diff options
Diffstat (limited to '34296-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 34296-8.txt | 9802 |
1 files changed, 9802 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/34296-8.txt b/34296-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..176dc54 --- /dev/null +++ b/34296-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9802 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ross Grant Tenderfoot, by John Garland + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ross Grant Tenderfoot + +Author: John Garland + +Illustrator: R. L. Boyer + +Release Date: November 12, 2010 [EBook #34296] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSS GRANT TENDERFOOT *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net + + + + + +[Illustration: SLOWLY HE WAS LET DOWN] + + + + +ROSS GRANT + +TENDERFOOT + +BY + +JOHN GARLAND + +AUTHOR OF + + "Ross Grant, Gold Hunter" + "Ross Grant on the Trail" + +Illustrated by R. L. Boyer + +THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + +PHILADELPHIA + +1917 + + + + +COPYRIGHT 1915 BY + +THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY + +Ross Grant, Tenderfoot + + + + +To + +Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Tewksbury + +whose life in the Wyoming Mountains has +made Ross Grant, Tenderfoot, possible, I +cordially dedicate this book + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +WHEN I went over the same route, some time before Ross Grant traveled it, +from Cody eighty miles into the snow-capped Shoshones, I found how +welcome a "Doc Tenderfoot" would be in the gold mining camp at the end +of the route. There was, in camp, the superintendent of one of the mining +companies, a man who had never had any instruction in things medical +or surgical, but who, with a steady hand and a cool head, and an acquired +knowledge of "first aids," was often called on in case of sickness and +accident, as there was no doctor nearer than Cody. Such a state of +affairs greeted Ross Grant when he arrived with his medical "emergency +chest" and his real knowledge of the use to which its contents should be +put. + +Also, I found a certain "outfit" of men, not McKenzie in name but in +nature, waiting to "jump" certain valuable "claims" provided the owners +failed in any particular to measure up to the requirements of the law. +Their intention was to do the "jumping" legally and not through "gun +play," which is becoming an obsolete custom in that great state. + +Then, too, I discovered over on a real Meadow Creek Valley--exactly +the same place that Ross found--a real "Dutch Weimer" afflicted with +snow-blindness, imprisoned for months at a time in the little valley +because of the danger from snowslides on the mountainsides. + +And, by the way, if you should ever follow this same interesting +trail from Cody up into the mountains, you would find "Ross Grant, +Tenderfoot" an accurate guide-book until you reached the end of the +stage route. There you would find that Miners' Camp is a fictitious +name applied to a real place. And if you should chance to be in camp on +the Fourth of July, you would realize fully the difficulties that Ross +had to contend against in the vast snowfalls. For the year I visited +the mountains the glorious Fourth was celebrated by snow-shoe races down +the mountainsides! There are snow-storms every month in the year there, +but Miners' Camp is comparatively free from snow during August and +September. + +These are the months, then, when gold hunters, "prospectors," are +most numerous in the mountains. I saw them everywhere with their "pack +outfits" bound on wooden saddles, seeking in the rocks for indications +of a fortune that is as elusive in their business as the proverbial +"pot of gold at the end of a rainbow." + +But, although Ross Grant did not immediately find a fortune, he found +what is far more desirable, the development of muscle, quick wit and +nerve in the situations which he was obliged to face and conquer in these +adventure-breeding mountains. + +"Ross Grant, Gold Hunter" tells of the hero's further adventures in the +mountains and of his hard won "find." + +In "Ross Grant on the Trail" he meets many discouragements, but finally +conquers them. + + + John Garland. + + + + +Contents + + I. A BORN SURGEON 13 + II. A STEADY HAND 34 + III. DOC TENDERFOOT IN ACTION 56 + IV. THE FOURTH MAN 78 + V. A MAN WHO NEEDED BRACING UP 98 + VI. THE MEN OF MEADOW CREEK 121 + VII. HALF-CONFIDENCES 140 + VIII. ROSS'S "HIRED MAN" 159 + IX. SURPRISES 176 + X. A NEWCOMER ON MEADOW CREEK 197 + XI. MEADOW CREEK VALLEY MISSES LESLIE 216 + XII. A CALAMITY BEFALLS ROSS 236 + XIII. THE SEARCH 258 + XIV. A PERILOUS JOURNEY 277 + XV. A NEW CAMP 297 + XVI. THE INGRATITUDE OF WESTON 312 + XVII. A RANDOM SHOT 330 + XVIII. A HUMILIATING DISCOVERY 348 + XIX. AN UNEXPECTED VICTORY 363 + + + + +Illustrations + + Page + SLOWLY HE WAS LET DOWN _Frontispiece_ + MAP OF THE MEADOW CREEK TRAIL 59 + "WHAT'S THE LATEST WORD?" 72 + HE STRUCK THE TRAIL 134 + BESIDE THE DYNAMITE BOX 203 + THE SNOW HID IT FROM VIEW 309 + MAP OF THE CROOKED TRAIL 359 + "YOU'VE PAID FOR IT" 367 +ROSS GRANT, TENDERFOOT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A BORN SURGEON + + +DR. FRED GRANT, recalled in haste from his daily round of professional +visits by a telephone message from his nephew, leaped out of his carriage +over the yet moving wheel, and, stuffing an open letter into his pocket, +rushed up the walk and into his office, which occupied a wing of his +commodious house. + +A sight met his eyes which was not uncommon, situated as he was in the +midst of the coal fields of Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. Stretched +out on the leather couch lay a man from the mines, black and grimy, his +right arm crushed. Two other miners, also blackened with coal-dust, sat +on the edges of their chairs, their eyes following the movements of Ross +Grant, the doctor's nephew and self-constituted assistant. + +Those movements had been rapid and effective. Again and again had this +seventeen-year-old boy been brought face to face with such cases as +this, and he handled it promptly and wordlessly. Words, indeed, would +have been wasted, as none of his callers spoke English. He had quieted +the sufferer with a hypodermic injection of morphine, stripped the +injured arm, cleansed it, and treated it with a temporary dressing. + +Then, with the bandages firmly in place, he had gone to the telephone +and patiently called up house after house until he found his uncle. + +When Dr. Grant entered the office, he found Ross calmly taking the +temperature of the wounded man. + +"He must have met with the accident at least an hour before they got him +here," the boy explained, "for he was suffering awfully. I thought I +ought to fix him up before trying to find you." + +His uncle nodded with satisfaction, and bent over the man. "All right," +he commended briefly, but his tone said more. Words were not always +necessary to an understanding between uncle and nephew. + +The younger man was an abridged edition of the older in form and feature. +In movements the two were alike only so long as Ross was aiding the +doctor on such an occasion as this. Then there were in both the same +alertness and quiet intentness, the same compression of the lips and +narrowing of the eyes. But when the strain of the hour was past and +the miners gone, the boy's manner changed. The alert quality which +characterized the uncle at all times seemed to desert the nephew, and +his movements became slow. From the born surgeon in embryo he became a +rather awkward, self-conscious boy. + +Throwing himself into a chair behind the table, he drew toward him +Gray's "Anatomy," and began reading at a line marked by a paper-cutter, +his closely cropped head grasped in both hands. + +The older man moved around the room restlessly, occasionally glancing +with troubled eyes at the figure behind the table. Standing finally in +front of the window, he drew the letter from his pocket, smoothed it out, +and read it again. + +In front of him, in the valley, lay Pittston and Wilkes-Barre, with +Scranton in the distance, and beyond, the sun-burned hills, almost hidden +now by the smoke from a hundred coal-breakers, and by the late August +haze. + +"Ross," began Dr. Grant abruptly, without turning, "I'm afraid you are +going to meet disappointment--to a certain extent. I have a letter from +your father." + +The boy raised his head with a jerk. "Do you mean that he forbids----" + +"No,"--the doctor turned slowly,--"not exactly. He expects to send for +you in a few days, and will tell you himself." + +Ross's chin came up. "And I shall not be twenty-one for nearly four +years yet!" he exclaimed aggressively. + +His uncle looked at him with more sternness than he felt. "Remember, +Ross, that he is your father and that you owe him----" + +Ross interrupted hotly, looking longingly at the letter. "I don't owe +him as much as I do you and Aunt Anne." + +Dr. Grant made no reply, nor did he share the letter. Putting it into +an inner pocket, he left the office, and presently Ross heard the sound +of wheels on the drive. Dr. Grant was starting again on his interrupted +round of calls. + +The boy leaned back and drew a deep breath. His father was going to +send for him, and would then tell him--what? That he could not enter +a medical college? That he could not become a surgeon? That he must +fit himself for a business career? His chin came up again. He looked +around the office lingeringly. It had been the heart of his home for +seven years. It represented to him all that he wished to become. His +father was almost a stranger to him; his uncle had stood in the place +of a father since he, a sickly boy of ten, had been sent from the city +to gain health on the hills which girdle Wyoming Valley. + +He had gained health. In so far he had fulfilled his father's wishes. +But, in addition, he had gained a knowledge and been settled in a desire +extremely displeasing to Ross Grant, Senior, who expected to train his +only son to continue his own business. + +"Grant & Grant" was the father's ambition; "Dr. Grant" the son's. + +Presently Dr. Grant's wife appeared in the doorway of the office. She +was a short, round woman, with a laughing face and a pretty, bustling +air of authority. Stopping abruptly, she shook a chubby forefinger at +Ross. + +"All day to-day," she accused, "you have bent over that book." + +Ross, his elbows planted on the table and his chin resting on his fists, +shook his head. He did not look up. + +"I've been studying Gray on Anatomy, Aunt Anne. Got to master him." + +Aunt Anne bobbed energetically across the room, and slammed the volume +shut. "There!" she cried triumphantly. "Get out and walk five miles, and +strengthen your own anatomy!" + +Under her light tones and in the affectionate touch of her hand as she +ran her fingers through his hair, Ross detected an undercurrent of +solicitude, which brought forth a counter-accusation. Rising hastily, he +laid both hands on her shoulders, and looked down from an altitude of +five feet ten. + +"Aunt Anne, you know what father wrote to uncle, don't you?" + +Mrs. Grant's eyes fell. "Better take a good run over the mountain, +Ross," she parried. + +Ross's hands slipped from her shoulders. "I see there's no use asking +either of you what he wrote." + +Mrs. Grant flecked some dust from the table. "Sometimes, Ross," was her +only reply, "disappointment is the very best and most strengthening tonic +we can take." + +She turned away, adding without glancing back as she left the room: "I +do wish, Ross, that you'd get out and exercise more. You would conquer +Gray's 'Anatomy'--and all other difficulties--more quickly if you +would." + +"I guess you're right, Aunt Anne," assented Ross. + +"Yes," scolded Aunt Anne to her sister in the living-room--but the +scolding rested on a very apparent foundation of love--"Ross always +agrees with me about taking vigorous exercise--and then never takes it. +Now watch him walk, will you?" she fretted, looking out of the window. + +Her sister, busily sewing, paused with suspended needle, and glanced +out. Ross was going slowly down the drive, his head bent forward, his +youthful shoulders carelessly sagging, his long arms aimlessly hanging, +giving him a curiously helpless appearance at variance with his large +frame. + +"It's Ross's own fault," declared Aunt Anne. "He doesn't like to exert +himself physically. Not that he's lazy," defensively, "for he isn't. +He would work all night over a patient, and never think of himself; but +to get out and exercise for the sake of exercising, and straightening +himself up, and holding himself, somehow--well, I've talked myself +hoarse about it, and then found that he had been reading some medical +book or other all the time I was talking!" + +Here Aunt Anne laughed silently, and ran her shears through a length +of gingham, adding, as if the addition were a logical sequence to her +monologue: + +"It's a mystery to me how his father can feel so disappointed in him." + +"Disappointed in Ross?" exclaimed the sister in a tone of wonder. + +Mrs. Grant nodded. "His father sends for him once a year, sees him for a +day or two when Ross is at the greatest disadvantage in unaccustomed +surroundings--you know the stepmother is a woman of fashion; and the +result is that he is so awkward and slow and tongue-tied that his +father--well," Mrs. Grant bit off her thread energetically, "of course, +we feel tender on the subject because we have had Ross now for seven +years, and we think a better boy never lived. But now the time has +come," her voice trembled, "when we must give him up." + +"Will his father forbid his going to medical college?" asked the sister. + +Mrs. Grant hesitated. "No, I don't think he will forbid it; but he will +prevent it--if he is able," she added significantly. + +Two days later the summons from Ross Grant, Senior, arrived in the shape +of a telegram brief and to the point. "Take night-train," it read, +"September first. Reach office at nine." + +"Ross," worried Aunt Anne as she straightened his tie and hovered around +him anxiously the afternoon of September first, "you'd better get a new +hat in Scranton. This one is--well, I think you better appear before Mrs. +Grant in a new one." + +"All right, aunt." + +Dr. Grant extended his hand, and gripped Ross's. "Remember, my boy, that +the telegram appointed nine A. M. as the time for your appearing." + +Ross laughed. "Don't you worry, uncle," he returned confidently. "I +shall be at the office before father gets there." + +But, despite his confidence, it was nearly ten the morning following +before he stepped out of the elevator of a Broadway office building and +presented himself hesitatingly before the clerk in his father's outer +office. + +His hesitation was due to his appearance. His hat, new the afternoon +before, was soiled and pierced by the calk of a horse's shoe. His +shirtfront was also soiled and then smeared over by a wet cloth in a +vain effort to remove the dirt. His right coat-sleeve was wrinkled, and +bore marks of a recent wetting. About his clothes lingered a subtle +"horsy" odor, which caused the clerk to sniff involuntarily as he +curiously looked over the heir to the house of Grant before disappearing +into the inner office. + +When he returned he bore the crisp message that Ross was to wait until +his father had time to see him. + +Ross waited. He retreated to a window through which the sunshine +streamed, and there sat, industriously drying his wet sleeve. He pulled +it, and smoothed it, and stretched it, only to see it shrivel and shrink +while he waited. The clerk occasionally glanced with no abating of +curiosity from the boy to the clock. Two hours passed. Others waiting +in that outer office grew restless. They read. They took quick turns +about the room. They went out into the corridor, and returned. At +last, one by one, they were ushered into the inner office, while Ross +still waited. + +It was past twelve before his father sent for him, and the first glance +the boy encountered was one of displeasure. + +"Did you come in on the night-train?" was the elder Grant's greeting. + +"Yes, sir." + +The father frowned, and looked up at a clock which ticked above their +heads. + +"I telegraphed you that I could see you at nine." + +Ross sank into a great padded, leather-upholstered chair. All about him +were evidences of luxury, but he was conscious only of his father's +displeasure and of his own disreputable appearance. He studied his hands +awkwardly, and stumbled in his reply. + +"I should have been here by nine, sir, but for an accident which occurred +on the ferry----" + +"Accident?" His father's tone softened. + +Ross looked at his coat-sleeve. "There was a fine horse, a big bay that +stood behind a truckster's cart. He took an apple. It lodged in his +throat, and he nearly choked to death." The boy hesitated and glanced +up. "I got it out," he explained simply, adding apologetically, "I got +awfully mussed up doing it, though." + +"You!" Grant burst out, paying no attention to the apology. "You got it +out!" He leaned forward, genuinely interested. "How did you do it?" + +Ross warmed under the interest in the tone. "I was standing in the +bow of the boat, just over the rail from the horse, and I saw what +the trouble was. There was no one else who seemed to know what to do." +He spoke modestly. "The horse would have died before we reached the +landing; and so," simply, "I ran my arm down his throat, and got the +apple." + +"You did!" ejaculated Grant. He leaned further forward. "And what +prevented the horse from chewing up your arm while you were after the +apple?" + +"A bootblack's brush," Ross explained. "A boy was rubbing up a man's +shoes near me; and I grabbed his brushes, and got busy. One of the deck +hands helped me prop the horse's mouth open. I threw off my coat"--here +Ross surveyed himself ruefully, and left the subject of the horse; "and I +got pretty dirty all over. Couldn't help it. There wasn't any time to +think of keeping clean. But after we got over on the New York side +the owner of the horse took me to a stable, and helped me to clean +up; but--I don't think it's much of a success." + +Mr. Grant leaned back in his swivel chair, rested his elbows on the arms, +and fitted his finger-tips together. His imagination, country-trained +in his youth, was supplying some of the details which his son had +omitted. He nodded his iron-gray head, and narrowed his eyes, a trick +common to all the Grants when intent on any subject. + +"Quick work," he remarked after a pause. His eyes were taking the measure +of his son. "It had to be quick work," he added as if to convince himself +that Ross could act swiftly. + +"Where did you get breakfast?" was his next question. + +"I haven't had any," Ross replied. "I tried to get here by nine +o'clock." + +A low whistle escaped the father. He arose, and reached for his hat, +which lay on the top of a safe behind him. "We'll go out to lunch now." + +Ross glanced doubtfully from his father's well-groomed person to his +own dirty coat. + +"Perhaps, father, you'd like me to go out alone so long as----" + +"Nonsense!" interrupted Grant brusquely. + +As they left the room, he took his boy's arm. There was little +resemblance between the two. Ross had his uncle's head with its +high brow and well-shaped chin, lean cheeks, and prominent ears. He was +taller than his father, but wholly lacked his father's energetic +manner and erect carriage. + +"You graduated in June from Wyoming Seminary," the father stated as they +entered a large Broadway restaurant and sat down near the door. + +"Yes, sir." + +"No honors?" + +The boy's eyes fell. "No, sir. I stood tenth in a class of thirty-four." + +Evasion of the truth was not one of Ross's strong points. + +"And," stated his father, "it took you five years to do a four years' +course." + +Ross looked his father squarely in the eyes, and lifted his chin a +little. The father noticed for the first time that the boy's chin could +indicate aggression. + +"I flunked on mathematics. But I made them up the next summer, and went +on." + +Again Grant looked at his son attentively, the son who retrieved his +failure and "went on." + +"You're seventeen," he said abruptly. "What's next?" The question, as +both knew, was superfluous. + +"Medical college," Ross answered as abruptly as the question had been +put. "I am preparing for the entrance examinations in the University of +Pennsylvania. I want to go down and take them in January, and at the same +time pass upon a couple of subjects in the freshman year." + +There was a gleam of curiosity in Grant's deep-set eyes as he put the +next questions. + +"Haven't I told you repeatedly that I shall never advance one penny on a +medical education for you?" + +"Yes, sir." Ross's eyes met his father's steadily but respectfully. +"And I shall not ask you to advance a cent." + +"But haven't I forbidden your uncle, also, to help you out?" + +"Yes, sir, and Uncle Fred has no intention of helping me. He'll keep +the letter and the spirit of the law you have laid down." + +"Well, then----" + +Ross smiled quietly. "But you have never forbidden my getting a medical +education through my own efforts; and that, father, is what I intend to +do." + +Ross Grant, Senior, found himself looking into eyes which he recognized +as strangely like his own and shining with the same determination which +in himself had established a thriving business and built up a moderate +fortune. Never had he been so interested in his son. Never had he so +coveted him for a business career. But, as he ate a moment in silence, +young Ross's determined voice seemed to be repeating in old Ross's +ears, "That, father, is what I intend to do." + +During the remainder of the meal the elder Grant listened attentively +to the younger's plans. To Ross this was a new experience. After the +first irritation over his tardiness, his father had not once oppressed +him with that sense of disapproval and disappointment which usually sent +him back to his uncle with a buoyant relief at his escape from New York. + +Still, he was not deceived. He knew that his father's summons had to do +with the thwarting of his surgical career; and he was prepared to argue, +persuade, do anything short of actual defiance, to gain permission to +work for the object toward which all his inclinations pulled. + +As they made their way up Broadway through the noon-hour crowd, a +feminine voice behind them suddenly piped out excitedly: + +"There he is, Kate, right ahead of you--that tall, round-shouldered young +man. He's the one I told you about on the ferry this morning. I tell you +what, he made all the men around step lively for a few minutes." + +Ross suddenly quickened his pace. His face flushed uncomfortably, but +the voice of "Kate's" companion was still at his heels. + +"Why, he grabbed them brushes and was over the rail as quick as a cat, +and had that horse's mouth open before its owner even knew that it was +chokin'----" + +Ross, Senior, strode along behind Ross, Junior, now in a vain attempt +to keep up. He chuckled in a sly enjoyment of the boy's embarrassment. + +"He certainly can move, I see," he muttered, "when he has something to +move toward--or away from!" + +But the mutter was lost on Ross seeking an escape from that voice of +praise by dodging in and out among the crowd until his father lost sight +of him, and found him again only at the entrance to the office building. + +When the two were again seated in the private office, the father for +the first time broached the matter which he had called the son from +Pennsylvania to hear; and, had he studied the boy for months, he could +not have overcome his opposition more tactfully and completely. + +"Ross," he began quietly, "I am not going to forbid your going to a +medical college this year or any other year. To be honest with you, I +admire your grit. I believe it will bring you success. And so, as I say, +I am not going to forbid your entering the University of Pennsylvania. +But--I am going to ask a favor of you." + +Ross's eyes sparkled. His father swung around, and, picking up a pencil, +marked aimlessly on a pad lying on the big mahogany desk. + +"Well, father." + +"I am going to ask you to help me pay a debt which I owe--and the payment +will certainly spoil this year so far as college is concerned." + +Grant paused. He did not look up, but he heard Ross draw a deep breath. +Then there was silence. + +"Keep in mind," Grant began again, "that I am not requiring this of +you--I am asking it." + +"Yes--sir." + +The tone gave the father the uncomfortable impression that he was +assisting at a surgical operation on his son, but he bent his head a +little lower over the pad, and traced figures more carefully as he +began abruptly on a seemingly new subject. + +"Have I ever told you about my Western partner, Jake Weimer?" + +"No, sir." + +"Well, I started business in the West without a cent, and it was Weimer +who gave me my start. He was running a store in Butte, and took me with +him. I have managed to get beyond a start, but Weimer never has. After I +came East he lost his share of our earnings, and turned prospector. Ever +since he has spent his life trying to squeeze gold out of the mountains. +Again and again he has staked out claims, and I've grub-staked him to +the finish. For twenty-five years this has gone on. So far, none of +the properties have amounted to much; still, we hold them; there's +always a chance of a rise in value." + +Grant drew straight, heavy lines on the pad as he told the story of +his grub-staked partner. He fell easily into the vernacular of the +gold-fields. + +"Four years ago Weimer went prospecting among the Shoshones in Wyoming +over near Yellowstone Park. There he began development work on some +deserted claims, a few miles from Miners' Camp." + +Here Grant pulled a letter from his pocket, and consulted it. + +"The claims, it seems," he continued, "had been originally worked by two +men named Allen and Waymart McKenzie. They did the required work for +three years, and then threw up their job and left Wyoming. Now they're +back again, wishing, evidently, that they had never left." + +Ross nodded. His eyes had not left his father's face. + +"Weimer has felt from the first that he would make good on these claims. +He has sent me quartz from time to time, and I've had it assayed. +It carries moderately high values in gold, silver, and lead; but, as +the camp is eighty miles from a railroad, up among almost impassable +mountains, where it's impossible to get the quartz to a smelter, I +confess I have paid but little attention to Weimer's work. It has +seemed a waste of energy, despite his enthusiasm." + +Grant suddenly threw himself back in his chair. His manner took on a +keener edge, and his tone became brisker. + +"But this year things bid fair to change there because the Burlington +Railroad is surveying a line from Cody, and a boom is in prospect for +next summer. Our claims have suddenly acquired a new importance; they +promise to become valuable." + +"Then," commented Ross in a low, constrained tone, "Weimer will get +beyond a 'start' at last." + +Grant regarded his son keenly. He did not answer the comment directly. + +"According to the law of Wyoming," he continued, "one hundred dollars' +worth of work a year for five years must be done on a claim, or five +hundred dollars' worth all together within five years, before the +tract can be patented, by which I mean before the owners can receive a +clear title to it. Now, Weimer has done four years' work all right; +but this year, the fifth and last in which he can hold the claims without +fulfilling the conditions of work to the full, he is failing because +of snow-blindness. It seems he had an attack last spring, and was obliged +to stay in his cabin for weeks at a time instead of working." + +Ross cleared his throat. "And if he fails----" + +"We lose the claims, and the McKenzies get them back." Grant again +consulted the letter. "Weimer got a man named Steele to write this--an +Amos Steele in Miners' Camp. He writes that the McKenzies are taking +advantage of some technicalities in the law. They have already filed +a claim on the tract based on their three years' former occupancy. +This will clear the way for them to take possession in case Weimer +fails with the work. Steele goes on to say that, if the claims are +saved, some one must come out and look after them--preferably some one +with a personal interest in the property." + +Mr. Grant laid the letter down, adding slowly, "If you go, I shall give +you a substantial personal interest." + +There ensued a pause. Ross sat motionless. His gaze had left his +father's face, and was fixed on the rug. + +"Now, knowing," Grant continued, "that Weimer has set his heart on these +claims, I can't desert him. That work must be done and the claims +patented." + +There was another pause. Grant looked at his son expectantly, but still +Ross neither moved nor spoke. + +"Weimer is a good sort," Grant went on tentatively. "You'd like Weimer. +He's a big man and jolly in every pound of his avoirdupois. Great +story-teller--stories worth listening to, what's more. You wouldn't +be dull with him." + +Grant leaned forward suddenly, and asked directly the question to which +his son felt there could be but one reply in view of his father's appeal. + +"My boy, will you go?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A STEADY HAND + + +IN the two weeks which elapsed between Ross's visit to his father and +his start for Wyoming he planned hopefully for the year. + +"Father has given me a free hand," he told his uncle. "As soon as I can +get the work done and the claims patented I am at liberty to come back +home, and I tell you I shall hustle. I shall hire as many men as are +necessary in Miners' Camp, and take 'em over to Meadow Creek, where +the claims are located, and just rush that work through." + +"I wonder," remarked Dr. Grant thoughtfully, "why that man Weimer +doesn't hire it done instead of sending East for some one to manage +the matter." + +Ross frowned into the open grate before which the two were sitting. +"Why, uncle, I never thought of that, and father didn't mention it. In +fact, he knows but very little about Miners' Camp or Weimer's work, +and you know he hasn't seen Weimer in years. All he knows about the +business is contained in a letter that Weimer got a man named Amos Steele +to write. Weimer, it seems, can't use his eyes to read or write. The +letter is very short. That man Steele is a mine-superintendent out there. +Father knows about the company which he works for." + +"The very idea," cried Aunt Anne a few moments later in tearful +indignation, "of Ross Grant's sending that boy away out West to the +jumping-off place into the wilderness without knowing the conditions +into which he's sending him! It's a shame. He's our boy, and I +don't want him to go." + +The doctor made no reply, but retired precipitately to the office, where +he had occupied himself at intervals all day with fitting up an emergency +chest for Ross. + +The chest was a little oblong, hair-covered strong trunk, which had held +all of the doctor's worldly possessions when, thirty years before, he +had started to the medical college just as his brother, Ross's father, +had started West for his financial "start." Into this chest uncle and +nephew fitted all sorts of objects medical, from books to bandages. + +"When you're eighty miles from a physician, Ross, and shut in by +snow-drifted mountains at that, it's well to have a few remedies +and appliances on hand." + +"And, when you're several Sabbath days' journey from civilization, +with time to burn on your hands, it's also well to have some light +literature along," laughed Ross, tucking into the chest Piersol's +"Histology." "I intend to make my time count for myself, as well as +for Weimer and father." + +Aunt Anne, meantime, was packing another and more modern chest, her tears +besprinkling the contents. + +"I have put your winter shirts and chamois-skin vest right on top of the +tray, Ross," she sobbed as she bade him good-bye. "You better put 'em +on as soon as you reach the mountains, as it will be cold there." + +"All right, aunt; I shall." Ross's voice was a little husky as he turned +to his uncle. + +Dr. Grant was standing beside the vacated breakfast table absorbed in +filling a glass of water. Carefully he brimmed it drop by drop. + +Aunt Anne peered through her tears. "Why, Fred," she exclaimed, "what +are you up to? Don't make Ross miss his train." + +Calmly the doctor added a few more drops, and then turned to his nephew. +His eyes narrowed intently as he motioned toward the glass. + +"I want to test your nerves, Ross. Hold it out," he directed. + +The boy smiled confidently, raised the glass, carried it from him the +length of a long, steady arm, and held it there. Then he returned it to +the table without spilling a drop. + +The doctor grasped the hand that had held the glass, looking earnestly +into the boy's eyes. + +"Ross, the hand that holds the surgeon's knife successfully must _keep +as steady as this_." + +For a long, silent moment uncle and nephew looked into each other's +faces as their hands gripped. Ross made no reply, but in the expression +which leaped to his eyes the older man read the resolution which +satisfied him, and which seemed a part of this slow, steady nephew of his. + +An hour later the boy was being borne westward on the way to Chicago and +the "jumping-off place into the wilderness." + +At the same time his father sat behind his desk on Broadway reading a +letter postmarked Cody, Wyo., and signed D. H. Leonard. It was written +in reply to a recent communication from Ross Grant, Senior. + +"Of course I shall be glad to do anything in my power for your son," +the letter read, "along the lines you have suggested. I see the wisdom +of your move, too. It doesn't always do to refuse a boy's demands +point-blank. It's far better to turn him from his purpose as you are +doing--or trying to do, I should say, because, if young Ross is anything +like old Ross, he will not be so easily turned. Yet, as you say, a +little stirring up and jostling out of his uncle's beaten tracks may +put some new ideas into his head. This country certainly bids fair to +be stirring enough now to fascinate any young man. It's a good idea +also to give him a half-share in your share of the claims; and I'm +sure, if the railroad makes good its promise of a way up to Miners' +Camp, the claims will be worth working for. And, as a real estate +dealer, I don't need to be urged to do my best to interest him in the +business of this vast land, the country of the future." + +In Chicago a telegram overtook Ross. It was from his father. "Stop +overnight at Hotel Irma, Cody," it read. "Leonard will meet you there." + +Two days later, early in the morning, the west bound express dropped +Ross Grant and half a dozen other passengers at Toluca, in southern +Montana, a station with a water-tank and some cattle corrals attached. +Here stood the train which by day plied over the branch road to Cody, +and by night returned to Toluca. It was a mixed train consisting of +freight and express cars with a sleeper at the end. + +The half dozen passengers, reënforced by others left by the east bound +express, all men, transferred themselves to this coach. Every one +except Ross seemed to be more or less acquainted with every one else. +Ross sat silent, listening and looking out on as much of the great +West as was visible from the slowly moving car. Across the windswept, +sun-cracked plain grumbled the old engine. On either side were herds of +cattle fattening on the dusty dried grass, which looked to Ross dead +and worthless. Not a tree met his eyes, and not a house. + +"Got the Western fever yet?" drawled a voice behind him finally, and Ross +looked around into the good-natured face of a man who had boarded the +north bound express at Omaha. + +Ross shook his head decidedly. "There's nothing here to give a fellow +the Western fever," he returned, pointing to the flat yellow plain +overlaid by the dull yellow sunshine. + +The man lounged forward, his elbows on the back of Ross's seat, and +grinned. He was apparently about thirty, short and fair, with sandy +hair and mustache. He wore corduroy trousers and coat, with a dark +flannel shirt and turn-over collar under which was knotted carelessly a +broad green silk tie. Hanging to the back of his head was a brown, +broad-brimmed hat, the crown encircled with a narrow band of intricately +woven hair dyed in all the colors of the rainbow. + +"I'll tell ye what's out there that gives most of us the Western +fever," he declared; "and that's money prospects. Sort of a yellow +fever, ye know, it is, except that no one wants to be cured." + +"Then I don't want to catch it in the first place," declared Ross, +looking out of the window again. + +Presently some one in the rear of the car lowered a newspaper, and +rumbled over the top of it: + +"You fellers rec'lect old man Quinn?" + +Some did; some did not. To the latter, the speaker explained. + +"Used to live in Cody. Friend of Buffalo Bill, old man Quinn was. Went +down to Oklahomy five years ago, and bought a sheep ranch. He and some +of the cattlemen around him got by the ears over how much of the range +belonged to the sheep----" + +Here an inarticulate murmur sounded through the car. There was a "cattle +war" on in Wyoming at that time. + +"Wall, one night two years ago about now, after a big round-up at +North Fork, one thousand of old man Quinn's sheep was driven over the +bluffs into North Fork River. All that old man Quinn could find out +was that four men done it. But he kept a-tryin' to find out, and got +a _de_tective down from Kansas City, feller who used to be a cow puncher +himself; and he nabbed three of 'em. They had had the gall to stay right +there on the range all this time." + +"Good reason," volunteered some one, "why it took so long to land 'em. I +suppose old man Quinn was lookin' for 'em among the punchers that had +left after the round-up." + +"Jest so," declared the informant. "He was tryin' to track up every one +who cleared out after the round-up--jest so." + +"How long did they git?" asked some one further up the aisle. + +"Two years." + +"Sandy," some one across the aisle said to the man behind Ross, "wa'n't +you down t' Oklahomy punchin' two year ago?" + +There was a perceptible pause. Then a note of irritation spoke through +Sandy's drawl as he answered briefly, "No, north Texas." + +And, while the rest continued the discussion concerning old man Quinn, +he leaned forward and devoted himself to Ross. + +Presently they came to the hills whose barrenness and sombreness were +relieved at intervals by the brilliant coloring of the rocks. + +"Well," asked Sandy, "what do ye think of this? It ain't every day East +that ye can walk around the crater of an old volcano." + +"Is this----" began Ross, his head out of the window. + +"This is!" chuckled he of the sandy hair. + +The train was crawling slowly around the edge of a wide, shallow well, on +all sides of which the hills frowned darkly, stripped of every vestige +of verdure. + +"An extinct volcano!" ejaculated Ross. + +"Yep,"--the other sagged forward until his laughing face was close to +Ross's,--"but just let me tell ye right here, young man, that volcanoes +is the only thing in the West that's extinct. Everything else is pretty +lively." + +Ross joined in the laugh which greeted this sally all around him. The +man opposite lowered his paper, and looked over his glasses. + +"Volcanoes _and_ hopes, Sandy," he amended quickly, instantly retiring +again behind his paper. + +Ross did not understand the significance of the retort, but he noticed +that several men around exchanged glances and that Sandy's face lost a +fraction of its good nature. And when Sandy's face lost its humorous +expression, it was not pleasing. + +Dusk and Cody drew near together. The train dropped over the "rim," and +steamed along through the Big Horn Basin, coming to a final standstill in +front of another station and water-tank. + +"Cody," announced the brakeman. "All out." + +Ross, suitcase in hand, his top-coat over his arm, stumbled out of the +train, still swaying with the perpetual motion of the last few days. A +big open wagon with side seats stood beside the platform. At the call of +the driver Ross looked around interrogatively at Sandy, who was still +beside him. + +"Oh, we're two miles from the town yet," Sandy replied to the look. +"Pile in. Train can't make it over the shelves between here and +Stinkin' Water." + +Ross silently "piled in." Sandy sat down beside him, and the wagon filled +with the other passengers. + +Behind them, stretching back into the darkness, their heads sagging +sleepily, was a row of teams, their neck-yokes joined by a chain, their +heads connected by a single rein running through the ring at the left +side of the bit. + +"Hey, there," called one of the men in the wagon, "does Grasshopper +strike the trail to-night for Meeteetse?" + +"Yep," came a voice beside a lantern which was traveling to and fro. +"There's a lot of freight to pack up to Miners' Camp; and, if it gits +there ahead of the snow, these freighters have got to hit the pike more +rapid than they have been doin'." + +A horseman dashed past the wagon and into the circle of light from the +lantern hung in front of the station. Dropping the reins to the ground, +he swung his leather-enveloped legs off the horse, and yelled at the +station agent: + +"Have those boxes of apples come yet?" + +"Just here," replied the holder of the moving light. + +"Can't you start 'em up by the Meeteetse stage to-night?" demanded the +newcomer. "The boys are about famished." + +"Them surveyors," complained the agent, "are always hollerin' for more +grub. 