The Sky Line of Spruce

his manner evidently the leader of the three. He had heavy, grizzled brows and rather quiet eyes, a man of deep passions and great resolve. Yet his lean face had nothing of the wickedness

r man than either Ray or Neilson, was simply a tool in the latter's hand,-a smashing sledge or a cruel blade as his master wished. He w

son asked at once. "I th

d the girl's tread as she went around the house. "She's goi

e. Try hard as he might he couldn't restrain a surge of color

ng-I k

your cheeks-where it ain't red

at last. No man could look at him, his twinkling eyes and his joyous face, and doubt but that this soft-eyed, strong-handed daughter of his was the joy and pride of his life. He had heard th

o Neilson's dictation. Sometime the situation would be reversed; he would be leader instead of underling, taking the lion's share of the profit of their enterprises instead of the left-overs, and when that time came he would not be obliged to endure Neilson's jests in silence. Neilson himself, as he eyed the stiffening figure, had no real

m his voice. "Everything that girl does you think is perfect. Instead of encouraging her in her meanness you ought to help

was showed merely in the lines of his face, and particularly in the light that

e. But Ray's gaze broke before that of his leader. "I'm not going to say anything I shouldn't," he protested sullenly. "But this doesn't look like yo

t her will, you're barking up the wrong tree. She's my daughter, and her happiness happens to be my first object." Then his voice changed, good-hu

Hiram Melvi

hat fact but me-I saw 'em by accident-and I got 'em now. You know he's always had an idea that the Yuga country was worth prospecting, but we alway

e got the nuggets

just about got it by now-maybe a few days ago. He had the clerk mail it for him, and got him to witness it, saying it was his will-and what did that old hound have to will except a mine? Ne

" Ray agreed. "And a fast one, too

ody knows it's a pocket country, and the men in this to

l be showin' up one of these days. We w

numents up and everything, and was on his way down to Bradleyburg to record it when he died. He just went out be

ld cabin up that way somewhere-along that still place-on the

-with absolutely nothing to interfere. If his brother does come up, he'll find us in possess

creek, throug

t in the vicinity of that old cabin you speak of, last heard of him. And I w

ve look came into his wild-beast's eyes. "But what I don't see-h

ute-say you had fifty or sixty thousand all your own-to spend on a wife and buy her clothe

eant wealth, the power his ambitious nature had always craved, idleness and the gratification of all his lusts. He was no stranger to gree

llion,' he kept saying. 'Right there in sight-a quarter of a million.' If he really fo

and for their leader's portion. The old rage and jealousy that had preyed upon his mind so

he wouldn't want to stay here; you know how she loves the woods. And if you know anything about girls, you know that nothin

me," he admitted. "That means-hunt u

e should come up now.

y n

w she regards this business of jumping claims. She's

ting sentimen

I say, she's dead against it, and she's been a little suspicious ever since that Jenkins deal. Besides, it wouldn't be any pleasure for her until we find a claim and g

know just wher

ld cabin on the Yuga. We'll set a date f

scheme. He sat back, contemplating all its phases. "It

o which she had been subjected at her father's door. Yet the kisses Ray had forced on her were no worse than his blasphemy of her dreams. The spirit of romance was abroad to-night-in the enchantment of the moon-and she was wistful and imaginativ

elf. Her thought turned to other channels, and her heart