"Not for a while," was the reply. "But we can't expect to be left alone for any length of time. There will be prospectors prowling all over the country now, and they are bound to strike the rich diggings up the Quaska. When that happens there'll be hordes and hordes up this way."
"Will they trouble us any, daddy, do you think?"
"Will they! You may be sure they will. This will be no place for us if they discover the gold up yonder. They will swarm in here like flies, and our days of peace will be over."
Nance did not reply to these words, and save for the crackling of the fire there was silence in the room. Martin's mind dwelt upon the changes which would take place around the quiet lake should the miners come. He thought also of the gold, so carefully concealed in the ground at the rear of his house. He and Nance were the only ones supposed to know anything about the treasure buried there.
"Daddy, let us go away from this place," Nance at length remarked.
Martin started, and almost dropped the cup he was raising to his lips. He looked keenly into the flushed face before him, and then partly understood what an effort it had been for Nance to make such a request.
"Are you tired of living here, little one?" he asked, and his voice had a pathetic note, which did not escape Nance's attention. "Are you dissatisfied with your lot?"
"Not altogether, daddy. But we used to talk, you remember, how some day we would go away to the great world outside, although we have not spoken about it for several years. In a way I am happy here, and you do so much for me that I should be satisfied. But I do want to see some of the things of which you have told me."
"Sure, sure; it's only natural," Martin assented.
"It seems as if we should go soon," Nance continued, "if we are to go at all. Should the miners come here our quiet home-life would be broken up, and you would not wish to remain any longer if they came, would you?"