"No, though it reaches you through them," he answered with unflinching
solemnity. "Wait a bit, I have it! I see, I've made a mistake with this
card. It signifies a journey or a road. Queer! isn't it, Steve? It's THE
ROAD."

"It is queer," said Rice with equal gravity; "but it's so. The road,
sure!" Nevertheless he looked up into the large eyes of Clementina with
a certain confidential air of truthfulness.

"You see, ladies," continued the surveyor, appealing to them with
unabashed rigidity of feature, "the cards don't lie! Luckily we are in
a position to corroborate them. The road in question is a secret known
only to us and some capitalists in San Francisco. In fact even THEY
don't know that it is feasible until WE report to them. But I don't mind
telling you now, as a slight return for your charming hospitality, that
the road is a RAILROAD from Oakland to Tasajara Creek of which we've
just made the preliminary survey. So you see what the cards mean is
this: You're not far from Tasajara Creek; in fact with a very little
expense your father could connect this stream with the creek, and have a
WATERWAY STRAIGHT TO THE RAILROAD TERMINUS. That's the wealth the cards
promise; and if your father knows how to take a hint he can make his
fortune!"

It was impossible to say which was the most dominant in the face of the
speaker, the expression of assumed gravity or the twinkling of humor in
his eyes. The two girls with superior feminine perception divined
that there was much truth in what he said, albeit they didn't
entirely understand it, and what they did understand--except the man's
good-humored motive--was not particularly interesting. In fact they