But it's a gamble." "That's all we 've had from the beginning, Harry." "And it's about all we 're going to 'ave any time unless something bobs up sudden like." Then, by common consent, they laid away their working clothes and left the mine, to wander dejectedly down the gulch and to the boarding house.

After dinner they chatted a moment with Mother Howard, neglecting to tell her, however, of the downfall of their hopes, then went upstairs, each to his room.

An hour later Harry knocked at Fairchild's door, and entered, the evening paper in his hand.
"'Ere 's something more that's nice," he announced, pointing to an item on the front page.

It was the announcement that a general grand jury was to be convened late in the summer and that one of its tasks probably would be to seek to unravel the mystery of the murder of Sissie Larsen! Fairchild read it with morbidity.

Trouble seemed to have become more than occasional, and further than that, it appeared to descend upon him at just the times when he could least resist it.