Thirlwell ordered the men to make camp and then went with Agatha to the foot of the cliff.

The creek that flowed past the rock ran clear and low, and he got across by jumping from ledge to ledge.

Then, as he scrambled among the boulders towards a spot he had marked he heard a splash, and looking round saw that Agatha had slipped into the stream.

She waded across, with the water rippling round her long boots, and when she joined him trembled with suspense.
"You needn't have come over," he said, smiling as he indicated a band of darker color that seamed the ragged face of the gray stone.

"That's all there is to see! Hardly looks as if it was worth your coming so far to find it?
It was a lucky accident the color caught your father's eye; the vein's only distinct for a few yards where the frost has brought down the cliff.