
 
 But Mrs. St. Cloud did the owner of the 
 Lady Bird scant justice. The truth was, 
 at the time she met him, he was suffering 
 from a partial stupefaction caused by an 
 interview he had just had with Mr. Dray- 
 ton. That gentleman, waylaying him on 
 the street, had questioned him about the 
 boy he had left in his cabin ; after which, 
 in the most explicit manner, he had bade 
 him tell the lad that he knew a couple of 
 men who wanted a job, and he would see
 
 220 THE M. M. C. 
 
 that they were at once employed for Eben 
 Cornforth on the work in the M. M. C. 
 He added with emphasis that the boy was 
 to give himself no further anxiety in the 
 matter, and walked away before the aston- 
 ished miner could collect his faculties for 
 a word of reply. 
 
 The subject was food for meditation to 
 him on his way home. " If- it don't beat 
 everything ! " he muttered to himself more 
 than once. " Put what the girl said and 
 what he said together, and it's enough to 
 make a man think he's gone ' over the 
 range ' without knowing it. Maybe the 
 boy can see through it, but blame me if I 
 can ! " 
 
 And the owner of the Lady Bird was 
 not the only one who found it hard to 
 understand Mr. Drayton's action in this 
 matter. At supper that night Mr. St. 
 Cloud remarked : " There's an odd story 
 afloat about Drayton to-night. They say
 
 AT LAST. 221 
 
 he's taken a couple of hands off the None- 
 such and set them to work for Cornforth 
 in the M. M. C. It's a new departure for 
 him if there's any truth in it," he added 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " Oh, it must be true," cried Alice, 
 her eyes sparkling with a sudden delight 
 in the news he had given her. " He 
 told me this morning he would see that 
 the work was done, and that's just the 
 way he is doing it." 
 
 The piece of pie which was on its 
 way to Mr. St. Cloud's mouth paused 
 midway in its passage. " Well," he ex- 
 claimed, " this is interesting. I should 
 like to know how you came to be talk- 
 ing with Drayton on that subject." 
 
 " Why, I went to him on purpose," 
 said Alice, beginning to blush, but meet- 
 ing his look without flinching. 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud laid down the piece of 
 pie now, and looked at his cousin as if
 
 222 THE M. M. C. 
 
 he were not quite sure that she was the 
 same person who ordinarily sat beside 
 him at the table. For a moment he 
 seemed to have no words at his com- 
 mand. Then he asked slowly, " Do you 
 happen to remember the arguments you 
 used to persuade him ? " 
 
 " Oh, it wasn't my argument, at all," 
 said the girl, earnestly. " Nothing I 
 urged seemed to affect him in the 
 least. It's just because he's so good 
 and generous." 
 
 " Humph ! " said Mr. St. Cloud. Per- 
 haps he found her apparent uncon- 
 sciousness of having done anything 
 remarkable a trifle exasperating, for he 
 asked impressively : " Do you know, Alice, 
 that going to Drayton was a very ex- 
 traordinary move on your part ? If there 
 was any man in Silvercrest likely to 
 have his eye on that particular claim, 
 it was Drayton himself."
 
 AT LAST. 223 
 
 " Oh, yes, I knew it, and Lex knew 
 it, too," said the girl, her voice growing 
 a little unsteady. " It was that which 
 made me feel I must go to him for 
 help. Everything else had failed us. 
 Lex couldn't do anything more, and 
 there was no other way left. Don't 
 you see ? " she added imploringly. 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud drew his hand across 
 his forehead as if he suspected himself 
 of being under some hallucination. " No, 
 I don't see," he said, after a moment 
 " You say everything else had failed 
 you. What does all this mean ? Have 
 you and Lex been in league together ? " 
 
 The flush had faded from Alice's face 
 and left it rather pale, but she did not 
 hesitate. There was nothing to conceal, 
 since the generous action she intended 
 had been undertaken by another. 
 
 "Yes, I was in league with Lex," she 
 said quietly. " I promised him the
 
 224 THE M - M - C ' 
 
 money to pay for the work, if he could 
 only get help." 
 
 The amazement on the faces of her 
 listeners had its effect now, and she 
 added hotly : " How could I keep my 
 money for myself when he needed it so 
 much ? He told me all his trouble the 
 night he was here, and I believe it would 
 have broken my heart if I couldn't have 
 done anything to help him." 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud's ideas were evidently 
 clearing. " Did Drayton know of this ? " 
 he asked, with his own voice a little 
 shaky. 
 
