“Well, if I knew,” replied Aunt Sally, “that there was to be an end to this thing, I’d have mo’ patience in waitin’ but my land! he no sooner gets to one level than he wants to push on to the next hund’ed foot level, and [191] goodness gracious! there’s no end to it! Why, if Benjamin had his way, and his life was spared long enough, I ‘low he’d have a hole clear through the earth!” The Colonel was noticeably disturbed. He had risen and was walking back and forth in a nervous, yet dignified way. “Yo’r request, Mr. Gilder,” he finally said, “shall be complied with, suh, and in complyin’ with it, I hope that I also pacify my sister. I give yo’ my word of honor, suh, that when the 500 foot level is reached, and we have cross-cut into the vein of wealth that I feel positive, yes, suh, positive, is waitin’ to be brought to the light of day—if, I say, we should again be disappointed, then I am ready to give up my labors on Gray Rocks; yes suh, give up my life’s work. Of course, suh, yo’ cannot undehstand and perhaps neveh will, the magnitude of this promise.” There were tears in the Colonel’s voice, as well as in his eyes, when he ceased speaking. “Thank the Lord!” exclaimed Aunt Sally, as she raised her hands in an attitude of supplication and thanksgiving. “I feel now there’s goin’ to be an end of this tomfoolery, and I’ll not say another word, nary a word, until the 500 foot level is reached.” She turned to Vance as she started to leave the room, and bade him good-evening, and assured him that in her opinion she had accomplished a “mighty sight of good.” As soon as the door closed behind her, Vance turned to the Colonel and begged him not to take the slightest notice of what his sister had said, for he knew her peculiarities and thought nothing of them. He also thanked him for his promise. Vance’s words seemed to relieve the Colonel greatly, and he became almost himself again [192] before the evening was over, and narrated to Vance with a fair degree of enthusiasm how nicely the pumps and other machinery in the mine were working. Afterwards Louise favored them with music, and Vance quite forgot himself, so pleasantly was he entertained, until, glancing at his watch, he found it was almost eleven o’clock. Soon after, he took his departure, and with a light heart wended his way to the printing office. His infatuation for Louise was of an ennobling character. He was a fatalist in this: that he believed when the time came for him to speak his heart to her he would have courage to do so, and contented himself in loving blindly on. When he awoke next morning he found a heavy snow had fallen. Nothing like it had happened in Gold Bluff before in many years. A great many of the mines were necessarily shut down on account of the scarcity of fuel to operate the engines. During the next four weeks snows kept falling heavier and heavier, and in a measure cut off communication with the outer world.