"But you haven't located the spruce yet!"
"I'm going to locate it, if the thing's anyway possible." Vane shook hands with the man. "I expect to get off up the straits very shortly."
The prospector looked at him with relief and gratitude in his eyes.
"You're white—and I guess you'd be mighty hard to beat!"
When they reached the rutted street, which was bordered on one side by great fir stumps, Drayton glanced at Vane with open admiration.
"I'm glad I brought you across. You have a way of getting hold of people—making them believe in you. Hartley hasn't a word in writing, but he knows you mean to act square with him. Kitty felt the same thing—it was why she came down in the sloop with you."
Vane smiled, though there was a trace of embarrassment in his manner.
"Now that you mention it, I don't think Hartley was wise; and you were equally confiding. We have only arrived at a rather indefinite understanding about your share."
"We'll leave it at that. I haven't struck anybody else in this city who would hear about the thing. Anyway, I'd prefer a few shares in the concern, as mentioned, instead of money. If you get the thing on foot, I guess it will go."
"Won't they raise trouble at the mill about your staying out?" Vane inquired. "We have still to go for that hundred dollars."