Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/204

190 places to be born in than a gutter, 'Ealy. Pleasant dreams. I b'lieve I can sleep, after hall."

He proved his assertion inside of ten minutes by snoring lustily. Harvey turned in imperturbably. If it had been diamonds instead of gold, thought Stone, whimsically, the prospector would not have taken the prospect of wealth so easily. It did not mean so much to him as the rest. As he had said, he was wedded to the desert, he had lost his appetites. One little diamond would have given him the prime satisfaction of his life, to refute those who had laughed at him.

Drowsily Stone revolved a scheme for salting some lonely place with diamonds in the rough and then subtly guiding Harvey in the right direction. He could do things like that now, for surely Lyman would be vindicated to-morrow. And there was Lola!

Healy had caterpillared himself in his blanket; the burros were browsing on the scanty herbage. The heavy breathing of the others helped Stone to his own sleep. The voice of Larkin woke him, talking in his sleep.

"A wall hof solid gold, Peggy, wiv di'monds in it! The biggest for you, and the pick of the gold for hour wedding ring. Glitterin'—glitterin' like the Milky Wy!" The voice droned off and Stone lay awake, looking straight up at the filmy web of starlight that had furnished Lyman's metaphor. He heard a light footstep in the sand, felt the vibration rather than