"I stumbled upon the place just now while prospecting, or I shouldn't be here."
"Then it was YOU made these holes?"
"No," said Cass, with ill-concealed disgust. "Nobody but a stranger would go foolin' round such a spot."
He stopped, as the rude significance of his speech struck him, and added surlily, "I mean—no one would dig here."
The girl laughed and showed a set of very white teeth in her square jaw. Cass averted his face.
"Do you mean to say that every miner doesn't know that it's lucky to dig wherever human blood has been spilt?"
Cass felt a return of his superstition, but he did not look up. "I never heard it before," he said, severely.
"And you call yourself a California miner?"
"I do."
It was impossible for Miss Porter to misunderstand his curt speech and unsocial manner. She stared at him and colored slightly. Lifting her reins lightly, she said: "You certainly do not seem like most of the miners I have met."