“Well, Mrs. Tillinghast is the wife of the baker.” “What baker?” “The Company’s.” “Blumpitty & Co.’s?” “Yes, ma’am. Then there’s Miss Cremer. She’s a tailor—goes along to keep us mended up till our clo’es get wore out. Then she’ll make us noo things. Mrs. Blumpitty had to do it all last year. Pretty heavy fur a little woman no bigger’n—” “The baker’s wife and the tailoress, that makes two besides Mrs. Blumpitty.” “Yes, ma’am. An’ there’s Miss Estelle Maris. Very nice young lady. She _says_ she can cook.” He sighed, and then recovered himself. “Even if she can’t, Mrs. Blumpitty can. Yes”—he allowed a pale eye to wander toward Miss Mar—“we got very nice ladies along, and I mean ’em all to have claims.” Mrs. Mar glinted at him, as much as to say, “Oh, that’s the bait—poor wretches!” “It’ll be very nice for them,” said Hildegarde a little hurriedly. “How do you expect them to get claims?” asked Mrs. Mar with severity. “The Company’s got some valyerble property up on Glaysher Crick.” “What company has?” “Blumpitty & Co.” “And are they giving claims away?” He looked at Mrs. Mar, quite unruffled by her tone. “The Company’s got more’n it can work. And the Company knows where there’s good property nobody’s taken up yet.” “Who’s in the Company?” “Me and Mrs. Blumpitty, and her folks, and my folks, and most of our party.” “Oh, just a family affair,” said Mrs. Mar, with a slighting intonation. “Very few besides jest ourselves. We didn’t want a lot of outsiders.” From Harry’s covert smile you gathered this was a new view of the way to float a mining company. “Why don’t you?” “We seen what happens too often,” said Blumpitty warily. “What does happen?” asked Mrs. Mar. “The people that’s the first to locate ain’t often the ones that gets the benefit.” “Why don’t they?” “They get froze out. I mean to hold on to the bulk o’ the stock myself jest as long’s ever I can. Keep things in my own hands.” He looked anxious. “Not let other people take up the stock, you mean?” inquired Harry, smiling openly now. “It’s the only way,” said Mr. Blumpitty, and then, as though to change a dangerous topic, “We got a nice party.” He looked toward Hildegarde. “Pretty near all the perfessions. We got a smart young lawyer and two practical miners. We got a nengineer an’ a noospaper man. An’ we got a nex-motor man—used to drive a ’Frisco street car, and a very bright feller. Ya-as, we got a carpenter, too, an’ three doctors an’ a boat-builder an’ a dentist. We got pretty near everything.” “How long were you up there before?” asked Mrs. Mar, still feeling her way with this queer character, who, with his wife, might after all be decent fellow-passengers for Hildegarde. “We was in two summers an’ one winter.” “Your wife, too?” “Oh, yes, she kep’ us alive. If y’ wus to see her y’ wouldn’t think she looked like she—” The discreet Jap servant opened the door, and seemed to whisper, “Mis’ Bumble Bee.”