'N' no matter how much ye fill 'em, they don't go faster than +molasses in January. Ain't got beyond Sagehen Roost this minute, and +they'll probably be a-quittin' in a month." + +Ross pricked up his ears. The same interest was manifested by Sandy. + +"Don't you worry about our quitting," the newcomer returned brusquely; +"if the Burlington Railroad starts out to run a track up to Miners' +Camp, why, it will run one, that's all, if the track has to go under +snow-sheds all the way up from the Meadows." + +At this point the big open bus rumbled off over the dust-choked "shelf" +toward Cody. An unwieldy swaying coach drawn by four horses passed them +on its way to the station. + +"Meeteetse stage is late to-night," remarked Sandy. + +On rumbled the wagon. Its brake screamed against the wheel as the horses +plunged down the steep inclines which marked the descent from one "shelf" +to another. Presently a vile odor greeted Ross's nostrils, and at the +same time the wagon struck the bridge over the sulphurated waters of +the Shoshone, and began the climb on the other side. + +Ross was keenly alive to this strange new world in which the convenience +of the East met the newness and crudeness of the West. Brilliant +electric lights illuminated dust-deep, unpaved, unsprinkled streets. +Tents stood beside pretentious homes, and stone business blocks were +rising beside offices located in canvas wagons with rounded tops. And +to and fro past the wagon flashed horsemen, cowboys dressed like Sandy +except that their corduroy trousers were incased in leather "chaps." + +Sandy, watching Ross out of the corner of his eye, grinned at the boy's +expression. + +"Buck up here, tenderfoot," he advised good-naturedly. "This here is +'The Irma'; and, if you've got any better hotels in the East, why, +don't tell Colonel Cody of it, at any rate, for 'The Irma' is the +Colonel's pet." + +Then Ross found himself in the foyer of "The Irma," the hotel that +"Buffalo Bill" erected to honor his home town, which bears his name, +a comfortable, modernly equipped house decorated with hundreds of +paintings, water colors, and etchings, all picturing the scenes in +Colonel Cody's life as represented in his "Wild West Show." + +Sandy had registered in advance of Ross, and stepped to a swinging door +at the end of the counter. There he stopped and turned back. "Come on +and have a drink, tenderfoot," he invited good-naturedly. + +Ross was writing his name, and did not look up. "No, thank you," he +returned quietly. "I don't drink." + +Several men lounging about glanced curiously at the boy. Sandy thrust +his hands into his pockets, and, leaning against the counter, looked at +him in open interest. + +After Ross had registered, he drew a nickel from his pocket and laid it +on the counter. "A two-cent stamp, please." + +The clerk, impatient with the deliberation of his movements, cast the +nickel hurriedly into the cash drawer and handed out a stamp. Ross +waited for the change, while three men behind him pressed forward to +the register. + +Sandy grinned broadly. "There's no change comin', tenderfoot," he said +with a chuckle. "You've reached a land where nothin' less'n a nickel +can be got outside a post-office." + +"Pennies don't grow in the Rocky Mountains," added the clerk in a tone +which plainly invited the boy to move on. + +The tone brought the blood to Ross's cheek. His eyes suddenly narrowed. +His head went up, and his voice quickened and deepened. + +"Very well, then," he returned coolly, "give me another two-cent stamp +and a postal card." + +Sandy patted his thigh softly. "You'll pass, tenderfoot," he murmured. +"No flies on you--at least, they don't stick there." + +Ross took his trophies, and retired to a desk beside the swinging door. +Just as he had finished directing a letter to his Aunt Anne he noticed +that his new friend was waiting again beside the counter. + +When the last man had registered, Sandy pulled the book toward him and +leaned over it. Suddenly he bent lower, and jabbed hard on the page with +his forefinger. When he turned, all the good humor had dropped out of +his face. With a glance of keen interest at the boy beside the desk he +passed on into the barroom. + +So marked was the change in his manner that Ross paused in the act of +dipping his pen into the ink-well. + +"Guess I'll see who Sandy is," he thought, and, dropping his pen, +crossed to the book. + +The name stared up at him in big bold letters directly above his own, +but he had not noticed it at the time of registering. + + _"Allen McKenzie, Miners' Camp."_ + +Ross pursed his thin lips, and nearly whistled aloud as he returned to +his desk. + +"It's one of the McKenzies who are after our claims," he wrote at +the end of a long letter to his uncle and aunt; "but he is a funny, +good-natured fellow. I partly like him and partly don't. He has no +six-shooter in sight--in fact, I'm told that six-shooters have gone +more or less out of fashion in Wyoming; and he doesn't look a bit as I +had imagined a 'claim-jumper' would. But one thing he may reckon on; +there will be no chance for him or any one else to jump the Weimer-Grant +claims in a few months." + +And, sealing this confident declaration, he slipped the letter into the +mail-box, ate a hearty dinner, and went to bed. + +The following morning at nine o'clock D. H. Leonard, his father's +old-time friend, appeared, and greeted the son most cordially. Mr. +Leonard was a man of middle age, hale, red-faced, bald-headed, and +wearing a "boiled" shirt and collar. He was a dealer in real estate, with +offices in both Cody and Basin. It was to his office that he first +took Ross. + +"We'll go for a drive by and by," he began, throwing himself back in +his chair and tossing a cigar across the desk. "We have the country of +the future here, and I want you to see it. Perfect gold-mine in this land +once it's irrigated." + +Ross picked up the cigar, played with it a moment, and laid it again on +the desk, listening attentively. + +The older man drew a match across the woodwork beneath his chair, and +lighted his cigar. "It's _the_ place for young men, Grant, a greater +place than it was when Horace Greeley gave his advice to young men to +go West--here's a match," he interrupted himself to say. + +Ross accepted the match, bit on the end of it a moment, and laid it +beside the cigar. + +"Don't you smoke?" asked Leonard in some surprise. + +Before Ross could reply, some one called Mr. Leonard out into the hall. +As the door closed behind him, Ross arose and stood silently in front +of the open window. Beyond the little town and beyond the level stretch +of "shelves" arose the Big Horn Mountains, miles away, but so sharply +outlined in the clear air that they seemed only a short walk distant. + +As Ross leaned against the window-casing, some one in the room adjoining +came to the open window. The stub of a cigar was thrown out, and a voice +exclaimed: + +"But if Grant realized the situation, he'd never have sent a boy out +here to look after those claims. And it looks as though it was his +son--same initials. But with such a boy and Weimer you ought to be +able----" + +The speaker left the window at this point, and Ross lost the rest of the +sentence. In a few moments, however, some one clattered through the +hall and down the stairs, with spurs jingling. A horse stood on the +street below, tethered only by its bridle-reins dangling to the ground. +From the entrance to the building Sandy McKenzie emerged, clad as on +the previous day, except for a colored handkerchief knotted about his +neck. Mounting his pony, he touched a spur to its flank, and galloped +away in a cloud of dust just as Leonard returned. + +"Who's in the next room?" asked Ross. + +"Over on the right?" asked Leonard carelessly. "Oh, a lawyer has that +office." He crossed to the window, and glanced out just as McKenzie +disappeared. "Evidently Sandy's pulling out for the mountains," he +observed. "Miners' Camp, that is." + +"Are there only two McKenzies?" asked Ross. + +Leonard shrugged his shoulders. "Two are all that have ever showed up +around here--Sandy and Waymart; but they say there are half a dozen more +brothers and cousins, some figurin' under names not their own; but where +they put up I don't know." + +Here he turned and looked curiously at Ross. "I suppose your father told +you that Sandy and Waymart are sitting up on Meadow Creek waiting to jump +the Grant-Weimer claims." + +"Yes, he told me," answered Ross, and hesitated. "Do they use guns in +the jumping process?" + +Leonard laughed. "Not much! They have other and safer methods of getting +their own way in case Weimer doesn't do the work the law requires this +year." + +Then he glanced at the unsmoked cigar, and repeated his question of some +time before. "Don't you smoke?" + +Ross shook his head shortly. + +"Why not?" Leonard looked at his old friend's son in friendly interest. + +Ross stretched out his right arm in an unconscious imitation of the test +his uncle had required of him only a few mornings before. "It's apt to +get on a fellow's nerves," was all the reply he made. + +There was much to see during the day and much to hear. Leonard took the +boy for a long drive up the caņon of the Shoshone, whose densely green +waters have a background of brilliant reds and yellows in the sandstone +sides of the wall through which the river has cut. Up and yet up the +carriage went, with the walls rising higher and higher on either side, +the road a mere thread blasted out of the rocks, up to the great dam +which was beginning to raise its head across the river bed to hold back +the water and distribute it over Big Horn Basin through irrigating canals. + +Ross's interest, however, during the drive was divided. He was glad to +see the vast "Shoshone Project," as the government reservoir is called; +but his most active thoughts were following Sandy McKenzie on his way +to Miners' Camp, and his questions were of the Camp and Wyoming mining +laws and the conditions he would meet in this new and strange land. + +But Leonard had never been up to Camp, and was not interested in mining, +but in ranch lands; therefore, Ross got but little enlightenment from +him, and finally, ceasing to question, listened in silence while the +older man, in obedience to the senior Grant's request, did his best to +interest the junior Grant in the business prospects of Wyoming. + +"I want you to come down to Basin at Christmas," Leonard said cordially +as host and guest sat down to dinner in the dining-room of "The Irma" at +six o'clock that night. "My home is in Basin. It's the county-seat of +Big Horn County, you know; and I want you to come down there. I want to +show you more of this magnificent country." + +Ross was grateful for this friendly invitation, but made no promises; and +presently the two were eating in silence, Ross looking with interest on +some of the contrasts which were too familiar for Leonard even to notice. + +Under elaborate and gaudy chandeliers was a bare and not overclean floor. +Looking down on the thickest and heaviest of cracked china were pictures +by well-known artists. Seated around the tables spread in linen, were +bearded men in chaps and overalls, flannel shirts and spurs, together +with those in tan oxfords and broadcloth. + +At the table opposite Ross, and facing him, was a man to whom his +glance returned again and again. He sat alone. His square, unexpressive +face was relieved by a pair of fine dark-brown eyes. The lower part of +his face was covered by a stubby reddish beard. His hair was brown, and +fell nearly to his eyes, giving him the appearance of having a low +forehead. He wore a coat,--the first of its kind Ross had seen,--a short, +bulky affair, with a high collar laid over the shoulders and lined +throughout with lambskin, the wool badly worn on the collar. His chaps +were of undressed leather, with the long hair trimmed short save from +the thigh to the ankle. High riding boots, spurs, and a sombrero, which +he wore low over his forehead while eating, completed his costume. + +"Who is he?" asked Ross. + +Mr. Leonard shook his head. "Man next to me here said he rode in this +afternoon on the Yellowstone trail. Don't know who he is." + +As if he felt he was under discussion, the stranger raised his head, and +his eyes met Ross's in a quick furtive glance. + +After dinner Leonard gripped Ross's hand in farewell, and left. An hour +later there was a rattle of wheels in front of the hotel, the sound of +horses's hoofs, and a rollicking voice called: + +"Meeteetse stage. All aboard!" + +Ross, with a glance around the office which he expected to see again +before spring, picked up his bag, and went out on the piazza. Here he +stood while his trunk and the emergency chest were swung up behind the +stage and roped. Then he climbed up beside the driver, who was glad to +have some one near to help him keep awake during the long night ride, and +they were off, only to be stopped almost immediately by a man standing +in the doorway of a store. + +"Hold up there!" shouted the man. "Steele is here, and wants to go on +to-night." + +The name caught Ross's attention. "Is it Amos Steele?" he asked the +driver. + +The driver assented. "Yep--superintendent of the Gale's Ridge Mine up +in Camp." + +Ross leaned forward and surveyed with interest the pleasant-faced, +well-dressed, squarely-built young man who came out of the store and +climbed into the stage. In his pocket Ross had the letter Steele had +written his father at Weimer's request. + +"Git out of this," the driver requested briefly of his four bronchos as +the stage door slammed to, and the four obligingly "got out" on a run. + +Just as they left the last house behind them, a figure on horseback +whirled by in a cloud of dust, and Ross recognized in the sheepskin coat +and hairy chaps the stranger who had attracted his attention during +dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DOC TENDERFOOT IN ACTION + + +BESIDES Steele, there were three other passengers inside the stage +that night. One was the assistant manager of the Embar Ranch, south of +Meeteetse. He had been to Omaha with a car-load of cattle. The remaining +two were miners whom Steele had picked up in Butte. This much Ross +learned from the driver. He learned many other things by listening to +the conversation between Hillis, the manager, and Steele, although +all the while he was keenly observant of his surroundings. + +The stage was bowling along smoothly over a road as level as a floor and +flooded by brilliant moonlight. Behind them Cody faded into silvery +mist, guarded by the huge shadowy bulks of the Big Horn Mountains. Ahead, +houseless and treeless, stretched the shelf until the shimmering mist +cut off the sight. And in the distance, so far ahead that sometimes he +blended with the mist, rode the horseman in the sheepskin coat. + +"Hi, there, Andy," called the ranch-manager; "who is that fellow ahead?" + +Andy, the driver, turned, and looked down through the open flap into the +cavernous darkness of the stage. "Don't know. Didn't find out. I have +seen fellers, though, that can give more information about themselves +per square inch than that same chap ahead there." + +"I never saw 'im in these parts before," returned Hillis. + +"Nor I." The driver spat over the flank of the right wheeler. "Gid'ep +there, Suke, ye slowmy, you! Hike it, old Blue! Git out of this!" And, +having thus jogged the energy of the leaders, Andy gave his attention +again to Hillis. "Hain't ever set eyes on that brown chap before. I +guessed back there he was bound fer Embar. Looks like a puncher." + +"I wish"--the assistant manager of the Embar spoke forcefully--"that he +and seven or eight more were bound for the Embar." + +"Short of hands, eh?" questioned Andy, whirling his "black snake" so +skilfully that the lash missed the heads of the wheelers, and touched the +flank of the nigh leader. + +"Short of hands?" Steele broke in. "Who isn't short of hands from Butte +to Omaha--especially in Wyoming? I've been out two weeks advertising +and hunting men, and here I am back again with two only." + +Ross turned half around in his high seat, and grasped the low back. "Is +labor as scarce as that in Miners' Camp?" he burst out in a brusque, +astonished tone which betrayed a personal interest. + +"As scarce as diamonds," returned Steele, adding with a laugh, "and +almost as expensive." + +Andy pushed back his hat, and surveyed his young companion with +curiosity. There was a little stir in the coach also. + +"It must be"--Amos Steele spoke as if the matter had been debated +before--"that you are related to Ross Grant of New York." + +"Yes," returned Ross, "I am his son." + +He was conscious of becoming an immediate centre of speculation. + +"I wondered," remarked Steele, "when I saw your name on the hotel +register. Going out to Camp, are you?" + +"Yes," Ross hesitated. "In answer to that letter you wrote father for +Mr. Weimer." + +"Oh!" Steele's tone was edged with astonishment. + +"Come out to see to the work, did ye?" asked Andy. + +"Yes." + +Andy glanced sidewise, and Ross caught the look of incredulity. + +[Illustration: "Regular Trail from Miner's Camp to Weimer's, Etc."] + +"Expected to hire men to do it, did ye?" That Andy was a general +information bureau was due to his faculty for asking questions. + +"Yes, I do," emphatically. + +The present tense of the reply did not escape the listener's attention. + +"Weimer has tried to hire," volunteered Steele; "but it's no use." + +"Why not?" demanded the boy. + +"Well, in the first place, as I said, there hain't enough men to supply +the demand; and, in the second place, no man in his senses is going away +over on the Creek, where he'll be shut in for months, when he can just +as well stay down in Camp, and get the same wages." + +"Shut in for months?" repeated Ross slowly. + +Andy explained. "Along about first of February ye're shut in fer +sartain. Trail fills up, and there's apt to be snowslides any time on +old Crosby." + +Ross sat with widening eyes staring out into the moonlight, and wondering +with tightening muscles what he was "up against." The vagueness of his +father's knowledge concerning Weimer's work had not counted in New +York. But here, swinging along toward Miners' Camp with two-thirds +of the width of the continent between himself and his friends, Ross +realized that this vagueness had put him at a disadvantage. + +The two men behind him began discussing the cattle market, and the +stage slid down the side of the first mesa of the Wyoming bad lands +and into the coulee, or dry creek, at the bottom. The level road was +left behind. Up hill and down plunged the horses ahead of the rocking, +tipping stage. There was no regular road. A dozen tracks showed the +differing routes of as many drivers. To Ross it seemed as if destruction +were imminent every time they came to the top of one of the short, +steep hills. But Andy jammed on the brake hard, and, giving a peculiar +little whistle, yelled carelessly, "Git out of this." + +Presently Andy took advantage of the rattle of wheels and hoofs to say +to Ross: "Steele is boss of the Gale's Ridge work up to Camp. They keep +open all winter; t'other company shuts down." + +"Shuts down?" repeated Ross. + +"Yep, has to. Men go down t' Cody t' work on the Project. Hard work to +keep men in Camp through the winter. When the railroad goes up there, +'twill be different." + +Some one inside the stage struck a match. + +"On time, ain't you, Andy?" asked Steele's voice; "it's twelve-thirty." + +"Yep," returned the driver. "Here's Dry Creek." + +The road, a well-defined track here, was hemmed in between a creek-bed +on one hand and a hill on the other. On top of the hill, silhouetted +against the star-studded sky, appeared a wagon with a white bellying +canvas top. Around it, covering the hilltop and the side clear down +to the track was a soft white moving mass that caused Ross to give a +startled exclamation. + +"Why--that looks like--it _is_ sheep!" he ejaculated. "Sheep by the +hundreds." + +"Sheep's the word!" returned the driver. "This is Sheepy's layout. +That's his wagon up yon. He herds fer parties in Cody. There's nigh +seven hundred of them sheep. Never seen such a flock before, did ye?" + +Before Ross could reply, the stage swung around a corner of the hill +and Andy, with a sharp whistle, drew up the leaders abruptly. They were +in an open space in front of the stage camp, half cabin and half dugout +driven into the hillside. Beside the dugout was a low, stout corral, +outside of which were a haystack and a jumble of bales of hay. As the +stage stopped, the door of the dugout opened, and a man loomed large +against a dim light within. + +But all this Ross did not notice at the time. His attention was riveted +on the horse just ahead ridden by the stranger. Around and around it +whirled, unmindful of the quirt and spur of the rider. + +"Pretty ridin'," remarked Andy, spitting appreciatively over the wheel. + +The men inside the stage clambered out with grunts at their stiffened +limbs, and leaned against the wheels watching. The man in the doorway +stepped out, and thrust his hands into his pockets, and looked calmly +while the horse placed its four feet together and humped its back with a +momentum which sent the rider high in the air. + +When he came down, he settled himself in the saddle, drew up on the +reins, and dug his spurs into the horse's flank. The animal, his +nostrils distended and the foam flying from his mouth, without any +warning rose on his hind legs, and threw himself backward. The rider +freed one foot from the stirrup; but the other caught, and horse and +rider went down in a heap. There was a deep groan from both, and then +silence. If the men had seemed indifferent before, they made up in +activity now. With a flying leap Andy was down from his high seat. The +stage-camp man rushed forward, and threw himself on the horse's head, +while the others pulled the unconscious rider from beneath the animal's +body. + +"Leg's done for," Ross heard Steele say as they carried the wounded man +into the dugout. + +Ross clambered awkwardly down from his seat, and followed. He nearly fell +over an empty chicken-coop and into the one little room of the dugout. + +"Put 'im here," directed the stage-camp man, whom the others called +Hank. He pointed to the blankets in the corner from which he had crawled +ten minutes before. + +"Here, boy," Steele said with pale-faced absorption, "smooth the blankets +up." + +Ross, half dazed by his strange and unexpected surroundings, slowly and +clumsily did as he was directed, and they laid the unconscious stranger +down carefully, his left leg hanging limply from a point half-way +between knee and hip. Then the men straightened up, and looked at one +another. + +"A bad job," muttered Hank. + +"Take 'im back to Cody?" asked Steele. + +Hillis shook his head. "Doctor there went to Thermopolis this morning." + +Suddenly the daze which had beclouded Ross's brain cleared away. He woke +up, and his whole attention focused itself on the prostrate man. In a +moment he became alert, resourceful, and active. His boyish hesitation +fell from him. He threw off his top-coat, tossed his cap with it to the +uncovered board table, and, kneeling by the man's side, laid his ear +on the heart. + +"Go out," he said authoritatively to the astonished men, "and bring in my +smallest trunk. Hurry, for this chap will be conscious in just a moment." + +No one stirred. + +Whipping out his jack-knife, Ross cut a strap which secured the chaps, +and caught one leg at the ankle. "Help me pull 'em off," he cried +urgently. + +Some one stooped to the other foot, and the chaps were off. Kneeling +beside the wounded leg, with his knife, Ross ripped the trousers from +ankle to thigh, and exposed a bloody wound. + +"Compound fracture," he exclaimed after a brief examination. + +Then he looked up. "Where's that chest?" he demanded. "I must cleanse +this and bandage it at once." + +The cock-sureness of the boy's tone and the sight of the skilful touch +of his fingers on the wound galvanized the two miners into action, and +in a moment the emergency chest was beside Ross. + +"Hot water," was his next command, as he fumbled with the key, "and a +small dish"--his eye fell on the table--"that salt cellar, with every +grain of salt washed out. Quick!" + +The wounded man had recovered consciousness now, and was groaning, and +clinching his fists, and rolling his head from side to side in agony. + +"Are you a doctor?" asked Steele incredulously. + +"My uncle is," Ross returned briefly, "and I'm going to be." + +The answer, coupled with a view of the contents of the chest and Ross's +manipulation of those contents, brought relief to the men. + +He had produced a hypodermic syringe, and with a tiny morphine tablet +dissolved in the salt cellar he began operations which lasted the greater +part of two hours, and employed every man present. + +"Bring in that hen-coop," directed Ross; "we can use that for a double +inclined plane to stretch the leg over." + +Steele, who had so recently issued orders to a slow and clumsy boy, now +quietly obeyed this embryo surgeon. Hillis was holding bandages, while +Hank and Andy were doing something which filled their souls with wonder, +namely, making long, narrow bags from grain sacks out of which wheat +had been hastily dumped. + +"By the great horn spoon, what're these fer?" Andy demanded in an +undertone, running the big needle deep into his thumb. "Jehoshaphat!" + +Hank shook his head helplessly. He plumped a stick of wood into his rusty +old stove, and refilled a kettle from a water pail which stood on a box. +Steele dragged in the triangular chicken-coop, and laid it beside the +wounded man, who was moaning mechanically and drowsily now. + +Ross arose, and set a bottle of alcohol on the table. He looked +critically at the coop. "The very thing," he muttered with eyes alight. +"How fortunate that I fell over it coming in!" Then he paused in thought. + +Miners' Camp and Meadow Creek were forgotten. Forgotten were Weimer and +the neglected work. A "case" lay before him, a man needing the help that +it was life for the boy to give. + +When, at last, the belated stage was ready to move on, the men, again +in their overcoats, lined up and looked down at the sleeping patient. He +lay with the knee of the wounded leg over the peak of the chicken-coop, +padded thick and soft with blankets, the leg held secure and motionless +between heavy sand-bags. Down the leg from knee to foot on either side +ran strips of adhesive plaster with loops protruding below the foot. And +attached to the loops was a small bag loaded with stone. + +"To reduce the fracture," Ross explained briefly. He was on his knees, +measuring the well leg with a tape measure from the haircloth trunk. +"See, this leg is longer now because the broken parts of the thigh bone +in the other have been driven past each other, and the muscles have +contracted, shortening the leg. The weight on the foot will stretch +the muscles and allow the ends of the bone to meet again." + +"Jehoshaphat!" exclaimed Andy softly. "He's lucky to have you come +trailin' down the pike just behind 'im. But see here, fellers," the +driver turned to the others; "yer Uncle Samuel will dock me this time +sure, fer the mail won't reach Meeteetse in time fer the stage up to +Miners' Camp!" + +"Miners' Camp!" + +The exclamation burst involuntarily from Ross. He arose. The tape measure +dropped from his hands. He drew his hand across his wet forehead. He had +seen the stage load prepare to go on without a thought that he ought +to go also. His one idea had been the care of the nameless man on the +blankets. + +"Miners' Camp," he repeated; "why, I ought to go on!" + +"Not much," cried Hank in lively alarm. "What 'ud I do with him and all +that toggery?" jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the chicken-coop. + +"Of course," was Ross's decision in a low tone, "I can't desert +him--but I ought to go on." + +A few moments later, Andy's four bronchos pounded up the hill beyond +the stage camp and disappeared, leaving Ross standing beside the window +watching. The man on the blankets breathed heavily. A big yellow cat +purred around Ross's legs. Hank poked the fire. + +"Guess I'll rustle some grub now," the latter said in awkward +solicitude. "Ye're all in, ain't ye, Doc?" + +Ross turned from the window wearily without replying, and for the first +time looked about the cabin. + +It was roughly boarded, with a hard dirt floor. In addition to the +bench, the only seats were boxes in which "canned goods" had been stored +away. A pile of wood lay behind an old stove propped up on boxes in +lieu of legs. A cupboard containing some tin cups and thick plates, a +few pans and skillets, and a shelf heaped with magazines half a year +old completed the furnishings of the room. + +Suddenly Ross's eyes lighted on the wounded man's sheepskin coat, which +had been cast hurriedly aside on the floor. Lifting it, he stepped to +the door, and commenced to shake it energetically. Out of the breast +pocket fell a small object. It hit the stone in front of the door +with a metallic ring. Ross picked it up, and looked down into the +photographed face of a winning girl with smiling eyes, curved lips, and +plump cheeks. The picture was a little oval set in a gilt frame. On the +back in a girlish hand was written the inscription, "To Lon Weston." + +"Weston, huh?" came Hank's voice at Ross's elbow. "I never heard of Lon +Weston before. Wonder where he hails from." + +Hank glanced speculatively at the sleeper, then took a deep earthenware +dish from the cupboard, beat its contents with a spoon, greased a +skillet, and set it on the fire. + +"Men fergot t' eat," he grumbled, "'n' fergot t' feed the horses. +They fergot everything except him. They'll be one hungry lot when they +land in Meeteetse." + +He raised the smoking skillet, and gave a deft toss, which sent the +flapjack spinning into the air, turned it over, and settled it back with +the baked side uppermost. + +"Nice-looking girl that!" he muttered absently, immediately adding, "Here +ye are--flapjacks 'n' coffee!" + +Late in the afternoon the injured man aroused himself groaning. He +stared at Ross with eyes which gradually cleared as a realization of +his environment was borne in on him. + +"I say, Doc," he muttered, biting his lips with the pain, "I'm all to +the bad, ain't I?" + +"Leg's used up for a few days, that's all, Mr. Weston," returned Ross +cheerfully. + +The man turned his head quickly. His eyes widened and he seemed to +forget his pain. For a long moment he lay motionless looking from Ross to +Hank, who grinned hospitably at him from the stove. + +"Cheer up down there," said Hank in jovial strain, "the worst is yet +t' come, fer I'm makin' ye some puddin', and even my mother 'ud +say that puddin' ain't one of my strong pints!" + +The sick man did not smile. He merely stared at the speaker until Hank +disappeared, a water pail in hand, bound for the spring. Then he threw +out a hand toward Ross and asked abruptly: + +"Where did you get it?" + +Ross, turning a flapjack awkwardly, looked inquiringly over his shoulder. +"Get what?" + +"The name--Weston?" + +Ross smiled and then, partly because he was embarrassed and partly +because he thought the injured man would be, turned his back before +answering, "A picture fell out of your coat and I--we--saw the name +written on the back, 'Lon Weston.'" + +There was no reply, and presently Ross added, "I put the photo back in +your pocket and hung the coat above your head there on the peg. Guess +you can reach it." + +Still no reply, and Ross, looking around, found his patient with head +turned away, eyes closed and lips pressed tightly together in his beard. + +Suddenly, in the open doorway appeared a figure that Ross had not seen +before. A shaggy head was advanced cautiously within the cabin and the +owner peered at Weston curiously. Then, evidently understanding his +closed eyes to mean sleep, the stranger backed out precipitately and sat +down on the bench outside the door. From this vantage point he peered +around the jamb from time to time eyeing Ross and his patient in turn. + +"Good-evening," said the former as the stranger showed no signs of +speaking. + +The shaggy head appeared in the doorway and nodding briefly, was +withdrawn, just as Hank, coming with the water, called, "Well, Sheepy, +what's the latest word up your way?" + +It was Luther, otherwise "Sheepy," the herder whose wagon crowned the +adjacent hill. He was Hank's daily caller. + +"There ye are, Doc," exclaimed Hank entering with the water. "Puddin' +fer Weston, and flapjacks 'n' coffee fer you and me with cabbage 'n' +spuds thrown in. Fill up." + +It was a menu which was not varied to any great extent in the days which +followed, strange days for "Doc Tenderfoot," as Hank called Ross. + +[Illustration: "WHAT'S THE LATEST WORD?"] + +Every night at midnight one of the two stages plying between Cody and +Meeteetse stopped at the stage camp for supper and horse feed. Every +noon the other stage stopped for dinner on its return trip. Between +times, horsemen came and went, occasionally, men from the ranches on +Wood River and the Grey Bull, miners "packing" their beds behind them, +prospectors going out of the mountains for the winter, and every day +during the first week there was Sheepy. Sheepy usually came toward night +when his flock had been driven in from the range and rounded up by the +faithful shepherd dog near the canvas-topped wagon. + +One day, the last of the week, after Ross had had a particularly trying +time with his patient, he left the latter asleep, and going outside, sat +on the bench in the sunshine watching Hank who was repairing the corral. +Presently Sheepy joined him, first refreshing himself, as usual, with a +long look at the snoring Weston. + +"Once I seen a feller that rode like him and looked like him, only his +hair and beard," Sheepy announced finally in a hoarse whisper. "I seen +'im ridin' in ahead of th' stage that night, and I thought 'twas +th' other chap." + +Ross listened without interest. Sheepy filled a pipe with deliberation +and lighted it. Then, clasping a worn knee in both hands he spoke again +out of the corner of his mouth. + +"That feller had hair light as tow and his face clean of beard, but he +rode the same and his eyes was the same. He was a puncher off the cattle +ranges. Used to ride past my wagon alone about once a week headin' fer +town. Went in the edge of the evenin' always." + +"And where were you?" asked Ross still without interest. + +"Down in Oklahomy. I was herdin' sheep fer old man Quinn." + +Ross looked at Sheepy with new interest. "I heard the men on the train +talking about old man Quinn and the sheep that he lost. Were you there +at that time?" + +Sheepy nodded. "I sartain was. That's two years gone by." + +"And did you see what was going on--driving the sheep into the river, +I mean?" questioned Ross eagerly. + +The sheep-herder shook his grizzled head. "It wa'n't off my range that +the sheep was drove, but another feller's called Happy. He seen there +was four men done it. It was night--dark night, and they didn't stop to +say howdy ner make any introductions. They shot Happy's dog and got +away over the bluff with a thousand sheep. They was drunk, all of 'em, +but not too drunk not t' know what they was doin'. Old man Quinn got +three of 'em. He's been after the other ever since." + +"Do you think he'll be caught?" + +Sheepy moved his shoulders helplessly. "Don't know. Old man Quinn he +never lets up on a thing. Took 'im two years t' find three. Bet he +don't give t'other up." + +"Why did they drive the sheep over the bluff?" asked Ross. + +Sheepy frowned. "Cattlemen claimed the sheep had crossed the dead line. +Cattlemen are always claimin' that, and they push the line further +and further in on the sheep and claim more of the range every year. +They do here. They did down in Oklahomy. The sheep owners and cattlemen +had a row at the big cattle round-up on the North Fork. It was after +the round-up, when the cow punchers was feelin' pretty gay and let +themselves loose, that them four drove old man Quinn's sheep over +the bluff." + +There was a pause, and then Sheepy went back to the original subject. +"The feller that looked like him and rode like him," jerking his thumb +over his shoulder, "used to ride past when I was shakin' grub in my +wagon. He used t' go grinnin' mostly and starin' at his hoss' +ears. And he alus went with his fixin's on, tan chaps and a red silk +'kerchief 'round his neck and Indian gloves with these here colored +gauntlets. Oh, he struck the trail in his good togs all right--bet he +went t' see some girl 'r other!" + +This was the last information that Ross received from Sheepy for several +months. The following morning there arrived from Cody a supply wagon +which replenished the sheep-herder's larder, and then, the sheep having +eaten the range bare for miles around the dugout, the canvas-topped +wagon was attached to the supply wagon and drawn to another hilltop +ten miles away. With it went Sheepy only faintly regretting the loss +of companionship at the dugout. The seven hundred sheep that his dog +rounded up and drove in advance of the wagons were the companions with +which he was best acquainted. + +"It wouldn't ha' been a bad idee," Hank remarked when the last bleat +died away in the distance, "if Sheepy could ha' stayed all winter. He +ain't generally long on talk--none of them herders be--but he was some +one t' have around, and once in a while his tongue breaks loose." + +Ross drew a long breath and thought of Meadow Creek. + +In the afternoon Hank resumed his repairs on the corral, leaving Weston +asleep and Ross kneeling beside his medicine chest sorting its contents. + +The sorting done, the boy arose noiselessly and closed the lid of the +chest. Then, turning, he looked down on the head of the sleeper. For +the first time he noticed that Weston's hair, thick and unkempt, was +dull in color and had a dead look at variance with its evident health. +Tiptoeing across the floor he bent over the recumbent man and gently +raising a lock of his hair looked wonderingly at the roots. The sight +caused him to utter an exclamation which disturbed the sleeper. He +straightened himself and stepped back precipitately. + +The hair was tow-colored at the roots. