“Benjamin,” said Aunt Sally, looking hard at him over her spectacles, “I shall have my say. I consideh it a duty that I owe Mr. Gilder to inform him that he is squanderin’ his money. There is not a chance in ten thousand; no, suh, not one, fo’ yo’ to eveh get back a penny of the money yo’ve given my brother. Besides, yo’re only encouragin’ Benjamin to fool his time away. I have mighty neah worn my life out takin’ care of him, Virgie and Louise. Virginia has a good deal of sense—a heap mo’, I am proud to say, than Benjamin or Louise has.” “I hope, Mr. Gilder,” observed the Colonel, “that yo’ll remember an obse’vation I made some time ago in regard to my sister——” “What have yo’ been sayin’ about me?” asked Aunt Sally, and she looked threateningly at him. The Colonel paid no attention to his sister’s remark, and went on: “Yo’ will remember I obse’ved at one time, suh, that my sister was a most ext’ao’dina’y woman; yes, suh, [189] most ext’ao’dina’y; she is possessed of a most rema’kable intellect. 0197 There is, however, a slight disagreement in regard to our judgment relative to Gray Rocks. She is vehy set in her ways, vehy, indeed; and, I am sorry to say, doesn’t share in our belief relative to the final outcome of our minin’ property.” “Benjamin,” said Aunt Sally, still looking at him over her spectacles, “it is not a slight difference of opinion; it’s a vehy wide one, indeed. If yo’ had a hundred thousand [190] dollars to-day, suh, yo’d be grub-stakin’ all the pesky mines in the mountains around Gold Bluff; yo’ know yo’ would. There are times, suh, when it’s necessary fo’ me to put my foot down, and I ain’t goin’ to neglect my duty any longer. Mr. Gilder has got to know the true situation, and if he has no mo’ sense than to go on givin’ yo’ money to dig a worthless hole in the earth, why, I’ll wash my hands of him, and have the consolation of knowin’ that I told him befo’ hand what he might expect.” Vance would have been amused, had he not observed the pained expression on Louise’s face and the evident discomfiture of Colonel Bonifield. In reality, it was an opportune time for him to make an observation that he had long wanted understood between the Colonel and himself, and therefore he said: “I am highly honored, Miss Bonifield, by your advice. Your brother, the Colonel, has been very enthusiastic in regard to Gray Rocks.” “Don’t I know it?” interrupted Aunt Sally. “Haven’t I told him he was makin a fool of hisself?” “Well,” continued Vance, “I will not go quite so far in my remarks as that, but I will say this—that it would please me very much to have the Colonel’s assurance that if he fails to find the wealth he has been looking for so many years when the 500 foot level is reached, that he will abandon work on Gray Rocks and accept certain offers of a pecuniary nature in the east, which I have in mind.”