“Just at present, yes. But I’ll be quitting in a few days. I’m going to try my luck in the mountains—prospecting.”
“But—I thought you said you wouldn’t!”
“I did; but I was younger then than I am now.”
She laughed again. “All of six weeks younger. But I’m glad you are going. If the Captain could get well, and I were a man, I’d go, too.”
Philip was on the point of saying that he wished she were a man and would go with him; but upon second thought he concluded he didn’t wish it. Before he could straighten out the tangle of the first and second thoughts she was asking him if he knew anything about minerals and mining.
“Nothing at all. But others who don’t know any more than I do are going, and some of them are finding what they hoped to find.”
“It’s in the air,” she said. “You hear nothing but ‘strikes’ and ‘leads’ and ‘mother veins’ and ‘bonanzas.’ Lots of the people in these tents around us are here because some member of the family is sick, but they all talk excitedly about the big fortunes that are being made, and how Tom or Dick or Harry has just come in with a haversack full of ‘the pure quill,’ whatever that may mean.”
“You haven’t been hearing any more of it than I have,” said Philip. “Not as much, I think. The town is mad with the mining fever. I’m only waiting until I can find a suitable partner.”
“That ought not to be very hard—with everybody wanting to go.”
Philip shook his head. “I guess I’m not built right for mixing with people. I can’t seem to chum in with just anybody that comes along.”