 Alice dropped her head. "Yes," she 
 said ; " I let it out at the end, though 
 I didn't mean to. Somehow he looked 
 at me so that I couldn't keep anything 
 back. But I'm not to pay the money, 
 after all. He wouldn't let me. He said 
 he would arrange it all himself." 
 
 Mr. St. Cloud ate the piece of pie now.
 
 AT LAST. 22 S 
 
 He even drank his coffee before he spoke 
 again. Then he said very tenderly, " My 
 dear little girl, why didn't you tell me of 
 all this before?" 
 
 " Cousin John," she cried, " I did feel 
 kind of guilty not to tell you, and if I'd 
 had any idea of the trouble that would 
 come I should certainly have done it. I'm 
 sure now it would have been the better 
 way, and I came within an inch of doing 
 it right at the first. But the truth is I 
 was afraid to tell you. I knew you had 
 no patience with miners who left their 
 assessment work till the very end of the 
 year. Besides, after I promised the money, 
 it seemed like letting my left hand know 
 what my right hand was doing, and " 
 
 " And running the risk of getting your 
 right hand soundly scolded into the bar- 
 gain, I suspect," said Mr. St. Cloud. 
 " Well, my dear, I should very likely have 
 done it. I'm a sterner man than Drayton
 
 226 THE M. M. C. 
 
 a good deal sterner." And the genial 
 head of the house squared himself in his 
 chair and tried to look as grim as possible. 
 But he was smiling at her, with some- 
 thing suspiciously like pride in his eyes 
 the very next moment. 
 
 It was Mrs. St. Cloud who filled the 
 pause that followed with an accent of gen- 
 uine reproach in her voice. " Well," she 
 said, " I suppose it's no use talking, now 
 that things have come out as they have. 
 But it was tempting Providence all the 
 same, and I must say, Alice, that I 
 wouldn't, for all the world, urge on a 
 friend of mine to take such awful risks as 
 Lex Flemming has. All the gold in the 
 country isn't worth it." 
 
 The girl winced, and Mr. St. Cloud 
 said gayly : " I don't believe Alice will do 
 it again, Kitty. I'll answer for it that she 
 won't spur the heroic youths of Silvercrest 
 to their own destruction any more this
 
 AT LAST. 227 
 
 season. For one thing, she won't have a 
 chance. She's booked for a journey very 
 soon now, unless all signs fail. This block- 
 ade is about ended, and there'll be no 
 keeping her after that." 
 
 And Mr. St. Cloud was right. There 
 were only two days more for Alice in the 
 mining camp. Then she took her place 
 in the out-going stage coach, and, waving 
 good bye to the friends who stood sorrow- 
 fully watching, started on the long-deferred 
 journey. There was but one unsatisfied 
 wish in her heart. If she only could have 
 seen Lex Flemming once more ! 
 
 But Lex was still in exile. A weary 
 time had yet to pass before he could leave 
 the stranger's cabin. At last, paler than 
 he had ever been before, and limping a 
 little, he was seen one day in the street of 
 Silvercrest, and an eager crowd gathered 
 round to give him welcome. Mr. Drayton 
 was among the number, and when the rest
 
 228 THE M. M. C. 
 
 had dropped away, he led the boy into the 
 office where Alice Hildreth had plead his 
 cause on that anxious morning. What 
 passed between them was known only to 
 the two, but from that interview Lex came 
 out, sworn in the depths of his heart to a 
 friendship which would never know change 
 again for the man whom he had once 
 longed to defeat and defy. 
 
 For Mr. Drayton, too, the hour had its 
 meaning. He had read the boy like an 
 open book the perfect loyalty of his 
 nature, the steadiness of purpose, the 
 power of quick, resolute action. For such 
 a boy large things were possible, and 
 the thought was born of that earlier gener- 
 osity he should have help in winning 
 them. 
 
 There was no reason now why Lex 
 should return to his lonely life at the 
 M. M. C., and he made Mrs. St. Cloud 
 happy by accepting her invitation to stay
 
 AT LAST. 229 
 
 in her house till the old prospector's return. 
 But the visit did not prove a long one. 
 A few days later Eben Cornforth himself 
 returned to the camp. He had lingered 
 at the bedside of his child till the long, 
 fierce fever was broken, too much ab- 
 sorbed in his anxiety for her to take 
 thought or care for the work he had so 
 suddenly left. 
 
