Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/219

Rh water. But its most peculiar feature was the band of a darker yellow, almost reddish cast, that appeared on the smooth surface and struck through to reappear on the opposite side.

Where did you get it?" asked McKeever hoarsely. "An' what's it got to do with the blowin' up of the June Altroff?"

"Aye, what's it got to do?" shuddered the man in the cot, as he stared with horrified eyes at the huge nugget. "It got the Injun, an' it got Hans Anderson, an' me, an' them out there in the river—that went down with the boat an' never come up ag'in. What's it got to do with us all? An' why is it red, an' heart-shaped? It's ha'nted, that's why! It's demon gold!"

"But where did you get it?" persisted McKeever. "An' who is the Injun, an' Hans Anderson?"

The man called for water and the attendant held a glass to his lips. "The Injun was just an Injun," he muttered dully, after a brief pause. "Hans Anderson found him dead in a wickiup on a crick an' in his hand he held that!" The man stared in strange fascination at the nugget as he talked. "An' he took it, an' buried the Injun. Hans