First he read the letter from Kent.  It was dated from the newest camp in the desert and was filled with glittering generalities concerning riches about to be discovered.  It urged him, in case he had arrived in Goldite, to hasten southward forthwith—­“and bring a bunch of money.”  Glenmore’s letters always appealed for money—­a fact which Bostwick had remembered.

The man sat down at his table and wrote a letter to himself.  With young Kent’s epistle for his model, he made an amazingly clever forgery of the enthusiastic writer’s chirography, and at the bottom signed the young man’s name.

This spurious document teemed with figures and assertions concerning a wonderful gold mine which Glenmore had virtually purchased.  He needed sixty thousand dollars at once, however, to complete his remarkable bargain.  Only two days of his option remained and therefore delay would be fatal.  He expected this letter to find his friend at Goldite and he felt assured he would not be denied this opportunity of a lifetime to make a certain fortune.  He would, of course, appeal to Beth—­with certainty of her help from the wealth bequeathed her by her uncle—­but naturally she was too far away,

Glenmore was unaware of the fact that his sister had come to the West.  Bostwick overlooked no details of importance.  Armed with this plausible missive, he went at once to Mrs. Dick’s and found that Beth was at home.

CHAPTER XVI

INVOLVING BETH

Goldite to the Eastern girl, who had found herself practically abandoned for nearly a week, had proved to be a mixture of discomforts, excitements, and disturbing elements.  Fascinated by the maelstrom of the mining-camp life, and unwilling to retreat from the scene until she should see her roving brother, and gratify at least a curiosity concerning Van, she nevertheless felt afraid to be there, not only on account of the roughness and uncertainty of the existence, but also because, despite herself, she had attracted undesirable attention.  Moreover, the house was full of “gentlemen” lodgers, with three of whom Elsa was conducting most violent flirtations.

There were few respectable women in the town.  It was still too early for their advent.  Beth had been annoyed past all endurance.  There was no possibility of even mild social diversions; there was no one to visit.  While the street could be described as perfectly safe, it was nevertheless an uncomfortable place in which to walk.  Bostwick’s car had been recovered and brought into camp, but skilled as she was at the steering wheel, she had hardly desired or dared to take it out.