"If the juniper-twigs had broken it would have saved considerable trouble to everybody.

I was back there in the mountains looking for a silver lead, you see." "Silver mines are, I understand, not always profitable to the man who finds them, and I should have fancied you had already sufficient scope for your energies," said Deringham dryly.
Alton laughed, but there was a trace of grimness in his voice.

"If I once get my stakes in on the lead this one's going to be, and if I could get the dollars I could do a good deal for Somasco," he said.
"We want roads and mills, the biggest orchard in the province, and a fruit cannery, and we're going to have them presently.

That's why I wanted the silver." "You did not find it then ?" said Deringham, who was not unwilling to follow his companion from the former topic.
"No," said Alton, "not that time, but I will by and by.

Well, there was a good deal of snow up in the ranges, and my feet got away from me one evening when we were crawling along the edge of a gully.