He had more than once during the last few weeks doubted that Grenfell had ever found the quartz-reef at all, for it seemed quite possible that he had, as the track-grader suggested, merely fancied that he had done so, and the man's manner had borne out that supposition.

Cut off from the whisky, he had now and then fallen into fits of morbid moodiness, during which he seemed very far from sure about the gold.

This had naturally occasioned Weston a good deal of anxiety.

He had thrown up his occupation and sunk his last dollar in the venture, and the finding of the quartz-reef would, he commenced to realize, open up to him alluring possibilities.

At length his companion spoke slowly.
"If the river runs across the valley to the opposite range a mile higher, this is the way I came down when I found the gold," he said.
Weston scrambled to his feet.