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 "There!" said Mr. Genung, slapping his nephew on the shoulder; "can you beat this out West?"

The young man's face wore an amused smile as he replied: "It is, indeed, singular and, except possibly the elimination of gases, I can think of no logical explanation. But its having any connection whatever with 'Old Ninety-Nine' strikes me as absurd. What say you, Miss De Vere?"

"Well," she replied, with a tip of her head that reminded one of a pet canary, and which caused Hernando's heart to beat unmercifully, "mystery has no charm for me, and I have never been able to enthuse over 'Old Ninety-Nine,' much to the disgust of your cousin Mary Genung and Eletheer. He belongs to a half mythical past and what more natural than that the 'light,' occurring as it does with such singular regularity, should be connected with the old chief? They are equally elusive."

"I supposed love of the mysterious to be a strongly feminine attribute."