"If one may make the inquiry, you came from England?" he said.
Allonby laughed. "Most men put that question differently in this country. They talk straight, as they term it, and apparently consider brutality to be the soul of candor. Yes, I came from England, because something happened which prevented me feeling any great desire to spend any further time there. What it was does not, of course, matter. I came out with a sheaf of certificates and several medals to exploit the mineral riches of Western Canada, and found that mineralogical science is not greatly appreciated here."
He rose, and taking down a battered walnut case, shook out a little bundle of greasy papers with a trembling hand. Then a faint gleam crept into his eyes as he opened a little box in which Brooke saw several big round pieces of gold. The dulness of the unpolished metal made the inscriptions on them more legible, and he knew enough about such matters to realize that no man of mean talent could have won those trophies.
"They would, I fancy, have got you a good appointment anywhere," he said.
"As a matter of fact, they got me one or two. It is, however, occasionally a little difficult to keep an appointment when obtained."
Brooke could understand that there were reasons which made that likely in his host's case, but he had by this time had enough of the subject.
"What are you going to do with the ore I brought you?" he said.
Allonby's eyes twinkled. "Enrich what we raise here with it."
"It is a little difficult to understand what you would gain by that."
Allonby smiled suggestively. "I would certainly gain nothing, but Thomas P. Saxton seems to fancy the result would be profitable to him."