"Yes, he has," responded Mrs. Campbell, "and I've always had faith in him, but others have tried to discourage him. I believe I've heard you say that his work was all wasted, but now everybody is envying him his success. It all goes to show that the Lord cares for his own, and that the righteous are not forgotten; because Cole has always said he would rather be poor and honest than to own the greatest fortune in the land. And now it seems as if the hand of Providence has just reached down and given us our road--the Lord provides for his own." "Looks that way," agreed Wunpost; "sure treating _me_ fine, too. There was a time, back there, when He seemed to have a copper on every bet I played, but now luck is coming my way. Of course I don't deserve it--and for that matter, I don't ask no odds--but this last mine I found is a Sockdolager right, and Eells or none of 'em can't find it. I took down one mule-load that was worth ten thousand dollars, and when I was shipping it you should have seen them Blackwater bums looking on with tears in their eyes. That's all right about the Lord providing for his own, but I tell you hard work has got something to do with it, whether you believe in religion or not. I'm a rustler, I'll say that, and I work for what I get, just as hard as your husband or anyone----" "Ah, but Mister Calhoun," broke in Mrs. Campbell reproachfully, "we've heard evil stories of your dealings with Eells. Not that we like him, for we don't; but, so we are informed, the mine that you sold him was salted." "Why, mother!" exclaimed Billy, but the fat was in the fire, for Wunpost had nodded shamelessly. "Yes," he said, "the mine was salted, but don't let that keep you awake nights. I didn't _sell_ him the mine--he took it away from me and gave me twenty thousand for a quit-claim. And the twenty thousand dollars was nothing to what I lost when he robbed me and Billy of our mine." "Why--why, Mr. Calhoun!" cried Mrs. Campbell in a shocked voice, "did you salt that mine on purpose?" "You'd have thought so," he returned, "if you'd seen me packing the ore. It took me nigh onto two weeks." Mrs. Campbell paused and gasped, but Wunpost met her gaze with a cold, unblinking stare. Her nice Scotch scruples were not for such as he, and if she crowded him too far he had an answer to her reproaches which would effectually reduce her to silence. But Billy knew that answer, and the reason for the gleam which played like heat-lightning in his eyes, and she hastened to stave off disaster. "Oh, mother!" she protested, "now please don't talk seriously to him or he'll confess to almost anything. He told me a lot of stuff and I was dreadfully worried about it, but I found out he only did it to tease me. And besides, you know yourself that Mr. Eells did take advantage of us and trick us out of our mine--and if it hadn't been for that we could have built the road ourselves without being beholden to anybody."