professor's directions. He suffered a qualm, it is true, as he
pounded the shining fragments into a coarse powder, and then he drew
out with the shovel a great glowing mass of live coals on the
hearth.

The dogs peered eagerly in at the door, having followed the stranger
with the liveliest curiosity. Towse, bolder than the rest, entered
intrepidly with a nonchalant air and a wagging tail, for he and
Rufe, having failed to find Birt, had just returned home. The small
boy paused on the threshold in amazed recognition of the old
gentleman who had occasioned him such a fright that day down the
ravine.

The professor gesticulated a great deal as he bent over the fire and
gave Birt directions, and, with his waving hands and the glow on his
hoary hair and beard, he looked like some fantastic sorcerer.
Somehow Rufe was glad to see the familiar countenances of Pete and
Joe, and was still more reassured to note that his mother was
quietly standing beside the table, as she stirred the batter for
bread in a wooden bowl. Tennessee had pressed close to Birt, her
chubby hand clutching his collar as he knelt on the hearth. He held
above the glowing coals a long fire shovel, on which the pulverized
mineral had been placed, and his eyes were very bright as he
earnestly watched it.

"If it is gold," said the old man, "a moderate heat will not affect
it."

The shovel was growing hot. The live coals glowed beneath it. The
breath of the fire stirred Tennessee's flaxen hair. And Birt's