41 Lure O Gold 1904

nothing with that. [4]
"
The Lure o
Gold
of dust in
my little or chamois "poke,"
bag, which was
at that moment reposing under the mattress within
easy reach of my hand.
At the head of my bed stood a rifle which I had car
ried all through my Alaskan travels for the purpose of
providing game for the camp table, which had oftener
been a rock in the open than anything more serviceable,
and once or twice had been merely a smooth block of
ice.
One comfort which I, in my
fanciful condition of
mind, extracted from the situation was that
whoever he might be, was a light-haired man.
R. N.,"
For of
course he had a light face; and there is
something less
of mystery and more of everyday plainness and open
ness about a light face than there is about a dark one.
My overwrought brain what it
might not have con
jured up had the landlord told me that my unknown
roommate was a dark man ?
I tried to reason with myself. What could "R. N."
have to do with me or with my treasure ?
Supposing
that, at the worst, while I was asleep he should rob me
of the
"
"
poke
and take away the key of my strong box,
I still had gold enough. And the key he could do