practically broke, and it’s a long, expensive trip to the Shinbone Country.”

“Then why don’t you sell these?” she asked, rattling the opals in her hand.

“We’ve kept them to show prospective buyers,” explained Morley. “We tried all summer to interest somebody, and that’s one reason why we’re so short of funds. Showing the gems and trying to induce somebody to take hold caused us to lose lots of time, when we ought to have been working for our winter’s grubstake. When we saw that our efforts were a failure, we worked a little and got together a small grubstake for this trip into the Catfish Country. Our placer claims up in there are pretty good, and we can sometimes pan out as high as twenty-five dollars a day. It’s seldom that we run less than ten dollars. So we thought we could get up there and pan enough to get us down into the Shinbone Country before winter set in. Then we could rush things and finish our assessment[38] work before the end of the year. But if a person had money, Mrs. Reemy, he could get down there at once and hire half a dozen men to finish the work in short order. Then he could sit pretty until spring, provided he didn’t care to winter it in the Shinbone Country and dig for opals.”

[38]

“You’ll pardon me for what may seem to be an insolent question,” said the girl, “but how do I know that you did not bring these opals from Australia?”

Smith Morley laughed and shrugged. “You have every right to look into the matter from every angle,” he exonerated her. “We want you to be cautious and investigate thoroughly. That’s business, Mrs. Reemy. Of course we can’t prove to you now that those stones didn’t come from Australia, or that they did come from our claims. But we can show you when you reach the Shinbone Country.”

“When can you start?”

“Just as soon as we can make arrangements with somebody to take care of our outfit, Mrs. Reemy. We can put the burros on pasture here at Jorny Springs, I guess, and cache the outfit. Unless it would be more advisable to take the outfit along. I have an idea we’ll be ready to hit the trail to-morrow.”

“And how do we go?”

“Well, by train, if you prefer. Or if we had a couple of machines like the one you drove here in—”

“We have two,” put in Dr. Shonto briefly.

Both Charmian and Andy Jerome glanced at him 

 Prev. P 25/172 next