She was chatty as a camp bird, and saw everything, and wanted to know about it. Why were there so many empty cabins? What was the meaning of all those rusty, ruined mills? Weren't there any gardens or grass? "Why, you see, miss, the camp is an old busted camp. I'm working a lease--I mean, we are--" "What do you mean by a lease?" "Well, you see, a lot of men have got discouraged and quit, and went back East and offered their claims for lease on royalty, and I and another feller--and Fred--we took one of these and it happened to have ore in it." "How long has Fred been with you?--he never mentioned you in his letters." "Why, it's about a year since we took the lease." Kelley began to grow hot under her keen eyes. "Strange he never wrote of you. He seems very proud of you, too." Kelley looked out of the window. "We get along first rate." The girl studied his fine profile attentively. "I'm glad he fell in with a strong man like you--an experienced miner. He might have made a mistake and lost all his small fortune. My! but it's fine up here! What's that wonderful snowy range off there?" "That's the Sangre de Cristo Range." "Sangre de Cristo--Blood of Christ! Those old Spaniards had a lot of poetry in them, didn't they?" "I reckon so--and a whole lot of stiffening, too. You go through the Southwest and see the country they trailed over--the hot, dry places and the quicksands and canyons and all that. They sure made them Injuns remember when they passed by." "You know that country?" "I may say I do. It was my parade-ground for about fifteen years. I roamed over most of it. It's a fine country." "Why did you leave it? Do you like this better?" "I like any new country. I like to explore." "But you're settled for a while?" "Well, I don't know--if my partner will take my interest, I think I'll shift along. I want to get into Alaska finally. I'd like to climb one of them high peaks." Fred, who was seated in front, turned. "Mother wants to know what the mine paid last year--you tell her." "It didn't pay much," replied Kelley, cautiously. "You see, we had some new machinery to put in and some roads to grade and one thing or another--I reckon it paid about"--he hesitated--"about three hundred a month. But it's going to do better this year." Florence, who was studying the men sharply, then said, "You wrote you were getting about five dollars a day." Fred's face showed distress. "I meant _net_," he said. "I didn't want to worry you about details of machinery and all that." Kelley began to feel that the girl's ears and eyes were alert to all discrepancies, and he became cautious--so cautious that his pauses revealed more than his words. But the mother saw nothing, heard nothing, but the face and voice of her son, who pointed out the big mines that were still running and the famous ones that were "dead," and so kept her from looking too closely at the steep grades up which the car climbed.