"It is just what I should like," the young man said enthusiastically;

"though I don't know how I should set to work if I did find a mine."

"You would have to bring home specimens, with particulars of the width of

the lode. Of course you would crush pieces up and wash them yourself, or

get your Indian to wash them; that would give you an approximate idea of

the percentage of gold. If it were rich, I could introduce you to men who

would advance money for working it, giving you a share of the profits.

They would send out a mining expert with you. He would verify your report,

and then you would take up the concession. I don't know whether there have

been any changes in the regulations, but there is no difficulty in

learning how to proceed from one or other of the men to whom I will give

you introductions. The thing would not be worth thinking of were it not

that the man who always went with me as guide and muleteer is an Indian,

and has, I am convinced, a knowledge of some of these places. He was with

me all the time I was out there. I saved his life when a puma sprang upon

him, and he more than once hinted that he could make me a rich man, but I

had no inclination that way, my income being sufficient for all my wants.

Still, on the chance that he is alive--and he was about thirty when he was

with me fifteen years ago, so it is probable that he is still to the fore

--I will give you a letter to him telling him that you are a dear friend of

mine, and that I trust to him to do any service he can for you just as he

would have done for myself. Had it not been for that I should never have

mentioned the matter to you. These old mines are the dream of every

Peruvian. They have been searching for them ever since the conquest of the

country, and as they have failed, it is absurd to think that an Englishman

would have the slightest chance of lighting upon a mine, still less of

finding any of the Incas' treasures. But with the Indian's aid it is just

possible that you may find something, though I should advise you most

strongly not to build in any way upon the chance. I consider that you

cannot possibly win Miss Fortescue; that being so, two years of knocking

about will not make your position worse, and by the time you come back,

you may have ceased to struggle against fate. It will afford you a remote

--but distinctly remote--opportunity of bettering your position, will give

you something else to think about besides that young lady's charms, and

you may even come to recognize that life is, after all, possible without

her. You may shake your head, lad; but you know children cry for the moon

sometimes, yet afterwards come to understand that it would not be a

desirable plaything."

"Well, at any rate, Mr. Barnett, I am extremely obliged for your

suggestion and for your offer of introductions. It is just the life that I

should enjoy thoroughly. As you say, the chance that anything will come of

it is extremely small, but at least there is a possibility, and I take it

as a drowning man catches at a straw."

"By the way, you mustn't think only of gold; silver is, after all, the

chief source of the riches of Peru, and there are numbers of