At the Time Appointed

At last they left the canyon and followed a steep road winding up the

side of a mountain, which, after an hour's hard climbing, brought them

to the mining camp. As the carriage stopped Darrell was the first to

alight, springing quickly to the ground and looking eagerly about him.

At a short distance beyond them the road was terminated by the large

milling plant, above which the mountain rose abruptly, its sides dotted

with shaft-houses and crossed and recrossed with trestle-work almost to

the summit. A wooden flume clung like a huge serpent to the steep

slopes, and a tramway descended from near the summit to the mill below.

At a little distance from the mill were the boarding-house and

bunk-houses, while in the foreground, near the road was the office

building, to which the party adjourned after exchanging greetings with

Mr. Hathaway, the superintendent, who had come out to meet them and to

whom Darrell was duly introduced. The room they first entered was the

superintendent's office. Beyond that was a pleasant reception-room,

while in the rear were the private rooms of the superintendent and the

assayer, who were not expected to share the bunk-houses with the miners.

Mr. Underwood and the superintendent at once proceeded to business, but

Mr. Britton, mindful of Darrell's comfort, ushered him into the

reception-room. A coal-fire was glowing in a small grate; a couch, three

or four comfortable chairs, and a few books and magazines contributed to

give the room a cosey appearance, but the object which instantly riveted

Darrell's attention was a large case, extending nearly across one side

of the room, filled with rare mineralogical and geological specimens.

There were quartz crystals gleaming with lumps of free-milling gold,

curling masses of silver and copper wire direct from the mines, gold

nuggets of unusual size and brilliancy, and specimens of ores from the

principal mines not only of that vicinity, but of the West.

Observing Darrell's interest in the contents of the case, Mr. Britton

threw open the doors for a closer inspection, and began calling his

attention to some of the finest specimens, but at Darrell's first

remarks he paused, astonished, listened a few moments, then stepping to

the next room, called Mr. Underwood. That gentleman looked somewhat

perturbed at the interruption, but at a signal from Mr. Britton,

followed the latter quietly across the room to where Darrell was

standing. Here they stood, silently listening, while Darrell,

unconscious of their presence, went rapidly through the specimens,

classifying the different ores, stating the conditions which had

contributed to their individual characteristics, giving the approximate

value of each and the mode of treatment required for its reduction; all

after the manner of a student rehearsing to himself a well-conned

lesson.

At last, catching sight of the astonished faces of his listeners, his

own lighted with pleasure, as he exclaimed, joyously,-"I wanted to test myself and see if it would come back to me, and it

has! I believed it would, and it has!"