opment of the "money grabbing" instinct in Bill Steele, reckless spender aforetime. "She's losing a good deal at that and yet she figures she'd better lose a few thousands now than the whole shooting works later on. Let's see; her inn must have cost between seven and eight thousand, say seventy-five hundred. Then there are a dozen or more cottages, say a thousand dollars each as they stand. That's something over nineteen thousand there. Then there's the store, the post office building, to say nothing of the land the town stands on and Corliss Lake. At twenty thousand it's a pick-up, Bob. Now, where's Gilchrist?"
That afternoon Dr. Gilchrist, satisfied with the condition of Hurley and Turk and content to leave them to Mrs. Hurley and Bill Rice, was lured away from camp by Steele who "wanted to show him something." Never a hint of their destination or the purpose of their ride was forthcoming until they rode into Summit City.
"Neat little town, don't you think?" asked Steele carelessly.
Gilchrist, startled as were all newcomers to come without warning upon this spick and span little settlement here in the heart of the wilderness, nodded his approval.
"Pretty," he said enthusiastically. "Down-right pretty, Steele. Not the sort of thing you'd look for here, eh?"
They rode along the street, to the crest of the hill whence they could overlook the little lake with its canoes and launches mirroring themselves like so many Narcissuses, turned and came back to the inn.
