Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/218

  to England to be educated, and while the boy was there the parents had been lost in a typhoon.

"When I went down to the schooner on the morning of her sailing date I found aboard her a young man of very pleasing appearance, who introduced himself as Claud Dillingham and told me that we were to be shipmates.

" 'You are related to Claud Dillingham, the owner of the Great Bear Mine?' I asked. This Dillingham was a Virginia gentleman, who had made a great fortune in mining claims, and was at that time the richest man on 'the Slope.'

" 'I am his son,' said he; and as he was speaking, a magnificent bloodhound walked from behind the house, his fine, velvety head raised, the delicate nostrils twitching and the dreamy, half-closed eyes reinforcing the more potent sense of smell.

" 'What a magnificent animal!' said I.

" 'Yes,' he answered. 'I am taking him with me; he is so intelligent that he soon [ 202 ]