 That night, listening in the firelight of 
 his own cabin, the old man heard the 
 story of all that had so strangely passed 
 in his absence, and never had any other 
 tale stirred him like that. Sometimes he 
 interrupted it with wondering questions ; 
 sometimes he walked the floor, his face 
 quivering with emotion ; and more than 
 once he wiped his eyes from the over- 
 flowing tears. 
 
 " God bless you both ! God bless the 
 little teacher ! " he said brokenly when the 
 tale was ended. " I wish I could have seen
 
 23O THE M. M. C. 
 
 her just once more to thank her for all 
 she's done. But we'll do it, Lex, my boy, 
 one of these days. We'll go back to the 
 old Bay State together, you and I and 
 little Mary, and then we'll see her and 
 thank her with something more than 
 words." 
 
 The firelight fell upon his glowing face. 
 All that had been hard and disappointing 
 in the past dropped far behind him, and 
 Hope threw her light, fairer than ever, on 
 his forward path. 
 
 It was six months later, just half a year 
 from the time Alice Hildreth returned 
 home, that she received on the same day 
 two copies of The Mountain Blast. On 
 the wrapper of one was Lex Flemming's 
 well-known writing, but the other was 
 addressed in a rapid business hand which 
 she did not remember to have seen before. 
 She opened the papers, and on the page
 
 AT LAST. 231 
 
 devoted to mining news, found the same 
 paragraph marked in each, It ran, 
 
 " Among the sales of the week we note 
 the transfer of a half interest in the M. M. 
 C. from Eben Cornforth to Dudleigh 
 Drayton. Cornforth, who located the 
 claim two years ago, has been steadily 
 pushing the development since the begin- 
 ning of the year, and has uncovered a con- 
 siderable body of ore, of sufficient value to 
 warrant Drayton in putting some capital 
 into it. That he has done so is sufficient 
 assurance that the property will now be 
 worked for all there is in it. We con- 
 gratulate both parties on the transaction, 
 and predict a future for the M. M. C. 
 which will make it necessary to change 
 the time-honored title of the senior 
 partner from 'Old Hopeful' to 'Old 
 Successful.' " 
 
 There was a dancing light in the girl's 
 eyes as she laid down the paper. With a
 
 232 THE M. M, C. 
 
 quick, delighted fancy she pictured these 
 two, whose interests had once been so 
 opposed, sharing together the treasure in 
 the M. M. C. "Oh, I'm glad he got it 
 that way instead of the other ! " she said 
 to herself, thinking of Mr. Drayton. " It'll 
 be worth so much more to him." 
 
 And then her thoughts turned with a 
 deeper gladness to the old prospector. It 
 was sweet to believe that a future of pros- 
 perity was unfolding for him ; sweeter still 
 to feel that she herself had had a share in 
 bringing it about. It was compensation 
 out of all measure for the heartsick days 
 and the homesick weeks she had spent 
 in the mining camp during that wintry 
 blockade.
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Publishers. 
 
 RE VOL UTIONAR Y MAID. A Story of the Mid- 
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 lar books of the year. 
 
 " Though largely a story of boys and for boys, it has the liveliest interest for all 
 classes of readers, and makes a strong addition to Dr. Barton's already notable series 
 of historical tales." Christian Endeavor World. 
 
 " It is a pleasure to read and to recommend such a book as this. In fact, we must 
 say at the very beginning, that Dr. Barton is becoming one of the most skilful and enjoy- 
 able of American story-tellers. 1 ' Boston Journal. 
 
 iADET STAND ISH OF THE ST. L O UIS. A Story 
 of Our Naval Campaign in Cuban Waters. BY WILLIAM 
 DRYSDALE. 352 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 A strong, stirring story of brave deeds bravely done. A vivid picture of one of the 
 most interesting and eventful periods of the late Spanish War. 
 
 " It is what the boys are likely to call ' a rattling good story.' " Cleveland Plain 
 Dealer. 
 
 " Mr. Drysdale has drawn an effective picture of the recent war with Spain in his new 
 book. The story is full of dash and fire without being too sensational." Congre- 
 gationalist. 
 
