There's gold there, all right I "

Helen waited expectantly for him to go on. For

217



Desert Valley

certainly the fact that her father had been able to
find gold was no cause for Carres frowning eyes.
*' My blood has been boiling all day/' Carr
blurted out angrily. *' Longstreet should be a rich
man today and he has gained nothing. I saw Nate
Kemble pay one man ten thousand dollars for his
claim; Kemble wouldn't pay that if the thing were
not worth a great deal more. Kemble doesn't make
many mistakes. Your father stumbled on to the
place and then he couldn't hold it. When do you
think he will make another discovery? And, if his
lucky star should lead him aright again, is he the
man to cash in on his luck? Don't you see, Helen,
that James Edward Longstreet in this man's land
is a fish out of water? "

'*I understand what you mean," Helen nodded
slowly. Again her look wandered through the fields
stretching out far below. *' And you are right I
didn't want papa to come in the first place ; now, as
you say, he is only wasting time." She smiled a
little tenderly. *' He is just a dear old babe in the
woods," she concluded softly.
Carr's approval of her mounted swif dy to admira-
tion. They lowered their voices and spoke at length
of the professor and of what should be done for
him. They agreed perfectly that, while he was an
unusually fine technical man and an able instructor
in matters of geological theorizing, he was not the
man to wander with a prospector's pidc across these
rugged lands.
