refused to discuss the matter.

"He is--in a way. I have a brother, or I hope I have, somewhere.
He ran away when we were both little tads and I haven't seen him
since. I heard about him, indirectly, at Skagway--three years ago-
-during the big rush to the Klondike, but he has never been home.
When father died, I went to live with Uncle Arthur--some day,
perhaps, I'll find my brother. He's cruel to hide from me this
way, for there are only we two left and I've loved him always."

She spoke sadly and her mood blended well with the gloom of her
companion, so they stared silently out over the heaving green
waters.

"It's a good thing me an' the kid had a little piece of money
ahead," Dextry resumed later, reverting to the thought that lay
uppermost in his mind, "'cause we'd be up against it right if we
hadn't. The boy couldn't have amused himself none with these court
proceedings, because they come high. I call 'em luxuries, like
brandied peaches an' silk undershirts.

"I don't trust these Jim Crow banks no more than I do lawyers,
neither. No, sirree! I bought a iron safe an' hauled it out to the
mine. She weighs eighteen hundred, and we keep our money locked up
there. We've got a feller named Johnson watchin' it now. Steal it?
Well, hardly. They can't bust her open without a stick of 'giant'
which would rouse everybody in five miles, an' they can't lug her
off bodily--she's too heavy. No; it's safer there than any place I
know of. There ain't no abscondin' cashiers an' all that. Tomorrer
I'm goin' back to live on the claim an' watch this receiver man