 /I DAUGHTER OF THE WEST. The Story of an 
 ^.Z American Princess. BY EVELYN RAYMOND. 347 pp. Cloth, 
 
 $! SO- 
 Interesting, wholesome, and admirable in every way is Mrs. Raymond's latest story 
 
 for girls. Descriptions of California life are one of the fascinations of the book. 
 
 " A well-written story of Western life and adventure, which has for its heroine a 
 
 brave, high-minded girl." Chronicle Telegraph, Pittsburg. 
 
 " Laid among the broad valleys and lofty mountains of California every chapter is 
 
 crowded full of most interesting experiences." Christian Endeavor World. 
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Boston and Chicago. 
 ii
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Publishers. 
 
 r 
 
 War of the Revolution Series. 
 
 By Everett T. Tomlinson. 
 
 HREE COLONIAL BOYS. A Story of the Times 
 of '76. 368pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 It is a story of three boys who were drawn into the events of the times, is patriotic, 
 excising, clean, and healthful, and instructs without appearing to. The heroes are 
 manly boys, and no objectionable language or character is introduced. The lessons of 
 courage and patriotism especially will be appreciated in this day. Boston Transcript. 
 
 CT-'ffXEE YOUNG CONTINENTALS. A Story of 
 JL the American Revolution. 364 pp. Cloth, $ 1.50. 
 
 This story is historically true. It is the best kind of a story either for boys or girla, 
 and is an attractive method of teaching history. Journal of Education, Boston. 
 
 TlfASHING TON'S YOUNG AIDS. A Story of the 
 rr New Jersey Campaign, 1776-1777. 391 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 The book has enough history and description to give value to the story which ought 
 to captivate enterprising boys. Quarterly Book Review. 
 
 The historical details of the story are taken from old records. These include 
 accounts of the life on the prison ships and prison houses of New York, the raids of the 
 pine robbers, the tempting of the Hessians, the end of Fagan and his band, etc. 
 Publisher's Weekly. 
 
 Few boys' stories of this class show so close a study of history combined with such 
 genial story-telling power. The Outlook. 
 
 rWO YOUNG PATRIOTS. A Story of Burgoyne'* 
 Invasion. 366pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 The crucial campaign in the American struggle for independence came in the sum- 
 mer of 1777, when Gen. John Burgoyne marched from Canada to cut the rebellious 
 colonies asunder and join another British army which was to proceed up the valley of 
 the Hudson. The American forces were brave, hard fighters, and they worried and 
 harassed the British and finally defeated them. The history of this campaign is ont 
 of great interest and is well brought out in the Dart which the " two young patriots" 
 took in the events which led up to the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army. 
 
 The set of four volumes in a box, $6.00. 
 
 OUCCESS. BY ORISON SWETT MARDEN. Author of 
 
 O "Pushing to the Front," "Architects of Fate," etc. 317 pp. 
 Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 It is doubtful whether any success books for the young have appeared in modem 
 times which are so thoroughly packed from lid to lid with stimulating, uplifting, and in- 
 spiring material as the self-help books written by Orison Swett Marden. There is not a 
 dry paragraph nor a single line of useless moralizing in any of his books. 
 
 To stimulate, inspire, and guide is the mission of his latest book, " Success," and 
 helpfulness is its keynote. Its object is to spur the perplexed youth to act the Columbus 
 to his own undiscovered possibilities ; to urge him not to wait for great opportunities, 
 but to seize common occasions and make them great, for he cannot tell when fate may 
 take his measure for a higher place. 
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Boston and Chicago. 
 iii
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Publishers. 
 
 Brain and Brawn Series. 
 
 By William Drysdale. 
 
 rHE YOUNG REPORTER. A Story of Printing 
 House Square. 300 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 I commend the book unreservedly. Golden Rule. 
 
 "The Young Reporter" is a rattling book for boys. New York Recorder. 
 
 The best boys' book I ever read. Mr. Phillips, Critic for New York Times. 
 
 rHE FAST MAIL. A Story of a Train Boy. 328 pp. 
 Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 " The Fast Mail " is one of the very best American books for boys brought out this 
 season. Perhaps there could be no better confirmation of this assertion than the fact 
 that the little sons of the present writer have greedily devoured the contents of the vol- 
 ume, and are anxious to know how soon they are to get a sequel. The Art Amateur. 
 Jfew York. 
 
