the stream awoke and whispered but they moved lazily with that it was merely the stream grown at discovery that it had slept but there came a time when the buck s ears lifted and with swift eagerness for sound his head was turned down the his all gold quivering nostrils scented the air his eyes could not pierce the green screen through which the stream away but to his ears came the voice of a man it was a steady monotonous voice once the buck heard the harsh clash of metal upon rock at the sound he with a sudden start that jerked him through the air from water to meadow and his feet sank into the young velvet while he pricked his ears and again scented the air then he stole across the tiny meadow pausing once and again to listen and faded away out of the like a soft footed and without sound the clash of steel shod against the rocks began to be heard and the man s voice grew louder it was raised in a sort of chant and became distinct with so that the words could be heard tu n around an tu n yo face them sweet hills of grace d rs of sin yo am look about an look fling yo sin pack on d yo will meet d lord in d all gold a sound of accompanied the song and the spirit of the place fled away on the heels of the red buck the green screen was burst asunder and a man peered out at the meadow and the pool and the sloping side hill he was a deliberate sort of man he took in the scene with one embracing glance then ran his eyes over the details to the general impression then and not until then did he open his mouth in vivid and solemn approval smoke of life an of will you just look at that wood an water an grass an a side hill a pocket hunter s delight an a s paradise cool green for tired eyes pink for pale people ain t in it a secret pasture for and a resting place for tired by damn he was a sandy man in whose face and humor seemed the characteristics it was a face quick changing to inward mood and thought thinking was in him a visible process ideas chased across his face like wind across the surface of a lake his hair and of growth was as all gold and as his complexion it would seem that all the color of his frame had gone into his eyes for they were blue also they were laughing and merry eyes within them much of the and wonder of the child and yet in an way they contained much of calm self reliance and strength of purpose founded upon self experience and experience of the world from out the screen of vines and he flung ahead of him a s pick and and gold pan then he crawled out himself into the open he was clad in faded and black cotton shirt with on his feet and on his head a hat whose and advertised the rough usage of wind and rain and sun and camp smoke he stood erect seeing wide eyed the secrecy of the scene and the warm sweet breath of the through nostrils that dilated and quivered with delight his eyes to laughing of blue his face itself in joy and his mouth curled in a smile as he cried aloud jumping and happy but all gold that smells good to me talk about your o roses an they ain t in it he had the habit of his expressions might tell every thought and mood but the tongue ran hard after repeating like a second the man lay down on the lip of the pool and drank long and deep of its water tastes good to me he murmured lifting his head and gazing across the pool at the side hill while he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand the side hill attracted his attention still lying on his stomach he studied the hill formation long and carefully it was a practised eye that travelled up the slope to the crumbling wall and back and down again to the edge of the pool he scrambled to his feet and favored the side hill with a second survey looks good to me he concluded picking up his pick and and gold pan he crossed the stream below the pool stepping from stone to stone where the side hill touched the water he dug up a of dirt and put it into the gold pan he down hold all gold ing the pan in his two hands and partly it in the stream then he imparted to the pan a circular motion that sent the water in and out through the dirt and gravel the larger and the lighter worked to the surface and these by a skilful dipping movement of the pan he out and over the edge occasionally to he rested the pan and with his fingers out the large pebbles and pieces of rock the contents of the pan diminished rapidly until only fine dirt and the smallest bits of gravel remained at this stage he began to work very deliberately and carefully it was fine washing and he washed fine and finer with a keen scrutiny and delicate and fastidious touch at last the pan seemed empty of everything but water but with a quick that sent the water flying over the shallow rim into the stream he disclosed a of black sand on the bottom of the pan so thin was this that it was like a streak of paint he examined it closely in the midst of it was a tiny golden speck he a little water in over the depressed edge of the pan 