Winters, shaking his head, "and my own boy, Harry, among the lot."
"Once is enough for me, papa dear," said Miss Gladden lightly, yet in a more tender tone, "when the right one comes; but it could never have been Harry, any more than his brother, Richard; you and mamma were like parents to me, and the boys both seem like brothers."
"Have you found the right one, yet?" asked the old gentleman, watching her keenly.
"As I told you, I am not looking for a knight," she answered brightly, but the color deepened on her cheek, "if he ever comes, he must find me."
Mr. Winters noted the telltale flush, and slowly shaking his head, remarked, "I don"t know, Leslie, about the advisability of leaving you here; you were always inclined to be very philanthropic, and it would be like you to adopt some young man out here, thinking you had money enough for yourself and him, too; that clerk down at the office, for instance, or this kid that was prancing around in eye-gla.s.ses."
"The "kid" as you call him," Miss Gladden answered demurely, "has plenty of money of his own, and Mr. Houston seems abundantly able to take care of himself; if I adopt any one, it will be that beautiful girl who waited on you at dinner."
"What is that, my dear?" said the old gentleman, brightening, "I noticed that girl at the table to-day; she is remarkably fine looking, and seemed to conduct herself like a perfect lady; who is she?"
Miss Gladden, in her enthusiastic manner, began telling him of Lyle, and of the interest she had taken in her, but before she had proceeded very far, the team appeared at the junction of the roads, the men calling Mr. Winters.
"Bless my stars, if there isn"t the team!" he exclaimed, "well my little girl, good-bye for the present, you will see us both this evening," and having given Miss Gladden a promise that neither he nor his son would betray her secret, he hastened down the road to the waiting team.
"Well, boys," he said, stopping to carefully empty the ashes from his pipe on a projecting ledge of rock, "I will have to give you credit for being on hand very promptly; that was about the shortest half hour that I can remember."
A loud, ringing laugh greeted this remark, which caused Mr. Winters, who was replacing his pipe in its case, to look up in mild wonder.
"That"s one on you, father," called his son, while Mr. Blaisdell remarked, "The time evidently has pa.s.sed very pleasantly."
"What is the origin of all this mirth?" demanded Mr. Winters, as he seated himself with considerable dignity.
"It seems," said Mr. Rivers, in explanation, "to be because you were so unconscious of the lapse of time; we were delayed in getting together our papers, and it is over an hour since we left the house."
"I looked for you at every turn of the road," said his son.
"I didn"t," said Van Dorn, "I thought he had fallen asleep over his pipe; I never dreamed he was disgracing the whole crowd of us by such open flirtation as that,--I wish we had brought along a chaperon."
"Well, gentlemen," said Mr. Winters very deliberately, "all I have to say is, that had you been in my place, the time would have seemed equally short to you, and I don"t think there"s one of you but would have been mighty glad to have been in my place."
"Mr. Winters," said Mr. Blaisdell, "I begin to think you"re the youngest man of our party."
CHAPTER XVII.
With many jokes and much hilarity, the mining party proceeded on their way. Arriving at the mines, they found Morgan and Haight awaiting them, who were duly introduced to the party, the English expert looking at Haight with much the same expression with which a mastiff might regard a rat terrier.
Everything being in readiness, they began the descent of the long incline shaft, Mr. Blaisdell and Haight leading the way with Mr.
Lindlay, while Mr. Rivers followed with Mr. Winters and his son and Van Dorn, Morgan bringing up the rear.
It was nearly three hours before they reappeared at the surface, and to a physiognomist, their faces, as they emerged from the mouth of the shaft, would have furnished an amusing study.
Mr. Blaisdell looked irritated and annoyed, but jubilant. He had been thoroughly disgusted by the conduct of the English expert. Instead of taking Mr. Blaisdell"s word regarding the mine, corroborated as it was by undisputable evidence in the shape of mining reports, surveyor"s notes, and maps, he had insisted on ascertaining for himself the important data, the width, dip and course of the vein, and the measurement of various angles and distances, with a persistency and accuracy that was simply exasperating. He also picked up samples of ore in the most unexpected places which he examined with the closest scrutiny. But having taken his measurements and made his examinations, the results were immediately jotted down in his note book, and the samples dropped in his pockets, without a word, which convinced Mr. Blaisdell that the expert knew very little of his business, and was probably either doing this to keep up appearances, or to gain a little information for his own benefit. Not a word had been said contradicting the statements he had made, not a question raised implying any doubt of their correctness;--evidently they were just the kind of purchasers he wanted, and his firmly set jaws and tightly compressed lips expressed his satisfaction.