 CTffE BEACH PATROL. A Story of the Life-Saving 
 -/ Service. 318 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 The style of narrative is excellent, the lesson inculcated of the best, and, above all, 
 the boys and girls are real. New York Times. 
 
 A book of adventure and daring, which should delight as well as stimulate to higher 
 ideals of life every boy who is so happy as to possess it. Examiner. 
 
 It is a strong book for boys and young men. Buffalo Commercial. 
 
 rHE YOUNG SUPERCARGO. A Story of the 
 Merchant Marine. 352pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 Kit Silburn is a real " Brain and Brawn " boy, full of sense and grit and sound 
 good qualities. Determined to make his way in life, and with no influential friends to 
 give him a start, he does a deal of hard work between the evening when he first meets 
 the stanch Captain Griffith, and the proud day when he becomes purser of a great 
 ocean steamship. His sea adventures are mostly on shore; but whether he is cleaning 
 the cabin of the North Cape, or landing cargo in Yucatan, or hurrying the spongers 
 and fruitmen of Nassau, or exploring London, or sight seeing with a disguised prince 
 m Marseilles, he is always the same busy, thoroughgoing, manly Kit. Whether or not 
 ke has a father alive is a question of deep interest throughout the story ; but that he 
 has a loving and loyal sister is plain from the start. 
 
 The set of four volumes in a box, $6.00. 
 
 CiERAPH, THE LITTLE VIOLINISTS. BY MRS. 
 O C, V. JAMIESON. 300 pp. Cloth, |i. 50. 
 
 The scene of the story is the French quarter of New Orleans, and charming bits of 
 local color add to its attractiveness. The Boston Journal. 
 
 Perhaps the most charming story she has ever written is that which describes Seraph, 
 the little violiniste. Transcript, Boston. 
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Boston and Chicago. 
 iv
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Publishers. 
 
 Travel-Adventure Series. 
 
 /N WILD AFRICA. Adventures of Two Boys in the 
 Sahara Desert, etc. BY THOS. W. KNOX. 325 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 A story of absorbing interest. Boston Journal. 
 
 Our young people will pronounce it unusually good. Albany Argus. 
 
 Col. Knox has struck a popular note in his latest volume. Springfield Republican. 
 
 rHE LAND OF THE KANGAROO. BY THOS. 
 W. KNOX. Adventures of Two Boys in the Great Island Con- 
 tinent. 318 pp. Cloth, 1.50. 
 
 His descriptions of the natural history and botany of the country are very interest- 
 teg. Detroit Free Press. 
 
 The actual truthfulness of the book needs no gloss to add to its absorbing interest. 
 The Book Buyer, New York. 
 
 VER THE ANDES; or, Our Boys in New South 
 America. BY HEZEKIAH BuiTERWORTH. 368 pp. Cloth, 
 $1.50. 
 
 No writer of the present century has done more and better service than Hezekiah 
 Bntterworth in the production of helpful literature for the young. In this volume he 
 writes, in his own fascinating way, of a country too little known by American readers. 
 Christian Work. 
 
 Mr. Butterworth is careful of his historic facts, and then he charmingly interweaves 
 his quaint stories, legends, and patriotic adventures as few writers can. Chicago Inter- 
 Ocean. 
 
 The subject is an inspiring one, and Mr. Bntterworth has done full justice to the 
 high ideals which have inspired the men of South America. Religious Telescope. 
 
 OST IN NICARAGUA ; or, The Lands of the Great 
 Canal. BY HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. 295 pp. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 L 
 
 nioiirijr ui uic |MVJVM* Mn uic HUMUf duu laciD ai 
 
 was written in Costa Rica. It enters a new field. 
 
 The set of four volumes in a box, $6.00. 
 
 QUARTERDECK AND FOK'SLE. BY MOLLY 
 ojy ELLIOTT SEA WELL. 272 pp. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Miss Seawell has done a notable work for the young people of our country in her 
 excellent stories of naval exploits. They are of the kind that causes the reader, no 
 matter whether young or old, to thrill with pride and patriotism at the deeds of daring 
 f the heroes of our navy. 
 
 W. A. Wilde Company, Boston and Chicago.
 
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