She was watching eagerly.

"And he's no further along towards Goldite than this?"

"He's had some tough old going," answered Van. "He's in luck to----"
then to himself, as he continued to scan the scene for something he did
not apparently find. "By Jupe! I'd have sworn Matt Barger----" He
broke off abruptly, adding in a spirit of fairness, "Searle is getting
right up to the ridge all right. Good boy! He must have a powerful
motor under the--There! By George! I knew it! I knew it! Got him!
right there in the gravel!"

The girl looked suddenly upon him, wholly unable to comprehend the
sharp exclamations he was making.

"What has got him? What do you mean?" she demanded in vague alarm. "I
don't see what you----"

"That's Matt every time--I thought so," he resumed, as he stepped a
little closer to the girl. "Don't you see them?--those lively little
specks, swarming all around the machine?"

Beth bent her gaze on the drama, far below--a play in which she knew
but one of the characters, and nothing of the meaning of the scene.

"I see--yes--something like a lot of tiny ants--or something. What are
they?--not robbers?--not men?"

"Part men, part hyenas," he told her quietly. "It's a lot of State