THE AWAKENING Early the next morning Corporal Thomas came into the store and found Necia tending it while Gale was out.

Ever since the day she had questioned him about Burrell, this old man had taken every occasion to talk with the girl, and when he asked her this morning about the reports concerning Lee's strike, she told him of her trip, and all that had occurred.
"You see, I'm a mine-owner now," she concluded.

"If it hadn't been a secret I would have told you before I went so you could have been one of the first." "I'm goin', anyhow," he said, "if the Lieutenant will let me and if it's not too late." Then she told him of the trail by Black Bear Creek which would save him several hours.
"So that's how you and he made it ?" he observed, gazing at her shrewdly.

"I supposed you went with your father ?" "Oh, no! We beat him in," she said, and fell to musing at the memory of those hours passed alone with Meade, while her eyes shone and her cheeks glowed.

The Corporal saw the look, and it bore out a theory he had formed during the past month, so, as he lingered, he set about a task that had lain in his mind for some time.