Perhaps it was her impatience that struck harshly upon him;
perhaps, if she had not accepted her good fortune so confidently,
he would not have spoken what was in his mind at the time; but he
said gravely, "Wait a minit, Malviny; I've suthin' to tell you
'bout this find of mine that's sing'lar."

"Go on," she said, quickly.

"Lyin' among the rotten quartz of the vein was a pick," he said,
constrainedly; "and the face of the vein sorter looked ez if it had
been worked at. Follering the line outside to the base of the hill
there was signs of there having been an old tunnel; but it had
fallen in, and was blocked up."

"Well?" said Mrs. Mulrady, contemptuously.

"Well," returned her husband, somewhat disconnectedly, "it kinder
looked as if some feller might have discovered it before."

"And went away, and left it for others! That's likely--ain't it?"
interrupted his wife, with ill-disguised intolerance. "Everybody
knows the hill wasn't worth that for prospectin'; and it was
abandoned when we came here. It's your property and you've paid
for it. Are you goin' to wait to advertise for the owner, Alvin
Mulrady, or are you going to Sacramento at four o'clock to-day?"

Mulrady started. He had never seriously believed in the
possibility of a previous discovery; but his conscientious nature
had prompted him to give it a fair consideration. She was probably
right. What he might have thought had she treated it with equal