Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/222

204 fire is given as a defective flue, but those who had looked upon the nugget and listened to the scalded man's story wonder. The hospital attendant, and the captain and the chief engineer of the June Altroff talked. And up and down the river, and among the far hills, the nugget became known as the "Demon's Heart," and men spoke in awed whispers of the ill-luck that followed its trail.

During the excitement incident to the fire, the nugget was forgotten. And though men searched and dug in the ruins for many days, no trace of it could be found in the ashes. Then, suddenly, it reappeared as mysteriously as it had vanished. This time in the possession of Nick Mullane, who affected scorn for its power for harm, and exhibited it in his store, where men flocked in numbers to gaze upon the misshapen talisman of ill omen. These men who came to gaze remained to buy, and Nick Mullane's business began suddenly to rival that of the A. C. Company.

But the man's prosperity was short-lived. No more does Nick Mullane scoff at the power of the nugget to work harm. And the men of the Yukon add one more milestone to the trail of the "Demon's Heart." For, between two days, the nugget dis-