There was nothing to recall its sylvan beauty in the hideous works that now possessed it, or the substantial dwelling-house that had taken the place of the old cabin.
A few hurried questions to the foreman satisfied him of the integrity of the property.

There had been some alarm in the shaft, but there was no subsidence of the "seam," nor any difficulty in the working.

"What I telegraphed you for, Mr.Key, was about something that has cropped up way back o' the earthquake.

We were served here the other day with a legal notice of a claim to the mine, on account of previous work done on the ledge by the last occupant." "But the cabin was built by a gang of thieves, who used it as a hoard for their booty," returned Key hotly, "and every one of them are outlaws, and have no standing before the law." He stopped with a pang as he thought of Alice.

And the blood rushed to his cheeks as the foreman quietly continued:-- "But the claim ain't in any o' their names.