"The Sunrise mine seems to have developed wonderfully within the past few days," he remarked quietly. Morgan laughed; "You'd think so," he replied, "if you could have seen it four days ago. There hasn't been a day's work done on it for over a year; some of it had caved in, and even the main shaft was pretty well filled up with rubbish. Now that's all cleaned out, and the few places where there is any quantity of ore in sight show up to good advantage, and we've hauled eight or ten tons of ore from the Yankee Boy down onto the dump, so it makes a pretty respectable showing. Oh, the boss is a cuckoo for any job of that kind." "Does the mining company own the Yankee Boy?" asked Houston. "No," answered Morgan, "that whole group of mines is owned by a set of New Yorkers; this company out here is their agent, that's all." "And New Yorkers are not supposed to know all the ins and outs of their western agent's mining deals," commented Houston. "Well, I should say not! There's a good many things going on that they are not supposed to know about, and that they wouldn't be very likely to get onto, either, some of 'em, even if they were right on the ground. Some of those ducks are pretty green, and fellows like Blaisdell or Rivers can make them believe most anything. If Blaisdell was half as smart as he makes some of those eastern fellows think he is, he would have been a rich man before this." "Why," said Houston, in surprise, "Blaisdell is quite well off, isn't he?" Morgan's only answer was a significant shake of the head. "What!" exclaimed Houston in astonishment. "Really, he is not worth a dollar," answered Morgan, "every nickle's worth of property that he ever had, that he hasn't lost outright, has been put into the hands of his wife, or his sons, or somebody or other, heaven knows who, I don't, nor nobody else." "Well, I am surprised," said Houston, "he seems shrewd and sharp in business matters, and I supposed he was a rich man. He must have made considerable money, what has become of it?" Morgan shrugged his shoulders; "Have you seen old Rivers yet?" he inquired. "The secretary? No, I've never met him." "Well," continued Morgan, "you probably will, in a day or two, he'll be likely to come up with the eastern party; and when you've seen him, you've seen the biggest rascal, and at the same time the slickest duck there is on this side of the divide, and I doubt if there's any on the other side can beat him. Old Blaisdell's pretty smooth, but he ain't a circumstance to Rivers. Rivers will rob you of your last dollar, and make you think he's your best friend all the time. Oh, he's a lulu, and no mistake!" Further conversation was prevented by the entrance of Mr. Blaisdell, with a fine lot of ore samples with their assay values attached, which he arranged on his desk, his thin lips drawn back meanwhile in his accustomed self-satisfied smile. When this was done, he turned to the young men.