Ma Snow whispered confidentially: "One of the hins laid day 'fore yistiddy." The prize had been filched from Mr. Snow, one of whose diversions was listening for a hen to cackle.
From his height Bruce looked down upon the work-stooped little woman and he saw, not her churn-like contour nor her wrinkled face, but the light of a kind heart shining in her pale eyes. He wanted to cry--he--Bruce Burt! He fought the inclination furiously. It was too ridiculous--weak, sentimental, to be so sensitive to kindness. But he was so tired, so lonely, so disappointed. He touched Ma Snow's ginger-colored hair caressingly with his finger tips and the impulsive, boyish action made for Bruce a loyal friend.
In the office, Mr. Dill was noticeably abstracted. His smiling suavity, his gracious manner, had given place to taciturnity and Ore City's choicest bon mots, its time-tested pleasantries, fell upon inattentive ears. As a matter of fact, his bones ached like a tooth from three long, hard days in the mail-carrier's sledges, and also he recognized certain symptoms which told him that he was in for an attack of dyspepsia due to his enforced diet en route, of soda-biscuit, ham, and bacon. But these were minor troubles as compared to the loss of the fee which in his mind he had already spent. The most he could hope for, he supposed, was compensation for his time and his expenses.
He sat in a grumpy silence until Bruce came out of the dining-room, then he stated his intention of going to bed and asked for a lamp. As he said good-night curtly he noticed Uncle Bill eyeing him hard, as he had observed him doing before, but this time there was distinct hostility in the look.
"What's the matter with that old rooster?" he asked himself crossly as he clumped upstairs to bed.
"I know that young duck now," said Uncle Bill in an undertone, as Bruce sat down beside him. "He's a mining and civil engineer--a good one, too--but crooked as they come. He's a beat."
"He's an engineer?" Bruce asked in quick interest.
"He's anything that suits, when it comes to pulling off a mining deal. He'd 'salt' his own mother, he'd sell out his grandmother, but in his profession there's none better if he'd stay straight. I knowed him down in Southern Oregon--he was run out."
"Have you heard yet from Sprudell?"
"Yes," Uncle Bill answered grimly. "As you might say, indirectly. I want you should take a look at this."
He felt for his leather wallet and handed Bruce the clipping.
"Don't skip any," he said acidly. "It's worth a careful peruse."