"The thing's not big enough to worry over, but I have been thinking some. We have struck no gold in the adit, and now when we're waiting for the props the Englishman has dropped the rope into the canyon. That little contract is going to cost him considerable." Barbara wondered whether he had any particular reason for watching her, or if she only fancied that his gaze was a trifle more observant than usual. "Still, I think he will get a rope across," she said. "Oh, yes," said Devine, indifferently. "There's grit in him. A curious kind of man. Wouldn't take a good offer to work for me, and yet he jumped right at those contracts. He's going to find it hard to make them pay his grocery bill. I guess he hasn't told you anything?" "No," said Barbara, a trifle hastily, for once more she felt the keen eyes scan her face. "Of course not. Why should he?" Devine smiled. "If you don't know any reason you needn't ask me. You can't make a Britisher talk, anyway, unless he wants to." He made a little gesture as though to indicate that the subject was not worth discussing, and then, taking up a bundle of documents, turned to her again. "You see those papers, Bab? They're plans and Crown patents for the mine. I'm going away to-morrow, and can't take them along, so I'll put them under that pile of old books yonder. Now, if I was to tell Katty to make sure the doors were fast she'd get worrying, but you have better nerves, and I'll ask you to see that nobody gets in here until I come back again. Nobody's likely to want to, but I'll put a screw in the window, and give you the key." Barbara laughed. "I shall not be afraid. Are the papers valuable?" "No," said Devine, with a trace of dryness. "Not exactly! In fact, I'm not quite sure they would be worth anything to anybody in a month or two. Still, the man who got hold of them in the meanwhile might fancy he could make trouble for me." "How?" said Barbara. "You said they mightn't be much use to anybody." Devine smiled a little, but it was evident that he had considerable confidence in the discretion of his wife's sister. "I can't explain part of it," he said. "When I took hold of the Canopus, it didn't seem likely to pay me for my trouble, and I didn't worry about the patents or how far they covered what I was doing. Now, if you drive beyond the frontage you've made your claim on, it constitutes another mine, which isn't covered by your record and belongs to the Crown. It's open to any jumper who comes along. Besides, unless you do a good many things exactly as the law lays down, your patent mayn't hold good, and any one who knows the regulations can re-record the claim." "That means you or the previous owner neglected one or two formalities, and an unscrupulous person who found it out from those papers could take the Canopus, or part of it, away from you?" Devine smiled grimly. "Yes," he said. "That is, he might try."