The girls turned toward the voice. A short, stocky man was standing near them, a pair of field glasses in one hand and pointing to the mountains with the other.
Judy smiled out of politeness and he returned her smile.
“Like to have a peek?” He handed her the glasses. She too could see the trails and dilapidated shacks that led to the mines.
“Here, Audrey, you look.”
“Oh, yes, I see them,” Audrey said, returning the glasses to the owner.
“And do you know what was in those mines?” the man continued in a stentorian voice. “Gold! That’s what brought them to Colorado, gold!”
“I thought it was silver,” Judy said quietly. “My grandfather told me that silver—”
She got no further. She could hear the subdued chuckling of the passengers.
“You’re right, Miss, but only half right. First they came for gold, then for silver. Tell that to your grandpa!”
He went on talking, explaining.... Judy’s eyes ached from the sun that blazed through the glass dome, and her neck was stiff from looking and straining.