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FOURTH MAN + + +ROSS stood motionless until Weston, muttering and turning his head from +side to side, gradually came to rest again and fell into a deeper sleep. +Then the boy went outside and sat down on the bench. + +"It's easy enough to put two and two together," he muttered. + +Leaning forward, he dropped his elbows on his knees and taking his head +between his hands, proceeded to do some adding satisfactory in its +results. He longed for the presence of Sheepy. Now he would question +him with interest on the subject of the puncher whose face was free +from a beard and whose hair was tow color. He wanted more information +on the subject of that cattle round-up and of the process of getting +those three guilty cow punchers. Still, he believed that Sheepy had +told him enough to make it clear that Weston was the fourth that old man +Quinn was after. + +"Some one that looked like Weston and rode like him," Ross enumerated +the points in the evidence, "only the man in Oklahoma had no beard and +his hair was tow color." + +What was easier than to grow a beard--the hair was already accounted +for--it had been tow-colored before its owner stained it a chestnut +brown. And why should he have colored it unless for purposes of disguise? +And why a disguise unless he was guilty of a crime such as driving old +man Quinn's sheep into the North Fork? + +At this point in his reasoning, another fact flashed into the boy's +mind--the strange way in which Weston had acted about his name. + +"Ha, ha!" exclaimed Ross aloud and then checked his voice. "Probably he +didn't want us to know his name, his real name," he thought. "How all +that dovetails together. If I could only get hold of Sheepy now!" + +On further reflection, however, he decided that Sheepy could throw no +more light on the subject. It was evident that the herder did not know +the name of the puncher who had ridden alone past his wagon, for he had +not connected Weston's name with the other. Nor would Weston, if he +were the same puncher, be likely to recognize Sheepy who, as he himself +said, was in his wagon preparing supper when the puncher, his eyes on +his horse's ears, passed. + +That night, when Ross rolled up in his blankets beside Weston he was sure +he was lying beside the fourth cowboy of old man Quinn's search. But +in the cold clear dawn he was not so sure. It might have been vanity that +had led Weston to stain his hair, tow not being a manly color. Then, +too, even if he had been on the North Fork, so were dozens of other +cow punchers. As to his name, Weston would naturally have been astonished +at perfect strangers addressing him rightly where he believed himself +unknown. + +Ross, eating his breakfast, and only half listening to Hank, looked down +at the prostrate man speculatively, his mind full of suspicion, but not +so sure as on the previous day that there was no flaw in his reasoning. +He had not had an opportunity, the day before, of speaking to Hank about +the matter, and now he decided to keep his suspicions to himself for +the present. + +His suspicions, however, during the two weeks which followed, were +swallowed up in the anxiety that attended this, the first "case" +where he had been obliged to assume all responsibility. The care and +interruptions to his rest wore on him. Never had one of Aunt Anne's +hair mattresses invited sleep as did the blankets laid on the dirt +floor when he found time to lie on them. Often he fell asleep sitting +on the hard bench, his head on his arms crossed on the table, while +Hank was frying flapjacks and boiling thick black coffee. + +As for the patient, he accepted Ross's ministrations with but few +remarks. As his thigh bone began to knit, he became querulous, and +finally passively enduring. + +"When you goin' to let me out of this?" he asked on the day when Ross +last measured the injured leg. + +The boy settled back on his heels. "I have sent for some plaster of +Paris," he explained, "and, by the time it gets here, your leg will be +healed and ready for a cast. Then you can be taken back to Cody and +let the doctor there see you. If it was not for that ugly fracture you +would have been out of here before. If you'd only have the Cody doctor +to look you over now----" + +The man grunted, and worked restlessly at the sand-bag, which, on the +outside of his leg, reached his armpit. + +"Cody doctor be hanged!" he remarked unaffably. "He don't know half as +much as you do." + +It was the nearest approach to thanks or praise he had given Ross. + +"That Cody doctor ain't worth shucks," confirmed Hank, who occupied a +box beside the stove. "He tended a feller that I knew, and let 'im die." +The speaker looked from Ross to his patient with an expression which +plainly said that the former could not be guilty of any such charge. + +The brown eyes of the patient rolled slowly in their sockets until their +gaze could rest on Ross. Then the lids dropped over them. "The Cody +doctor be hanged!" he remarked again more affably, and fell asleep. + +Ross continued to sit on his heels until his patient commenced to snore. +Then he glanced at the occupant of the box seat and asked softly: + +"Hank, has Weston ever told you where he came from?" + +"Nope," responded Hank absently. "Not where he hails from ner where +he's started fer, ner why, ner what fer. That's nothin' though, Doc." +Here Hank looked sidewise at Ross. "You'll find, if ye stay in these +parts long, that there's lots of men who ain't partin' with every +fact they know within ten minutes after ye're introduced to 'em. And +you'll find, too, that it ain't always healthy to ask questions. Ye +have th' sort of sense who ye can question and who ye can't." + +"And this fellow----" Ross jerked his head in the direction of the +sleeper. + +Hank yawned and reached for the poker and a stick of wood. "I ain't +aimin' to inquire fer into his history--unless I could inquire of +some one else besides himself, that is. Hello!" he interrupted himself +suddenly with the stick held over the stove. "Who's that hikin' over +the Creek?" + +Ross arose with alacrity and went to the door. The first snow had fallen +on the bad lands, but in an hour it had been whisked away by a warm +northwest wind, leaving the ground soft and a little stream of water in +Dry Creek across which rode a man who proved to be a prospector from the +mountains. + +"Must have had a bit of snow here," he called as he turned his horse into +the corral. "Up t' Miners' Camp it's two inches deep and driftin'." + +As this prospector was eating his dinner, he most unexpectedly gave Ross +his first news of Weimer. The boy, finding Hank both intelligent and +sympathetic, had talked freely concerning his mission in the mountains +and his desire to return East at an early date. To the latter subject, +in all its details of study and college-attendance, Hank listened and +questioned in open interest. But, when Ross touched the subject of +Weimer and the McKenzies, the other was non-committal and guarded, +as became a landlord who might be called upon any day to serve flapjacks +and coffee to all of the parties under discussion. + +"I hope," he had observed cautiously on two or three occasions, "that +you'll get on all right with Uncle Jake Weimer." + +And, although his tone implied a doubt, Ross could not prevail on him +to explain it. + +But the prospector, who had ridden through from the mountains, and knew +nothing of Ross or of his origin, spoke more freely. He had passed along +Meadow Creek but a few days before. + +"Dutch Weimer," he told Hank as he bolted boiled cabbage and flapjacks, +"was settin' at the door of his shack, a-smokin' as though his claims +was all patented and secure. He says that Eastern pal of hisn is +a-sendin' some one t' help 'im out." + +Hank coughed behind his hand, and motioned toward Ross, busy with his +patient; but at first the prospector was too intent on his food to notice. + +"And there," he observed with a chuckle, "are them two McKenzie boys +a-settin' on their claims next door and waitin'." He gave another +chuckle. "Curious how that snow-blindness should have touched Dutch +Weimer." + +Then he saw Hank's restraining gesture, and paused. Glancing down, he +met Lon Weston's veiled brown eyes and Ross's wide gray ones; but the +prospector had suddenly become as non-committal as Hank himself, nor did +Ross's persistent questioning wring from him any further details. He +had but passed that way, he assured Ross, had stopped but a moment in +front of Weimer's cabin and that was all. + +But what he had said was enough to leave Ross troubled, and impatient +to start for Meadow Creek and his delayed work. + +Finally the plaster of Paris came. The stage from Cody brought it one +noon, and Ross's spirits arose at the prospect of release from his +unwelcome charge. + +"If it wa'n't fer yer Uncle Samuel's long arm of the law, Doc," the +stage-driver informed him as he was disposing of potatoes and pork, "I'd +leave my stage right here and see ye wind all them stiff rags around +that there leg. I'd like t' see th' finish s' long as I seen the +beginnin'. But the trouble with bein' stage skinner is, ye've got +t' hike along no matter what shows ye come acrost on the trail. Hand +them spuds acrost, Doc, will ye? Hank, if ye'd let 'em smell fire a +minute 'r two mebby I could drive my fork int' 'em." + +A few minutes later, he arose from the bench, drew the back of his hand +across his mouth and addressed Weston. "Wall, I suppose you'll be ready +t' be boosted onto the stage when I come back in th' mornin'? S' +long." + +Scarcely had his four bronchos topped the hill on the further side of Dry +Creek before a procession, the like of which Ross had never seen, +appeared on the trail the other side of the dugout. It was a pack +outfit on horses accompanied by a man and a boy. It slowly rounded the +shoulder of the hill behind the corral. The man rode ahead whistling +gaily, his sombrero pulled low over his eyes, a purple tie knotted +under the turn-over collar of his flannel shirt. His horse's tail +was tied to a rope which, in turn, was tied loosely about the neck of +the first pack animal. In similar fashion the five bronchos were held +together on the trail, and after them came a horse ridden by a boy about +Ross's height. On the pack animals were wooden saddles piled high +with supplies for a camp, boxes and bags securely roped to the saddles. + +Hank, in the act of clearing the dishes from the bare board table, +stopped with a platter of boiled turnip and pork suspended in the air. +"By the great horn spoon!" he yelled, "if there don't come Wishin' +Wilson! And a pack outfit! Is my eyes a-foolin' me? Doc, look out. Is +it a five bronc outfit, or ain't it?" + +"It certainly is," confirmed Ross. + +He arose from his seat on the floor where he was working in the plaster +and stepped to the door. But Hank was before him holding up the platter +of food. + +"Hey, there, Wishin'! Here's some come-backs hot fer ye! Where'd ye +come from? Where ye goin' and what fer and how long and why and all the +rest?" Evidently the newcomer was one of the kind that could safely be +questioned, for Hank turned himself into a great interrogation point as +he set the platter down, and rushing out, pulled the stranger from his +horse, shaking him in familiar bear play. + +Ross watched while the train filed slowly up to the dugout, bringing the +boy's mount to rest in front of the door. + +The young rider wore a new brown corduroy suit, and a long fur coat, the +skirts of which were drawn up awkwardly above a pair of high riding +boots and tucked under the rider's legs. A pair of shining silver +spurs adorned the heels of the boots, while a sealskin cap crowned a +head covered with closely cropped hair darker than Ross's. His eyes +also were darker and his figure, although of the same height, was more +slender than Ross's. He was also, apparently, a couple of years younger. + +The two boys nodded at each other, Ross with awkward cordiality and +interest, the stranger carelessly and with unmistakable condescension. +Swinging himself out of the saddle he said pleasantly but commandingly: + +"Take my coat inside, please." + +He shed his fur coat and pulled off his fur-lined gloves and tossed both +into Ross's arms, while Hank, watching the proceeding out of the tail +of an amused eye, talked with Wilson. + +Ross, biting his lips, backed into the shack and tossed coat and gloves +on the end of the table near Weston. The boy, following his moves from +the doorway, pointed at the prostrate man, asking in a surprised and +subdued voice: + +"What ails him?" + +"Broke his leg," responded Ross shortly, not relishing the touch of +lordliness in the other's manner. + +"How did he do it?" demanded the stranger. + +"Horse fell on him," answered Ross, and returned abruptly to his work +with the plaster. + +Weston lay with his blanket drawn up to his chin and one arm thrown over +his face and ear, his face turned to the wall. He was breathing regularly +as though in sleep, although Ross knew he was wide awake. This was a +favorite position with him when Hank was entertaining guests. It saved +him the trouble of responding to inquiries, and, as Ross had come to +suspect, might also serve to avert a chance recognition. + +Presently Wilson approached the dugout, leaving the boy in the corral +rubbing down his mount. One arm was thrown in rough affection over +Hank's shoulder while the two pulled each other about like two boys +at play. + +"I tell you, Hank!" Wilson exclaimed at the door, "this is what ye might +call God's country, and I always have a feelin' of gettin' home in +these parts. But, Jehoshaphat! it didn't look a spell ago as if I'd +ever strike the trail to the mountains again. It looked like as if I'd +have to throw up my claims and----" + +"Sh!" interrupted Hank tiptoeing into the shack. "Guess he's asleep, +ain't he?" He explained over his shoulder in a hoarse whisper. "Chap +named Weston that come this way three weeks ago and bust his leg out in +front, here. Hoss fell on him." + +Wilson, who followed at Hank's heels, looked Weston over with friendly +but detached interest. "On the mend, is he?" asked the newcomer subduing +his voice with difficulty. + +Hank forgot to continue his whisper. "You bet!" he exclaimed heartily. +"Doc here is a-mendin' him t' beat anything I ever seen from a full +sized doctor." He jerked his thumb toward Ross. "Doc's goin' to have +him all plastered up and out of here to-morrow." + +Wishing looked at Ross with a pleasant nod, stepped over the bench and +was about to seat himself at the table when he bethought him suddenly +of his riding companion. Leaning forward he looked out of the doorway. +Then with a nod he sat down and forgetting that Weston was supposedly +sleeping, raised his voice again to its normal high key. + +"Fetch on them come-backs, Hank. My pard'll be here in a minute. I need +t' git the start of him in eating always, fer he ain't long on grub +such as we shake out here. I expect," with an amused chuckle, "that it +ain't exactly what he's used to." + +Hank slapped his knee and leaned forward. "Say, Wishin', how d'ye come +t' be hikin' over the country with Queen Victory's youngest? My eyes! +Ain't he a reg'lar ornament t' th' landscape?" + +Wishing Wilson laughed softly and then glancing hastily from Ross to +Weston, shook his head at Hank. "Less is all right!" he declared +cautiously. "He's young yet. Lots of time to learn--more time 'n +you and me have, Hank." + +Hank set coffee before his guest, asking, "Who is he and where does he +hail from?" + +Wilson squared himself before the table, both arms resting thereon and +began to eat noisily, talking between knifefuls. + +"Luckiest thing for me that ever struck the trail, that young feller +is," he began. "I was stranded down in Omaha without a red cent in my +pocket and no way of raisin' one. If you'll believe me I couldn't +find a man in Omaha with brains enough to believe in them claims of +mine, no, not with the ore assay report before their eyes. I tell ye, +Hank, times have changed down in Omaha. There wa'n't no grub-stakers +waitin' around like there used to be fer prospectors to snatch up--no, +not one. And just as I was gettin' plum used up talkin', this young +feller, Less Jones, fell onto me outer a clear sky. It was in a hotel +where I went t' talk with a drummer, but not t' eat. Why, Hank, yer +Uncle Wilson didn't have the price of a hotel dinner handy, and that +drummer never treated me! Well, I stood tryin' to persuade him that his +salary was burning fer investment in my claims, when in comes Less +and lined up 'longside me listenin'. I hadn't any kind of objection +to his hearin', but he looked like such a cub that I never paid no +attention t' 'im, but when the drummer said a final 'Nix,' Less he +stepped up and asked me about the claims, and, t' make a long story +short, before the end of the day I was hikin' over town hot footed on +the trail of supplies with Less at my heels with an open pocketbook." + +"Does he stay up t' the Creek with you?" asked Hank wonderingly. + +"Says he will," laughed Wilson. "Says he's wanted for years t' try his +luck with quartz!" + +"Must 'a' begun wantin' then when he was a baby," remarked Hank +succinctly. "Where's his ma and pa?" + +Wishing shrugged his shoulders and balanced a quantity of pork and +potatoes on the blade of his knife. "Search me! He says there's no one +to hender him doin' what he pleases, and so I take it he's dropped +out of some fairy orphanage som'ers where they have gold t' burn. +I'm fallin' on his neck more'n I'm askin' him questions that he +don't want t' answer. Less is an all right sort, you'll find, but +he ain't long on information." + +At this point Wishing's garrulity suffered an interruption from the +entrance of his young partner. + +Leslie Jones walked with the erect bearing that Aunt Anne coveted for +Ross. Buttoning his short corduroy jacket over a soft flannel shirt, +across the front of which was suspended a large gold chain, he ran his +fingers around inside his collar and looked about impatiently. + +Ross, attending strictly to his work, did not look up. Hank, sitting on +a bench opposite Wilson, spread his elbows yet further apart on the table +and indicated a place beside him. + +"Set down and fall to, young feller!" + +"I'll wash up first," returned Leslie in a tone which had a decided +edge. His manner plainly indicated his desire to be waited on. + +Hank raised his eyebrows and waved a hand vaguely toward the stove. +"There's pans 'n' water. Help yerself. Guess there's a towel hikin' +about som'ers in the corner. My dozen best handmade 'uns ain't come +in yet from the laundry!" + +Every one laughed except Weston and Leslie. The former breathed +regularly, apparently unconscious of all that was said and done in the +room. The latter flushed, and plunging into the corner tumbled the pans +about angrily like a spoiled child, spilling as much water on the +floor as he could. Then he sat down beside his partner and asked +shortly for some hot coffee, with an emphasis on the adjective. + +Hank leisurely pushed the coffee-pot across the table. "Help yerself. +This was hot a spell ago and will be again at supper time." Hank's voice +having acquired an edge by this time, "Victory's youngest" poured the +coffee angrily but wordlessly into his thick cup and ate in silence, +listening to Wilson, who was too much occupied with a vision of riches +to come to allow such scenes to disturb his equanimity. + +"As I told Less," he went on, raising his voice to drown opposition, +"we'll leave part of the sticks and the grub up the caņon to the coal +claims and then when it comes winter and the mountains are impassable, +we'll just strike the trail over from the Creek to the caņon and work +the coal till things open up in the spring. That Creek is a mean place to +drop into this late." + +"What Creek?" asked Ross, suddenly awakening to the conversation. + +"Meadow Creek," returned Wishing. + +"That's where Doc is bound fer, Wishing'," volunteered Hank. "Doc is +come out t' help Jake Weimer." + +Wishing surveyed the boy with cordial eyes. "Jake Weimer, hey? We'll be +neighbors, then. My claims ain't two miles up the Creek." + +"Doc, he's Grant's boy," supplemented Hank. "But I bet my last year's +hat that he can't mine it as well as he can doctor." + +"Doctor!" exclaimed Leslie Jones curiously. "Are you a doctor?" + +"He's fixed him up all right," interrupted Hank pointing to Weston. +"Stretched his leg over my best chicken-coop and needled his arm and +made 'im walk a chalk line generally. Oh, I tell ye Doc is better than +the Cody doctor." + +Ross laughed. "I know something about medicine and surgery," he +confessed. "I've read and helped my uncle, Dr. Grant. That's all." + +"All!" echoed Leslie Jones. His manner was touched with disbelief as he +looked from Weston to Ross. "And did you, alone, set a leg?" + +Ross sought to change the subject. "Aw--that's not much--when you know +how. I'm glad I'm to have neighbors up on Meadow Creek. Hope I don't +have to stay there any longer than you do." + +"Expect to clean up the title this year, do you?" asked Wilson. + +"That's what I came for." + +"Well, all I can say now is that you'll be mighty glad you come. I tell +ye what, Doc, Meadow Creek is the mining deestrict of the future," +whereupon Wishing launched on a glowing account of the future of Meadow +Creek claims as he saw the future. His eyes lighted up and he forgot +to eat as he told of the wonderful value of the gold and silver that he +expected to pull out of the claims he had staked the previous year. +He believed so thoroughly in his own vision that even Ross, whose +interests were far removed from gold mining, felt a thrill of expectancy +as to the outcome of his work in Meadow Creek, while Leslie, whose +appetite was slight for the coarse, ill-cooked food, dropped his fork +to listen although he must have heard the recital many times before. + +Shortly after dinner, the two saddled up and departed in the order in +which they had come. + +"So long!" yelled Wilson, waving his hat. "We expect t' strike it rich +before a month." + +"Good luck!" shouted Hank and Ross together, the latter adding, "I'll +see you again in a few days." + +Hank, stuffing his hands into his pockets, pursed up his lips and +whistled shortly as the pack outfit disappeared in a cloud of dust. + +"If Wishin' is cal'latin' that he has enough there to last two men all +winter he's about as far off in his cal'lations as--well, as Wishin' +usually is. Wishin' ain't no lightnin' cal'later on any subject, but +he's a mighty likely chap t' have around." + +"Judging from the small amount his pard ate to-day he has food enough, +I should say," returned Ross, adding hastily, "but then I realize that I +know nothing about it." + +"Huh!" laughed Hank, "he must know that when that there young chap +has been in the mountings a few days he'll eat mulligan 'n' spotted +pup 'n' bacon with the best of 'em. His will be a good, lively +comin' appetite--but huh! I should hate mightily t' have t' feed +'im. Wonder if Wishin' has packed some bibs along 'n' silk socks +'n' hand-warmers! Huh!" + +When Ross reëntered the cabin he found Weston staring out of the doorway, +his arm stretched by his side. + +"Guess you didn't sleep much," remarked Hank noisily gathering up the +dishes. + +"All I wanted to," returned Weston shortly. + +Hank piled the dishes into a pan and poured boiling water over them. +"M-m," he soliloquized, "all the time I was lookin' at him I was +thinkin' I'd seen that young Jones before. M-m--where, I wonder?" + +No one answered, and he washed dishes in silence while Ross returned to +his work and Weston lay staring out-of-doors. + +The following day Ross saw his patient depart on the stage headed toward +Cody, and prepared to take the next one himself in the opposite direction. + +When he assisted Weston out of the door of the dugout, he knew exactly as +much about him as when he followed his prostrate figure in at the same +door three weeks before--and no more, unless the name be excepted. + +Hank watched the stage off with a scowl, and then departed from his usual +custom of cautious speech, where possible customers were concerned. + +"Guess that feller must 'a' hailed from som'ers beside Wyoming," he +grumbled. "Now, a Wyoming chap would 'a' paid his bill, or if he was +on the hog's back, he'd owned up and passed his promise. But that +there maverick never even said, 'Thank ye,' to you or me; and here +you're knocked out of three weeks' work along of him, to say nothin' +of the work day and night you've put in on 'im. Well, good riddance; +'tain't no ways likely we'll set eyes on 'im again." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A MAN WHO NEEDED BRACING UP + + +THE road to Miners' Camp from Meeteetse, forty-five miles long, follows +the Grey Bull to its junction with Wood River. Thence it wanders along +through miles of fertile ranch lands; then, rising among the black +foot-hills, up, up, it winds across the precipitous face of Jo-Jo Hill, +and plunges among the snow-crowned Shoshones, crowded nearer and yet +nearer to Wood River until finally there is but room for the narrow +track and the narrow stream at the bottom of the deep caņon. + +This was the road which Ross traveled the day following Weston's +departure for Cody, and traveled in increasing discomfort. The further +they advanced among the mountains, the colder it became, until, finally, +Ross was obliged to desert the high seat beside Bill Travers, the +driver, and seek shelter inside the stage, but not until he had learned +from Bill that there was no hotel in Miners' Camp. + +In talking with Hank he had taken it for granted that there was a lodging +house of some description and so had asked no questions on the subject. + +"I pack my grub along," Bill assured him carelessly, "'n' roll up in +a bunk in a shack that some one 'r other has left. If you've packed +yer bed along, stay with me to-night. There's the floor," hospitably, +"and I guess I can rustle grub enough fer both. Anyhow, there's two +eatin'-houses where you could fill up." + +At five in the afternoon the stage crawled through the dusk over a +yielding bridge built of hemlock saplings creaking under their coating +of ice and snow, and stopped in front of a shack out of whose open door +glinted a welcome light. Another light appeared high up on the side of +the mountain. + +"Hold up there, Bill," was the shout which had brought the stage to a +standstill. "Got a cold, hungry young chap inside there, name of Grant? +Wishin' Wilson went through yesterday and said he'd be along with you +to-day." + +Ross recognized the voice as belonging to Steele, and, opening the stage +door, answered for himself in the affirmative. + +Steele shook hands cordially. "Better get out here, Grant," he invited in +an offhand way; "I have some beefsteak ready to fry, and the spuds are +bakin' in the oven." + +Ross climbed out with as much alacrity as his cold, benumbed limbs would +permit. But no sooner was he on the ground than something queer occurred. +His legs gave every indication of doubling up under him, while his head +felt as large and airy as a balloon. He clutched the wheel, but not +until Steele had clutched him. + +"Altitude!" exclaimed Steele. "Being a mile and a half above sea-level +don't agree with most people just at first." + +Ross leaned against the wheel, looking up giddily at the strip of sky +corralled between the towering summits of Dundee and Gale's Ridge. +It seemed to him that it was the mountains and not the altitude which +oppressed him, and bore down upon him, and shut off his breath. + +"My baggage," he began hesitatingly to the stage-driver, "where--if +there's no hotel----" + +But Steele interposed. "Lend a hand here, Bill, with these trunks. I want +Grant to put up at my hotel to-night, bag and baggage." + +Bill grinned, and laid hands on the emergency chest. "He'll git a better +layout than at my old shack, I tell ye! Say! Is Uncle Jake in Camp?" + +Steele shook his head. "Nope. I'm going to see about packin' Grant over +to the Creek myself in a few days," and a great wave of thankfulness +surged over Ross. + +A few moments later Steele waved his hand around the one room of his +little log shack. "This is the only kind of home you'll find up here, +Grant, about the same as Weimer has over on the Creek. Things are rough +and ready here, without any frills." + +As he spoke he glanced at the larger of Ross's trunks. + +If Amos Steele understood one subject better than mining operations, that +one subject was men. He saw in Ross an overgrown, homesick boy, with a +stout but untested "backbone." + +"And I wonder," thought Steele, "how far that backbone is going to take +him when it gets a healthy development, and--how far is he goin' to +develop it?" + +Furthermore, Steele concluded, Ross was more accustomed to bending over +a book than over a shovel; and he shrugged his shoulders at the thought +of the Weimer-Grant claims. + +"His backbone can't do everything," he decided, "no matter how stout +it grows, especially when Weimer has lost his." + +Steele's shack was at the foot of Gale's Ridge. Half-way up the +mountainside was another and larger shack, where his miners, thirty in +number, ate. Above that was the "bunk-house" where they slept. And yet +higher up was the mouth of the tunnel out of which the Gale's Ridge +Mining Company expected to pull vast wealth when the Burlington Road +had done its part. + +"I'd rather bach it," Steele explained to Ross as they sat down to +beefsteak and baked potatoes, "than to be with the men. It's pleasanter +for me--and," with a jolly laugh, "for them also, I expect." + +Ross liked this frank young superintendent who had so kindly taken him +in. He felt that he must get his bearings in some way, and Steele was +the man to set him right. + +Therefore quite early in the evening the boy burst out with: + +"Mr. Steele, I've come to the conclusion that I'm the greenest +tenderfoot that ever came to Wyoming. Now, you know the ropes here, and I +don't. Will you advise me?" + +"That is exactly what I've been wanting to do," assented Steele swiftly +and heartily. "But I won't do it at all to-night. It'll take you a +few days to get over your light-headedness, and until you do the trail +around Crosby won't be healthy ridin' for you. Anyway, there's a lot +to be done, for Uncle Jake Weimer hasn't laid in any winter supplies +yet." + +Ross tipped his chair back against the unhewn logs, and thrust his +hands into his pockets. Ever since the talkative prospector had passed +through the stage camp he had wondered what manner of man Weimer was. +But not until he was jolting along in the stage that day did one sentence +especially recur to him in all its possible significance. + +The prospector had said, "'Curious how that snow-blindness should have +touched Dutch Weimer.'" + +Therefore, Ross's first question was of the man he had crossed the +continent to help. + +The answer reached far into the night; and when at last Ross, wrapped in +his blankets, lay down in a bunk built against the wall, it was a long +time before sleep came, tired as he was. + +The following evening, after a full day's work, he sat down beside the +little home-made table to write to Dr. Grant and Aunt Anne while Steele +washed up the supper dishes. + +"I should be worse than helpless, were it not for Steele," he wrote; +"and even with him to help me I may as well own up I am in blue funk. +Not a man is there to hire; so the programme for the next few months +seems to be this: Yours truly has got to put on some muscle, and buckle +down to pick and shovel. Where do you think Piersol's 'Histology' is +coming in, uncle, or that man Remsen? + +"But that's not the worst. It seems that Weimer isn't as stout in +his head as he was before he was stricken with snow-blindness, and, +although he is as stout as ever in his muscles, he doesn't take kindly +to work any more. Hasn't even taken the winter's supplies of food +and dynamite over to Meadow Creek. He's just smoking his pipe in peace +because of the man father is sending to help him out! But I can tell +you that the peace is all on his side. + +"The mountains here are the original packages, all right. They're miles +high, and look as if they'd topple over on a fellow with but half an +excuse. And then the air--or the lack of it, rather! I've not been able +to walk any distance without a cane, so uncertain does this rare air +make me in my motions. But Steele says I'll get over that in a day or +two. So, day after to-morrow he is going with me to Meadow Creek with +the Gale's Ridge Company's horses--we 'pack' over the supplies for +the winter, and the emergency chest just as it is; but, Aunt Anne, only +a small portion of the contents of my big trunk can go. Over on the +Creek Steele can explain to me about the amount of work to be done, +for fear Weimer doesn't tell it straight----" + +Suddenly Ross stopped. He leaned back and bit his pencil, his eyes +narrowing frowningly as he glanced over the letter. Then with a gesture +of disdain he caught up the sheets, and tore them into fragments. + +Steele paused in the act of placing the dishes in the rough cupboard +which was nailed to the logs behind the stove. + +"Well, I'd think twice before I tore up a letter--too hard work to write +'em." + +"I have thought twice," returned Ross emphatically. "That's why I tore +it up. No use piling up all my difficulties on them first thing. Aunt +Anne worries enough over my being here, as it is." + +"So there's an 'Aunt Anne,' is there?" mused Steele to himself over +the dishes. He glanced at the bits of paper in a heap on the table. "Good +work she and that doctor uncle have done." He surveyed Ross's clean-cut, +clear-eyed face as it bent above a second and brighter letter, one that +ignored or made light of the difficulties oppressing the boy. + +In order to divert further the attention of the recipients, Ross also +wrote divers pieces of information that he had learned from Steele. + +"I am trying to ferret out this gold mining business from the beginning," +he wrote. "I never got the hang of it before, and, if Mr. Steele wasn't +everlasting patient with me, I wouldn't be getting much now, because +everything is so new and strange here. I don't half understand the +men's lingo, because they have a strange name for everything.... Well, +it seems that a gold mine up here is started in some such a way as this: +along comes a prospector--quartz crazy, he is called if he's in dead +earnest--with a pick and shovel, a hammer and microscope, and a camp +outfit. If some one else has provided him with food and the outfit he is +'grub-staked' and his 'pard' is entitled to half of the results of +his work. Father, for instance, has grub-staked Weimer for years. This +prospector pegs away at the rocks, getting specimens of ore and +examining them under his microscope. He goes right past rocks that +look to me full of gold they glitter so. No gold in such! But when he +finds some common, dull old stone that doesn't show up much to me but +has all the earmarks of 'a high value' in gold, then he thinks he has +found the outcropping of a good 'lead,' because all the rock that +is behind that rock in the same strata is supposed to have that much +gold in it or more. So there he 'stakes his claim.' You see I've +got the hang of a few of the terms already. First, he drives a stake near +the rock and leaves on it a paper with his name and the date and a +notice that the land is his for so many feet each way. He can't take +possession of more than six hundred feet one way and fifteen hundred +the other in one claim, but he can stake off as many other claims +right beside this first as he wants to. The staking is easy enough, +but the tug of war comes in doing enough work to patent the claims! This +means to get a deed of possession from the state. There is where Weimer +and I are up against it--on the work side! But guess I'd better not +make your heads ache any more with such an accumulation of learned facts. +I'll just say good-bye now and continue the headache in my next." + +To his father he wrote a different kind of letter, a defense of his delay +at Dry Creek. + +"I couldn't desert a man in that shape," he wrote, "although I have +lost three weeks at exactly the season of the year, I find, when three +weeks count for the most. I'm sorry it happened that way, but I shall +try to put in good time now and make up. Anyway, I guess the delay is +as broad as it is long, because, if that accident hadn't occurred, +I shouldn't have known Steele; and it's his help that's smoothing +things out here for me to begin work." + +Ross did not know that the way he had conducted himself at Dry Creek was +the cause of the very practical interest which Steele was taking in him. + +But not all of Steele's influence in Camp had secured a single laborer +for Meadow Creek. Ross found that Andy's explanation on the Cody stage +held good. No one cared to go any further out of the world than Miners' +Camp. + +"It's bad enough," one of the Mountain Company's men told Ross, "up +here eighty miles from the railroad, with a stage only three times a +week in summer and any time it can get through in the winter. But, when +it comes to workin' on the Creek, _ex_cuse me! Seven mile over Crosby, +and the trail shut up half the year. No, I'm goin' to Cody when the +Mountain works shuts down." + +The Gale's Ridge Company worked all winter; but the Mountain Company +dismissed its employees, twenty in number, when the deep snows came. + +To the twenty Ross applied in vain. Labor was dear and men scarce "Cody +way," and the miners refused to be mewed up over on the Creek for five +months at any price. + +"You see," Steele explained, "I'd be glad to employ all the twenty +during the winter myself; but not many of 'em will ever stay up here +in Camp--too much cut off. I shall run short of hands all winter. Of +course, when the railroad gets up here, it will be different. They'll +be willing to stay then." + +Ross checked a groan. "The railroad isn't here, but I am," he observed +grimly. + +Steele looked at him curiously. "Why don't you strike the trail back +East," he asked abruptly, "since you started out without understanding +the situation?" + +Ross glanced up in surprise. "Why, I never thought of doing that!" he +exclaimed, and dropped the subject. + +But Steele continued to look him over with a new interest; for the stage +the previous evening had brought to Steele a letter from the elder Grant +asking for private information concerning the situation Ross, Junior, +was encountering. Ross's brief letters from Dry Creek had shown Ross, +Senior, that he had no real knowledge of the nature of the difficulties +into which he had sent his son. + +The morning of the third day, Ross, staggering around uncertainly without +a cane, aided Steele in binding the supplies on the wooden saddles of +the packhorses. From the Gale's Ridge Company's supply-shack they +brought sacks of flour and cornmeal, boxes of canned vegetables and +condensed milk, sides of bacon and hams, bags of coffee and tea, all of +which Steele with many a twist of the rope and "half-hitch" secured to +the clumsy saddles. The trustiest horse carried the emergency chest. +On Ross's own horse, lashed behind his saddle, were his bed blankets +and a bundle from the trunk Aunt Anne had packed with such care. + +"All ready?" called Steele, one foot in his stirrup. + +He looked back at Ross already mounted, bringing up the rear of the +string of packhorses, standing in front of the company's store. + +"All ready," shouted Ross. + +Steele, about to swing himself up, hesitated. He glanced again at Ross. +Then, dropping his bridle reins to the ground, he disappeared inside the +store, emerging presently with a short rifle and a cartridge belt. + +"Ever use a gun?" he asked. + +Ross hesitated. "I've practiced target shooting a little, and gone +hunting a few times; but," candidly, "I don't amount to shucks with a +gun." + +Steele grinned, and handed it up. "Take it along," he advised, "and +practice some more. It may bring you fresh meat. Sometimes elk and +mountain sheep come down to the Creek to drink over there--won't come +amiss, anyhow." + +Ross accepted the gun; and Steele, going back to the head of the +procession, mounted, and led the way up the caņon, which presently +broadened until it formed a snow-flecked valley a few rods wide. Here +were a dozen shacks, another eating house, and the store of the Mountain +Company. The mouth of its tunnel could be seen high on the side of the +mountain above the store. + +Immediately beyond this valley the caņon was nearly closed by two great +peaks. The one on the left was still Dundee; but on the right Gale's +Ridge gave place to Crosby, behind which lay Meadow Creek Valley. + +Zigzagging across the face of this mountain wound a narrow trail +gradually ascending. Up and yet up climbed the horses until Ross clung to +his saddle involuntarily while looking down. Soon Wood River became +a thread, and the shacks became black doll-houses set in patches of snow. + +On the trail the snow lay deep in the hollows, but was swept away +wherever the east wind could touch it. But, snow-filled or black, +the trail ever ascended. The peak of Dundee opposite, which had seemed +from the caņon narrow and remote, stretched out now immense and so near +that Ross felt he could hurl a stone across and hit it. + +He looked ahead. They were approaching the dizzy shoulder of Crosby. +Steele rounded it, and disappeared. One by one the slow packhorses, their +loads hitting against the rocks on the inside of the trail, crawled +cautiously after, and also disappeared. Then before Ross opened a view +of startling grandeur. He was looking out over the top of Gale's Ridge +and down across Big Horn Basin, beyond Cody, eighty miles away and into +the blue heart of the Big Horn Mountains. The sight brought with it a +pang of homesickness. Eighty miles from a railroad! Eighty difficult, +laborious miles! Ross felt helpless and small and decidedly shaky in +this strange new world about which he had so much to learn. + +Clinching his teeth hard together, he looked up. Above were bowlders +seemingly glued to the almost upright mountainside. Below--but Ross's +head swam, and he turned his eyes to the inside of the trail, and clung +to the saddle. Below was a sheer drop of a thousand feet down to the +falls of Meadow Creek, which separated Crosby from Gale's Ridge. The +mist came up in clouds rolling thick and frosty in the zero air. This was +the quarter-mile of trail which cut Meadow Creek Valley off from Wood +River Caņon for months during the year. + +"Well," laughed Steele as they stopped where the trail widened beyond +the dangerous shoulder, "you didn't take a header, did you?" + +Ross passed his hand across his forehead. His face was pale. "No, but--I +felt every minute that I'd go over." + +"You'll get used to that," returned Steele easily. "You see why that +trail becomes impassable later, don't you? If it was just the snow on +the trail, why, that wouldn't count. You could shovel it off around +the shoulder, and go on snow-shoes the rest of the way. But, when the +snow lodges up over the shoulder something like ten feet deep, and a +chinook or warm wind comes along and loosens it, a footfall or a man +calling might start it, and then----" Steele shrugged his shoulders. + +"And there is no other way you can get into the Creek valley?" asked Ross. + +"No other way with a horse. You can follow the Creek toward its source, +they say, a few miles and then across. Hunters go that way sometimes, +but on foot; and they have to scramble for it." + +On and on they went over a wide trail now beside the clear little Meadow +Creek. Ross began to feel giddy again. + +"Of course you do," Steele explained the next time they made a stop, +"because the Creek is half a mile higher than the caņon. But you get +over that in a few days." + +"I wonder," exclaimed Ross suddenly, "how Leslie Jones stood that trail?" + +"About the same as the average and ordinary mortal," rejoined Steele +sarcastically. "But