“I can imagine it to some extent.  If the ore carries as much silver as we think, you can do what you like when you get your patent; build laboratories, travel, make friends with clever people.  In fact, your money will buy you anything you want.”

“Do you really believe that?” Agatha asked, with a hint of mockery in her voice.  “Do you imagine I have been thinking about the money?”

“I have thought about it,” Thirlwell said, and stopped when she gave him a curious glance.  “Of course,” he resumed, “there’s some satisfaction in feeling you have finished a difficult job.”

“Now you’re nearer the mark!  But you don’t feel in the mood for philosophizing?”

“I’m often dull before breakfast,” Thirlwell replied.  “All the same, I’m glad you’re happy.  In fact, I’m trying to be sympathetic.”

“And you find it hard!”

Thirlwell colored, but looked at her steadily.

“Anyhow, if the thing’s possible, I’m going to find the lode for you.”

“Yes,” she said, without moving her eyes from his face, “I know you’ll try to find it.  You’re trustworthy; you play a straight game!”

“I cheated once.”

“That was when you thought the advantage would be mine.  But how far do you think we will have to go?”

“Perhaps I can tell you when the sun gets up.  We may have to search for three or four days; we may strike the creek to-night.”

“Ah,” she said, “I hope it will not be three or four days.  Now we are very near, the suspense is keen.”  Then she smiled.  “However, we will go back and get breakfast, because you must set your brain to work.”

It was next morning when they saw the first of Strange’s landmarks; and Thirlwell, taking its bearing with the compass, changed their line of march.  In the evening they climbed a low hill, and when they reached its top, which rose like an island from a waste of short pine-scrub, Drummond stopped and, touching Agatha, indicated the ridge across the valley.

“Look!” he said.  “The hollow rock!”

A small gray object, dwarfed by the distance, stood out against a smear of dark green on the crest of the high ground.  After studying it for a few moments Thirlwell nodded.

“Yes; I think he’s right.”

Drummond turned to Agatha with a sparkle in his eyes.  “I quit now, Miss Strange.  You’ve got there ahead of Stormont; I guess I’ve made good!”

“You made good when you found the broken range,” Agatha replied, giving him a grateful look, and Drummond’s dark face flushed with color as he turned away.

They lost the rock as they went down hill, but when they made camp the roar of falling water came faintly across the woods.

“The creek that runs south!” said Thirlwell as he lighted the fire.

They started early next morning, but the ground was rough and the sun was getting low when they came down a rocky hill into a small round hollow, through which shining water flowed.  The opposite slope was in shadow, but the slanting sunbeams touched a belt of fresh growth that glowed a vivid green against the somber color of the surrounding trees.