At the Time Appointed | Page 5

that he was not reading,
but listening intently to the conversation of the men seated behind him,
and particularly to young Whitcomb's share in it. Upon hearing the
latter's statement that he had with him the cash returns for the shipment
of bullion, Darrell saw the muscles of his face suddenly grow tense and
rigid, while his hands involuntarily tightened their hold upon the paper.
He grew uncomfortable under Darrell's scrutiny, moved restlessly once
or twice, then turning, looked directly into the piercing dark eyes fixed
upon him. His own eyes, which were small and shifting, instantly
dropped, while the dark blood mounted angrily to his forehead. A few
moments later, he changed his position so that Darrell could not see his
face, but the latter determined to watch him and to give Whitcomb a
word of warning at the earliest opportunity.
"Well," said Parkinson, leaning back in his seat after examining the
ores and listening to Whitcomb's outline of their plans for the future
development of the mine, "it seems to me, young man, you have quite a
knowledge of mines and mining yourself."
Whitcomb flushed with pleasure. "I ought to," he said; "there isn't a
man in this western country that understands the business better or has
got it down any finer than my uncle. He may not be able to talk so
glibly or use such high-sounding names for things as you fellows, but
he can come pretty near telling whether a mine will pay for the
handling, and if it has any value he generally knows how to go to work
to find it."
"Well, that's about the 'gist' of the whole business," said Parkinson; he
added: "You say he can give me some 'tips' on the Ajax?"
"He can if he chooses to," laughed Whitcomb, "but you'd better not let
him know that I said so. He'll be more likely to give you information if
you ask him offhand."
"Well," continued Parkinson, "when we get to Ophir, I'll know whether

or not I can stop over. I've heard there's another fellow out here on this
Ajax business; whether he's ahead of me I don't know. I'll make
inquiries when we reach Ophir, and if he hasn't come on the scene yet I
can afford to lay off; if he has, I must lose no time in getting out to the
mine." Parkinson glanced at Hunter, who nodded almost imperceptibly.
"I guess that's the best arrangement we can make at present," said
Parkinson, rising from his seat. "Come and have a smoke with us, Mr.
Whitcomb?"
Whitcomb declined the invitation, and, after Hunter and Parkinson had
left, sat idly turning over the specimens of ore, until, happening to
catch Darrell's eye, he inquired, pleasantly,--
"Are you interested in this sort of thing?"
"In a way, yes," said Darrell, crossing over and taking the seat vacated
by Parkinson. "I'm not what you call a mining man; that is, I've never
owned or operated a mine, but I take a great interest in examining the
different ores and always try to get as much information regarding them
as possible."
Whitcomb at once launched forth enthusiastically upon a description of
the various samples. Darrell, while careful not to show too great
familiarity with the subject, or too thorough a knowledge of ores in
general, yet was so keenly appreciative of their remarkable richness and
beauty that he soon won the boy's heart.
"Say!" he exclaimed, "you had better stop off at Ophir with us; we
would make a mining man of you in less than no time! By the way,
how far west are you travelling?"
"Ophir is my destination at present, though it is uncertain how long I
remain there."
"Long enough, that we'll get well acquainted, I hope. Going into any
particular line of business?"

"No, only looking the country over, for the present."
To divert the conversation from himself, Darrell, by a judicious
question or two, led Whitcomb to speak of the expert.
"Parkinson?" he said with a merry laugh. "Oh, yes, he's one of those
eastern know-it-alls who come out here occasionally to give us fellows
a few points on mines. They're all right, of course, for the men who
employ them, who want to invest their money and wouldn't know a
mine if they saw one; but when they undertake to air their knowledge
among these old fellows who have spent a lifetime in the business, why,
they're likely to get left, that's all. Now, this Parkinson seems to be a
pretty fair sort of man compared with some of them, but between you
and me, I'd wager my last dollar that they'll lose him on that Ajax
mine!"
"Why, what's the matter with the Ajax?" Darrell inquired, indifferently.
"Well, as you're not interested in any