you'll probably have a good many chances of finding +out for yourself. You'll be glad to see anybody, even young Jones!" + +At last, after threading their way between spurs and over bowlders and +through valleys, they emerged on the other side of Crosby, and found +themselves in a bowl the sides of which were formed by mountains so high +and grim that Ross gasped for the breath that he felt the peaks would +eventually shut off. + +It was a queer and uncomfortable feeling, this which the mountains gave +him, a sense of being shut in and overpowered and helpless. + +The peaks on all sides were snow-heaped; but the valley, protected as +it was, showed patches of black earth. Sage-brush with scrub spruce and +hemlock were the only vegetation of the valley visible, but the sides +of the mountains showed a good growth of hemlock and pine trees reaching +to timber line only a few hundred feet up. + +On the left at the foot of Crosby--whose back looked as high to Ross +as its face, despite the fact that he was half a mile higher here than +in the caņon--two columns of smoke were ascending from two clusters of +hemlocks a quarter of a mile apart. Toward these, Steele, drawing in his +horse, pointed. + +"The first is your layout," he called back over his shoulder, "the other +is the McKenzies'!" + +"And where is Wilson's?" asked Ross, eagerly. + +Steele faced in the opposite direction and indicated a narrow trail that +led to the right, disappearing in a forest of scrub pine which filled the +ravine between two of the mountains that formed the rim of the bowl. +"Follow that trail and you'll reach 'em. But ten to one, before you can +do it they'll follow the trail this way and reach you!" + +"I hope so!" exclaimed Ross in a heartfelt tone. + +A few moments later he was face to face with Weimer. + +The latter stood in the doorway of a low log shack, his great hands +cupped over large blue goggles through which his eyes showed dimly, +the lids screwed together, leaving only slits for the admission of the +dreaded glare of light from the snow. His hands were crusted with +dirt. His face, bearded to the rim of the goggles, was grimy, and the +beard matted. His hair hung uneven and uncombed to his thick rounded +shoulders. He wore a colored flannel shirt, a sheepskin coat, and +corduroy trousers thrust into the knee-high tops of old shoes. + +In response to Steele's greeting and introduction Weimer extended his +hand, peered at Ross a moment, and then asked eagerly in a throaty, husky +voice of Steele: + +"D'ye pack any tobac' over?" + +"Lots of it," cried Steele jovially. "Enough for your use and some for +you to give to your neighbors." + +Immediately Weimer's sagging, middle-aged figure became straight and +stiff, and his high forehead wrinkled in a heavy frown. + +"Give dem McKenzies anyting! Ven I do, it'll be ven my name ain't Shake +Veimer." + +Steele stepped quickly in front of the older man, and spoke forcefully. +"There's one thing, Uncle Jake, that you're givin' 'em as fast as +you can, and that's these claims." + +"Nein! Nein!" Weimer shouted. "Das ist nicht so!" + +His uneven black hair bobbed wildly about his shoulders. He pumped his +powerful arms up and down as if the McKenzies were beneath them. + +Steele thrust his face near that of the agitated man, and demanded +roughly, "How many shots have you put since you were over to Camp to +get me to write to young Grant's father? Say, now!" + +Weimer's manner became cringing. He backed into the cabin. "If your +eyes----" he began, but Steele cut him short. + +"You know you've not taken one pound of ore out of your tunnel since. +You know you have sat around here waitin' for Grant to send some one to +help you out----" + +Weimer put up a great hand, and shrank back as a child would have +retreated before his mother's upraised slipper. Steele followed him +into the cabin, and Ross slowly followed Steele. + +"The snow ist come," whimpered Weimer; "und I can't see ven the snow +comes, und the tunnel so far ist to valk----" + +But Steele cut short his complaints sternly. "Now," he declared, "all +your excuses must come to an end. Here is some one to help. Young Grant +here is going to put this work through, and you've got to brace up and +help him. I should be ashamed to sit down and let a couple of McKenzies +take away my claims." + +At once Weimer became alert and combative. The McKenzies should not take +the claims. + +"You see how it is," Steele began as he and Ross were carrying the +cases of dynamite "sticks" up the trail to the tunnel in which Weimer +was doing the assessment work for the four tracts to which he had laid +claim. "Mentally Weimer has become suddenly an old and childish man +while retaining all his physical powers. He can do the work of two +ordinary men if he can be made to work--and it's up to you to compel +him. Otherwise, by the first of next July, at the time when these claims +ought to be patented, you will have to forfeit 'em." + +Ross's heart sank. "The first of next July," and it was then but the +middle of October! He laid the case of sticks down on the ore-dump, and, +glancing up at the peaks which held him a prisoner, caught his breath +in a gust of rebellion. + +At the mouth of the tunnel, some seven feet high and eight wide, was +the "dump," to the edge of which ran a rusty track with a "bumper" at +the end. The track extended into the tunnel. On it stood a lumbering +vehicle, consisting of the trucks of a hand car, on which was fastened a +home-made box to carry ore. + +"This," explained Steele, "is a remnant of Weimer's better days. There +was no way to pack a regular car over here, and he devised this. He was a +smart man until last year." + +After dinner, which Weimer prepared,--Ross found him always ready to +prepare food and eat it,--Steele suggested that they "drop in" on the +McKenzies. + +"Especially," he added, his eyes scanning Ross's face, "after your +meeting Sandy on the way to Cody." + +Ross hesitated. "I don't know about that," he objected, surprised that +Steele should suggest such a thing. "Wouldn't it be a bit queer for me +to call on my 'friends the enemy'?" + +Steele laughed, but held strongly to his point. "Not queer at all. +There's no object in not being on a speakin'-footing with 'em," he +said. "There's nothing to be gained and a lot to be lost by openly +recognizing what they're waiting for. You're goin' to get almighty +lonesome up here,"--involuntarily Ross swallowed, and turned his face +away,--"and that Sandy McKenzie is good company--on the surface. I +can't say as much for the other, Waymart, but he'll pass." + +The sun was shining warmly when they left Weimer's cabin. The snow above +the narrow loam-paved trail was melting and running in rivulets down to +the creek. Overhead the spruce boughs met, and laced their green fingers +together, sending down a damp, spicy odor. + +Near the McKenzie cabin Steele paused and looked up the mountainside. +A few rods away the earth was thrown up around some tree stumps whose +tops had been recently cut off. + +"You see," he explained in a low tone to Ross, "the McKenzies are +supposed to be over here working some claims that they staked out last +spring. But look there! They haven't got the discovery hole finished +yet!" + +The "discovery hole," as Ross had learned, must be dug within thirty +days after the staking of the claim, and is a name given to the ten +feet of development work required by the law of Wyoming. This ten feet of +digging may mark either the commencement of a tunnel if the claim is +located on the side of a mountain, or, if the claim is on level ground, +the hole takes the form of a shaft driven perpendicularly into the +earth. With a claim thus staked and developed, the owner may rest secure +for one year without further work. Then, in order to hold the claim +against any covetous claim "jumper" he must do one hundred dollars' +worth of development work a year for five years in order to obtain a +patent. If he has staked several adjacent claims, work for all may be +done in one shaft or tunnel. + +Ross, merely glancing at the incomplete discovery hole, looked at the +cabin from which the sound of voices issued. His gaze was doubtful, and +his footsteps lagged. + +Seeing this, Steele walked on briskly, rapped on the sagging door, threw +it open, and brought Ross reluctantly face to face with his "friends the +enemy." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MEN OF MEADOW CREEK + + +SANDY MCKENZIE sat before a rough board table on which his elbows lazily +rested, supporting half his weight. Sandy needed no gymnasium exercises +to teach him relaxation. Before him were the remains of a hearty dinner, +the chief dish of which smelled to Ross like beefsteak. From this dish +from time to time Sandy forked bits of meat on which he leisurely chewed. + +He wore the same garb in which Ross had first seen him; but the corduroy +trousers were much the worse for wear and dirt, and it had been weeks +since his face had felt a razor. His sandy hair also had increased in +length, one thick lock perpetually dangling over his forehead. + +Waymart, an older and darker man than Sandy, lay in his bunk smoking, +his knees drawn up and his hands clasped around them. Waymart was clean +shaven, and his black hair was closely clipped. + +Both Sandy and Waymart were surprised to see Ross at their cabin door, +but Sandy favored him with a delighted grin. Rising without disturbing +the box on which he had been sitting, he straddled across it, and held +out a cordial hand. + +"Hello, Tenderfoot," he shouted. "I hear they've added Doc to that there +name since I see you last." + +Waymart crawled slowly out of his bunk. His black eyes met Ross's an +instant, and then slid away, the lids drooping. He held out a hand which, +although larger than Sandy's, lacked its cordial grip. + +"Have some chairs," Sandy invited gayly, kicking forward a couple of +boxes. "These here are our second-best plush, upholstered, _ma_hogany +affairs. The best are coming from Chicago when the Burlington Road gets +into Camp." + +There was about Sandy such an air of gay irresponsibility and cordiality +that Ross brightened perceptibly. After all, his "friends the enemy" +might not be bad neighbors, and he was glad he had allowed Steele to +persuade him to come. + +Pushing his box away from the red-hot stove, he tipped it up on end, and +sat down beside the only window the cabin afforded. Directly outside, +hanging to a tree, were the hind quarters of a beef, as Ross supposed +at first glance. But, chancing to glance down, he found himself looking +at the head of an elk with great branching antlers, a head such as he had +seen at "The Irma" in Cody, credited to the marksmanship of Buffalo Bill. + +"Last week," he heard Waymart saying to Steele, "we got him over near the +Divide." + +Ross opened his eyes in astonishment. "A week!" he exclaimed, glancing +from the table to the meat hanging uncovered and unprotected outside. + +Sandy caught the expression, and slapped his leg gleefully. "Think that +there meat ought to be off color by this time, don't ye, Doc? Well, let +me tell ye we'll be eatin' on it hangin' just where it is until it's +gone; and the last bite will be as good as the first." + +Steele explained. "The air up here cures meat, Grant, quite as well as +brine. It takes meat a mighty long time to spoil--in fact, if it's +properly jerked, it never spoils." + +"'Jerked'?" interrogated Ross: but Sandy had launched into an account +of their hunt over on the Divide, and no one explained the "jerking" +process then. + +As Sandy talked, his manner lost its laziness. He became animated, +laughing and gesticulating constantly, and occasionally running his +fingers through his hair and throwing the stray front lock back among its +fellows. + +Waymart had lain back in his bunk again, and unceremoniously elevated +his knees, between which he glanced at Ross from time to time. He said +but little, and smiled less. + +The two occupied a cabin similar to Weimer's except that it was cleaner. +In one corner was a heap of supplies, boxes of canned goods, and sacks of +flour. Seeing Steele's eyes on these, Sandy explained easily: + +"Hain't packed over our winter's supplies yet except the sticks. Got +a plenty of them, but grub's gettin' pretty low." + +"Better hurry up, then," remarked Steele in a careless fashion. "All the +horses in Camp will be sent below in a couple of weeks." + +By "below" he meant the ranches of Wood River Valley. + +Sandy pushed back his front lock. "Time enough," he returned lightly. +"Everything can wait except game-huntin'. There's a flock of mountain +sheep over on the north side of Crosby, and we're goin' to trail 'em +to-morrow." Then he turned hospitably to Ross. "Want to go along?" + +Ross shook his head. "I've--I've got to work," he stammered, +embarrassed at being obliged to introduce the subject of work on the +Weimer-Grant claims. + +He might have saved himself all embarrassment, as the subject seemed to +have no personal connection with the gay Sandy. + +"What," he cried, "in huntin' season? Wall, I've met other tenderfeet +constituted like ye; but they soon git over the fit, and so will you, I +reckon. Brought a gun?" + +"Yes." + +"You'll be out with us yet," declared Sandy. + +"Sure," came from the bunk in tones of certainty. + +Ross said nothing. + +"When you bring down your first buck," pursued Sandy, unruffled by the +boy's silence, "you'll begin to git the Western fever that ye said ye +didn't want." Here Sandy chortled. "Guess ye think ye're enough of a +doctor t' cure that fever, but wait and see!" + +As he said this, there was in the speaker's manner, or in his blue eyes +or sandy-bearded face, a return of that subtle something which had caused +Ross to decide that he "partly liked him and partly didn't." + +"I expect," said Steele laughingly, "that Doc here will get as quartz +crazy as Wishing Wilson is. Of course, you fellows have seen Wishing." + +"Wishin' Wilson!" exclaimed Sandy and Waymart in one breath, Sandy +adding, "What do ye mean? Whereabouts is Wishin'?" + +"Well! Well! How comes it you didn't know?" exclaimed Steele +wonderingly. "Wishing is right up here in your midst. He's holding +down his claims this minute up yonder," jerking his thumb over his +shoulder. + +Sandy sat up and threw the lock out of his eyes. "Back to stay?" he asked +with his forehead puckering into a scowl. + +Steele nodded. "Stay till the trail is shut up." + +The scowl on Sandy's forehead deepened. "Thought Wishin' was on the +hog's back. Last I knew he was tryin' to sell out to a party in Omaha. +When did he come?" + +Waymart crawled out of his bunk again and lighted his pipe. "We've been +hunting'," he explained, "ye know. Didn't git back 'til yesterday. +Place may be full of folks and we none the wiser!" + +"I don't think you're crowded up here yet," Steele rejoined. "And +Wishing didn't come until--when was it?--only a few days ago, he and his +new partner." + +"Pardner?" cried Sandy. + +"Pardner!" echoed Waymart, holding his pipe in his hand. "What pardner?" + +"Young chap," replied Steele, "about Doc's height and--what age should +you say, Doc?" + +"Probably seventeen," returned Ross. "Not much over," adding, "his name +is Jones, Leslie Jones. He's from Omaha." + +"Grub stake?" asked Waymart succinctly. + +"More than that," answered Steele. "Jones is going to stay and help." + +The scowl on Sandy's forehead smoothed itself out. He grinned genially +at Ross. "I wonder now," he mused, "if there's enough of us old goats +up here in Meadow Greek to round up the kids and take care of 'em!" + +"What about the kids taking care of the goats?" laughed Steele. +"Sometimes they're bigger hustlers." + +Sandy nodded lightly. "This air'll take the hustle out quick enough. +Such high mountains as these hain't made fer hustlers." + +As Ross was returning with Steele to Weimer's shack, the superintendent +glanced at him sidewise. + +"I don't believe," he said slowly, "that the McKenzies intend to winter +here. Of course, there's no object in their stayin'. We all know +they're not here to work their claims, and it isn't necessary to +stay in order to watch yours; and they've no winter supplies, nor," +thoughtfully, "have they mud-chinked their cabin. You can see daylight +anywhere between the logs. No, I don't think they have any intention +of staying." + +Ross looked around the tiny valley, with its fringe of windy, +inaccessible peaks, and thought of the long months ahead of him, shut +in among those cruelly cold mountains. + +"I hope they stay!" he declared fervently. + +An hour later, having talked over the situation with Ross thoroughly, +explained the amount of work necessary to be done in the tunnel, and +given Weimer large chunks of advice, Steele rode away, driving his +packhorses in front of him. + +Ross watched him out of sight and then entered the shack whistling to +keep his courage up. Inside he surveyed his temporary home with a shiver +which stopped the whistle. "Uncle Jake," he suggested, "let's clean +house the rest of the day. Willing?" + +Weimer, sitting on a box in front of the stove, assented without removing +the pipe from his lips. "Ja, clean up all you vant to. I tink your fader +was alvays vantin' to clean mit der house." + +"Think of my father's ever cleaning out a cabin like this!" muttered +Ross. + +He stood helplessly in front of the door looking from the complacently +smoking Weimer to the bags and boxes heaped on the floor and then around +the dirt-encrusted room. He thought of Aunt Anne and her perfectly +kept house with a great throb of homesickness. Then he thought of his +father, who had got his "start" under such conditions as these and +suddenly threw off his coat. + +"It's got to be done," he said aloud, "and I've got to do it!" + +"Vat?" asked Weimer stupidly turning his goggles in Ross's direction. +Weimer was hugging his knees in a state of blissful content, the smoke +from his pipe curling about his head and almost shutting from view the +big young man on whose shoulders he had already shifted all burdens +connected with the Grant-Weimer claims. + +During the remainder of the day Ross worked cleaning up the cabin and +packing away their winter supplies. When night came his bunk looked +better to him than the supper which Weimer was preparing, and he dropped +asleep sitting beside the table waiting for the flapjacks. But, instead +of turning in directly after washing the supper dishes, as he had +intended, he was forced to keep awake until nine o'clock entertaining +the denizens of Meadow Creek Valley. + +The McKenzies came over first. Weimer, who, when night approached, had +removed his goggles, saw them coming first and raised his voice in +protest. + +"Ach! dem McKenzies! See here, poy, dey mustn't come mit my cabin. Dey +ist after dese claims. Vorstehen sie nicht?" + +"Yes, yes, Uncle Jake, I understand," Ross returned soothingly. "But they +can't carry the claims away in their pockets to-night, and to-morrow +morning we are going to bone down to work at such a rate that they'll +come up missing on their calculations altogether." + +At the mention of work, Weimer groaned and retiring precipitately to his +bunk lay there regarding the doorway hostilely through the smoke from +his pipe. The next minute the doorway framed Sandy with Waymart close +behind. + +"Hello, Doc!" Sandy pushed his cap to the back of his head. "Mart and +I, we've started out fer to pay our respects to Wishin' Wilson. Want +t' hike along with us?" + +Ross shrugged his shoulders and sat down on one end of the table, +dish-cloth in hand. "Guess I've had hiking enough for one day, McKenzie. +Let's see. It's two miles up there, isn't it?" + +"Yep;" Sandy lounged in and sat down on a box. "And by th' same sign +it's two miles back. But, gosh, young man, a matter of four mile ain't +nothin' in this country!" He surveyed Ross curiously. "How d'ye travel +East? In a push cart?" + +Ross grinned but flushed. "The trip over from Camp was on rather higher +ground than I've ever seen before and it--well--it winded me," frankly. +"And this afternoon I've been hoeing out here. So I'm not exactly as +fresh as a morning glory to-night." + +Waymart came inside and looked around. Ross pushed a box in his direction +and, after a moment's hesitation and a civil nod in the direction of the +bunk, the older McKenzie sat down and pulled his pipe out of his pocket. + +"Ha, ha!" laughed Sandy. "When you're a few months further away from +Pennsylvany you'll forgit that a shack needs a hoe, t' say nothin' of +a broom." Then he addressed the bunk without looking toward it. "Uncle +Jake, have you seen Wishin'?" + +"Ja," growled Weimer uncivilly, "dat I have." + +"How did he look?" smiled Sandy who seemed to enjoy the other's "grouch." + +"Look?" violently. "Vy, how should he look but shust like himself!" + +Waymart chuckled, and Sandy was about to reply when footsteps were heard +drawing near. Heavy shoes were crunching the stones and pine needles +under foot, and voices sounded louder and louder. + +"Must be Wilson and Jones," said Ross going to the door. + +The room was lighted by two miner's candlesticks driven into the side +logs. One candle was near the door, and the light fell on the genial +face of Wishing Wilson, who paused in the doorway to wring Ross's hand +and shout his greetings at the other occupants of the room, before +stepping in and allowing his young partner to enter. When Ross finally +held out his hand to Leslie Jones he knew that he was facing a boy as +homesick as himself, rather than "Queen Victory's youngest." + +Leslie gripped the other's hand as though its owner were a lifelong +friend. "How do you make it up here?" he asked in a low tone. + +"Don't make it yet," responded Ross. "I just got here to-day. Steele +came up with me." + +Then he turned to introduce Leslie to the McKenzies and saw a tableau +which puzzled him. + +Waymart was staring at Leslie with amazed eyes and a lower jaw that +slightly sagged. He held his pipe in front of his mouth surprised in +the act of adjusting it between his lips. Sandy, rising, came blithely +forward, and, in passing Waymart, stumbled and jostled against him. +Waymart instantly recovered his lost poise. Lowering his pipe he slouched +along behind Sandy and shook hands with Wilson's partner. Wilson +himself was over beside Weimer's bunk telling at the top of his voice +that he had come to a rock wall in his tunnel, and on the other side +there must, without fail, be either a pocket of free gold or a lead +that would make the claims among the most valuable in the Shoshones. To +this optimistic talk Leslie did not listen with the same absorbing +interest he had shown at Sagehen Roost, Ross noticed. + +In fact, a week of loneliness, coarse food and hard work had wilted +Leslie Jones both physically and mentally. Abject weariness seemed to +have robbed him of a part of his absorbing self-esteem. Furthermore, +he appeared to Ross to be troubled as well as homesick. He looked at +Sandy and Waymart unrecognizingly and sat down on a bench beneath the +candle by the stove. + +"We shall stay," Ross heard Wishing tell the McKenzies, "till the pass +over Crosby threatens. Then we'll hike it below to the coal claims." + +"Didn't know you had any," interrupted Sandy. "Where are they?" + +"Up Wood River, only about a mile or such a matter from Camp. Fine +outcroppin' of coal. Best in the country. When the Burlington gits +here they've got t' have coal and I says to myself, 'There's where +you come up on top, Wishin', you'll have th' coal t' sell 'em,' +me and my pard now," he added with a glance at Jones. + +The boy looked at him vaguely, as though he had not heard, and nodded. +He sat with one knee thrown over the other, his back pressed against the +side logs, his eyes so heavy that the lids kept drooping despite his +efforts to keep awake. His hands were blistered, and his new corduroy +suit dirty and torn. The air of newness which had characterized him when +Ross first met him was gone. His hair had lengthened, and his cheeks +revealed hollows. He said but little, being engaged in the absorbing +effort to keep awake. Besides, Sandy and Wilson gave no one else a chance +to talk. Waymart smoked stolidly staring at the candle above Leslie. + +Ross, sitting with his elbows on the table, ceased to struggle against +weariness, and, with his head on his arms, fell asleep. He awakened just +in time to see his callers depart, whereupon he threw himself, dressed, +in his bunk and slept until late the next morning. + +During the next few weeks, all days seemed alike to Ross except Sunday. +Early each Sunday morning he struck the trail for Miners' Camp, the +post-office, and Steele's shack. At first he crept shudderingly over +that quarter mile around the shoulder of Crosby. But soon his head +lost every sense of giddiness, and his legs regained their accustomed +strength, and his heart ceased to beat agitatedly at sight of the +thousand-feet fall. + +On the third Sunday he came into Steele's shack with a brighter face +than he had worn before. + +[Illustration: HE STRUCK THE TRAIL] + +"Things are sort of righting themselves," he reported over a hot elk +steak. "I'm getting Weimer down to work in dead earnest," chuckling. +"I hold the McKenzie boys before his mind's eye continually, and roll +that car out, and dump it so quickly that he has to step lively to get +enough ore picked out and blasted out to fill it." + +Steele whistled when Ross told him how many cubic feet had been taken +out of the Weimer-Grant tunnel during the week. He took from his pocket +a paper and pencil, and fell to figuring. Ross pushed aside the empty +dishes, and, leaning across the table, looked on with interest. He, too, +had figured extensively since work began on Meadow Creek, but only during +the last week had the figures satisfied him. + +"Why, man alive!" cried Steele after a few moments' silent work, +"you'll fetch it, at this rate." He stretched his hand across the +table impetuously, and gripped Ross's, adding, "I thought you could +never do it--even with a backbone." + +Ross's shoulders straightened, and his face flushed boyishly. "We _must_ +fetch it!" + +Steele leaned back, and drummed on the table. "What about the McKenzies? +Of course they must know what progress you've made." + +"Well," exclaimed Ross, "I hope I can keep 'em so interested guessing +that they'll stay all winter. They come over as socially as you please +about every evening. Weimer doesn't like it much. He has no use for +'em, but I have, you bet! I'm glad to have 'em around, especially +now when I can estimate that at the present rate of speed the tunnel +will be ready so we can apply for a patent by June." + +To Dr. and Mrs. Grant, Ross wrote: "It's going to be a long pull and +a strong pull, but I shall stick to the ship and show father that I can +do something else besides setting a bone. + +"And what's more and queerer, I'm in danger of getting interested in +gold mining for itself. Every time I push our little car out to the end +of the dump and unload the ore I wonder how much gold I'm watching +roll away down the incline. Aunt Anne, you said in your last that it +seems such a waste to throw away the ore. Well, if you were here you'd +find it a greater waste of good money to try to get money out of the +quartz under present conditions. You see there are only a few dollars' +worth of gold in a ton of rock. That ton would have to be 'packed,' +as they say here, eighty miles over the roughest of trails to Cody, and +there loaded on cars and sent clear to Omaha, our nearest smelter. And +I guess you know more than I do about the costly process of crushing ore +and extracting gold from it in a smelter. It's not like mining for +'pay dirt,' as the men here call placer mining, where you gather up +sand and wash it out yourself and find the particles of gold in the +bottom of your pan. This quartz digging is the most expensive kind of +mining there is. But when the Burlington gets the branch road up into +Miners' the ore can be loaded at the mines and unloaded in Omaha +without change of cars. Then we'll dig out the dumps and send them +to the smelter, and back will come the gold jingling into our pockets. +But whenever I'm moved to give you information I feel small, for I +believe, in spite of all you write, that you both know more than I do +about it now. + +"I haven't had a book in my hand, Uncle Fred. When it comes night, I am +too tired to understand the newspapers that I bring over from Miners', +to say nothing of delving in histology. I expect I shall forget all I +ever knew, but never mind! If I can get those claims patented, and so +satisfy father, then next year I'll begin over again to fit myself +for college--guess what I knew once will come back when I've studied a +little. Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it now." + +Ross underscored those last words to convince himself that he was not +worrying, and handed the letter over to Bill Travers to be mailed at +Meeteetse. + +To his father Ross proudly wrote of the week's progress in the tunnel, +adding in reply to a rather longer letter than usual, which he found +awaiting him in Camp, "No, I have no intention of throwing up the job." + +His father had opened the way wide for him to "throw up the job" +after receiving the letter he had requested Steele to fill with exact +information. That part of the information which stated that Ross must +necessarily be shut up in Meadow Creek Valley for months with a more or +less weak-headed partner had led to the letter which Ross found awaiting +him. But Ross, Junior, was not well enough acquainted with Ross, Senior, +to understand that this letter was an invitation for him to return East. + +"He thinks I'm just chicken-hearted enough to be ready to cut and run at +the first obstacle," was Ross's thought when he read what his father had +written. His chin came up, and his eyes narrowed. "I'd stay and work +here a year before I'd show the white feather now." + +Ever since his last visit to New York, Ross had dwelt with secret pride +on the respect and confidence that his father had shown him, and the +sensation was so new and pleasant that he had no intention of forfeiting +it. + +And thus it happened that, with Grant, Senior, and Dr. Grant and Aunt +Anne all desiring Ross's presence at home, and with Ross's wishes +coinciding exactly with theirs, he remained at the "jumping-off place" +into the wilderness. + +In his private office on Broadway, Grant, Senior, read and reread, "No, +I have no intention of throwing up the job." He twisted uneasily in his +swivel-chair. He pulled Steele's last letter out of a pigeonhole, read +it, frowned, and replaced it. Then he leaned back and admitted aloud: + +"I wish the boy was safely entered in medical college." + +But, even as he considered the matter, "the boy" with a small pack on his +back, candy and a few apples to eat as a relish with the canned stuff, +was plodding through the snow, light and easily brushed aside as yet, +over the trail between Miners' Camp and Meadow Creek. And the boy's +heart was growing as courageous as his muscles were strong. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HALF-CONFIDENCES + + +IT was dark that night when Ross arrived at the Weimer shack. The +candles were lighted, and as he passed the window, he saw Leslie Jones +within, sitting on a box on the opposite side of the room. His elbows +were on the table, and he was listening to Weimer, or rather, pretending +to listen. At a glance, Ross saw that his thoughts were far afield, +his eyes being fixed on the speaker with an absent stare. He appeared +more unkempt than on the occasion of his first call, and his face was +thinner. There was also about him an air of collapse that made him a +different person from the overbearing young man who had issued lofty +orders at Sagehen Roost. + +It was the second time that Ross had seen him since coming into the +valley. The week before he had gone with the McKenzies one evening to +the Jones claims, but the two boys had exchanged few remarks, both being +too tired to talk. + +As Ross entered the shack a sudden thought struck him. He stopped in the +doorway and greeted Jones with, "See here! Why haven't I thought to get +your mail Sundays? You haven't been over to Camp at all, have you?" + +Leslie moved uneasily. He picked up his cap and pulled at the rim. +"Aw--it's bully of you to think of my mail, but I'm not expecting--why, +yes, you might inquire," he added lamely. Then, "What's going on in +Camp? I'd like to hear something about people once more," with a wry +smile. + +Ross unstrapped a pack from his back and threw the contents on the +table. Sorting out the week's papers, he tossed them across the table. +"'Omaha News.' Want to see it?" + +The blood came in an unexpected rush to Leslie's face and his hand +trembled as he reached for the papers. Ross watched him as he took them +and scanned the headings, column by column. Then he glanced keenly over +the advertisements, and without reading further threw the papers aside +and rested his elbows despondently on the table. + +Weimer, satisfied with the tobacco and candy that Ross had brought, +retired to his bunk, dozing and smoking by turns. Ross had seated himself +at the table opposite Leslie and reread his letters. Now, as the other +cast the papers aside, he looked up and met misery in the eyes leveled +at him from beneath his caller's lengthening hair. + +"Say!" ejaculated Ross impulsively, "I bet you find it as awful up in +this country as I do!" + +"Awful!" echoed Leslie. "It's----" A sudden working in his throat +stopped him. He turned his face away. + +"I wouldn't stay here for all the gold in these mountains if things +weren't just as they are," Ross continued sympathetically, "and I +presume you're caught in some such way, too, or you'd get out." + +Leslie hesitated, nodded and again faced Ross, "How are you caught?" he +asked eagerly. + +Ross told him briefly about his father's interest in the claims and +Weimer's appeal for help that had led to his, Ross's, coming. + +As he talked Leslie's eagerness evaporated. He evidently was looking +for another sort of explanation, and his response was only half-hearted: + +"Then your father sent you. That's bad luck when you want to be in +school." He hesitated and added: "It's not every fellow that wants to go +to school. I hate it!" + +"You do!" exclaimed Ross. "Well, I can't say I waste any love on +studying myself, that is, in most studies, but I'm after results. +I'm willing to bone down to work because of where the work will take +me. The only thing I really like to study is medicine, anatomy and +all that sort of thing, you know. But in order to get anywhere in the +profession, I have to take a lot of mathematics and language and things +that I detest." + +Leslie's shoulders came up. "I won't study what I don't like," he +declared arrogantly, "and I can't be made to--guess they're finding +that out, too!" The last was under his breath. + +"Well," Ross began vaguely, "if you want to be a business man it's not +necessary to go through college. Our most successful business men----" +His voice trailed into silence as he saw that the other was not listening. + +There ensued a few moments of quiet. In the bunk Weimer snored gently. A +nickel clock suspended on a peg from the side logs ticked loudly. The +pine chunks in the sheet-iron stove cracked and snapped cheerfully. +Leslie stared dejectedly at the table, while Ross, his forehead knit +into a puzzled frown, stared at Leslie. What could have happened, he +asked himself, to rob the other in four weeks of his former desire to +turn prospector? Homesickness? Perhaps, but Ross decided the trouble +lay deeper. If it were mere homesickness, the boy would be haunting +Miners' Camp and the post-office or else clearing out of the mountains. + +"Where's Wilson?" Ross asked finally. + +Leslie aroused himself with difficulty. "He's over at the McKenzies'. +I came here." + +"How's the tunnel going? Are you making headway?" + +This question opened the flood-gates of Leslie's misery. "Headway?" he +burst out. "Yes, we're making headway, but toward what, I'd like to +know!" + +It was an exclamation rather than a question, and the boy brought his +clenched fist down violently on the table. + +"Why," stammered Ross, "toward getting the claims patented, I suppose. +What else did you expect?" + +Leslie's excitement subsided. He folded his arms on the table. "I came +expecting to find gold," he confessed. "I could hardly wait to get here +and now--well, I'm here, that's all, and all my money is spent for +supplies." + +"But didn't you understand," Ross began, "that the ore up here had to +be smelted in order to release the metal, and that we can never pack the +ore on horseback over these trails and----" + +"No," cried Leslie fiercely, "I didn't understand. I understood that I +was coming to work claims that would surely prove a perfect Klondike in a +short time--I thought in a few weeks." + +"Oh, that's Wilson," broke in Ross. "He's a perfect promoter, Steele +tells me, because he believes in things himself so intensely that he +makes you see his way in spite of yourself. Steele says he has been +quartz crazy for years. Every claim that he stakes holds his everlasting +fortune in prospect." + +"I've found that out," assented Leslie bitterly, "and yet I can't +blame Wilson. I foisted myself on him at Omaha--he didn't get after +me. And he has really been square with me. He simply made me believe in +his claims as thoroughly as he does, and he believes in them yet, but I +don't. You see," Leslie explained, "he keeps expecting to run across a +pocket of free gold, and that he says he'll turn over to me so I can get +back the money I put into the supplies. I've got to get that money +back pretty soon," he added emphatically. + +Ross looked at him commiseratingly. "I'm afraid you can't." + +For a moment Leslie's lips worked miserably. He took no pains to conceal +his emotion from Ross. Finally he burst out, "I must, Grant. I've +simply got to have that money back." He held out his hands palms up. +They were blistered and sore. "That doesn't matter," he declared. +"I'd work 'em to the bone if the work would bring the gold. And a +month ago I'd never done an hour's work in my life. I tell you," +in a burst of irrepressible confidence, "everything looks different to +me to-day from what it did five weeks ago. I wish--I wish I could go +back those five weeks--why, I'd almost be willing to go to school----" + +Approaching sounds stopped the confidence that Ross was so anxious +to hear. The door opened unceremoniously, and the McKenzies entered, +accompanied by Wilson. The latter was talking excitedly. With a nod +at Ross he finished his speech while helping himself to a seat beside +the stove. + +"I tell you there's every sign of free gold. Same kind of stun crops +out there and in the same layers and at the same angle as when I was +working up in Butte. My claims was right next door to a fellow's named +Harrison. One mornin' he bust through a wall rock slam bang right onto +two thousand dollars' worth of the prettiest yellow ye ever see. And I +tell ye I shouldn't be a mite surprised if our next blast showed us a +streak of yellow too." + +Sandy laughed unconcernedly. "A streak of yeller in a chap and in a rock +mean two different things, I notice. And I've also seen more of the +yeller in fellers than in rocks," easily dropping on a box and lighting +his pipe. + +Young Jones, looking at his partner, brightened visibly, despite the +knowledge he had recently acquired of Wilson's optimism. There was about +the man such a cock-sureness, such simple sincerity and abiding faith in +his own statements that Ross felt that he could not rest content the +following day without knowing the result of that next charge of dynamite. + +Steele had told him about these "pockets" that occasionally are concealed +in the heart of the veins or "leads" along which mining tunnels are +driven. They are uncovered unexpectedly by a blast of dynamite. They +consist of small quantities of quartz of such richness that it pays +to transport the ore to the smelter. But every prospector dreams of +uncovering a pocket of "free gold" ore, quartz through which the gold +is scattered in visible particles or streaks and can be extracted in +its pure state with the aid of a hammer and a knife blade. + +"Come down to-morrow night," Ross said in a low tone across the table, +"and report." + +Leslie nodded, and Ross, going to his emergency chest, brought out a +bottle of liquid and a box of salve. "Here," he said abruptly, "better +take some care of those hands of yours if you don't want blood poisoning +to set in. Soak 'em well in hot water with a teaspoonful of this +added"--he shoved the bottle of liquid across the table--"and then rub +in this salve. And don't work in the dirt without gloves till those +sores are healed." + +Humbly and gratefully Leslie took his orders from "Doc Tenderfoot," while +the men looked on with interest and many questions. + +"Tell ye what," said Sandy heartily, "if I intended t' winter here I'd +feel easier about the trail bein' closed. If a stick should go off at +the wrong time and blow ye int' pieces, Doc here could put th' pieces +together and patch ye up as good as new. Doc's all right!" + +"I wish," thought Ross as he saw his guests depart, "that I could say +the same about Sandy." + +But while he had no faith in the friendly pretentions of Sandy, he +dreaded any mention of his leaving the mountains. To feel that he would +be left alone with Weimer for months was maddening. If only Wilson and +his partner were to remain on the Creek--but they too would go as soon +as the trail threatened to become impassable. This careless speech of +Sandy's concerning leaving the valley drove all other ideas out of +Ross's head that night and persisted in the morning. To feel that Weimer +and himself were the only human beings in Meadow Creek Valley, to know +that there was no escape until the sun thawed away the barrier in +the spring was a terrifying thought. It was present that day with Ross +like a waking nightmare. As he pushed the little car out of the tunnel +and dumped it, he looked up at the cold gray peaks with a wild desire to +level them and bring Miners' Camp--Cody--Pennsylvania--nearer. So +absorbing was this desire that he forgot the promised visit from Leslie +and was surprised to see him at the door before he had finished washing +the supper dishes. + +"You wanted to hear about that promised vein," explained the newcomer, +reading Ross's surprise in his face. + +"Oh--why, yes! That pocket of free gold!" exclaimed Ross hastily picking +up the thread of connection where it had been broken the previous +evening by Sandy's reference to leaving the valley. "Did you uncover it?" + +"Uncover nothing!" returned Leslie. He sat on the table and swung +his feet restlessly, adding despondently, "And what's more, we +won't uncover anything in a lifetime up here, either. I've lost all +hope--except," he added with a shrug of his shoulders, "just the +minute that Wilson is talking." + +"I never had any hope," said Ross slowly, "but then, I have never given +the ore more than a thought. With me it's simply to get the work done, +satisfy my father and--clear out." + +"And with me," responded Leslie, "it's the money now--I've got to have +the money. Only," he added, "I'll say this--that when I left Omaha +there was more in it for me than the money. You see--I'll own up--I +was crazy to get out of school and, well--see things and do 'em! If +I'd gone to some other place, to Goldfield or even down to Miners' Camp +it would be different. But I'm here and all my money's spent." + +Continually he came back to that last statement. That fact had evidently +swallowed up all the lust for adventure, for "getting out and seeing +things"--it was the only thing that young Jones could now see in the +situation. Ross wondered why but did not like to ask. Finally he said +hesitatingly, "I say, Jones, if you want to get out of here I'll--that +is--I have enough on hand to let you have your car-fare back to Omaha." + +The blood rushed over Leslie's face. His head came up proudly. "See +here, Grant," he exclaimed briskly, sliding off the table and stuffing +his hands into his pockets, "it must sound as if I'm a low-down beggar, +but I never thought of such a thing as getting hold of your money!" + +"And I never thought of it, either," declared Ross quickly. "I've made +you the offer on my own hook. Come off your high and mighty perch and +talk sense! Take the money and pay it back when you can. I'm a hundred +dollars to the good here." + +Leslie "came off his perch" instantly and held out his hand repentantly. +"Thank you, Grant. That's awfully white of you, but that won't do. +It's not car-fare I want, and Omaha is the last place I want to +strike--or next to the last, at least--without--well, a lot more than +car-fare." After a moment he repeated, "I tell you it's white of you +to offer it, though. It makes a fellow feel as if he'd fallen among +friends." + +The latter expression reminded Ross of something about which he had not +thought in three weeks, namely, the behavior of Waymart McKenzie when +he first saw Leslie. With the water still dripping from the dish-pan the +boy hung it against the logs, tossed the dish-cloth on top of the pan +and rolling down his sleeves, asked: + +"Jones, do you know the McKenzies?" + +Leslie shook his head. "Before coming here, do you mean?" + +Ross nodded. + +"No, never saw them before. