Part 32 (1/2)

Early in June came a brief wire from Station Six. Three weeks later the Free Gold Mining Company set up a mild ripple of excitement along Broad Street by exhibiting in their office window a forty-pound heap of coa.r.s.e gold; raw, yellow gold, just as it had come from the sluice.

Every day knots of men stood gazing at the treasure. The Granville papers devoted sundry columns to this remarkably successful enterprise of its local business men. Bill had forwarded the first clean-up.

And close on the heels of this--ten days later, to be exact--he came home.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE BOMB

”You great bear,” Hazel laughed, in the shelter of his encircling arms.

”My, it's good to see you again.”

She pushed herself back a little and surveyed him admiringly, with a gratified sense of proprietors.h.i.+p. The cheeks of him were tanned to a healthy brown, his eyes clear and s.h.i.+ning. The offending flesh had fallen away on the strenuous paths of the Klappan. He radiated boundless vitality, strength, alertness, that perfect co-ordination of mind and body that is bred of faring resourcefully along rude ways.

Few of his type trod the streets of Granville. It was a product solely of the outer places. And for the time being the old, vivid emotion surged strong within her. She thrilled at the touch of his hand, was content to lay her head on his shoulder and forget everything in the joy of his physical nearness. But the maid announced dinner, and her man must be fed. He had missed luncheon on the train, he told her, by reason of an absorbing game of whist.

”Come, then,” said she. ”You must be starving.”

They elected to spend the evening quietly at home, as they used to do.

To Hazel it seemed quite like old times. Bill told her of the Klappan country, and their prospects at the mine.

”It's going to be a mighty big thing,” he declared.

”I'm so glad,” said Hazel.

”We've got a group of ten claims. Whitey Lewis and the original stakers hold an interest in their claims. I, acting as agent for these other fellows in the company, staked five more. I took in eight more men--and, believe me, things were humming when I left. Lewis is a great rustler. He had out lots of timber, and we put in a wing dam three hundred feet long, so she can flood and be darned; they'll keep the sluice working just the same. And that quartz lead will justify a fifty-thousand-dollar mill. So I'm told by an expert I took in to look it over. And, say, I went in by the ranch. Old Jake has a fine garden. He's still pegging away with the mule 'und Gretchen, der cow.'

I offered him a chance to make a fat little stake at the mine, but he didn't want to leave the ranch. Great old feller, Jake. Something of a philosopher in his way. Pretty wise old head. He'll make good, all right.”

In the morning, Bill ate his breakfast and started downtown.

”That's the d.i.c.kens of being a business man,” he complained to Hazel, in the hallway. ”It rides a man, once it gets hold of him. I'd rather get a machine and go joy riding with you than anything else. But I have to go and make a long-winded report; and I suppose those fellows will want to talk gold by the yard. Adios, little person. I'll get out for lunch, business or no business.”

Eleven-thirty brought him home, preoccupied and frowning. And he carried his frown and his preoccupation to the table.

”Whatever is the matter, Bill?” Hazel anxiously inquired.

”Oh, I've got a nasty hunch that there's a n.i.g.g.e.r in the woodpile,” he replied.

”What woodpile?” she asked.

”I'll tell you more about it to-night,” he said bluntly. ”I'm going to pry something loose this afternoon or know the reason why.”

”Is something the matter about the mine?” she persisted.

”No,” he answered grimly. ”There's nothing the matter with the mine.

It's the mining company.”

And that was all he vouchsafed. He finished his luncheon and left the house. He was scarcely out of sight when Jimmie Brooks' runabout drew up at the curb. A half minute later he was ushered into the living-room.

”Bill in?” was his first query.

”No, he left just a few minutes ago,” Hazel told him.