Page:Hard-pan; a story of bonanza fortunes (IA hardpanbonanza00bonnrich).pdf/35

Rh out to lunch, and give him a square meal and a few points that he 'd sense enough to follow. He was n't like Jerry; he was smart. Why, I almost fed that man for years. When he 'd get down on his luck—and he was always doing that—I 'd say, 'You know, when you want, my check-book 's at your disposal.' And it was, more times than I can remember."

The colonel paused, smiling at his thoughts. The visitor, who had been looking idly on the ground, raised his eyes and let them dwell in curious scrutiny upon the old man's profile, cut like a cameo against the dim walls with their fine gold traceries. John Gault, like all Californians, knew every vicissitude in the life of Adolphus Maroney, one of the great bonanza kings, a man whose career was quoted as an example of what could be done by brains and energy in the California of the Comstock era.

Wondering, as he had done many times before, what Viola thought of her father's vainglorious imaginings, he turned now and suddenly looked at her. She was sitting with her elbow on the table and her chin resting in the palm of her hand. Her eyes were on the colonel, and her expression was one of appreciative interest. It was possible that she believed in him, absolutely and unquestionably. Yet her face, in its placid, restful gravity, gave no clue to the thoughts within. She was not to