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing," returned Ross carelessly, "only when you came in here the +first night I thought they acted as though they'd seen you before, or +Waymart did, rather." + +The effect of this simple statement was unexpected. Leslie gripped the +table excitedly. His face paled and he was obliged to clear his throat +before asking: "What made you think that? I didn't--didn't notice +anything. I never thought that they--he----" + +"It was just a trifle that made me think that," Ross hastened to assure +his guest in confusion. "Just a little byplay when Waymart first saw +you. Nothing to----" + +"Tell me exactly what it was," commanded Leslie, and all the boy's +imperiousness leaped to the front. "I want to know all that you saw." + +Ross related the incident haltingly. "Sandy didn't act as though he had +ever seen you before. It was only Waymart," he said consolingly, but it +was plain to be seen that the other was not consoled. + +"It's possible, very possible that they may have seen me--I wouldn't +have noticed them," he muttered, "if they were--that is, father hired +any number of men--they might all see me and I not notice them." + +"Maybe I can find out," offered Ross promptly. "I'll ask them." + +"No, no!" hastily; "don't bother with the matter." + +Leslie crossed the room, threw open the door and stood staring across the +valley at the McKenzie shack. When next he spoke he did not look around: + +"It will be just as well, Grant, if you don't mention me to 'em +until----" There ensued a long pause. Then, "until I talk with you again." + +Just before he left he asked abruptly, "Do you bring the Omaha papers +back with you every Sunday?" + +"I can," replied Ross, "if you want 'em. But, see here, Jones, why +don't you go over to Camp with me next Sunday?" + +Leslie hesitated. "Guess I will. Good-night." + +A few steps from the door he turned back. "See here, Grant, don't wait +for me Sunday. If I go I'll be here by eight o'clock. But if I don't +go, I should like to see the Omaha papers." + +"All right, I'll fetch them," returned Ross. + +Sunday morning he postponed his start for Miners' Camp until past eight +o'clock, hoping that Leslie would come, but no Leslie appeared. Sandy +did, however. He came freshly shaved and combed, with a new kerchief +knotted about his neck. + +"Want some good company over t' Camp?" he inquired jocularly. "If ye do, +here it is, fer I'm goin' out." + +"Going to stay long or just for the day?" asked Ross. + +"Oh, I dunno how long," carelessly. "I've got t' see Cody again. Little +old town couldn't fetch it if I didn't hang around it about once in +so often." + +"Is Waymart going?" + +"Nope, Mart will hold the cabin and claims down here. Mart don't +like t' hit th' trail as often as I do. He's fer his pipe and a soft +bunk and a good meal. Mart 'ud be a failure as one of these here +globe-trotters. He's what ye could call domestic in his tastes. The +only thing he lacks," here Sandy chuckled at his own wit, "is a blamed +thing to be domestic about!" + +As they were making their way cautiously around the shoulder of Crosby, +Sandy asked suddenly, "Why don't that young Jones go t' Camp ever on +Sunday? Guess they don't work Sundays up t' th' Wilson claims. I +should think he'd be as wild as you be t' git over this side of Crosby +where there's a post-office and newspapers and things." + +"I don't know," returned Ross in a general denial of knowledge of all +Sandy had said. + +"I wonder about that young feller now," pursued Sandy affably. + +"So do I!" thought Ross. He said nothing. + +"I wonder how he come t' drop out of nowhere with money enough t' +grub-stake the two of 'em fer six months--and then have nothin' further +t' draw on!" + +Sandy, walking now shoulder to shoulder with Ross, looked at him keenly. + +"Don't know anything about it," returned Ross shortly, but he could not +rid himself of the insinuation in Sandy's words. + +When he returned that night to Meadow Creek, Ross was disappointed at +finding Wilson awaiting him as well as Leslie. He had hoped that Leslie +would come for the papers alone and would continue the conversation of +his previous visit. + +In a loud and jovial voice Wilson informed Doc that his pard had started +out in good shape that morning to go over to Camp and had then backed out. + +"Must have got clean over here," Wilson added. + +Leslie gathered up the newspapers which Ross had brought and fitted them +together without meeting Ross's eyes. "I found I was too tired to go +on," was all the explanation he made. "I slept pretty much all day and +am going to turn in early to-night." + +Ross nodded speechlessly, wondering how much Sandy's going had to do +with Leslie's staying. Would the latter avoid the McKenzies now that he +knew they had seemed to recognize him, and why? Before the evening was +far spent Ross began to suspect that Leslie would like to avoid him also, +if it were possible. The boy looked more despondent than ever, but he +shielded his despondency behind a proud reserve that shut Ross out, much +to the latter's disappointment. + +"Perhaps," Ross told himself, "if I hadn't been such an idiot as to +offer him money, he wouldn't act so offish now. I never had any more +tact than a goat, anyhow! Wish I had minded my own business and let him +do all the talking!" + +"Vas ist de matter mit dot poy?" Weimer asked as soon as the door closed +on their visitors. "He vas such a talker oder time he vas here und now +he talks nicht at all." + +"Guess he's homesick." + +Weimer rubbed his great hands together thoughtfully. "Und sick of de +mountains, I tink," he added shrewdly. "Ven dot poy come here he fooled +himself!" + +The last of the week saw Sandy's return. He came strolling along the +trail one night just as the sunlight was fading from the tops of the +mountains. He was whistling, apparently in high spirits. Stopping at +the door of Weimer's shack he paused to call: + +"Hi, in there, Grant! I saw your friend Leonard at Cody. I set you up +in fine shape t' 'im. 'No grass,' says I, 'will turn t' hay while +he's gittin' things done.'" + +Ross laughed. Despite the fact that he knew Sandy's praise covered an +abyss of insincerity, it was pleasant, none the less. + +After the supper dishes were washed, he decided to visit the McKenzies. +"Want to go along, Uncle Weimer?" he asked, well knowing what the reply +would be. + +"Go mit dem McKenzies?" gesticulated Weimer. "Ven I do it vill pe ven my +legs von't carry me avay from dem!" + +Ross laughed. "Well, Uncle Weimer, my legs seem to want to carry me where +I can get the Cody news. I want to hear about Mr. Leonard. Perhaps he has +heard from father more recently than I." + +There was no moon that night, and the sky had become suddenly overcast +so that Ross faced a dense darkness pierced only by the candle-light +from the window of the McKenzie shack. He stumbled toward this, feeling +his way so slowly along the narrow trail that he unwittingly approached +the cabin silently and surprised an altercation within. Sandy's voice +was raised in vehement assertion and Waymart's lower rumble in protest. +As he was groping for the door, he heard Sandy say: + +"I tell ye, Mart, wild hosses won't drag 'im up here s' long as that +young feller is in these mountings, and we may want 'im here." + +Then Waymart's response, "Well, what be ye aimin' to do about it? +Don't bite off more'n ye can swaller. Ye do that too often. He'll +be out of here in a few weeks. What's eatin' ye? 'Let well enough +alone.'" + +"Yes," scornfully from Sandy. "Ye maverick! They won't go till we----" + +Ross, his hand on the door, had stubbed his toe against a stone. + +"Sh," came Sandy's warning in lowered tones. "What's that?" + +There was a step across the floor. Ross instinctively fell back into the +darkness and slipped behind a tree. The door was jerked open and Sandy's +figure appeared. An instant he looked out and then turning back, said +disgustedly, "Nobudy, but guess we don't need t' yell loud enough t' +be heard up t' Wilson's." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ROSS'S "HIRED MAN" + + +As the door closed on Sandy, Ross beat a hasty retreat. His first thought +was that the brothers were discussing him. The fact that they were in +the valley to watch the progress of work on the Weimer-Grant claims and +that they were interested in his being there and not anxious to have him +remain, all aided in the interpretation of the McKenzies' speeches. + +"But who on earth is it that won't come as long as I am here and why +not?" he asked himself as he stumbled back in the direction of the light +in Weimer's cabin. + +"Vat's you pack for alreddy?" demanded Weimer from his bunk as Ross +opened the door. "Ist dem McKenzies mit Wilson, hein?" + +"No," returned Ross, "but I decided that I am tired enough to turn in +instead of going visiting," and he forthwith "turned in," but did not go +to sleep immediately. + +Truth to tell, he was uneasy. He felt that Sandy, behind that +good-natured, friendly exterior, was full of schemes. The McKenzies +wanted the claims, and Ross had unexpectedly interposed himself +between them and their desires. Therefore, their schemes must include +him. What was on foot now? + +He tossed restlessly in his bunk assailed with qualms of fear that he +tried to conceal from himself. "Ah, what you afraid of?" he asked himself +disgustedly. "They won't shoot you nor yet tie you hand and foot and +throw you over the Crosby trail. As Steele says, I haven't a thing to +fear personally from 'em. That's not their way. Go to sleep." + +This command he issued to himself in an angry mutter and at once +scrambled up in his bunk wider awake than ever. His mental horizon +unexpectedly cleared. "Of course he's the one they meant and not me!" +he exclaimed aloud. + +"Vat's dat you say?" asked Weimer sleepily. "Hein?" + +"A waking nightmare," returned Ross and lay down again. + +Of course it was Leslie. "'He's to be here only a few weeks,'" Waymart +had said. "'Let well enough alone.'" He, Ross, expected to winter +in the valley, and the McKenzies knew it. Yes, they were referring to +Leslie. That calmed Ross, but deepened the mystery. + +The following morning he thought over the situation while he was at work. +It was a blind enough situation, but he felt that he ought to repeat to +Leslie the scraps of conversation that he had overheard. They might mean +much to the boy, and in spite of his reserve and his overbearing manners +Ross liked Leslie. + +At noon he ate dinner hastily, and telling Weimer that he would be +back in an hour, set out for the upper claims. Snow had fallen the +night before and the trail had filled, making walking tiresome, for +Ross had not yet accustomed himself to the use of snow-shoes. With his +hands in his pockets and his cap drawn down over his eyes he plunged +through the drifts in the teeth of a sharp east wind. Up the side of +the mountains he struggled, through the pass between two peaks where +Meadow Creek had cut a channel and into a hollow sheltered from the wind +and exposed to the sun. + +"Hello, Grant!" A voice greeted him from the upper side of the trail. + +Ross pushed his cap back and looked up. In the sunshine, his back against +a warm rock, his feet buried in the dry loam and pine needles, sat Leslie +Jones. He had eaten his dinner and wandered along the trail until he +had found a warm spot in which to spend the noon hour. Ross promptly +climbed the steep mountainside and dropped down beside him. + +"The McKenzies say," began Leslie curiously, "that you don't stop work +long enough to eat and sleep. Yet here you are two miles from home in +the middle of the day." + +"It's because of what the McKenzies have said that I'm here now," +Ross returned swiftly. "It may not be worth a picayune to you, and then +again, maybe, it will be," and he related the events of the previous +evening. + +Leslie bent a troubled face over a stick that he was idly whittling. +"Are you sure, Grant, that they meant me? I haven't an idea who they are +nor who could be so afraid of me that he wouldn't come up here with me +here. I don't know of a soul that's afraid of me, but," with a short, +mirthless laugh, "I do know of some one that I'm afraid of. It's not +the McKenzies, although they might--if they know me----" + +Suddenly he flung the stick from him and faced Ross impulsively. "Grant, +did you ever do something that you'd give anything you possessed to +undo--and that you'd just _got_ to undo?" + +Ross, startled at the sudden change in his companion, at the latter's +intensity and evident unhappiness, merely shook his head awkwardly, +avoiding the misery-filled eyes. He turned away and began piling up +stones, bits of shining quartz that had been thrown, at some time, out of +a discovery hole above them. + +Presently Leslie regained his self-possession. "I say, Grant," he began +again abruptly, "to tell you the truth, I have started to go over to see +you half a dozen times within a week and got this far every time. I'm +going to ask a favor of you." + +"All right," said Ross with a gruffness that did not conceal his +sympathy. "Fire ahead!" + +"The other day you--you offered me money," Leslie began with difficulty. + +"Yes, and I do to-day," Ross interrupted. + +Leslie shook his head. "Hold on till I get to it. I can't take your +money--not that way. But the other day I heard the McKenzies tell Wilson +that you tried to hire men in Miners' Camp. Will you hire me?" + +"Will I!" Ross leaped to his feet. He grabbed his cap and tossed it in +the air and then fell to pommeling Leslie in pure exuberance of joy. +"Hire you? I wish there were half a dozen of you to hire! Bully for you! +But----" + +His exuberance died out. He replaced his cap and looked down on the +other, his lips pursed ready for a whistle. + +"Well?" + +"See here!" Ross burst out. "What about Wilson?" + +"That's all right," Leslie answered quickly. "I told him a couple +of days ago that I'd got to get money. I told him I'd leave him the +grub, of course. I agreed to furnish it, and I'll stick to my word," +doggedly, "but I must also light out and earn some money. And all I can +do is to work with my hands. I--well, I've always hated to make my head +work, and I've never had to do any other kind until now. You'll find +I'm soft yet, but I'll do my best." + +The boy spoke humbly. + +Ross sent his cap spinning into the air once more. "I'll risk you! +You're not as soft as you were six weeks ago! Not by half! When can you +come?" + +Leslie considered. "Wilson says he'll go below to the coal claims in a +couple of weeks. I'll talk it over with him and let you know." + +"Come to-morrow, if you can," Ross shouted back as he slid down to the +trail. + +Work went easily for a few days in view of Leslie's coming. The thought +of his companionship robbed the prospective loneliness of Meadow Creek +Valley of its terrors. He whistled and sang about the shack as he hunted +up the material out of which to make a third bunk. He was hammering +away on this the second evening after his talk with Leslie, when the +McKenzies dropped in. They had been over on the Divide hunting and +had been out of Ross's sight and mind since his talk with Leslie. Not +until Sandy pushed the door open unceremoniously and walked in did Ross +recall the comments that had so disturbed him and wondered once more +to whom they had referred, himself or Leslie, and what the reference +meant. + +"Hello, Grant!" Sandy exclaimed, stopping abruptly just inside the door. +"What's up? Why another bunk? Goin' t' take boarders? Any relations +droppin' in t' attend our festivities up here?" + +Ross looked over his shoulder laughingly. "Nope. Give another guess." + +Sandy came nearer. Waymart shut the door and sat down beside the stove. +Weimer turned his back on "dem darned McKenzies," and put on his goggles +that he might not be tormented by a view of their faces. It was a +never-ending source of vexation to him that they came sociably to his +shack. + +"I haven't any more guesses in stock," declared Sandy, but the smile on +his face was succeeded by a frown and he bit his red beard restlessly. + +"Hired man is coming to-morrow," Ross formed him as the hammer sent +another nail home in the side wall. + +"Hired man!" exploded Sandy. "Where the deuce will you get a hired man?" + +"Right here in the valley," exulted Ross. "Leslie Jones." + +"Leslie Jones!" repeated Sandy. + +"Leslie Jones," muttered Waymart. + +"By and by," Ross confessed, "when all you fellows go below, it will +seem a little more livable up here to have a third one around. I'd pay a +man wages just to stay here to say nothing of working for me." + +Neither Sandy nor Waymart made any comment. Sandy stood watching the +work in silence, while Waymart allowed his pipe to go out. Then both +departed. They said they were going up to see Wilson, but Ross noticed +that they returned to their own cabin instead. + +"Something doesn't seem to please our friends the enemy," he chuckled +after their departure. "They see the Weimer-Grant claims getting further +and further from their reach." + +"Ve vill peat dem McKenzies yet," gloated Weimer rubbing his hands gently +on his knees. "Ven dot oder poy comes de work vill run und jump!" + +Ross did not see the McKenzies again until Leslie was occupying the third +bunk, Wilson having, good-naturedly, sent him down within a week after +the boys had completed their bargain. + +"Clear out if ye want to," Wilson had said kindly. "It's white of ye +t' leave the grub. I hain't a cent t' pay fer it. There's a fortune +in these claims of mine, but it's too late t' dig it out this year. +Next summer----" and he was launched on the glowing prospects for the +next season. + +Leslie entered on his task with a grim determination which seemed foreign +to his disposition. + +"I don't want you to get sick of your bargain the first week," he said +one day in answer to Ross's remonstrance when he refused to stop work +on account of a bruise on his wrist. "You open up that little emergency +chest and I can go on digging just the same. I don't want any delayed +wages in mine!" + +With the advent of Leslie, life fell into pleasanter grooves in Weimer's +cabin. Despite the anxiety ever present with the newcomer, and despite +his natural reserve, Ross's exuberance of spirits caused by his presence +and work affected him, and after the supper dishes were washed, the two +boys wrestled, chaffed each other or talked, Ross about his father and +uncle and aunt, Leslie about his school life in Omaha. + +"It's a boys' school," he explained one day, "a military academy. I've +had to go there ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Discipline +is fierce. I hate it, and this year I made up my mind I'd not stand +it, so I'm here." + +"And wish," ventured Ross, "that you were back in school again." + +"Yes--almost," Leslie began impulsively and then paused, adding quietly, +"Lots of things I wish, and wish 'em hard." + +The following evening after supper, Weimer tumbled into his bunk at +once and began snoring. The two boys washed the dishes, in silence at +first. Outside, snow was falling heavily. Through the drifting flakes +the McKenzies' light shone fitfully. The brothers had been away again +hunting and had just returned. + +As Leslie set the dishes on their shelf above the stove he glanced +uneasily out of the window. He had not seen the McKenzies for some time. +Ever since they had crossed the valley that noon on their snow-shoes, +their hunting trophies on their shoulders, he had watched their cabin +with that same air of uneasy abstraction. + +"Ross," he broke out at last, "I've got to tell you something. I hate +like a dog to tell it, but it's got to break loose some time and it may +as well be right now." + +He turned from the shelf, glanced at the snoring Weimer, lowered his +voice, and, standing beside the stove, worked restlessly at the damper in +the pipe. Ross, without looking at him, slowly scrubbed the dish-pan +and then the table. + +"It's like this," Leslie began. "When I met Wilson I had five hundred +dollars in my pocket and a grouch against my father. Always before then, +father had sent the Academy a check to pay for the semester--you have +to pay there in advance for half the year--but this year he had business +on hand that couldn't be interrupted and so he called me into his +office in a great hurry the morning I left home and handed over the +check to me. It was made out to me and it was for five hundred dollars. +That's the price of the half year, you see. Dad handed it over and +just said, 'Here, pay your own bill,' and got out. That's about +all that's ever between us, anyway. Well, I went up to Omaha. We'd +had it out about school all summer. I was bound not to go this year, +and he swore that I should go and go through college if he had to rope +me and tie me and take me himself, as he put it! Father is a whirlwind +of a man. But I was bound not to go, and the money let me out. I took +the check and cashed it at the bank and went to the 'Hill House,' +where I met Wilson. I reasoned that the money was mine because it was +to be spent on me. You see, Ross, I was mad enough to reason anything +my way that I wanted." + +Leslie turned the damper absently, sending smoke in gusts into the room, +but neither boy noticed it. Ross wiped out his dish-pan, hung it on its +nail, and sitting down on a box, took his chin between his hands and +stared at the fire. + +"I thought," Leslie went on, "that I'd invest that money and surprise +dad. Well," grimly, "he's probably as surprised by this time as I am. +You've heard Wilson tell about my meeting him and agreeing to go with +him. I spent the entire five hundred on our outfit and car-fare in the +expectation that in six weeks I could write to dad and tell him what a +success I'd made of it! I had six weeks' grace." + +Ross looked up inquiringly. "What do you mean?" + +"Father and I never have corresponded extensively, but he always looks +sharply after my reports. The first report goes out from the Academy in +six weeks after school opens. I reckoned from what Wilson said that we'd +strike it rich up here in a month more or less, and so about the time +father would be looking into the reason why no report was sent from +the Academy, he'd be receiving one from me up here and, you know, +Ross, 'nothing succeeds as well as success,' and success of this sort +would get dad right under the collar. Well, he probably knows by this +time that I've turned up missing at school, and he has not received +a letter from Meadow Creek telling about the discovery of free gold!" + +Leslie gave the damper a final twist and sat down on a pile of fire-wood. +"Ross," he exclaimed violently, "I am about seven ways an everlasting +fool!" + +Ross grinned cheerfully. "Aunt Anne always says that to find out that +you're a fool 'is the best cure for the disease of foolishness.' So +you see you're headed toward the cure already." + +Leslie shook his head. "There's that money, Ross. It wasn't mine, and +you know it and I know it. I can't face dad again without it in my hand. +Why, I wouldn't see him until I'd earned it for--well, wild horses +wouldn't drag me," he concluded passionately. "I tell you, Ross, I've +let myself in for a heap of trouble. I know father." + +"Now that he finds out you've skipped, Leslie, won't he be hunting you +up?" + +Leslie stirred uneasily and turning stretched up and looked in the +direction of the McKenzies. "That's what I'm expecting, or else he'll +not think me worth while. I tell you, Ross, I've made dad no end of +trouble both at home and in school. Things look sort of different up +here. I've--well--I've never been up against it before." + +"Are you going to send your father word?" + +"Send him word before I get back that five hundred!" cried Leslie aghast. +"You don't know dad. I can't face him without it. Not much." + +"But he'd see that you feel different----" Ross began. + +"You don't know dad," Leslie cut in harshly. "With the men it's just +the same. It's 'stand and deliver' or get out, and he'd treat me just +the same." + +The coming of the McKenzies put an end to further conversation. They came +to announce their departure on the morrow. + +"Any little thing you'd like us t' git fer you?" Sandy asked the boys +lazily. "Want us t' bring ye any biled shirts or one of these here coats +with long handled tails? If you fellers lay out t' stay here all winter +ye better lay in a stock of society rags, 'n' dancin' shoes." + +"About the most useful dancing shoes we'll need will be snow-shoes, I +guess," Ross retorted. + +Leslie, from the wood-pile, said little but watched the brothers closely. +Neither paid more than a passing attention to him, concentrating their +remarks on Ross. They left early and went up the Creek with the intention +of paying a farewell call on Wilson. + +"I don't believe," said Leslie the following morning as he watched them +take the trail leading over Crosby, "that they have ever seen me before. +They don't act as though they have, do they?" + +"Haven't seen a sign of it since that first night," declared Ross, "and +yet what I overheard, you know----" + +"Must have referred to you," returned Leslie with conviction. + +The next three days passed quietly enough. The inhabitants of Weimer's +cabin heard an occasional blast from Wilson's claims, but did not see +Wilson. Steadily the two boys worked and steadily Ross held Weimer to +his labors. Usually it was Weimer who got the meals, either Ross or +Leslie leading him down to the shack, in case the sun shone, about +half-past eleven. In three-quarters of an hour the boys would leave +work and sit down to a substantial meal of hot bread, potatoes and all +sorts of canned meats and vegetables. But the third day after the +McKenzies' departure it chanced that when eleven o'clock came, Weimer +and Leslie were in the far end of the tunnel drilling the "cut in" holes +for a new blast, and Ross, pushing the little car back into the tunnel, +sang out: + +"Hey, you fellows, keep on and I'll go down and shake up the grub this +time." + +He ran down the trail to the cabin, and soon had a roaring fire in the +heater. A kettle of beans had been left simmering on the back of the +stove. This Ross pulled forward, and then, delving among the canned +goods, he proceeded to set out various edibles, all the while whistling +cheerfully. + +"M-m, tomatoes," he interrupted himself to mutter, "we haven't had +tomatoes in two days. And corn--sweet corn. Guess Weimer has overlooked +the corn entirely. We'll have corn. Soup! Jiminy! We haven't had soup +in an age. Vegetable. That means a little of everything, and that taken +boiling hot. Here goes soup." + +"Whoa!" came a deep voice from the trail outside the door, then the voice +was raised, "Hello! Who's t' home?" + +Ross stepped to the door and faced a middle aged man, clad in leather +"chaps" and short fur coat. A fur cap was drawn down over his ears and +his hands were encased in huge fur gloves. He sat easily on a gray horse +and was leading another, a mottled brown and white. As Ross appeared, +he drew off one glove and slipped the hand carelessly under the tail +of his coat at the same time squaring about in his saddle so that he +faced the doorway. + +Ross, in his shirt sleeves, stepped out and greeted the newcomer +hospitably. "Hello! Come in to dinner." + +"Had mine down in Miners' Camp," returned the other with a backward jerk +of his head. + +He touched his mount with his spur and came close to Ross. The brown and +white horse pulled back obstinately on the leading rope. The animal was +saddled. + +"Are you the young chap that's workin' for Weimer?" + +"Yes." + +"All right." The stranger withdrew his hand from the tail of his coat. +It held a gun. "No monkey-shines now! You're the boy I'm after. I'm +the sheriff of Big Horn County, and I have a warrant here for your +arrest. Your father is honin' to meet up with you and settle a little +account of money taken in Omaha." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SURPRISES + + +FOR a moment Ross was stunned. His hands fell nervelessly at his side, +and he stared up at the stranger with expressionless eyes. Then, as +the situation dawned on him, his eyes suddenly narrowed and into them +leaped a light that caused the other to move the gun suggestively and say +warningly: + +"No monkeying allowed, understand. Swallow a bite right now and climb +up here on this other horse." + +Ross looked over his shoulder speculatively. From his position he could +see the mouth of the tunnel on the mountainside behind the cabin. The +mouth showed up black and empty and from its depth came the muffled +sound of the hand drills wielded by Weimer and Leslie. The trail leading +over the mountain to Miners' Camp was screened from the mouth of the +tunnel by hemlocks. It could be seen only from the end of the dump. +Ross thought fast. + +"All right," he said finally. "I'll go with you now--and quietly. +There's no objection, I suppose, to my leaving a note for--Weimer?" + +No doubt existed in his mind as to the legality of the warrant and the +seriousness of purpose in the man before him; therefore, he asked no +further questions. Moreover, he wished above all things to avoid question +and get off before Leslie appeared on the scene. + +"Leave a note, yes, or see 'im," assented the sheriff. "I'm willin'. +Where is he?" + +"At work," hastily. "I'll just leave a note." + +The sheriff dismounted, dropped his bridle reins beside his horse's +head, hitched the second animal's rope about the pommel of his saddle, +and followed Ross into the shack, repeating, "Where at work?" + +"In the tunnel," mumbled Ross. "I would rather write a line than call +him." + +He picked up some cold biscuits left over from breakfast and stuffed +them into his pockets. Then, drawing a box up to the table, he sat down +with paper and pencil to write a note. To his confusion, the sheriff +stood over him looking on. He moistened the point of his pencil slowly. +What on earth could he say that would make Leslie understand and yet +not give the situation away to the sheriff? To gain time he gnawed on +one of Weimer's hard biscuits. + +"Where is my--father?" he asked finally, stumbling guiltily over the word. + +The sheriff spat out of the doorway and twirled his gun impatiently. +"You'll see 'im before I leave you, all right," was his ambiguous +reply. "And the sooner that is the better it'll suit me. Git busy, +young man, with that pencil. I don't aim to go int' winter quarters +here. We've got to go on to Cody." + +Ross bit his lips and laid the biscuit aside. His eyes narrowed until +they were mere slits. Grasping his pencil with a firmness he was far from +feeling he began to write without preface. + +"The sheriff is here arresting me for stealing money from my father in +Omaha. He is taking me to him in Cody now. I don't know when I can get +back. Keep the work going sure, and don't worry. I think I will be +able----" + +He paused and moistened the pencil again, then crossed out the last +sentence and substituted: + +"I shall try to reason with him and make him see that he had better let +me keep on doing what I am doing and earn the money to pay him back." + +Another instant Ross paused and thought. Then he added the singular +explanation which he believed would make the foregoing more lucid to +Leslie: + +"As I write the sheriff is standing over me," and then bethought himself +just in time to avoid signing his name. + +"Huh!" grunted the sheriff reading the last sentence. "So he is; and now +hustle!" + +Ross hustled most willingly. Seizing his top-coat and cap he was ready in +a few moments for the perilous journey over the Crosby trail. Silently he +mounted the brown and white horse, all the time glancing anxiously at +the mouth of the tunnel. He rode in front of the sheriff and slyly urged +his horse forward until the intervening trees hid the mouth of the tunnel +from which still issued the steady grind and thud of the drills. + +It was not until the two horses were cautiously feeling their way down +the perilous trail, and Ross saw far below him the shacks of Miners' +Camp that some of the difficulties of his sudden venture began to present +themselves to him. His decision had been made so hurriedly that he had +had no time to think all around the subject of the arrest and his own +action. It had seemed to him outrageous that a father should arrest his +own son even though that boy had done wrong. Ross revolted at the idea. + +"I don't wonder," he thought, "that Less is afraid of his father. But +his fear wouldn't sit so hard on his temper but what there'd be no end +of explosions, and then where would they both get to?" + +It was the thought of this state of affairs that had led Ross to the +impulsive determination to go to that father and ask for a few months +of grace for the son. In this, as he acknowledged to himself, he had a +mixed motive and part of the mixture was not unselfish. + +"If he'll only let Leslie stay and help me through the winter and earn +the money," was his thought, "if I can make him see that Leslie's no +quitter, and that he knows he has made a big mistake and is willing to +bone down and undo it--if I can only make him see!" + +It was here that Ross's misgivings began. He knew he was no talker and +evidently, as Leslie said, the father was a man of violent temper. + +"I'll probably have my little trip under arrest for nothing," Ross told +himself as they reached the foot of Crosby. "Mr. Jones will blow my head +off and send back for Leslie. Queer father not to come himself instead +of sending a sheriff and a warrant and so disgrace his own son!" + +As to who was responsible for notifying the father of the whereabouts of +his son, Ross did not for a moment doubt. Sandy's trip to Cody and the +departure a few days before of both brothers answered that question to +his satisfaction. + +At the foot of Crosby the trail of horsemen turned into the wagon trail +leading past Gale's Ridge. On foot approaching them was a man whom Ross +had met often in Steele's shack, and the sight of him awoke the boy +with a shock to another phase of the situation that he had not, so +far, had time to consider. Of course, it would not be possible for +him to reach Cody and Mr. Jones without betraying his identity to the +sheriff! There were the men of Gale's Ridge, the hotel at Meeteetse, +and above all, there was Sagehen Roost and Hank. He turned in his saddle. +It was a waste of time to go on. He might as well own up and let the +sheriff go back after Leslie. + +"I was foolish to think of coming!" he muttered aloud and reined in his +horse. + +The sheriff, coming on behind with his head bent, looked up questioningly +and rode alongside. The two had not exchanged a word since leaving +the Creek, the sheriff being silent by nature and Ross by choice. At +that instant, the footman passed them. On the sheriff he bestowed an +unrecognizing nod, on Ross a broad and cordial grin. + +"Hello, there, Doc!" he greeted and passed on. + +The sheriff glanced in surprise from the man to Ross. The latter drew +a deep breath, and squaring about on his saddle shook the bridle reins. +"That's a nickname they've given me," he muttered and rode on. + +The sheriff nodded and fell back, leaving Ross determined to play the +game as far as he was able. He had forgotten that he was known from +Cody to Meeteetse as "Doc Tenderfoot." In a few moments they had passed +through camp and, rounding the shoulder of old Dundee, settled down +to the eighteen mile ride to the half-way house between Miners' Camp +and Meeteetse. This house, as Ross knew, had changed hands since his +arrival in the mountains, and the change would lessen the chances that +he would be recognized there. As it turned out, the sheriff was not +recognized either, the family being newcomers in Wyoming, and the two +ate in silence, the sheriff introducing neither himself nor Ross. + +"Luck is with me so far," Ross thought as they saddled and rode away from +the ranch, "but how can I ever get past Meeteetse and Sagehen Roost?" + +The moon shone brilliantly, and they pushed ahead rapidly, Ross exulting +over the sheriff's determination to get on to Meeteetse that night. They +rode as silently as before, Ross in advance. The black hills met the +trail on either side, and beside the trail flowed the shallow waters of +Wood River until it merged into the Grey Bull. Half-way to Meeteetse, +the sheriff's horse stumbled and limped thereafter, necessitating a +slower pace, so that it was nearly midnight before they drew rein in +front of the "Weller House." + +To Ross's relief, the place was dark with the exception of a single lamp +in the office. Even the barroom was deserted. Ross left the sheriff to +register for both, and then followed the sleepy clerk down to a lunch +of cold "come-backs" which that individual "rustled" from the kitchen +himself. + +"If fortune will favor me as well to-morrow as it did to-day," Ross +thought as he listened to the sheriff's first snores, "I'll be next +to Jones by this time to-morrow night and try to do some talking for +Leslie!" + +He knew that his roommate was no wiser concerning him than when they +started from Meadow Creek, and he most heartily desired a continuation +of that ignorance. + +In the morning the two were up early and down to breakfast. Ross looked +about apprehensively for some one who had seen him on his way into