Mr. Rivers scanned the company keenly with his ferret-like glances; such unexpected acquiescence on their part made him slightly suspicious and very watchful. The thought uppermost in his mind was, "Either these people know absolutely nothing about mining, or they know too much for our good." He had intended going back to the city that evening, but he now decided to remain over.
Mr. Winters, senior, reappeared, wearing the same expression of benevolence and dignity with which he had entered the mine. He seemed serenely unconscious of the existence of deceit or fraud in business transactions generally, and in mining negotiations in particular. Only those well acquainted with him could detect from the exaggerated twinkle of his eyes, that something had more than ordinarily amused him.
Van Dorn and Lindlay had agreed before hand that they would keep entirely separate, and each pursue his own course of investigation independently of the other,--Van Dorn of course not being able to take any measurements, as he was not supposed to be an expert,--and compare notes later. As the two emerged into daylight and their eyes met, Van Dorn"s laughing, blushing face would have betrayed him, had any one known his real business there, but a young inventor, exploring mines just for the fun of the thing, is supposed to find plenty of amus.e.m.e.nt. Under the big, blond mustache of the Englishman, a pair of lips curled scornfully, and his eyes rolled wildly for a moment, but that was all.
As the gentlemen gathered around the dump, the last vestige of Mr.
Blaisdell"s irritation seemed to have disappeared, as he blandly expatiated upon the quant.i.ty and quality of the ore.
Van Dorn"s eyes sparkled as he saw the shining lumps from the Yankee Boy, and he and Lindlay exchanged quick glances.
"Look at that," said the latter, quickly extracting from his pocket a sample of the Sunrise ore and placing it beside a piece taken at random from the dump; "does any one pretend to tell me that those are from the same vein?"
"It is a different cla.s.s of ore altogether," replied Van Dorn, "such ore as that never would be found under the conditions existing in that mine, but I"ll be blest if I wouldn"t like to see the mine it did come from."
Mr. Rivers had observed this little side conversation and Van Dorn"s close scrutiny of the samples, and was at his side in a moment, inquiring in his smoothest tones:
"What do you think of that ore, Mr. Van Dorn?"
"Very fine ore, so far as I can judge," said Van Dorn carelessly, "I would like to see it run through that concentrator and amalgamator of mine; if these men ever get through talking about mines, Mr. Rivers, I must get you and Mr. Blaisdell interested in my machinery."
At the suggestion of Mr. Lindlay, the party next paid a visit to the Morning Star mine, that being the one which Mr. Blaisdell had declared was on the same lead as the Sunrise. This they found to be a valuable mine, but there was not the slightest indication of the vein being identical with that of the Sunrise, its strike carrying it in a totally different direction, and its characteristics being wholly dissimilar.
As it was too late for any further mining explorations, the team was ordered, and preparations made for a return to the house.
Lindlay and Van Dorn, by mutual agreement, started up the canyon road together, in advance of the others.
"Boys, where are you going?" called Mr. Winters.
"Going to walk on ahead," answered Van Dorn.
"Just as cheap to ride," said Mr. Winters.
"Plenty of room," added Mr. Blaisdell.
"We can"t wait for you, you"re too slow," laughed Van Dorn.
"Give our places to those gentlemen," said Lindlay, indicating Haight and Morgan, and with rather a painful emphasis on the word "gentlemen."
"Egad!" he exclaimed a few moments later, "Van Dorn, what do you think of that for a mining proposition?"
"It"s pretty tough, in fact, about the toughest I ever saw," replied Van Dorn, "but then, you remember we got a hint at Silver City that they were sharpers."
"Sharpers!" exclaimed Lindlay, "but I don"t call them sharpers; I can admire a good, genuine piece of keen rascality, don"t you know, for I can play just as sharp a game myself as the best of them, but w"en it comes to such downright, beastly work as this, so blundering and bungling you know, w"y it looks too much as though they thought we were all born idiots, to be very complimentary."
"I"ll admit it looks that way," said Van Dorn, laughing, "it doesn"t look as though they had a very flattering opinion of our acquirements, or our natural penetration, if they suppose we can be gulled in this way. They are about the worst set of mining sharks I"ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, and I shall tell Houston so."
"By the way, that Mr. "Uston seems a very decent sort of a man,"
commented Lindlay.