Maxey 197 



partly carrying and partly guiding his injured com- 

 panion, succeeded in getting him back to camp. 

 Here for four days he watched him tenderly, noting 

 every change, and at the fifth day he was rejoiced 

 to find that, although still lame and sore, Maxey was 

 not permanently injured, and was on the way to a 

 speedy recovery. Then, and not before, Herbert 

 went up the mountain to view the discovery which 

 Maxey had been the means of revealing to him, and 

 in doing which had so nearly lost his life. His heart 

 beat wildly as he approached it. His arm seemed 

 nerveless as he drove the pick down, but the vein 

 of ore which he soon laid bare was so extended, so 

 easily worked, and so rich, that he hardly dared to 

 trust his senses. Here was wealth such as even his 

 imagination had not pictured. It seemed too good 

 to be true. 



Seasons are short in the mountains, and the snow 

 comes early. Herbert knew this, and realized he 

 had b\it few days left in which to return to the settle- 

 ments. But he became so interested in the discovery 

 he had made, and so anxious to learn its extent, that 

 he delayed his journey to the last moment, and only 