the +mountains. He slunk into the dining-room in the wake of the bulkier +sheriff and pushing himself unobtrusively into a corner seat bent low +over his plate as befitted a young man under arrest. But no sooner was +he seated than the proprietor of the house spied him from the other end +of the dining-room, and with never a suspicion that he was talking to +the sheriff's prisoner, strode across the room. He slapped the sheriff +familiarly on the shoulder: + +"What the dickens are you doing up this way? Why don't ye stay in Basin +where ye belong?" + +Then he grasped Ross's hand cordially: + +"Bless us if here ain't Doc back again. Got them claims cleaned up yet, +Doc?" + +Ross, encountering the puzzled eyes of the sheriff, quaked. "No, we +haven't yet," he muttered and glancing toward the dining-room door, +exclaimed in sudden inspiration, "Wonder if that man is motioning to you?" + +The proprietor looked around. Several men were in the hall outside the +dining-room. "I'll go and see," he exclaimed. + +The sheriff continued to look at Ross. "Bluff!" he announced briefly and +understandingly. + +The blood flooded Ross's face guiltily. "It was," he confessed, adding +quickly, "Say, don't give my arrest away where I'm known, will you?" + +His request and confusion satisfied the sheriff. The puzzled expression +died out of his face. "All right," he assented and fell on his breakfast. + +The proprietor did not see Ross again until he was riding away. Then he +ran out of the barroom bareheaded and called, "Steele's in Cody, Doc. He +said you was pannin' out more like an old prospector than a tenderfoot." + +The sheriff rode up beside his prisoner with a quick inquiry: "How long +have ye worked for Weimer?" + +"Long enough to be sick of it and want to quit," returned Ross gruffly, +giving his horse a quick slap that set the animal to loping. It was no +part of his plan to hold any unnecessary conversation with the sheriff +that day. + +"I guess," the latter called as he came galloping after, "that you'll +quit now all right, all right!" + +Ross made no reply, but took care to keep well in advance of his captor. +Although his plan had, so far, succeeded, he was far from feeling +triumphant because of a distressing sense of guilt at the deception he +was obliged to practice. Nor was he able to dispel this sense by the +knowledge that he was acting for the good of all concerned. + +"I may be only messing things up more than they are already," he thought +dejectedly as they approached Sagehen Roost. "What under the sun led me +to think I was equal to such a job, anyway?" + +Then, suddenly, his eyes narrowed, his chin raised itself determinedly +and he turned his attention to the half-way house and the loquacious +Hank. How could he ever get past Hank and remain Leslie Jones in the +sheriff's eyes? If only he could get a moment's speech with Hank alone. +But the sheriff was ever at his elbow. They had made good time from +Meeteetse, and so approached Dry Creek and Sagehen Roost a full hour +ahead of the stage from Cody. This fact gave Ross courage. With the +stage-driver eliminated he had only Hank to deal with. + +"Hello, Hank!" shouted the sheriff as they dismounted in front of the +corral. "Shake us up some grub right away, will ye?" + +Hank appeared at the door. Ross dodged behind the sheriff's horse, and +stooping over noted the approach of Hank's legs. When they had borne +their owner to the corral gate he straightened up and saying loudly: +"Hello, Hank!" scratched the flank of the horse sharply with a pin he had +found under the lapel of his coat. + +"Wall, if there ain't Doc Tenderfoot!" shouted Hank, but got no further. + +The horse leaped forward, and, as the sheriff sprang for its head, Ross +managed to get Hank's ear for an instant: + +"Don't give me away, Hank. Talk to him and let me alone--understand--no +names called. Don't talk to me nor about me." + +Hank stared his amazement, helped the sheriff catch his mount, scratched +his head until Ross's words had soaked in, and then obeyed them so +literally that when, half an hour later, Ross leaped to his horse's +back, he was still Leslie Jones to the taciturn sheriff, and Hank, +tongue-tied for once, was left standing beside the corral gate with a +multitude of questions unasked. + +Ross's spirits arose. They were on the home stretch now to Cody. There +was not a house on the way and only the stage to meet. Ross, forgetting +his rôle as a shamefaced prisoner, began to whistle and plan what he +should say to Leslie's father. His buoyancy was checked only when he +chanced to look over his shoulder and discovered the sheriff looking at +him not only with the puzzled air which he had worn at Meeteetse, but, +Ross thought, with suspicion also. + +"I never seen a sober man arrested that took arrest as you do," the +sheriff declared riding to Ross's side. "Think this is a little picnic, +don't ye?" + +"I'm trying to think just how it will turn out," answered the boy +seriously. "There's the Cody stage, isn't it?" + +The sheriff reined his horse back, and, with a flourish, the four +horses swept past with Andy's foot jammed hard on the brake and Andy's +whip cracking over the wheelers' heads. Just in the nick of time he +recognized Ross. + +"Hi, there!" he shouted. "Doc, where's yer patient? And how is he?" + +Then, before any answer could be returned, the stage was beyond reach of +Ross's voice, disappearing in a cloud of dust. + +"What patient does he mean?" asked the sheriff. + +"It's a fellow I helped when I first came out here," answered Ross +frankly. He was afraid of the sheriff's suspicions. "He was hurt in +front of Sagehen Roost, and as I know something about surgery +I--helped--to fix him up." + +The sheriff studied his horse's ears. A look of perplexity overspread +his face. "I heard of that down in Basin. But it seems to me that was +before you come." He looked hard at Ross. "The McKenzies said----" He +stopped suddenly, and bit his lips. + +Ross seized this pause to mutter, "It's not so long ago," and forged +ahead on the trail, taking good care to keep ahead until the lights of +Cody and the odor of the Shoshone River--"Stinking Water"--smote their +senses together through the gathering darkness of the early December +night. Then the sheriff, straightening in his saddle, said in a voice +of authority: + +"Come back here. We'll ride neck and neck now." + +Ross fell back, and asked his first question, and no sooner was it out +than he bit his lips savagely in vexation at his own thoughtlessness. + +"Is Mr. Jones stopping at 'The Irma'?" + +"Who?" exploded the sheriff. + +"Mr. Jones," murmured Ross in confusion. + +The sheriff looked the boy over silently but intently in the moonlight. +The blood surged into Ross's face, and, despite the chill of the night +wind, the perspiration broke out on his forehead. + +"Huh!" was the only response to his question. "Jones!" + +Then, with their horses neck to neck the two rode over the bridge +together and for the second time entered the town to which Buffalo Bill +has given his name, Cody. On the other side of the bridge, near the +dust-deep road, stood a tent. The flap was fastened back, and, within, +seated about a rough table, sat four men playing cards. When the sound +of horses' hoofs reached the players, one of them arose and came to +the tent's opening. + +It was Sandy McKenzie. + +The sheriff, still regarding Ross, did not look toward the tent, while +Ross, excited over the prospect of meeting Leslie's father, and confused +by his recent misspeech, scarcely bestowed a moment's thought on +Sandy, whom he had known was in Cody and believed to be the instigator +of the arrest. He glanced, however, within the tent as they passed +and recognized Waymart. The man sitting next, his back to the open +flap, his face bent over the cards in his hand, one leg stretched out +under the table, looked strangely familiar to the boy, but he was too +preoccupied to give him any attention. The fourth man, his face turned +toward the riders, was a stranger. + +A moment later, a man took the horses in front of "The Irma," and the +sheriff with his prisoner walked into the lobby and up to the desk. +Picking up the pen, the sheriff thrust it into Ross's hand. + +"Register for yourself," he commanded briefly. + +Ross hesitated, glanced at the waiting clerk, glanced at the suspicious +face of the sheriff and then, with a shaking hand, wrote: "Ross Grant, +Junior," and laid the pen down. + +The sheriff drew the register toward him with a slowly purpling face. + +"That's my name," declared Ross. He spoke defensively, yet with a ring +of exultation in his voice. "You haven't asked me for it before." + +The blood dropped out of the sheriff's face. The shivers ran down +Ross's spine at the anger in his face. + +"What does this mean, you cub!" the sheriff demanded furiously. + +"It means that I want to talk to Leslie Jones' father before he sees +Leslie," announced Ross boldly, "so I came with you. There was nothing +to prevent my coming." + +A hand fell on the sheriff's shoulder. Sandy McKenzie stood at Ross's +elbow. Sandy's face wore a curiously baffled expression, but he nodded +to Ross in much his usual nonchalant manner. + +"Hello, Doc, you here? Didn't expect to see you. How'd you leave Leslie +Jones?" + +There was an emphasis on the last name which Ross did not notice. Neither +did he notice the shrewd observation in the questioner's eyes. + +"I left him busy," the boy returned glibly, "and so did the sheriff!" + +Once more the blood rushed into the sheriff's face, and in unselected +language he had begun to tell Ross what he thought of him, when Sandy +succeeded in drawing him aside and leading him into the barroom, followed +by Waymart and a group that the conversation had attracted. + +After they had disappeared, Ross turned to the clerk. "Is Mr. Jones +stopping here?" he asked confidently. + +"Nope," responded the clerk, leaning an elbow on the ledger. "What was +it you put over the sheriff?" + +"Not here!" Ross exclaimed, not hearing the question. "Did you understand +the name? I want to see Mr. Jones." In his anxiety he raised his voice. + +The clerk grinned. "There ain't no man here by the name of Jones." + +"But there must be," Ross insisted stupidly. "There's got to be! This +is the only hotel in town, isn't it?" + +"Yep," grinned the clerk. "It's the original Waldorf-Astory all right. +Where does this here Jones hail from?" + +"Omaha." There was unlimited dismay in Ross's tone. + +"Hain't got any one from Omaha here, and hain't had this winter." + +Ross pulled the register toward him and began to scan the names. +Instantly he exclaimed, "Bully! Steele. I'd forgotten him. I'll see----" + +"Not this trip!" the clerk interrupted lazily. "Ye must 'a' met Steele. +He went back on the stage to-night." + +"Leonard, then. He's here, isn't he?" + +"Nope," replied the clerk nonchalantly. "He's in Basin. Home's there, +ye know." + +Baffled, perplexed, Ross turned again to the register. The clerk had +told the truth. There had been no guest entered from Omaha or any place +further away than Montana in weeks. "See here," he exclaimed finally, +"do you know anything about Leslie Jones, that went over to Meadow Creek +with a man named Wilson a few weeks ago?" + +The clerk leisurely turned the pages until he arrived at the entry +sought. "Here they be," he pushed the book across the counter. "Wilson +and Jones. They stayed here most a week. Knew Wilson and remember Jones +when he was here." + +"And hasn't his father been here?" asked Ross eagerly. "Not at any time?" + +"Nope." + +"Haven't you--haven't you heard from him at any time or--or known +about him? I've got to see the father," Ross burst out in irrepressible +confidence born of his distraction. "I've stopped work and come all the +way down from the Shoshones to talk with Jones." + +"Can't help it. Don't know anything about any Jones except this young +one." + +At this point the clerk was called into the dining-room. He left Ross +standing beside the desk staring at the register, confused and helpless. + +"And right here I got the big head over the way I had managed," he told +himself in humiliation, "and at the very last minute gave the whole thing +away!" + +Why couldn't he have had the sense to play the game far enough to +see the end--and Leslie's father, he asked himself miserably. Now he +had simply made a fool of himself and angered the sheriff and had not +benefited Leslie. The sheriff would probably turn about and go back +after the right boy. With this thought Ross straightened his shoulders +determinedly and turned toward the barroom. As there was nothing to be +gained by silence he was going to ask questions. As he turned, a man slid +into the hotel in advance of him--the man with the oddly familiar back. + +The sheriff, Sandy and Waymart were standing together, and toward them +Ross made his way through clouds of tobacco smoke and past groups of +cowboys, railroad men and prospectors. + +"Hi, Doc!" called Sandy gaily. "Hump along here and be sociable. What'll +you have? It's on me. Anybody," admiringly, "that's smart enough t' +fool the sheriff of Big Horn County can have anything on me they'll +take." + +The sheriff turned his back on Sandy and scowled. He did not glance at +his late prisoner. + +"I don't want anything," declared Ross shortly. He planted himself +resolutely in front of Sandy. "But I'd like to know where Leslie Jones' +father is?" + +Sandy smiled easily, while the scowl faded from the sheriff's face. + +"I ain't no city directory, Doc," responded Sandy, "and what's more, I +ain't knowin' of any Leslie Jones! His end name ain't any more Jones +than yours is. He's fooled ye mighty bad--see?" + +The blood rushed to Ross's face. "N-not Jones?" he stammered. "Not +Jones! What is it then?" + +"Why, Doc, if he don't want ye t' know I ain't got a call t' tell ye. +Be reasonable." Sandy spoke with maddening pleasantry and condescension. +"A feller's name is his own, and if he wants t' keep it kinda fresh +and unused I ain't the one t' dig it up 'n' let it get covered with +dust. Better go back t' Meadow Creek and have it out with Leslie." + +Ten minutes later, Ross, with a hot and angry face, was back in the +lobby. His indignation burned against Leslie, who had, unconsciously, +helped to put him in the hole in which he found himself. The subdued +laugh which had marked his retreat from the barroom rang long in his +ears. The sheriff's laugh was the loudest. + +"Arrest will serve him right!" muttered Ross as he entered the +dining-room. "There isn't a reason on earth why he shouldn't have told +me his right name when he told me the rest." + +Angrily Ross ate his supper, glowering down at his plate and not noticing +the entrance of the McKenzies with the sheriff. + +After supper he went up to his room. The door was unlocked, the key +having been long since lost. A single electric bulb swinging over the +dresser was alight. Under the bulb lay a sealed and soiled envelope. Ross +picked it up and turning it over came on the direction, "Doc Tenderfoot," +in a sprawling and carefully careless hand. Wonderingly he opened the +envelope. Within was a note written with a lead pencil on the back of +a yellow advertising sheet. It ran: + +"Leslie's name is Quinn, not Jones. His father is A. B. Quinn, North +Bend, Okla., or 14 Castle Street, Omaha. He is in Omaha now waiting +for Leslie. Sheriff is to send him there. Mum is the word about this +note--to him or Leslie or the McKenzies. If I did not know you were on +the square you would not get it to be mum about." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A NEWCOMER ON MEADOW CREEK + + +"'OLD man Quinn!'" Ross cried aloud. "'Old man Quinn' and the sheep +war. And Leslie is his son!" + +It all came back, the story he had almost forgotten in the stress of +events on Meadow Creek, the conversation on the train, old Sheepy's +tale and, at last, his suspicions concerning Lon Weston with his dyed +hair. And when his memory brought Lon into mental view, Ross's face lit +up with a sudden flash of intelligence. + +"It was Weston that I saw in the tent, and it was Weston that went into +the barroom ahead of me!" + +He laid the note on the dresser and, bending under the electric light, +studied it. There was nothing to show who had written it except the +caution at the end. That might have emanated from Waymart, but the +language was better than he would have used. Ross felt that it was Lon +Weston who had written that message. Of course, if such was the case, and +Lon was the fourth whom old man Quinn was looking for, that warning not +to give the unsigned writer away would be accounted for. It might, in +some way, be the clew that would lead to Lon's detection. Ross now +recalled how Lon had lain with one arm over his face all the time that +Wilson and Leslie had been at the stage camp. He could not now recall +whether or not the injured man's name had been spoken in Leslie's +presence. But he did remember that Leslie had said of the McKenzies +that perhaps they were men at some time in his father's employ, in which +case he might not know them, but that they would probably recognize him. + +"Then if he had heard Weston's name it might not mean anything to +Leslie," Ross concluded. + +He wondered why Lon had not made himself known that evening and wondered +how he came to know the McKenzies. In fact, he sat on the side of his +bed wondering about a dozen things until midnight, and then went to +bed undecided what to do now that he had Quinn's address in his +possession. His resentment kindled against Leslie whenever he thought of +the latter's deception about his name. And the probabilities were +that a letter from him, Ross, would not move the father to clemency. + +In this undecided state of mind, Ross strolled into the lobby the +following morning, considering how he could best kill time until the +stage started for Meeteetse that evening. As he was standing in front of +a window, his hands deep in his pockets, the sheriff and Sandy rode past, +followed by Waymart. Neither the sheriff nor Waymart looked his way. +But Sandy did, and, grinning, raised his hand in a graceful salute. +Ross, nodding, felt his anger at Sandy dying. Distrust him as he must, +Ross could not dislike him. In this strange state of mind, however, +the boy was by no means alone throughout the length and breadth of +Big Horn County. + +"They're going now after the right chap," thought Ross, and a wave of +sympathy for Leslie began to wash away his resentment. + +In the end, he spent the greater part of the day composing a letter to +old man Quinn, wherein he set forth Leslie's position, prospects +and altered feelings in bald statements containing but few adjectives. In +explaining who the writer was he gave a brief account of his connection +with the sheriff. Between the acts of composing, tearing up, and +rewriting the composition, he searched Cody for Lon Weston, but could +not find him. + +When, that evening, he climbed into the stage behind Andy, he had sent +the letter to Leslie's father and had not caught a glimpse of Weston. + +At the stage camp he was the butt of much congratulation and derision +from the hilarious Hank. "Say, you made the sheriff mad as a hornet, +but he had t' own up ye cheated 'im out of a year's growth. Sandy +set the hull thing out in good shape. But why didn't ye stick t' yer +job instid of layin' down 'n' kickin' up yer heels before the time?" + +"Because I'm no good, Hank, this side of the Mississippi River," +returned Ross in humility of spirit. "Don't knock me--you can't get +ahead of me in that respect! I've kicked myself all over Cody to-day." + +The following morning, at Meeteetse, he joined Bill Travers and the +Miners' Camp stage and started on the all day's journey into the +mountains. At noon, he began looking for the sheriff and Leslie. He +had calculated that they would meet the stage at the half-way ranch +and there he would tell Leslie what he had written his father. But no +Leslie appeared. All the afternoon during the stage's progress into the +mountains, Ross looked for the sheriff and his prisoner, but he looked in +vain. + +At six o'clock, Bill Travers dropped his one passenger in front of +Steele's shack, and Ross, climbing Gale's Ridge, opened the door on +the superintendent in the act of sitting down to supper. + +"Hello, there!" cried Steele grasping the boy's chilled hand. "Here's +the best elk steak you ever planted your teeth in. Draw up and tell me +what you've been up to, skylarking off to Cody with the sheriff." + +Ross followed directions, and soon was giving Steele the entire story +of his capture and failure. + +Steele, forgetting to eat, alternated between amusement and amazement. +"By George, I don't wonder that sheriff was mad! You see, Doc, he's +new to the business of being sheriff. You were his first arrest." + +"Probably if he were not so new he wouldn't have been so easily fooled." + +"I can't say," retorted Steele, "that he was easily fooled. Strikes me +you were about as slow with him as greased lightning." + +Ross flushed at the praise. It was balm to his wounds in his self-esteem. + +Early the following morning, he started for Meadow Creek, and at the +upper camp learned something for which he was unprepared and which was +a source of temporary satisfaction to him. + +Leslie had disappeared. + +Until noon Ross lingered in camp watching the sheriff and Sandy pass and +repass in their search for the runaway. Finally, just before noon, he saw +them on snow-shoes striking out up Wood River caņon into the uninhabited +wilderness beyond. Then he slowly mounted the dizzy trail leading to +Weimer's shack and the interrupted work. + +"It must have been my note that warned him," Ross thought as he watched +the figures toiling up Wood River caņon. "I hope they have the chase of +their lives," he said aloud, "and then I can patronize Sandy and stroke +him down as he did me at 'The Irma'--provided I dare!" + +He found Weimer sitting beside the fire smoking and growling over the +absence of both his assistants. + +"Dot poy," he explained, "read dot paper you wrote and den vat does he +do, hein? He says notings, aber he takes some tings and out he goes und +leaves me mit der vork und mit mine eyes, und dey so pad!" + +This was the extent of the information he was able to give Ross +concerning Leslie. Many grievances he had against the sheriff and "dem +McKenzies" that had ransacked the premises and had ridden to and fro, +over to Wilson's and round the mountains searching for traces of Leslie. + +As it turned out, they might have found a trace of him had they searched +more thoroughly, for the following day, Ross, diving into the pocket of +his slicker for some nails that he carried there, came on a folded note +pinned in the bottom of the pocket. + +[Illustration: BESIDE THE DYNAMITE BOX] + +"All I understand from your letter," ran the note, "is that it has given +me a chance to make my getaway. It was a mighty white thing of you to +do, and I appreciate it, though I know I haven't acted that way. You've +probably found out what my name is by this time. I didn't tell you, +because I was so dead ashamed about the whole matter that I hated to +face myself and disgrace the name. But I never thought father would do +such a thing as he has, and so I shall clear out and stay cleared until +he has stopped hunting. I know where I'm going, and you'll see me in +Meadow Creek after father goes back and has given me up.--LESLIE JONES +QUINN." + +Ross, standing on the dump beside the dynamite box, a hammer in one hand, +read the letter. At once all his remaining resentment against Leslie +disappeared. "I guess I would have done the same about the name in his +place," he concluded. + +Pinning the note in his pocket again for safe keeping he repaired the +dynamite box. Then he entered the tunnel, where Weimer was once more at +work drilling for a blast. + +"Uncle Jake," he asked, "when did Leslie leave, what time in the day?" + +"It vas not day, it vas night," growled Weimer wrestling with the drill. +"He vent avay mit darkness." + +"That accounts," said Ross, "for his not having been seen in camp." + +He felt certain that Leslie would take refuge in the shack up Wood River +caņon where Wilson had stored some of the supplies in preparation for the +winter's work on the coal claims. In this case he would be discovered, +for it was in that direction that the sheriff and Sandy had gone as Ross +was climbing the Crosby trail. Therefore, it was with anxiety that the +boy looked for the return of the McKenzies. + +Darkness had fallen when he left the tunnel that night, and as he emerged +from the trees that clustered about the dump, he saw a light in the +McKenzie cabin. Without waiting for his supper, he crossed the little +valley and rapped on the door. + +"Hello, Doc," came Sandy's voice from within. "Haul up the latch-string +and show yerself. Comin' to crow over us, ain't ye?" he continued as +Ross entered. "Well, that ye can, fer we can't find hide ner hair of +Leslie, and the sheriff has hit the trail to Basin about as mad as they +make 'em over the whole thing!" + +Here Sandy threw his head back and laughed as amusedly as though the +entire affair were a joke of his own manufacture. He did not seem to +harbor the least resentment against Ross for having blocked the wheels +of his game. Rather, he applauded the blocking frankly, while Waymart +smoked stolidly beside the table and said nothing. + +"That little note that you left for Less is what done the business," +Sandy went on cheerfully reviewing the situation. "The sheriff had forgot +that note 'til we got up here and the bird wa'n't t' be found in +the hand ner the bush neither. That was a neat little trick, Doc, almost +as neat as the way ye come it over the sheriff on the trail to Cody. +Guess he'll not fergit ye fer a spell! Mart, don't be s' stingy with +that weed. Hand over some. My pipe is about as empty as the sheriff's +head." + +"Why did you do it, Sandy?" Ross burst out. "What made you send word to +Leslie's father that he was here?" + +Sandy composedly filled his pipe and lighted it. "It was cruelty t' +little children not t', Doc. The very idee of Leslie Jones leavin' +his pa and----" + +"His name isn't Jones, and you know it, and I know it!" interrupted +Ross. He could not keep the ring of triumph from his tone. "He is Leslie +Quinn." + +Sandy's hand traveled slowly to his pipe. "Is he? How'd you find out?" +he asked quickly. + +"Easily enough," said Ross carelessly, "when you know how." + +Both Waymart and Sandy regarded the boy intently. "Been back here then, +has he?" they asked in one breath. + +Ross arose. "'It would be cruelty to little children' to tell you!" he +quoted boldly and opened the door. + +Waymart gave an exclamation and sprang to his feet. His hands were +clenched. But Sandy, kicking him under the table, guffawed. + +"Give and take, Mart," he exclaimed. "I'm willin' t' chew my own +words, and if I am willin' there ain't no kick comin' from you!" + +The following day Ross wrote another letter to Leslie's father and +enclosed the note he had found pinned in his pocket. This letter he +entrusted to Wilson to mail in Cody, for Wilson was going to Butte for +a few weeks before beginning his winter's work on his coal claims. He +stopped at noon to bid Weimer and Ross good-bye. + +"Nothin' would hire me t' stay over here all winter," were his last +words to Ross. + +Although the latter had seen but little of the prospector, his departure +made the valley seem lonelier than ever, and caused Ross to cling +desperately to the idea of the McKenzies remaining. As the days passed, +and more snow fell, the brothers began to get decidedly uneasy. They +accounted for their uneasiness to Ross by telling him they were in need +of supplies and saw no way of getting any over from Miners' Camp. +Sandy was the informant, as usual, while Waymart's eyebrows were +lifted in momentary surprise. By that time every horse in Miners' Camp +had been sent "below." There was but little grass on the mountains +during the brief summer; and through the winter, which occupied nine +months of the year, every ounce of fodder must be packed over the +difficult road from the ranches. + +"I don't see," quoth Sandy unconvincingly, "but what we'll have to +strike the trail. Hain't no way, as I can see, to pack grub over except +on our backs, and that's too slow." + +For a moment there was silence in Weimer's cabin. The wind moaned and +wailed among the hemlocks, and whistled savagely past the cabin. In +his bunk Weimer snored. Above them came the cry of the coyotes, like a +child's long-drawn scream of pain and fear. The terror of loneliness +among those overhanging mountains gripped at the boy's throat. For a +moment he could not speak. + +Then, "If you could get provisions over easily, would you stay longer?" + +Sandy crossed his legs restfully. "Sure," he answered readily. + +That week, therefore, Ross used his spare time--and some time which +he ought not to have spared--in making a sled. It was, when finished, +a crude but efficient affair, the runners being surmounted by a +double-decked box. This vehicle he exhibited one day to the McKenzies as +the prospective conveyor of their supplies over the mountains. + +Sandy stood in front of the shack, his hands in his pockets, his cap +pushed well back on his head and the front lock of hair falling over +his forehead. + +"Doc, you're the stuff!" he cried warmly. "There's an idee or two +floatin' around in yer tenderfoot brain, ain't there?" + +Tied to both front and rear of the sled were ropes, two in front, one +behind. Those in front differed in length. + +"See?" explained Ross. "Two can't walk abreast on the trail, but still +it's easier for each one to pull on his own rope. That's the reason +I made 'em of different lengths. Then one of us behind can hold the sled +from slipping off the trail with the rear rope. In this way we can bring +up a big load of supplies." + +Sandy removed his cap, and pushed back his hair. + +"Doc, where was you raised? Guess I'll go back t' the same place, and +be raised over agin. It might pay." His tone expressed an admiration that +was almost genuine. + +Waymart said nothing. He scarcely glanced at the sled, but turned away +scowling up toward the tunnel where, as he had informed himself, Ross +and Weimer were doing an amazingly good piece of work. + +As they started back toward their own shack, Ross heard Waymart say +angrily to Sandy, "Are you goin' to take the use of that sled?" + +And Sandy's answer, "For sure, now! What's eatin' you, Mart? Doc's +got a good head on 'im." + +"Entirely too good fer us, mebby!" growled Waymart; and Ross smiled in +satisfaction, thinking they referred to his work in the tunnel. + +Just before supper, the door of Weimer's shack unceremoniously opened, +and Waymart's arm was thrust in. "Here," his voice said roughly, "take +this here elk steak." + +Ross relieved the arm of its burden, and the door closed sharply. It was +a sirloin steak, the juiciest and most tender in the animal which the +brothers had brought into the valley the day before. Sandy had often +brought them venison before, but never Waymart; and Ross was pleased. + +"While Sandy is entertaining," Ross had told Steele, "and Waymart seldom +says two sentences at one sitting, and next to never meets my eye, yet, +if it came right down to a choice, I believe I'd rather travel along +with Waymart than with Sandy." + +"Your choice is all right," Steele had replied. "If Waymart would cut +loose from Sandy, he'd earn an honest living. It's Sandy that's the +head, though. It's Sandy that plans; Waymart furnishes the feet and +arms. Sandy's good company, but I wouldn't trust him with my pocketbook +around the corner. Not," Steele added, "that he'd steal it in such a way +that the law could touch him. No, he'd have the pocketbook, but it 'ud +leave him free to look any jury in the eye and to shake hands with me +afterward." + +The new sled made its first journey down into Miners' Camp one Sunday in +December two weeks after Ross had ridden down with the sheriff. Waymart +went ahead with one of the leading-ropes over his shoulder, and Sandy +behind, steadying the empty vehicle around the shoulder of Crosby. +Waymart led because he was the heaviest, and there was a deep fall of +snow to contend against except around the shoulder, where, fortunately, +the wind had swept the mountain clean. + +As the trail broadened beyond, Waymart paused to survey the low-hanging +clouds. Ross, in the rear, stopped and studied the mountains which Nature +had in ages past taken in her gigantic hands and flung into the caņon +between Dundee and Crosby, compelling Wood River to crawl and worm and +wind and cut its way deep and narrow down into Miners' Camp. + +"I wonder," exclaimed Ross suddenly to Sandy, "what is beyond that +conglomeration of peaks." + +"Wood River caņon still, clean over on top of the Divide, and you can +follow it on horseback right through. Part of the time up there," waving +his hand toward the jumble of mountains which seemingly ended the caņon, +"it's pretty rocky trailin', especially in winter, but it can be done." + +Sandy rested one foot on the edge of the sled. Waymart glued his eyes +on the Camp far below. From various projecting stovepipes volumes of +smoke were curling straight up in the windless air. From the tunnel of +the Mountain Company almost opposite them came a succession of blasts +which stirred the echoes between Dundee and Crosby. The Mountain Company +were no respecters of Sunday. They were also working day and night in +view of the near shut-down of the works. + +But Ross's gaze was seeking to penetrate further toward the source of +Wood River. "Any one living beyond there?" he asked. + +Sandy grinned. "Elk, mountain-sheep, coyotes, bears, and timber wolves." + +"But no people?" + +"Nope. There ain't a man livin' 'twixt here and the Yellowstone +Park--now. Last summer a few prospectors sort of strolled up Wood River a +few dozen miles, but they hiked it out, I tell ye, when snow come." + +"I wish," Ross said impulsively, "that I could go over there exploring." + +Waymart lifted his eyes the fraction of a moment, and encountered +Sandy's. A peculiar expression passed between them. Then Waymart's +gaze fell again on the Camp, and Sandy replied carelessly to Ross: + +"After you git the work done in your tunnel better strike some of these +trails, but not in winter. They ain't safe, especially for a tenderfoot." + +"But in the summer," returned Ross absently, "I don't expect to be here." + +"Oh--that so?" and Sandy gave the sled a careless push. + +Waymart drew the rope over his shoulder, and once more the trio descended +the trail. + +At the upper camp Ross left the brothers to purchase their supplies +while he visited the post-office and Steele. At the former place he found +a note to himself from Leslie's father and a bulkier letter addressed +to Leslie in his care. Mr. Quinn had received both of Ross's letters, he +wrote, the last with the enclosure from Leslie. He had taken the steps +necessary to recall the warrant, which, he explained, had seemed to +him the "surest and quickest way of fetching the boy home," and would +allow Leslie to return to Ross as his note indicated that he desired. +On his return Ross was to give up the letter put in his care. Mr. Quinn +closed his communication with thanks to Ross for the trouble he had +been to, also, for his assurance that Leslie was boning down to work! + +Two weeks had elapsed since Leslie disappeared. Nothing had been seen +of him nor heard of him in either the upper or lower camps, and Ross +returned to Meadow Creek troubled in spirit. + +"I'm afraid," he told himself as he helped the McKenzies haul their +supplies up the trail, "that I've made even a bigger mess of it all +the way around than I thought at first." + +Steele, from his doorway, watched Ross out of sight that afternoon, with +a pleased smile on his bearded lips. He was a tanned and freckled Ross +now. Sun and wind and work in the open for two months had left their +marks on the boy. He stood straighter, walked more firmly, and had laid +on pounds of muscle. + +"He's put himself through good and plenty, as well as holding Uncle +Jake's nose to the grindstone," concluded Steele, turning back into the +cabin. On the making of the sled he had commented but briefly to Ross, +realizing how much the presence of the McKenzies meant to the boy. To +himself he thought, however: + +"That Sandy McKenzie! How he does manage to make other folks do his work!" + + * * * * * + +During the week which followed, a stranger passed through Miners' Camp. +He was seen by only one man, "Society Bill," who belonged to the Gale's +Ridge outfit. + +"He asked the way to the Meader Creek trail," Society Bill told Steele. +"Now, I wonder if he's a new one of them McKenzies. I never set my two +eyes on 'im before." + +"Horseback?" asked Steele. + +"Yep. Decent sort of bronc he rode. Told me to tell Bill Travers to drive +it down below to-morrow if it got down this far." + +"That looks as if he knew what he was about, and intended to stay," mused +Steele. + +Early the following morning the "decent sort of broncho," with its +bridle reins tied to the pommel of the saddle, was discovered in front of +Steele's shack, pawing the snow in an ineffectual attempt to get a +breakfast. Bill Travers, returning with the stage, according to request, +drove the beast ahead of him down to the first ranch, and, taking off +saddle and bridle, turned it into a large corral with dozens of other +horses to winter. In the spring one by one the owners would straggle +along, identify their horses and saddles, pay their bills, and depart +for the mountains. + +The owner of the ranch pitched the saddle under a shed, and thought no +more about the transaction. Bill Travers, whirling his whip over the +backs of his four stage horses, gave the stranger and his horse no more +thought. Society Bill, having disseminated his news among the other +miners, presently forgot it. But Amos Steele neither forgot nor ceased +to speculate. + +"Who is he, and what is he doing on the Creek?" Steele asked himself. + +The first part of the question Ross answered the following Sunday. He +could scarcely wait to open the door before announcing: + +"Lon Weston is over on the Creek. He is cousin to the McKenzies!