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!"