Up to this time Fitz and the agent had preserved the outward appearance
of two idle gentlemen visiting a friend in the country, with no interest
beyond the fresh air and the environments of a charming hospitality.
With the unrolling of this map, however, and the discovery of the very
boundary points insisted on by Chad in Bedford Place, their excitement
could hardly be suppressed. The agent broke loose first.
"Before we find out, Colonel Carter, to whom this coal belongs, which
may take some valuable time, I want to examine the quality of the vein
itself. I would like to go now."
"By all means, suh; and my people shall go with us," said the colonel,
turning to Kerfoot with instructions to bring Chad and all the maps
later.--Yancey excused himself on the ground of the heat. Then donning
a wide straw hat and picking up a cane,--something he never used in
New York,--the colonel led the way through the rear door, across a
stone wall, and up a hill covered with a second growth of timber.
The experienced eye of the Englishman took in the lay of the land at
a glance, and beckoning Fitz to one side he stooped and picked something
from the ground which he examined carefully with a magnifying glass.
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