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MEADOW CREEK VALLEY MISSES LESLIE + + +ROSS could scarcely believe the evidence of his own senses when he saw +Lon Weston riding along the trail below the dump. The boy had pushed the +car with its load of ore out to the bumper and dumped it before he saw +the horseman in the sheepskin coat, the hairy chaps, and a fur cap drawn +over forehead and ears. The horse shied at the chunks of ore rolling +almost to its feet, and Weston looked up. + +"Hello, there!" shouted Ross. "What on earth are you doing here?" + +Weston drew in his horse. "Hello, Doc!" he returned with gruff +pleasantness without answering the question. + +"Doc" slipped and slid down the snowy path to the trail, and held out a +cordial hand. + +"How's your leg?" + +"All right." Weston gripped the extended hand heartily. "Almost as good +'s new." + +His brown eyes above his heavy stubby beard held a pleasanter expression +than Ross had seen in them while nursing their owner. They were deep +eyes, capable of mirroring accurately the varied moods of the man looking +out of them. + +"I didn't recognize you in Cody three weeks ago," Ross was beginning +when Weston interrupted him. + +Leaning down from his saddle he met the boy's eyes steadily. "Remember," +he said slowly and meaningly, "that you didn't see me--nor hear from +me--in Cody." + +"All right," agreed Ross, embarrassed by the fixity of the other's +stare. "I'll forget it hereafter, but I want to thank----" + +"Cut it out," commanded Weston briefly, straightening again in the saddle. + +"At least," invited Ross, "you'll come to dinner with me. Uncle Jake +is frying ham and onions. Smell 'em? I got some onions and half a dozen +apples over at Camp Sunday." His voice could not have been more eager had +he been relating the finding of free gold. "Come on in, and have some." + +Weston's eyes slipped away from Ross's in a way which reminded the +latter of Waymart's, and rested on the smoke from the cabin a quarter of +a mile away. + +"Guess not, to-day. Thank you just the same. The boys are probably +rustlin' grub this minute and they'll be expectin' me. See you again." + +Ross stood motionless, looking after him. Weston rode sitting straight, +unlike the usual careless forward droop of the cow puncher. He was a +well-built man, although his shoulders were rather narrow. But the only +characteristic that Ross noticed was the grip of the left knee against +the horse. For the strength of that grip he was responsible, but it was a +responsibility which Lon did not seem to recognize. + +Suddenly the boy realized the newcomer's words. So Sandy and Waymart +were expecting him, but had said nothing about it to Ross. And when Ross +had told them about Lon Weston at the stage camp they had made no sign +that they knew him. That was strange. + +He turned slowly toward the cabin, where Weimer was frying ham and onions +and boiling coffee. Opening the cabin door he was met by a white gust of +steam mingled with savory smoke. He propped the door open, and brought +in an armful of wood. + +Weimer, in his shirt-sleeves, was bending his head over a little stove, +which offered barely room for a small kettle and a skillet with a +coffee-pot sandwiched in between. A sheet-iron oven stood on the floor, +the top answering for a sideboard. When Weimer made biscuits and sour +dough bread, the oven was placed on top of the stove. + +Ross threw his wood down on the hard dirt floor, and put a stick into +the stove by way of the wide front door. The pine instantly blazed up, +showing a wide crack which zigzagged across the side of the old stove. + +"Uncle Jake,"--Ross sat back on one heel, and looked up at his partner +whose blinking eyes were in the gloom of the cabin unprotected now by +goggles,--"Uncle Jake, a stranger has just come into Meadow Creek City +on the Limited." + +Weimer chuckled. Before the advent of his youthful "pard" the old +man--Ross always thought of him as old despite his black hair and great +strength--had not laughed in months. + +"He stopped at the second station," pursued Ross. + +Weimer's face instantly darkened. "At the McKenzies'? One of dem +consarned gang, he ist?" + +"That's what I want to know. It's Lon Weston, the fellow I told you I +took care of at the stage camp." + +Weimer dumped ham and onions into an agateware basin, and set it on the +table. "I don't know him, I don't. But he comes to der McKenzies, hein? +Und after all dose days you spen' mit him!" Uncle Jack frowned heavily, +and, sitting down, helped himself to boiled "spuds." + +"I tink I knew all dem consarned gang, but dere ist no Veston mit 'em." + +Ross dragged to the little bare board table a box marked in big letters, +"Ruford's Canned Tomatoes, The Yellow Brand," and, turning the box on +end, straddled it opposite Weimer. + +Weimer, eating and drinking noisily, found time to ask vindictively, "Ist +he for more medicine come mit you?" + +Ross shook his head, and bent over his plate. + +The plate was tin. The cup out of which he drank his coffee was also tin. +His knife and fork were steel, and his spoon was pewter. The place of the +lacking milk pitcher was usurped by a tin can of condensed milk with the +top bent back and the milk dried all over the sides. But Ross ate--how he +ate! Potatoes followed ham, and coffee followed potatoes, and onions +followed both, and then he began all over again. Never had eating been +such serious work with him. But never, also, had his muscles been so firm +and hard. As for a pickaxe, it was coming to feel no heavier than the +baseball bat which he had always rather scorned. + +"I wonder," he began after a pause, "what Lon's up to here, anyway." + +The question started Weimer on his favorite topic, the claim jumpers +and the injustice of the mining laws. He could not talk fast enough in +English, and so dropped into his native German. + +Ross, accustomed to his tirades, cleared away the dishes, pushed the +table back against the dirt chinked logs, and lay down on the blankets +of his bunk for a few moments, his eyes glued on the little nickel clock. + +He broke into the other's scolding monologue. "In ten minutes we must +go back to work." + +Weimer scowled darkly. His lids, red and swollen, almost obscured his +pale-blue eyes. "Mine eyes ist too pad to-day," he declared. "I vill not +to go out in de sun again." + +A few weeks before, this oft-repeated declaration had alarmed Ross. Now +he made no reply. But, when the hands of the nickel clock indicated one, +he arose and put on his oiled jumper and oilskin cap. + +"Come, Uncle Jake," he said in a strong, decided tone. "Here are your +goggles. Get busy, or the McKenzie outfit will have our claims in spite +of us. Now, when there are three to watch instead of two, we must show +the mettle we're made of." + +Moved by the magic statement, ever new and ever powerful, that the claims +might be jumped, Uncle Jake, forgetting that in substance he had made +the same objection to work twice a day for weeks and that Ross had +overcome his objections in substantially the same way, "got busy." And +presently Ross led him out, his eyes not only securely goggled, but +covered as well with a black cloth which he pressed fearfully against +the goggles. + +The snow was Weimer's evil genius. He lived in dread of the sight of +it. Without assistance he would not move a dozen paces away from the +cabin after the sun had risen on Meadow Creek Valley. But the fear of the +light had made as great an impression on his mind as the light itself +had made on his eyes, and he had fallen into the habit, before Ross came, +of staying in his cabin during cloudy days, lest, if he ventured out, the +sun might break through the clouds. + +The old partner and the young went up the steep trail to the tunnel, Ross +leading Weimer up over the side of the dump and into the mouth of the +tunnel. In the shelter of its gloom the latter removed his goggles; and, +stumbling along over the chunks of ore lying beside the narrow track, +he reached the end of the short tunnel which had been blasted from the +solid rock. Lighting a fresh candle, he set it in its socket at the end +of a sharply pointed iron, a miner's candlestick, and, jabbing the +point into a crevice, leisurely surveyed the wall before him. Behind him +the little empty car filled the tunnel with sound as Ross pushed it +rattling and jolting over the rusty rails. + +"Ready to drill for another shot, ain't we?" Ross asked. He pushed the +car back out of the way. "Got to hustle to get it done this afternoon, +too." + +Under the stimulus of Ross's presence and hustle the older man fell +to work valiantly, but it was slow work. Down in Miners' Camp machinery +performed the task which Weimer was doing laboriously with the aid +of a hand drill. Before him, at the end of the tunnel, was a seamed +and uneven wall of rock a little higher than his head and a little +broader than his reach had he extended his arms on either side. In +this wall he patiently drilled three sets of holes, into which the +"sticks" were placed for the next "shot," as the explosion of dynamite +was called. In mining terms the old man was "putting a shot." Near +the top of the wall he made three holes. Half-way down were two more, +long and inclined toward each other at the top. These were the "cut-in +holes." Lastly, at the foot of the wall were three large holes called +"lifters." The contents of the top holes and the cut-ins were set off +first, splintering and cracking the rock. Then the lifters were +exploded, actually lifting the loosened mass above it and hurling it +into the tunnel. + +When quiet reigned again, and Ross had loaded his hand car with the +débris, he pushed it out on the dump again through the moist, freezing +atmosphere of the tunnel. There was water everywhere. Near the mouth +of the tunnel it was frozen on the sides and the top, and carpeted the +floor with slush. Further in it was unfrozen, oozing out of the sides, +dripping from the roof, running along the track. It covered the oiled +garments of the men at work. It put out their candles. It made muck of +the quartz dust on the floor. It often destroyed the lighted fuses. + +There was something maddening to Ross in its incessant drip and drizzle, +and he always emerged on the dump with a feeling of relief, especially +when the sun shone as it did that day in dazzling brightness. + +He dumped the car, and was about to push it back when his eyes fell on +Weston's horse journeying on the back trail riderless. + +"That means," thought Ross, "that he's going to stay. Why?" + +A feeling of relief was mixed with uneasiness. The relief was caused +by this further link in the chain of evidence that when the trail to +Miners' Camp was closed it would not close on Weimer and him alone. The +uneasiness had to do with the mission of the McKenzie outfit in Meadow +Creek Valley. Why were they reinforced by Weston? + +"Oh!" exclaimed Ross aloud in sudden disgust with himself. "He's come +to hunt, of course! His gun was strapped on behind. I never thought of +that. If he belongs to the McKenzie outfit, he'd rather hunt than eat." + +It seemed to him that the "outfit" bore him not the slightest grudge or +ill will. Sandy, indeed, seemed openly to like him, Waymart tolerated him +with a surly good humor, while Weston--here Ross knit his brow--Weston +baffled him completely; still, considering the incident of the note in +Cody, the boy looked on him as a friend albeit one who evidently did +not care to pose in that capacity before the McKenzies. + +From his position Ross could look down and across on the claims of +the McKenzies and almost into the "discovery hole" in which they were +supposed to be working. Waymart was leisurely drilling a hole in the +rock to receive a stick of dynamite when Sandy came out of the cabin and +walked rapidly toward him. + +The two talked together a moment, and then Weston joined them. In a +moment the three fell apart, and appeared to be talking excitedly. +Presently Waymart dropped the discussion, and turning his back walked +away a few steps with his hands in his pockets and stood in a listening +attitude. Ross watched with absorbing interest. Even at that distance +he could see that the discussion between the other two was not amiable. +The scene lasted but a few moments, and then all three descended to +the cabin together. + +That evening after supper, Ross washed the day's dishes, brought in +wood, and put the room to rights, while Weimer alternately smoked and +snored in his bunk. The room was dimly lighted by candles in candlesticks +thrust into logs. Ross, so tired and sleepy he could scarcely keep his +eyes open, hung up the dish-pan on its nail beside the stove, and looked +longingly toward the emergency chest pushed beneath his bunk. Not one +word had he mastered of the contents of the books he had stowed away +there with such high hopes. + +"I don't believe the McKenzies are coming over," he told Weimer, as he +filled the stove and wound up the clock. "It's too late for them." + +Weimer made no reply. His pipe had fallen on his chest, and his +hair-encircled mouth was wide open in a vacuous sleep. At that moment +the rising wind beat the snow against the window, and Ross uttered an +exclamation. He had forgotten to shut the tool-house door, and, fearing +that with the wind in the south the little log house would be filled with +snow before morning, he went back up the trail to the tunnel. Climbing +noiselessly over the soft snow, he arrived at the ore dump, and was +making for the tool house across the mouth of the tunnel when a light +flickered in his path. + +Startled, he looked into the tunnel, and saw three figures at the end +silhouetted against the dim candle-light. + +"Lon, Sandy and Waymart," he muttered. + +There was no danger of his being discovered, so dark was the night. +Therefore, he sat down on his heels beside the tool house, and watched, +puzzled at first to understand the movements of the men. + +"Oh," he muttered suddenly, "they're measuring to see how fast the work +is going." + +With a tape line the men were estimating the cubic feet of rock excavated +by Ross and Weimer. + +Ross hugged his knees, and exulted. His "friends the enemy" might measure +all they chose, he thought; and every length of the tape line would +reveal to them the futility of waiting to jump the Weimer-Grant claims. + +Presently the three started out of the tunnel. Ross, seeking a +hiding-place, found it behind a clump of low spruce trees at the +right of the tunnel's mouth. The intruders blew out their candles as +they came out on the dump. + +"At this rate," Ross heard Waymart say, "they're solid on these here +claims." + +But, although he strained his ears, he could hear nothing more. After a +brief wait the last sound of twigs breaking under their shoes died away; +and Ross, leaving his hiding-place, shut the tool-house door and went +back to the cabin. + +He found Weimer awake and whistling in his bunk. Ross paused at the door, +regarding him curiously. It was the first time he had ever heard the old +man make this cheerful sound, although Steele had said he used to be +called Whistling Weimer as well as Dutch Weimer. + +"Hello, Uncle Jake!" cried Ross. "Feeling pretty gay, aren't you?" + +Weimer stopped in the middle of his tune, and blinked at Ross. "Nein," +he denied, "I ain't feelin' gay. If your eyes vas----" + +Ross interrupted. "Now, see here, Uncle Jake; you know your eyes are +better since I've taken to doctoring them." + +The last few weeks had certainly improved the old man. His eyes were +better, owing to a cooling lotion which Ross had dropped under the lids +twice a day. Weimer's mind was clearer because his growing confidence +in his young partner had quieted his fears. Ross's cheerfulness was +also contagious. Nor did the cleanliness on which the boy insisted lower +Weimer's vitality. Soap became a known quantity to him. + +All these favorable circumstances reacted on Weimer's work. He was +becoming more and more efficient, and Ross's spirits had risen as the +days passed; and he saw the growing intelligence manifested by the other +in regard to operations in the tunnel. This change for the better in +Uncle Jake had not passed unnoticed by the McKenzies. + +Ross said nothing to the old man about the scene he had just witnessed +in the tunnel. It would do no good, and would only inflame the other's +wrath. Therefore, he snuffed the candles, repeating mechanically: + +"Don't believe the McKenzies are coming over to-night." + +But at that moment footsteps sounded outside the door. The snow creaked +under the pressure of shoes, and Sandy and Waymart entered. + +Sandy was as gay and talkative as ever, but not Waymart. He sat down +on a box, leaned back against the logs, turned up his coat collar to +protect himself from the icy wind, which sought out the dirt-chinked +crevices, and, pulling a mouth-organ from his pocket, began to play. Nor +did he stop until Sandy rose to go. A sombre figure he made back among +the shadows, his eyes resting vacantly on the floor at his feet. One leg +was crossed over the other, the toe moving in time to the discordant +music. Waymart's thoughts did not seem to be cheerful companions. + +But Sandy had drawn a box close up beside the roaring fire, and sat with +his elbows on his knees and a pipe in his mouth. He paid no attention to +Weimer nor to his musical brother, but told Ross yarns of the gold-fields +of Montana and Nevada, tales concerning other men, Ross noticed; Sandy +never talked about himself. + +The evening passed and the men rose to depart without having mentioned +the newcomer; and Ross, with the thought of their previous reticence +concerning him in mind, waited for them to speak first. + +It was Sandy who spoke, but not until his hand was on the door and +Waymart stood outside the cabin. Then he said carelessly, as though Ross +had never seen Weston before, and as though the coming of a relative +was an every-day event in Meadow Creek Valley: + +"Cousin hiked it over the mountain to-day. We're goin' t' strike th' +trail over t' the Divide to-morrow, huntin'. He's great on game." + +"So," thought Ross, "I'm right. It's hunting that has brought him here." + +The next morning at daylight, Ross, eating breakfast, chanced to glance +out of the dirty west window. Up near the summit of Soapweed Ledge, which +met Crosby at right angles, he saw three figures advancing single file. +Each carried a gun, and had a small pack and snow-shoes strapped on his +back. + +"Uncle Jake," asked Ross suddenly, "have you ever been over to the +Divide?" + +Weimer shook his head. "No, I stay home and attend to pizness." + +"Haven't you ever crossed that mountain?" Ross indicated Soapweed Ledge. + +"Yes." + +"What's beyond?" + +"More mountains," answered Weimer vaguely, "und peyond dem more und more." + +It was a week before the hunters returned, a long lonely week for Ross. +Each morning he told himself hopefully that before night Leslie might +return, but, to his increasing dismay, no Leslie came. + +"Can it be that an accident has happened to him, somewhere, alone, or +has he changed his mind about coming and gone back home?" + +Ross asked himself this question as he stood at the mouth of the tunnel +one morning staring in the direction of Soapweed Ledge. A heavy snowstorm +had set in that morning, and in the afternoon the falling snow shrouded +the Ledge in a white veil out of which the three men now emerged, moving +slowly across the little valley. Their snow-shoes were on their feet, +and in place of the light packs with which they had started their +shoulders were bent under loads of venison. + +The McKenzies had returned. + +That evening Waymart appeared at Weimer's door with a goodly portion +of meat, at which Ross looked dubiously. + +"You've given us so much already," he hesitated. + +Waymart interrupted. "Jerk it," he directed briefly. "Jerked meat makes +a good stew when ye can't git no fresh meat." He turned sharply to +Weimer in his bunk. "See here, Uncle Jake, have ye forgot how t' jerk +venison?" + +Weimer crawled out of his bunk, scowling. "Vell, I haf nicht dat. I guess +I jerk him so gud as anypody." + +"Get about it then!" retorted Waymart with rough kindness. "Here's a +meat knife to shred it up with." + +He laid a large, sharp knife on the table, and cut Ross's thanks short +by an abrupt departure. + +Weimer, grumbling at the interruption to his rest, cut the meat in long, +thin strips, which, he told Ross, were to be nailed to the outside +of the shack after the storm had passed. But in the morning, Ross, +objecting to a process which brought the meat into contact with the +dirty logs, stretched a cord between two trees, and over it, in the +sunshine, folded the strips clothespin fashion, leaving them for the air +to cure and dry. + +For two or three days the McKenzies did not visit their neighbors. Ross +saw them outside their shack occasionally, and something in the air and +attitudes spoke, even at that distance, of disagreement. + +One evening at six o'clock Weimer stumbled out of the tunnel alone +and down the path, the darkness robbing the snow of its terrors. A few +moments later, Ross, having laid the dry sticks in the drilled holes +in the end wall of the tunnel, lighted the fuses, and, candle in hand, +made for the mouth. + +He came out on Lon Weston sitting on a stump which projected above the +dump. + +"Hello, Doc," greeted Lon Weston. + +"Hello, Weston." Ross was so astonished to see him there that he nearly +forgot to count the explosions that just then thundered in the tunnel +behind him. + +"One, two, three, four, five." That accounted for the five sticks. + +He leaned against the tool house, and looked at Lon through the dusk. +Lon's cap was pulled down over his eyes. His sheepskin collar was turned +up, meeting the cap. All that was visible of his face was a bit of beard +protruding around the stem of the pipe. But the voice sounded a more +amiable note than it ever had in the stage camp, although his manner +revealed an uneasy embarrassment. + +"Well, Doc, how d'ye like minin'?" + +"I don't like it at all," replied Ross honestly. + +"Seems t' like you all right," returned Lon. "You're in better flesh +and color than you was down on Dry Creek." + +"So are you," retorted Ross, laughing. + +Lon made no reply. He moved restlessly. + +"Done any studyin' in that pile o' books ye had along?" he asked +abruptly after a time. + +"No." Ross's tone was crisp. "Haven't studied a word." The subject was +a tender one with him. + +There ensued a pause. Ross opened the door of the tool house, and threw +in his pick and shovel. He hitched the legs of his high rubber boots +nearer his body; and then, as Lon made no move toward going, he swung +his numbed hands briskly. + +"I thought," Lon began again in a constrained and hesitating way, "that +you was mighty anxious about those books. I thought your goin' to some +college or other depended on your gettin' outside of those books." + +Ross struck his hands rapidly together. "I can't study," he answered +briefly. "I get too tired working." + +Weston arose and faced toward the cabin of the McKenzies. + +"Another storm comin'," he announced. "Get here day after to-morrow." + +"That's Christmas," muttered Ross. His heart contracted sharply, and +a homesick pang assailed him. In his ignorance, before leaving home, he +had set Christmas as the date of his return. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A CALAMITY BEFALLS ROSS + + +ROSS was writing to Dr. and Mrs. Grant. He bent over the rough table +under the light of two candles stuck into the logs above his head. Weimer +slept in his bunk the sound and noisy sleep of a tired laborer. + +"At the rate we're going at present," Ross wrote, "we'll finish work +by the middle of May.... We have at least one thing to be thankful for +in our tunnel. We're not obliged to timber it. Of course, blasting +through solid rock isn't easy nor fast work, but I guess in the long run +we get along faster than we would through dirt. In this case, you see +we should be obliged to snake logs down from the mountainside and build +side walls and roof in the tunnel for our own safety. How's 'snaking' +for you, Aunt Anne? First time I heard it I hadn't an idea what it +meant, but it covers the process of cutting down trees and getting them +to their destination. Tell you what! We speak some language up here. +The King's English isn't always in it, but then every one understands, +and I have fallen into using it as easily as a fish takes to water. And +I am getting hardened to the work and the weather. I wouldn't mind the +whole thing so much now if only the way to Miners' Camp would remain +open. But any day it may become practically impassable, and then I cannot +hear from you nor you from me for months. That--as I look ahead--is +the tough part of it, being cooped up here with only five of us; and how +the McKenzies can remain without laying in more provisions I don't +see. They have meat enough, but that's all. With this letter I'm +taking another over to Camp for Leslie's father. I ought to have sent +him word before that Leslie hasn't been seen nor heard of since he +disappeared, but every day I've looked for him back--the whole affair +worries me a lot--I should think as soon as he gets my letter, old man +Quinn would come and hunt Leslie up himself." + +At this point there was the sound of laughter outside, and Ross laid +aside his pencil and pad. + +"Sandy," he muttered, listening. + +To his surprise it was not Sandy whom the opening door revealed, but Lon +and Waymart, both in unprecedented high spirits. + +"We left Sandy snorin'," Waymart volunteered. "He and Uncle Jake ought +to bunk in together. Lon, show Ross how Sandy talks in his sleep." + +Weston sat down, leaned his head back against the logs, gave one or +two passes through his hair, which left it arranged like Sandy's with +a lock falling over his forehead; and in an instant, although Weston +was dark and Sandy fair, an excellent imitation of the latter mumbled +and talked and snored against the logs. Weston accurately and easily +imitated the voice and manner of Sandy with his laugh and every facial +characteristic. Even Weimer rolled over in his bunk and laughed. Next, +Weston, carried out of himself by an appreciative audience, imitated +Waymart, the sheep-herder at Dry Creek, and finally Ross himself, and +did it all with amazing success. + +Ross, convulsed with laughter, rocked back and forth on his box. It was +the first real fun he had encountered since leaving Pennsylvania. It +did not seem possible that this Weston was the same half-sullen, wholly +silent man whom he had nursed at the stage camp. + +Ross sat opposite the window in front of which Weston was performing; and +finally, just as Waymart had called for an imitation of Weimer, the boy, +glancing up, encountered Sandy's face outside the dirty pane. It +remained there but an instant while Sandy took the measure of the +performer, but that instant was enough to show Ross the full expression +of which he had caught glimpses before, and which revealed the side of +his character that Sandy usually concealed. His blue eyes glinted +angrily. His thin lips, tightly closed, wore a cruel expression, while +every feature clearly showed a malignant disapproval of Weston's +methods of entertainment. + +The laugh died in Ross's throat; but the next instant the door swung +open and Sandy entered, gay and careless--except as to eyes. They still +glinted. + +"Thought ye'd shook me, didn't ye?" he asked with a grin. "Wall, this +racket would bring a feller up from his grave, to say nothin' of a +little snooze." + +He pushed a box over on its side, and sat astride it; and at once +the atmosphere in the cabin changed, and became frigid, despite the +newcomer's gaiety. Weston slunk back to his seat, and all Ross's +urging proved ineffectual to draw him out of his shell again. Waymart's +face also lost its good humor. + +Presently the three left together. + +Weimer, wide awake, moved around the shack. + +"Dat Veston!" he chuckled. "How many kinds of beoples ist he? I could +shut mine eyes and tink he vas dem all." + +The next day was Sunday, and early in the morning in the teeth of a mild +wind and threatened storm Ross was off for Miners' Camp. As far as the +shoulder around Crosby he went on snow-shoes. Arrived at the shoulder, +and, making use of the long, sharp spike which he carried, he picked +his way cautiously forward, pushing through the deep snow in the trail +with his feet and knees, the spike set on the outer edge to prevent +his slipping. Again and again a ledge of overhanging snow would break +away and fall on him; and, light even as the snow yet was, its weight +dropping on his shoulders caused him to stagger. The snow-shoes also +became a burden, for they were a useless encumbrance until he reached +the foot of the mountain and struck out for Steele's shack over two +miles of snow already five feet deep. + +When he reached Gale's Ridge, he was almost exhausted, not only from +pushing through the snow on the trail, but from the unaccustomed effort +of walking on snow-shoes. Already he was dreading the most difficult task +of all--the return journey. + +Steele met him with a manifest uneasiness. + +"Grant, your trips down to Camp this season are numbered," he cautioned +as they sat down to an early dinner. "An old trailer could creep around +the shoulder of Crosby for a little while yet, but neither you nor I +could do it in safety. The snow's gettin' so almighty deep now, and +blowin' up in ledges on the shoulder--you probably got a ducking coming +over?" His tone arose inquiringly. + +Ross nodded. "Several times a lot of snow dropped on me; once I almost +lost my balance." + +Steele moved uneasily. "That's the trouble with that trail even before +there's danger of a regular avalanche. You're likely to get swept over +when you least expect it, and going back is worse than coming." + +Directly after dinner Ross commenced to bind on his snow-shoes for an +early departure, having filled his pockets with candy for Weimer. His +heart was heavy, and he had a queer, choky sensation as he looked around +the little shack, which he might not see again in months. + +Steele was adjusting the straps on his own snow-shoes. + +"Going up the caņon with me, are you?" asked Ross. + +Steele nodded, and got into his top-coat. "A little way," he answered +briefly. + +Although it was only one o'clock in the afternoon, twilight had fallen. +The clouds rolled up the caņon so low that they hung almost within +reach of the men's hands, although not much snow was yet falling. An +indescribable gloom filled the caņon, the gloom of utter isolation and +loneliness. Not a breath of wind was stirring; not a movement of a tree +was audible. Everywhere were the deep snow, the silent trees, the great +white hulks of the mountains; and over all the clouds glowered sullenly. + +Nature had erected sudden and impenetrable barriers in all directions, +and Ross felt as though he were striving against them all. + +In silence the two traveled the distance which lay between Gale's Ridge +and the upper end of Miners' Camp, which was at present a deserted +end. When they passed out of sight of the eating house on Gale's +Ridge, they left behind them every sign of life. The Mountain Company had +shut down two weeks before. A few men had gone to Steele, but the +majority had betaken themselves "below." Their shacks stood as the +owners had left them, with their stoves, their crude furniture, and in +some cases provisions, intact. + +The stage was due now only once a week, and the post-office had been +removed to Steele's cabin. The former postmaster had gone to work on a +ranch on the Grey Bull, leaving the post-office doors wide open, the +snow filling the cabin and banking up against the letter boxes. + +"By April," said Steele, "you can't see even the roof of a single one +of these places down here next the river. They'll all be plumb covered +with snow." + +Steele did not stop, as Ross supposed he would, at the foot of Crosby, +but started up the trail. + +"Where are you going?" demanded the boy. + +The superintendent went on. His reply came back muffled by the heavy air. +"Around the shoulder of this little hill." + +Nor could any protest from Ross restrain him. + +As they began the ascent, Ross found the moisture hanging in drops to +his clothing, while his face felt as though it were being bathed in +ice-water. At the same time the clouds settled all about them. + +"This is literally walking with our heads in the clouds," muttered Steele +grimly. "And this is the weather that'll pack the snow in this trail +with a crust as hard as earth--ugh!" + +They ascended the trail laboriously, Steele in the lead, Ross lagging +behind, leg-weary, and heavy-hearted at the thought of the months to +come. Around the shoulder of the mountain they cautiously felt their +way, the thick clouds about them seeming to press back the banks of snow +above. + +Once on the safe trail beyond the shoulder Steele turned, and held out +his hand without a word. Also wordless, Ross gripped it. Then the older +man took the back trail, and disappeared. + +The boy stood where the other left him, staring into the clouds which +hid the shoulder. As he stood, a slight breeze touched his cheek and +died away. He buckled his snow-shoes on again, and faced Meadow Creek +Valley. As he did so, the breeze came again. Presently it turned into +a wind, and the clouds retreated hastily up the mountainside. Great +flakes of snow filled the air. Faster and faster they came swirling down +until the air was thick with a storm which cut sharply against Ross's +face. He hurried on, and in an hour was beyond the reach of the storm in +Weimer's shack, drying his wet coat and cap. + +He found his old partner half wild with anxiety. + +"If you did not come pack to-night," he cried, "I thought you would +never! A plizzard ist now." + +So rejoiced was Uncle Jake at Ross's return that he sat near the fire +and waxed garrulous while the wind lashed the trees and drove the snow +outside; and Ross, the other side of the stove, shivered and listened +listlessly. + +"What ails you, hein?" Weimer finally demanded. + +And Ross, with a lump in his throat of which he was not ashamed, told him. + +"Ach!" exclaimed Weimer disgustedly. He snapped his thumb and finger +together. "I vas here dree vinters alone mit no one near. Py day I +vorked. Py night dem volves howl und cayotes; but," consolingly, "dey +can't git in, und dey vant nicht to git in." + +Then for the first time he went on to relate to Ross in his quaint and +broken English many stories of those lonely winters in this solitary +valley, which had then held him as its only inhabitant. + +"No wonder," thought Ross, listening to the fury of the storm, "that the +old man's mind was ready to give away under the additional trial of an +attack of snow-blindness." + +The blizzard continued in unabated fury all the next day. Neither Weimer +nor Ross visited the tunnel. They remained housed, watching the snow +gradually pile itself around the little shack until the two small windows +were obscured, and they were obliged to resort to candle-light. + +But during the night the wind changed, and the following morning the sun +rose in a brilliantly blue sky. Directly after an early breakfast Ross +started to shovel a way out of the cabin. He dug the snow away from the +door and windows, and then turned his attention to the trail leading to +the tunnel. Here he found that the wind had favored him, sweeping the +path clean and filling up the hollows. In the valley the snow lay seven +feet deep. + +Ross worked his way to the ore-dump, at the base of which he paused to +look down on the McKenzies. Their cabin was also released from the snow +as to door and window. The snow was also tramped and shoveled around the +discovery hole, but no one was in sight, and Ross had turned again to +his task when a yell caused him again to face the McKenzie cabin. + +Sandy was gesticulating frantically while he advanced rapidly on +snow-shoes, dodging the trees as he came diagonally across the +mountainside. He came on, talking at the top of his voice, but all +Ross could catch was "sticks" and "thief" and "trail." Sandy was plainly +excited. His neckerchief was knotted under one ear; his coat was +buttoned up awry; his cap was on with one ear-flap dangling, and the +other held fast by the rim of the cap. His ears and nose were scarlet, +the thermometer registering, that morning, thirty below zero. + +"Our dynamite is gone," Sandy yelled when he was near enough to make Ross +understand. "Gone--stolen." + +Ross stared at him stupidly. "Who is there to take it?" + +"Some one," panted Sandy with an oath, "must have come up the trail +Sunday and taken the stuff, thinkin' that it 'ud storm right off and +shut up the trail so none of us 'ud be such fools as t' go over t' +Camp after more. That's the way I've figured it out, and I lay ye I'm +right." + +"When did you find out the sticks were gone?" asked Ross with an interest +which did not as yet reach beyond Sandy. + +"A few minutes ago," gasped Sandy. "I come as fast as I could to see if +your----" + +Ross cut him short with a loud exclamation, and without waiting to hear +the end of the sentence turned and plunged up over the dump, ploughing +and fighting his way through the snow as though it were a thing of life. + +Sandy picked up the wooden shovel which the boy had cast away, and +followed out of breath, but still talking. + +"You know we kept the sticks in a box under a hemlock right above the +hole, and----" + +Ross, unheeding, floundered across the dump, and began to dig wildly at +the tool-house door, only the upper part of which was visible. With set +teeth he dug, forgetting Sandy, forgetting the shovel, his common sense +swallowed up in a panic of fear. + +Weimer had always kept the dynamite sticks in a box, a large double +boarded and heavily lidded affair which was set in the corner of the +tool chest furthest from the door. + +At first Ross had raised the lid of this box with chills creeping down +his spine. His hair had stirred under his cap when he first saw Weimer +stuff the sticks carelessly into his pocket and enter the tunnel. But +familiarity with the use of the sticks had robbed them of their terror, +although Ross was always cautious in the handling. + +"Hold on, Doc." Sandy's voice at his elbow finally brought the frantic +boy to his senses. "Ye can't do nothin' with yer hands. Stand aside +there, and I'll shovel the snow away from the door." + +Ross stood back, unconscious of the nip of the cold on his nose and +cheeks, and watched Sandy shoveling with a will, the while talking +consolingly. + +"I don't believe the thieves have come anigh ye; don't look so, anyway. +It's likely some one who's a grudge against some of us. There's plenty +holds grudges agin Lon. Wisht he'd stayed in the valley--here ye be! +Ketch a holt of this side of the door. Now, one, two, three!" + +The door yielded to their combined efforts, and Ross rushed in with Sandy +at his heels. His fingers were so numbed he could scarcely raise the lid +of the dynamite box. A film seemed to cover his eyes, and in the light +which entered grudgingly only by way of the door he could see nothing. +He bent his head further over the box, but it was Sandy's voice which +confirmed his worst fears. + +"Not a stick left. They've made a clean sweep of Medder Creek Valley!" + +The film cleared from Ross's eyes, but not from his brain. The box was +empty--the box which had contained the stuff absolutely necessary to the +work in the tunnel. + +Ross glanced up and met Sandy's eyes. Sandy's eyes looked steadily and +guilelessly into Ross's, and Sandy's face expressed all the sympathy +and commiseration of which Ross stood in need. + +The boy sat down on the edge of the box. "What shall I do?" he asked, +his thoughts in a whirl. + +"Do about th' same as we've got t'--git out!" quoth Sandy with a +lugubrious shake of his head. "Here we got Lon up here t' help push +our work, and now we're up a stump; for ye know"--here Sandy's eyes +held Ross's while he spoke slowly--"there's no use thinkin' about +gittin' any over from Camp. No one 'ud be crazy enough to resk packin' +a load of sticks around the shoulder this time of year." + +Ross shivered as he thought of the shoulder under its body of snow. + +"When are you going?" he asked. + +"To-morrow," answered Sandy promptly. "We'll start then, but we'll have +to shovel through. You'll have t' lead Weimer, won't ye?" + +Ross swallowed twice before he answered. "Yes, I suppose so." + +"We'll help ye." Sandy's tones were good-natured and soothing. He +seemed suddenly to have lost all regret at the disappearance of his +store of dynamite. "We'll break open the trail, and then we can rope +ourselves together around the shoulder. That's safer." + +"All right," Ross heard himself say in an unnatural voice. He could not +in an instant adjust himself to this radical uprooting of his plans. + +"It'll be a ticklish job," Sandy continued, "t' break through around +the shoulder without bringin' down the hull side of old Crosby on us, +includin' a few rocks; but every day now we put it off is so much the +worse." + +He turned to go. "Then we'll pick ye up in the mornin'; will we?" + +"Why--I suppose so," returned Ross. "There doesn't seem to be anything +else to do." + +"Better not load up much," warned Sandy; "and don't give Uncle Jake a +load at all. All we're goin' to try to pack over is a little venison." + +Then Sandy disappeared, and Ross suddenly recovered from his mental +numbness. It was the sting of anger which aroused him. So confused +and disappointed had he been, and so well had Sandy played his part, +that the true solution of the theft did not dawn on the boy until the +other's departure. Then he stopped short on the downward trail and +uttered an exclamation, his hands clinching inside his mittens, and +his eyes narrowing and flashing. + +Of course, it was Sandy's own brain which had planned the matter and +Sandy's own henchmen who had made off with the sticks. They had taken +this way of stopping the progress of work in the tunnel. They had waited +until no more dynamite could be brought over the trail, calculating that +when the time came for the claims to be patented one half year's work +would be undone, and then! + +Ross started blindly down the path. He would go over to the Camp with +the McKenzies. He would go down to Meeteetse with them--no officer of the +law could be found nearer, and there he would put them all under arrest. +Here he stopped again. Arrest them on what evidence? Face to face with +this question, he was obliged to acknowledge the neatness of the scheme +which had for its first point the theft of their own sticks. Could he +prove that no one had come over the trail after he reached the valley? +And could he prove that the dynamite had not been taken by this mythical +some one? + +Ross thought of what Steele had said concerning trusting Sandy with his +pocketbook. Sandy would have the contents of the purse, Steele said, +but he'd take care to get them in such a way that he could shake hands +afterward with the owner, as well as face any jury. + +"And Steele," Ross muttered, drawing a long breath, "was right." + +The news of the loss seemed to jar Weimer back into a semblance of his +former intelligence. Instead of ranting as Ross expected he would he sat +down and talked over the situation reasonably with his young partner. +It was Weimer, in fact, who restored something like hope to Ross. + +He objected to leaving the valley with the McKenzies. He had been over +that valley and the surrounding mountains inch by inch, he told Ross. +Let that "consarned gang" be gone. They two would stay and bring the +dynamite to light. Then he told of place after place on the mountain +which would make excellent hiding-places for the sticks. There were +many caves, and some of them dry. Weimer reasoned the "gang" would cache +the sticks in a dry place for their own future use. + +Temporarily the old partner and the young changed places, and, as Ross +listened, he became stout of heart once more. + +"Of course," he exclaimed, "if dynamite can't be carried up the trail, +neither can it be taken back into Camp. It's got to be somewhere around +here; and, if we hunt for it a month, we can still get the work done in +time." + +"Vy didn't I tink of dem sticks?" Weimer asked angrily. "I might know +dem consarned gang pe up to somet'ing ven dey see our vork it vas +gettin' fast! Vy didn't I tink?" + +Ross, having lapsed into his own thoughts, made no reply; and Weimer +arose from the box where he had been sitting, and crawled into his bunk. + +Ross paced the floor slowly, his arms folded behind him. Ross's +fighting blood was up. Before this he had looked at his work as the +result of his father's request. It was not to his liking, and the only +actual pleasure he took in it was the prospect of finishing it. He had +believed before the theft of the sticks that he would welcome anything +which really necessitated his leaving Meadow Creek Valley, although he +would accept nothing less than necessity. + +But this theft seemed suddenly to have made the work his own and the +failure to accomplish it a personal defeat. Instead of rejoicing over the +prospect of leaving Meadow Creek Valley he welcomed eagerly Weimer's +suggestion that they stay and hunt for the dynamite, even though the hunt +meant that, dynamite or no dynamite, they must be shut up in the valley +for months to come. + +Suddenly a new fear caused him to scramble hastily into his coat, cap, +and mittens. + +"I'm going to fetch the tools down," he explained grimly. "I'm not +going to risk having some one make off with them!" + +"Dat ist so," assented Weimer. "Ve vill need dose tools; ve vill. Dose +McKenzie gang vill see. I can find dose sticks, und I know I can." + +None of the McKenzies came over that evening, to Ross's relief, for +the events of the day had brought a new fear of that outfit. Sandy's +good-natured neighborliness had deceived him. Now for the first time +he realized that they were actual enemies, ready to stoop to any means +within the law to baffle him. + +It was scarcely daylight the following morning, although breakfast in +the Weimer cabin had been disposed of, before there was heard a tramp of +feet outside through the creaking snow, and Sandy with a heavy pack on +his back appeared at the door. + +"All ready t' strike the trail?" he asked, putting his head inside the +shack. + +There was an instant's silence, during which Sandy's face changed as he +looked quickly from Ross to Weimer. The latter sat beside the table, his +head resting on his hand, his elbow on the boards. + +Ross answered, "We can't get ready to go so quickly." + +For a moment Sandy's face was the face which had appeared at the window +the night Weston was indulging in mimicry, but for a moment only. Then +he rallied and assumed an air of concerned astonishment. + +"What? Not ready? Why, man alive, yer chance may be gone if ye wait +another day. Uncle Jake, you ought to know that, if Doc here don't. +Why, we're afraid we can't come it even by ropin' together. Better +hustle up and come." + +Both Weimer and Ross sat still, and after a little further parley Waymart +called angrily: + +"Hike along here, Sandy. Guess they know what they want t' do better +'n you do. Make tracks here!" + +The three "made tracks," while Ross stood and watched them out of sight. + +But after they had gone the boy, uneasy lest they should return to do the +tunnel some damage, climbed the trail and entered the tool house. The +house was fastened between two trees which grew at one side of the dump, +the side furthest from the trail across the mountain toward Miners' Camp. + +Ross had entered aimlessly after assuring himself that the door at the +mouth of the tunnel had not been opened. He stood silently looking out +of a crack down on the mass of snow which glistened at the foot of the +dump, when he was startled by seeing Sandy on snow-shoes creep around the +dump and look up. + +Only a glance upward did Sandy give, and them, turning, disappeared. Yet +his face had appeared anxious before that upward glance, while afterward +there was on it a satisfied smile. + +The hours that followed were anxious ones for the two remaining in Meadow +Creek Valley. They began a hunt for the dynamite as soon as the McKenzies +had disappeared. Starting at the McKenzie shack and discovery hole they +widened the search in a circle which finally included the valley and the +sides of the adjoining mountains, with a single important omission; it +did not occur to either of them to examine their own premises further +than to assure themselves that neither tool house nor tunnel had suffered +any damage from their "friends the enemy." + +At four o'clock came the first signs of dusk and, discouraged, the +partners moved slowly across the valley. Half-way across, Ross chanced +to glance up at the stovepipe projecting from the roof of their shack. + +"A fire!" he shouted. "Look there, Uncle Jake! Some one has built up the +fire!" + +At that instant the door swung open and Leslie Quinn stood in the doorway. