"What has come back to you?" queried Mr. Underwood, too bewildered
himself to catch the drift of Darrell's meaning.
"The knowledge of all this," Darrell answered, indicating the collection
with a swift gesture; "it began to come to me as soon as I saw the rocks
on our way up; it confused me at first, but it is all clear now. Take me
to your mill, Mr. Underwood; I want to see what I can do with the ores
there."
At that moment Mr. Hathaway entered to summon the party to dinner, and
seeing Darrell standing by the case, his hands filled with specimens, he
said, addressing Mr. Underwood with a pleasant tone of inquiry,-"Mr. Darrell is a mining man?"
But Mr. Underwood was still too confused to answer intelligibly, and it
was Mr. Britton who replied, as he linked his arm within Darrell's on
turning to leave the room,-"Mr. Darrell is a mineralogist."
At dinner Darrell found himself too excited to eat, so overjoyed was he
at the discovery of attainments he had not dreamed he possessed, and so
eager to put them to every test possible.
It had been Mr. Underwood's intention to visit the mines that afternoon,
but at Darrell's urgent request, they went first to the mill. Here he
found ample scope for his abilities. He fairly revelled in the various
ores, separating, assorting, and classifying them with the rapidity and
accuracy of an expert, and at once proceeded to assay some samples
taken from a new lead recently struck, the report of which had
occasioned this particular trip to the camp. He worked with a dexterity
and skill surprising in one of his years, producing the most accurate
results, to the astonishment and delight of both Mr. Underwood and Mr.
Britton.
After an extended inspection of the different departments of the large
milling plant, he was taken into a small laboratory, where the assayer
in charge was testing some of the recently discovered ore for the
presence of certain metals. After watching for a while in silence
Darrell said, turning to Mr. Underwood,-"I can give you a quicker and a surer test than that!"
The assayer and himself at once exchanged places, and, unheeding the
many eyes fixed upon him, Darrell seated himself before the long table
and deftly began operations. Not a word broke the silence as by methods
wholly new to his spectators he subjected the ore to successive chemical
changes, until, within an incredibly short time, the presence of the
suspected metals was demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt.
"Mineralogist and metallurgist!" exclaimed Mr. Britton delightedly, as
he congratulated Darrell upon his success.
The short November day had now nearly drawn to a close, and after supper
the gentlemen adjourned to the office building, where they spent an hour
or more around the open fire. Darrell, who was quite wearied with the
unusual exertion and excitement of the day, retired early, the
superintendent and assayer had gone out on some business at the mill,
and Mr. Underwood and Mr. Britton were left together. No sooner were
they by themselves than Mr. Britton, who was walking up and down the
room, stopped beside his partner as he sat smoking and gazing
abstractedly into the fire, and, laying a hand on his shoulder, said,-"Well, Dave, what do you think? After what we've seen to-day, can't you
make a place over there at the mill for the boy?"