With that she made a dash for other bits of the same rock, and though her head ached fearfully, and it seemed to her that she stood upon an electric battery, which was anything but pleasant, she secured as much as she could carry, and fled as before from the spot. [Illustration: "Holy Mother Mary!" she ejaculated. "How beautiful! I believe its gold!"] Upon examination it proved to be the same as the first piece discovered. Crossing herself devoutly she murmured a prayer. That over she kissed the fragments of quartz in her hand, talking lovingly to them in the meantime. "Why did you hide away from me so long? Why cause me to think of witches, but force me to come to you once and again, and giving me the illness? That's a funny way, you little rascals! And I will now repay you by hiding you yet longer from sight of any who might come here. I will cover you carefully until I come again, or until my father comes from across the ocean. Then I will give you to him, and he shall find the rest of your brothers and sisters." She pulled energetically at the moss and grass at her side in order to make a hiding spot for her newly discovered friends, as she chose to consider them. Before putting the last piece beside the others she again kissed it tenderly, patted it, and giving a little gurgling laugh, said: "You pretty darlings! Sleep quietly until I come again, and let nobody find you. See? I will tuck you up, head and heels, with this cover," and she replaced the mosses and grass she had just pulled. "By and by you can make me very happy if you will, when I can be a rich lady. I have heard old miners talk lovingly of you many times, but they shall not find you. You are mine! Remember, you are mine!" With that she gave a last look at the spot where her secret was hidden, and bounded away down the hillside. Presently in the valley below she struck an old trail,--one made long ago by the cattle belonging to the settlement, and the occasional tread, perhaps, of a few reindeer and goats owned by the mission priest. Hurrying along toward home she had almost forgotten the flowers she had intended to gather but now had little time to leave the trail and pluck them. For the sake of appearance, however, she pulled those happening to grow alongside her path, not wishing to reach home empty handed. As it was, her aunt's sharp eyes took notice. "To be gone so long upon the hills, and yet bring so few blossoms? You must be slow in bending your back or heedless of the beauty around you. Where are the buttercups and beautiful blue iris from the field below the hill? Was the upper bridge gone that you could not cross the stream at that place either going or coming?" asked the woman, a little sarcastically.