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SEARCH + + +OVER fried bacon, sour dough bread and varied "canned goods," Leslie +told his story to an interested and excited audience of two. The day +of Ross's arrest he had shouldered a pack of stuff selected from the +trunk which still stood under the new third bunk, waited until twilight +so that he could not be seen on the trail, and then, on snow-shoes, had +made his way over Crosby and up Wood River caņon to Wilson's cabin on +the coal claims. + +"You see," he said, a flush sweeping over his face, "I supposed father +was at Cody, and I wouldn't have faced him without that five hundred +dollars for all the gold that may be in these mountains, and, besides, +the way he had taken to get even with me--well, I don't need to say how +it cuts!" Here Leslie bent over his plate in shame. "Although--I--well, +of course, I deserve it, but I didn't think he'd go as far as that." + +"Hold on, Less!" Ross jumped up from the table so suddenly that the box +on which he had been sitting was knocked over. "Here's a letter to you +in my care. It has been here so long I had forgotten it." + +He pulled the emergency chest from under his bunk and produced both of +Mr. Quinn's letters--the one to himself and the one yet unopened. + +"There you are!" he exclaimed, tossing both across the table. "I take +it from what your father says in mine that he thought of the arrest not +as a punishment, but as the way in which he could be sure of getting his +hands on you quickly in Omaha." + +Eagerly Leslie read both letters, his troubled face lighting and +softening. "You're right," he said finally in a low tone. "I guess dad +is--is more all right than--than I used to think. I've been no end of +an idiot, frankly." + +He folded his letter and slipped it into his slicker pocket while Weimer +urged: + +"You was mit dot shack, und dey found you not, hein?" + +"But I want to hear about Ross's----" + +"No, no," interrupted Ross. "Finish out your story first. Mine will look +like thirty cents at the end of yours. I'm not exactly proud of myself." + +"Vilson's shack," prompted Weimer, pushing his plate back and planting +both elbows on the table. + +Leslie continued his story in a new exuberance of spirits, occasionally +fingering the letter in his pocket. He had foreseen that Wilson's shack +would be searched, and so, trusting to the drifting snow to conceal +his trail, he had, during the night, packed provisions into one of the +many deserted shacks in the upper camp. He had selected one overlooking +the trail up Crosby. It had two rooms, one behind the other, the back +room having an outside door and but one small window. Leaving the first +room undisturbed, he had stowed his provisions in the back room, which +also contained a bunk. + +"I can tell you that it was hard sledding for me until after the sheriff +and the McKenzies came and went that day," he continued ruefully. "I +had brought along my blankets, but I didn't dare light a fire, and I +nearly froze and nearly starved on cold canned stuff. But after the +sheriff had gone back--you see I could watch the camp from the back room +window--and the McKenzies had passed the shack on the trail over here, I +hung blankets over the windows and had a fire nights when the smoke +wouldn't be seen. I could cook at night and early in the morning and so +got along fairly well. But I expected them all back again for another +search, so mornings I used to vacate the outside room and leave it the +same as it had been." + +"Why didn't you come over sooner?" asked Ross. + +"Don't you see that I couldn't," demanded Leslie, "so long as the +McKenzies were here? I knew, though, that they had told Wilson that +they were not going to stay all winter. They told him they would go +to Cody as soon as they thought the Crosby trail was getting dangerous. +So I watched that trail like a cat for them to go and for my chance to +get here." + +"Vilson he vent out," interrupted Weimer. + +"Yes, Uncle Jake, I saw him go, but I lay low. I was afraid of the +consequences of being seen. I had no idea that father had been put +off. I was sure he would come on himself, and I knew that if father +once struck my trail he'd unearth me. He never gives up." + +"Then, this morning----" prompted Ross. + +"Yes, this morning when I saw the McKenzies coming down the trail bag +and baggage, I humped myself to get ready to get over here before their +tracks got filled up. I knew that if they could get one way I could get +the other way to-day, but maybe not to-morrow. And I tell you what," here +Leslie arose and stretched out his arms, "I've been living these weeks +as close and cramped a prisoner as I ever want to be. I could get out +nights a little because the camp came to be about deserted, but I was +cooped up all day in the shack." + +Far into the night the boys talked, while Weimer alternately listened and +dozed. When Ross was well launched on the story of his arrest he became +at once embarrassed, wondering how he was going to evade the matter of +Lon Weston and the note. He finally compromised by ending the story +of his capture in a partial account of his conversation with Sandy +in the barroom of "The Irma," and Leslie, taking it for granted that his +father's name and address came from Sandy, did not ask embarrassing +questions. + +"It's as I suspected, then," he added slowly. "The McKenzies were +probably employed on the ranches around home at some time. The cowboys +and sheep-herders are always coming into the town, and probably they +all knew me by sight, while I didn't know them one from another." + +Ross checked the question which arose to his lips concerning the fourth +man that Mr. Quinn was after, and shortly after, the boys tumbled into +their bunks, Ross with a feeling of deep relief that the third bunk would +be occupied during the winter. + +"I didn't do so badly in Cody after all, as it has all turned out," he +thought comfortably as he fell asleep. + +He was only half awakened a few moments later by an exclamation from the +third bunk, and heard Leslie say, "By the way, Ross, who was----" then +the question, "Are you asleep?" + +Ross, without replying, sank into a deeper sleep, and Leslie said no +more. Weimer was already snoring. + +The following morning Ross tumbled out at daybreak and built a roaring +fire in the old cracked heater. He glanced at the third bunk and began +whistling cheerfully. Perhaps they could find the dynamite now that there +was a second with sound eyes to aid in the search and a sound brain to +help plan. If only the sticks could be found the early spring would see +the work completed and the claims patented. + +The first thing Weimer did when he arose was to go to the door and survey +sky and mountains with practiced eye, as he sniffed the bracing air. +The sky was overcast and lowering, while a sharp wind drove the snow in +eddies and drifts through the valley. + +"Der vill pe a pig storm mit us," he prophesied; "it ist on its vay. It +vill get here in dree, four days." + +"Hear that, Less?" shouted Ross at the new bunk. "You turn out and we'll +be off. We've got to unearth that dynamite before any more snow piles +up here around us." + +Leslie left his bunk with a bound. "I'm good for it. How's breakfast? +When I filled up last night I thought I'd never need anything more and +here I am as hollow as a drum!" + +At the breakfast table, he suddenly bethought himself of the question he +had meant to ask the previous night. "I say, Doc," he exclaimed, "who +was the third man with the McKenzies yesterday? My cabin wasn't near +enough the trail so that I could see." + +Ross hesitated and Weimer answered, "Dot vas a cousin of the McKenzies, +name of Lon Veston." + +There was a clatter and a fall as knife and fork slipped out of Leslie's +hands. "Lon Weston!" he ejaculated. "Lon Weston here? A cousin of the +McKenzies?" + +"Know him?" asked Ross. + +Leslie picked up his fork. "Know Lon? Well, I should say so. He's made +trouble enough at home----" He bit his lips suddenly and stopped, adding, +"He was foreman on a ranch near North Bend for a couple of years. He--he +used to come to our house a good deal." + +In a flash Ross recalled the photo that had dropped out of Weston's +pocket at Sagehen Roost, the pretty girl face, and instantly he knew +why Hank had said of Leslie when he rode away with Wilson, "Seems as +if I'd seen that there young feller before." + +"Yes, they are surely brother and sister," Ross decided, his gaze fixed +critically on Leslie's downcast face. "They look tremendously alike." + +"Veston, he vas de man dot Doc here mended," Weimer volunteered. "Doc +vas at Dry Creek mit Veston." + +Leslie glanced quickly across the table. "Not the man who was there when +I passed through--the day I was with Wilson--not that one, Ross?" + +"The same," nodded Ross. "He's the Lon Weston that I know." + +"Then he isn't the Lon Weston that I know," said Leslie with conviction +and also relief. "That man at Dry Creek had dark hair, while the ranch +foreman had hair as light almost as Sandy's. Not the same at all." + +And because of the note at "The Irma," Ross did not contradict Leslie, +did not tell him that Weston's hair was still light beneath its dye of +chestnut brown. + +"But some day," he thought, "I can ask him about the fourth man that his +father is after, and so find out about Weston in a roundabout way." + +But the search for the dynamite soon proved so strenuous that all thought +of the crime committed on the North Fork faded from Ross's mind. Day +after day the boys continued the search while Weimer stayed in the cabin +"rustling grub" and giving suggestions. The theft of the sticks seemed +to have shocked the man into something of his former mental keenness +and industry. Not once did Ross have to urge him to his household tasks. +When the boys tramped into the cabin at noon or long after darkness +had fallen, they found a hearty appetizing meal prepared, the cook even +going to the length of objecting to their washing the dishes. + +"If you dem sticks find," he would say, "Ich vill stay mit dese dishes." + +"Uncle Jake," exclaimed Ross at noon the third day of the hunt, "I'm +discouraged. We have poked into every spot for miles around where such a +lot of dynamite could be hidden--and then have gone again." + +"I'm almost ready to believe," declared Leslie, "that the boys had the +sticks in their packs when they left." + +Weimer shook his head. "No, never would dose poys pe so foolish. Dose +sticks are here, hein? Somewhere in Meadow Creek Valley ve vill find +dem," but the old man's voice broke on the declaration. + +"Of course it couldn't be that the McKenzies carried them away," +affirmed Ross. "If there had been six men of them they couldn't have +carried away all the dynamite that we had and Wilson had and they had. +In fact they couldn't have carried it all very far that night and in +the teeth of the awful storm that howled among these peaks. I believe +with Uncle Jake that the stuff is in this valley." + +"You see, Uncle Jake," Ross began after a pause, "we have gone on the +supposition that they chose a spot under the cover of rocks or in hollow +trees, some place where the dynamite would be kept dry. Now, it may be +that they have dug a hole in the snow and ice, and buried it in the +open, and the snow has drifted over its grave." + +"Maype! maype!" Weimer ejaculated. "Put, if dey haf, our goose, it ist +cooked." + +He pushed the box on which he sat back against the wall. + +Ross opened the cabin door, and looked out. The weather had grown warmer. +The blanket of clouds which had hovered over the earth for days had +lifted and the snow lay dazzling in the strong light. When he closed +the door, Weimer had donned his blue goggles. + +"Where's your big storm, Uncle Jake?" asked Ross. + +"Comin', comin'," answered Uncle Jake confidently. "It vill pe on us +py mornin'. Dis light it vill not last." + +Ross sat down and took his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. + +"Every fall of snow," he thought, "makes our work so much more hopeless." + +Presently Weimer broke the silence. "Vell," he began meditatively, "ve +haf t'ings to eat fer de vinter, anyvay," and Ross understood the circle +around which Uncle Jake's thoughts had been winding. + +"Yes, it's Meadow Creek for us now, whether the dynamite is found or +not." Ross's voice was grim. "We went over on the trail as far as the +shoulder of Crosby to-day and whew! Uncle Jake, it was a sight to see. +The wind has packed the snow into that trail until it hangs over the +gorge in great masses and curls." + +"Looks," added Leslie, "as though a thousand tons or so might sweep down +over the shoulder any minute. The trail is closed all right as far as +I'm concerned. If I hadn't come in the McKenzies' footprints that +morning I wouldn't have come at all." + +After dinner the boys fastened on their snow-shoes outside the door and +then looked questioningly at each other. + +"Well--where to now?" asked Leslie despondently. + +"Sure enough--where?" returned Ross equally despondent. + +Weimer had offered no suggestions, and the boys were at the end of their +resources. + +"We've hunted every place," said Ross absently, adjusting a buckle on +the strap of his snow-shoe, "except our own premises here." + +No sooner had he heard his own voice speaking these careless words than +their possible significance struck him. He sprang up with kindling eyes. +"Less, do you hear?" he shouted, his thoughts in advance of his tongue. +"There's where it may be, and maybe that was the reason why Sandy came +back and looked. Hurry! Hurry up!" + +"What are you talking about?" yelled Leslie as Ross raced awkwardly +around the cabin on his snow-shoes. + +Weimer opened the door and peered out through his colored goggles. "Has +dot poy gone crazy?" he asked. + +Leslie, without pausing to answer, hurried after Ross. "Where to?" he +yelled. + +"The tool house," returned Ross over his shoulder. "It's fastened +between two trees, and hangs out over the foot of the dump! See?" + +But, instead of taking the trail to the tunnel, Ross struck across the +mounds and hillocks and drifts of snow that blocked the trail leading +to Miners' Camp. Through the tangle of pines and hemlocks he led the +way until he stopped at the foot of the snow-heaped dump and looked up at +the tool house, one side of which rested on the dump, while the opposite +side was fastened to sturdy hemlocks whose trunks arose from the débris +heaped about them from the tunnel. The tool house was now a shapeless +white form, while the dump was buried beneath tons of snow. + +"It was here," Ross explained breathlessly, "that Sandy stood. I was +looking out at the McKenzies from a crack up in the house. He came back +and looked up under the house and then grinned and went back to the +others. They had started to leave, you know. Now why did he want to look +under that house?" + +"That's it!" cried Leslie with excited conviction. "They had cached the +stuff under the house and he wanted to make sure that their trail could +not be seen. Ross, the sticks are up under there, high and dry." + +"You bet!" shouted Ross turning in his tracks. "We'll get shovels and +dig for it. And, Less, if we find the cache, we'll let off one blast +around here outside of the tunnel that 'ill show them, if they're still +over in Camp, that we ain't dead yet." + +"Nor dumb and stupid, either!" cried Leslie delightedly as he legged it +rapidly over the snow. + +In the door of the shack they found Weimer still standing, shielding his +eyes with one hand and calling questions into space. The boys, appearing, +stopped to answer, not only satisfying the old man but receiving a +valuable suggestion. + +"Vat for you dig mit all dot vork? It vill dake you poys a day und a half +to git up unter dot shack. Vy not go in und raise dot floor und find dem +sticks unter?" + +Leslie tossed up his cap. "Three cheers for Uncle Jake!" he shouted. +"That's the very thing to do. We'll get around to that signal blast +sooner. Come on, Ross!" + +It was Leslie who led this time, axe in hand, while Ross followed with +hammer and shovel. The trail to the tunnel had been unused for days and +was so deeply drifted that the boys had difficulty in getting up to the +dump even with the aid of the shovel. Once on top they were obliged to +shovel their way slowly into the tool house. + +"Now," exclaimed Ross when they were fairly in, "now for work with these +floor boards!" + +Leslie, with many grunts, fell to clearing away the snow from the floor, +while Ross pulled the big box in which the dynamite had been stored from +the center of the shack into one corner. + +"See here, Ross," cried Leslie excitedly as he bent to the last shovelful +of snow. "We don't need axe nor hammer. The McKenzies have done the +work for us. The floor has been taken up and just laid back again +without being spiked down. That box held the planks down pretty firmly, +you see." + +The floor consisted of halves of tree trunks, flat above and rounded on +the under side. Eagerly Ross and Leslie raised the central plank and both +cried out simultaneously, for the dynamite filled the space beneath up to +the level of the floor. + +"And to think!" muttered Ross, "that I have not thought of this +before--didn't think of it when I saw Sandy peering up here." + +Leslie sat back on his heels and mopped his face. "Pretty cute of 'em +to think of a thing like this," he conceded. "I should have taken the +sticks as far away as I could have carried them had I been doing it, and +considered that the farther I went the better for my plans." + +"It's Sandy," declared Ross. "Steele has told me a dozen times that +he's the brains of the clan." + +It did not take the trio long to restore the dynamite to its box, for +Ross, going down to the cabin, led a delighted Weimer through the +sunshine up to the tool house, and Weimer willingly devoted his great +strength to the task. + +"And," insisted Leslie when their task was completed, "now for putting +the shot that shall tell Miners' Camp that we're livelier than ever +over here." + +As long as the trail was closed and the McKenzies could not return, the +boys reasoned, it would be a lark to inform them in this way of the +failure of their project. + +"Even if they have gone on to Cody," suggested Ross, "Bill Travers might +get the news to 'em by way of the stages." + +"But you see," ruefully from Leslie, "probably there's no one except +themselves that knows of our plight. They may not have told any one of +the theft of the sticks." + +"Well, we'll set off a blast that will tell every one that they're +found, anyway!" retorted Ross. "And we'll do it in the morning before +the storm comes on," for the brilliancy of the sunlight had long been +dimmed by heavy banks of clouds rolling in from the northwest. + +Weimer entered into the project with the abandon of a child, and it was +he who suggested the location of the "shot." + +"Nicht on Crosby," he said shaking his head. "Dot might upset dot tunnel. +Put it mit Soapweed Ledge und see vat comes." + +The boys did not ask what Weimer meant. Anything they did not understand +they laid to his "Dutch lingo," but they immediately adopted the +suggestion concerning Soapweed Ledge, and in the morning carried +enough sticks across the valley to plant a respectable "mine," as +Ross called it, beneath one of the huge rocks which jutted out from +the side of the mountain that bounded the valley on the north. This +mountain rose four thousand feet above Meadow Creek, its head lost in +the snow clouds that now threatened to submerge the valley. On the +face of the mountain lay a great body of snow, especially heavy above the +timber-line, which here, because of the great elevation of the valley +itself, was only a few hundred feet above the base of any mountain. + +Weimer, lured out of the shack by the dimness of the light and the +enjoyment of the undertaking, went with the boys and did his share in the +"packing" of the sticks unurged. It was he who, with an accession of +unusual keenness, planted the charge in a shallow cave with a mass of +rock perilously overhanging the entrance. + +"Ve vant ein noise," he chuckled, "ein pig racket. It shall pe heard in +Miners'." + +A few moments later they had the noise, all they had planned for, and +then a noise that no one had foreseen save Weimer, and he had not +explained his expectations. + +While the long fuse was burning, the three spectators had retreated +to the middle of the valley and faced about expectantly. There came a +fearful detonation which awakened the echoes on every hand and the +vast rock with a dozen of its neighbors was lifted like lumps of clay +and hurled into the valley amid a cloud of snow and ice. Some of the +fragments landed almost at the feet of the spectators. + +The echoes had not died away before Weimer, yelling, "Ve may not pe out +of de vay far," turned and made his clumsy but rapid way on snow-shoes +further from the scene of the explosion. The boys were following him +blindly and excitedly when, in the clouds fairly over their heads, came +a sound that neither had ever heard before, a wrenching, grinding, +tearing sound which caused Ross's hair to stir under his cap. + +"Can th-that be thunder?" he stammered running. + +Weimer looked over his shoulder at the mountain. "You haf neber an +avalanche seen, hein!" he cried, and stopping, faced the other way again. + +Down into view below the low hanging clouds it swept its terrible way, +that avalanche which the trembling of the mountain had caused, the work +of the dynamite. With a swift overwhelming rush it crumbled the rocks +and, uprooting great trees, bore them easily on its bosom. Into the +valley it debouched, carrying with it the wreckage from the mountainside. + +Ross and Leslie looked at each other with white faces when the roar and +grind and rush finally ceased. + +"Suppose," suggested Ross huskily, "we had set that blast off on old +Crosby." + +Both boys looked at the mountain overhanging the tunnel above their +shack, and Ross shivered. + +"It would have been good-bye to the tunnel and the shack and us too, I +guess," muttered Leslie. + +"I told you," declared Weimer, "vat vould happen, hein? I told you last +nicht. Now ein avalanche you haf seen." + +Neither boy contradicted his first statement. With the last they agreed +rather breathlessly, for an avalanche they surely had seen! + +"I hope," said Ross carelessly as they entered their shack, "that the +McKenzies are still in Miners' and that they heard that blast!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A PERILOUS JOURNEY + + +THE following morning the three inhabitants of Meadow Creek Valley began +work again in the tunnel. The air was filled with a smother of snow which +fell unaccompanied by wind. When, the following day, the sky cleared, +over the path of the avalanche and over the ruins of Soapweed Ledge +lay a concealing blanket of snow three feet deep. + +"Whew!" shivered Ross as he led the goggled Weimer over the snow to the +tunnel that morning. "Wish we had a thermometer up here. This is some +cold. Must be minus zero by a long way." + +"Mine nose ist my thermometer," complained Weimer, rubbing that whitening +member. "Aber dis weather it holds nicht. Anoder snow falls in dree, four +days." + +The third day proved the truth of this prophecy. The atmosphere became +many degrees warmer and the sky lowering. + +"More snow," sighed Leslie, looking over the silent, white sheeted valley +with homesick eyes. + +"Und den more," added Weimer complacently. "More und more till June." + +That noon it chanced that Weimer, being afflicted with a headache, left +the tunnel early. A little later, Ross, pushing the little car out to +the dump, called back to Leslie at work with the drill: + +"Guess I'll go down and rustle the grub for Uncle Jake. That headache of +his is genuine." + +"All right," assented Leslie, "I'll be down in half an hour or so. I +want to put this shot before I go." + +Ross found Weimer in a state of great excitement, the headache forgotten. +He stood at the door of the shack, peering up toward the tunnel, both +hands shielding his blinking eyes. + +"Who vas dot man?" he demanded in a high, eager voice. + +"What man, Uncle Jake?" Ross stopped short, staring at Weimer as though +he were bereft of his senses. + +"I see him!" declared Weimer. "He vas shust startin' up dot trail py +de tunnel. I see his pack. He vore ein pag on it. He vore ein cap mit +goggles. I see him." + +Ross looked up the mountainside incredulously. "Why, Uncle Jake, I +just left the tunnel and there was no one there but Leslie. I guess," +jocosely, "your headache has made you 'see things at night,' hasn't +it? No one can get into the valley now, you know." + +Excitedly protesting and expostulating, half in English and half in +German, Uncle Jake retreated inside the door, and taking up his position +beside one of the little windows watched the trail to the tunnel while +Ross, smiling at his partner's hallucination, built up the fire, +cheerfully banging the covers of the stove as he filled the fire-box +with dry pine sticks. In the midst of this racket there entered the +sound of crunching footsteps on the side opposite the shack from that +occupied by Weimer. + +"Hein!" yelled the latter springing up. "Was sagen sie? It ist somepody!" + +A rap thundered on the door, and it was thrust open at the same time +unceremoniously, while a low, gruff voice inquired abruptly: + +"Is there a young doctor here?" + +A man a little above medium height stood on the threshold. He wore +buckskin trousers and a buckskin coat over a heavy sweater, giving +him a bulky appearance. He had on snow-shoes, and strapped over his +shoulder, a large leather game pouch sagged. Behind smoked goggles +his eyes were blinking, like Weimer's, almost closed. His head and +ears were covered with a shaggy fur cap, which met his turned-up coat +collar. His face was smooth above a fringe of black stubby whiskers, +which ran from ear to ear under the chin. His voice, though gruff, was +not unpleasant as he explained. + +"Of course 'twas a month and more ago since they told me over t' +Red Lodge that----" His eyes fell on Ross. "You're him they call Doc +Tenderfoot, ain't ye?" + +"Why--yes," answered Ross. There was a pause between the two words caused +by the speaker's amazement at seeing a man drop in from--where? + +"Come in," invited Weimer, "und set down." + +"Don't care if I do," assented the stranger. + +He unbuckled his snow-shoes, and, leaving them outside, entered the +shack. Turning down his coat collar, he loosened his cap, pushing it +back on his head, thereby revealing the ends of short black hair. + +"Haf you peen up to dat tunnel, hein?" demanded Weimer with a triumphant +glance at Ross. + +The stranger nodded, "Yep. Didn't see no signs of livin' here and I +did see some signs up t' the mouth of the tunnel, but I didn't see no +good way of gittin' up t' it. When I got there I was over t' other +side of the dump and when I got up on top of it I heard voices down here, +so down here I put agin!" + +"Did you come up from Miners' Camp?" asked Ross eagerly. + +The stranger shook his head. "No, I live toward the Divide on----" The +stranger interrupted himself to ask, "Know the country over there, do +you?" + +Weimer shook his head. "Only py hearsay." + +"Well, we located on Sagewood Run, my pal and me, and----" + +"Didn't know dere vas a soul livin' in dem parts," exclaimed Weimer. + +"Me and my pal," returned the stranger. "We hain't got no neighbor near +enough to throw kisses to, that's sartain. You're the nighest." + +"Prospector?" asked Weimer. + +"Coal," returned the stranger. "We're tryin' to hold down half a dozen +claims." + +He turned from Weimer, and changed the subject in his queer, abrupt way. + +"Pard's sick--hurt. Guess he'll pass up his checks afore long if he +don't git help." + +He squinted through his goggles at Ross. "Over t' Red Lodge they said +you fixed up a feller down in Dry Creek good's new. So I come after ye +fer a couple of days." + +Instantly Weimer became alarmed. "Ross, he can't go und leave us, hein! +When the sun pe shinin', I can't get 'round. Ross, he must pe here +to work. He can't go mit you." + +Ross drew a long, perplexed breath, and said nothing. The stranger looked +attentively at Weimer for the first time. + +"Got a touch of the sun, too, have ye?" he asked. + +Weimer removed his goggles, and pressed his hands over his eyes. "Yah, +dot I has, a touch und more dan a touch. Ross here, he ain't leavin' +us to go mit you." + +Still Ross stood silent. The stranger made no response to Weimer's +protestations, but, bending forward, regarded him closely. + +"What?" he burst out. "Are you Dutch Weimer?" + +"Dot ist vat dey call me," assented Weimer, turning his bloodshot eyes +on the stranger. + +The latter persisted in an incredulous voice, "The Dutch Weimer who used +to run a miners' supply store down in Butte?" + +"Dot same," assented Weimer. "Und who might you pe?" + +The stranger grinned, a one-sided grin which sent his right cheek up +under the smoked goggles. "Well, Uncle Jake, do you remember a little +black-headed rascal that uster hang his chin on the edge of yer counter +about once a day and get a nickel's worth of candy?" + +Weimer wrinkled his brow in perplexity. "Dere vas so many plack-heads," +he muttered, scratching his head. + +The stranger grinned delightedly, and again his right cheek was pushed +up under the goggles. "Of course there was. I wa'n't the only calf +running around loose, I know. Well, do you remember Marvin Miller?" + +"Hein!" cried Weimer. He held out his hand impulsively. "Und are you +Marvin Miller's poy?" + +"The same," declared the stranger, grasping the hand. "And didn't you +have a younger pard by the name of Grant?" + +"Yah!" Weimer fairly shouted. "Dot I did, and he's my pard yet." + +"Uster git his eyes about shut, and tighten his lips, when things didn't +go to suit 'im," grinned Marvin Miller's son. + +"That's my father all right!" cried Ross. + +The stranger drew back and whistled. "Your dad!" he exclaimed. "Sho, now; +that's not so?" + +"It ist so," Weimer broke in. "His fader sends him to help me mit der +vork in dese claims, und den dis consarned gang of McKenzies go and +pack off der sticks----" and Weimer was launched on an account of their +troubles, feeling perfectly at home with the man who as a boy had hung +over his counter in the old days when he was merchant and not prospector. + +Ross, too, felt his heart warm toward the man who had known his father; +and for an instant the present faded, and he was back East again among +the old familiar surroundings. He was being looked over by the father +who "got his eyes about shut" when the son did not please him; he was +being affectionately scolded by Aunt Anne and advised by Dr. Grant--but +the thought of the doctor brought Ross up sharply against the purpose of +the stranger's visit. + +A sick partner, Miller had said: but he, Ross, also had a sick partner, +although the sickness was more of the mind than the body; and that +partner objected to his going. What should he do? His training with +his uncle would leave him no choice if he had only himself to consult +in the matter. He was better than no doctor at all, and he was called +on for help; therefore he must obey the call. But there was Weimer, who +had learned to depend on him, and who, he feared, might relapse during +his absence, however brief, into his former irresponsible state, for +Leslie was, of course, a stranger to the methods which Ross had been +obliged to employ to keep Weimer busy. Nor was Leslie, who had acted +under Wilson's direction, accustomed to going ahead with the work as +Ross had been obliged to do. But if the trip would occupy only a couple +of days--well, he could not refuse to go. + +Here he became conscious that Miller was addressing him, and that Uncle +Jake was leaning eagerly toward him. + +"If Doc here is willin'," Miller was saying, "we might go into cahoots +this way: If my pard needs 'im longer than a day 'r two, I'll come +along back and buckle down t' work here 'n' help you out while he's +there a-nussin'----" + +"Yah, yah!" consented Weimer eagerly. "Den he may mit you go. You could +do more vork dan Doc. You come pack und mit us vork." + +Ross, relieved, turned to the peg where hung his cap. "I'll go up to +the tunnel and get Leslie, Uncle Jake, and you take hold of the dinner." + +"Leslie," repeated Miller carelessly. "Who's he?" + +Ross, leaving Weimer to relate Leslie's history, hurried up to the +tunnel. He wanted to see Leslie alone and give him numerous suggestions +and directions beyond the reach of Weimer's ears. + +"Of course, Less," he ended as the two finally started toward the shack +together, "even if I do have to stay, and Miller comes back, he won't +know how to manage Uncle Jake in case he has a relapse into the state +that I found him in. And Miller looks like a strong willing fellow to +work, so guess we won't lose anything by my going. Anyway I've got to +go, for he says his partner is in a bad way." Miller's partner, it +seemed, had been caught under a log they were "snaking" down to the +cabin. His arm was crushed and in bad shape. + +"Some way, Ross," Leslie burst out uneasily, "I mightily hate to have you +go. I'll be deadly lonesome up here without you even for a couple of +days." + +"But if I'm not back then this Miller will be," returned Ross hopefully, +"and he shows up rather agreeably." + +After a hasty dinner, Ross selected from his chest all that he +considered would be required. Some of the articles Miller put into his +game pouch, Ross making up a bundle himself to bind on his own back +and so divide the load. At one o'clock they started, with Weimer and +Leslie standing in the doorway, the former urging them on with many +expressions of hope for a speedy return that they might get ahead of +"dose consarned gang." + +Ross walked after Miller easily. Those past few days on the mountainsides +had accustomed him to the use of snow-shoes. Almost in silence they +crossed the valley and began the ascent of what remained of Soapweed +Ledge. + +During the last hour the light had faded, and snow began to fill the +air. From the base of the ledge the cabin on the other valley was barely +visible, and Ross could scarcely make out the figures standing in front +of the door. + +Suddenly Miller turned with an exclamation. "There! I forgot something +that I wanted t' tell Uncle Jake. Wait here a minute, will ye? It'll +not take me long t' go back." + +He walked rapidly over the snow across the valley, and disappeared into +the cabin. Five minutes passed. He reappeared, and made his way more +slowly back again. + +"All right," he shouted from the foot of the ledge. "Turn to the right, +and go along above them rocks. That's the trail." + +At the top of the mountain Miller again took the lead. He had shifted +the pouch to the front, and eased its weight with one hand. Ross noticed +that it seemed much heavier than when he entered the cabin, but thought +nothing further of the matter. + +Half an hour later he was on totally unfamiliar ground among a labyrinth +of "sugar loaf" peaks which they skirted and climbed, Miller pushing on +steadily and without words. + +"Hold yer wind," he directed Ross; "ye'll have need of it before we +reach camp." + +The sky and earth were nearly blotted out now by the falling snow. Ross +could see scarcely a dozen paces ahead. He could not tell whether they +were headed east or west, north or south. They twisted and turned and +turned again. The boy became leg-weary; but Miller pressed on, seemingly +unexhausted, the heavy game pouch dragging at his shoulder. + +"We--we can't reach there to-night, can we?" Ross gasped at last. + +Miller turned his head but did not pause. "Yep," he answered, "about +dark." + +Again in silence they went on. + +Finally, at five o'clock, they began to climb the gentle slope of a +mountain which seemed to have no summit. Here for the first time his +guide stopped to allow Ross to rest. Then he advanced slowly, step by +step, prodding the snow deeply at the left of the blind trail he was +following. + +"What's the matter?" Ross called the first time he saw Miller taking +measure of the snow in this way. + +"Gorge somewhere here," Miller had replied. "Wind's filled it up even +from bank t' bank. If we sh' step off--why, there's a hundred feet or +so below made up of spruces and snow. I don't want t' go down int' no +such landscape." + +Ross involuntarily hugged the upper side of the mountain. He longed for +their journey's end. As they neared the top, the wind became active, +cutting their faces and forcing Ross to turn his back and gasp for breath. + +Then came the descent, the storm thickening about them. Occasionally +Miller threw a direction or a warning over his shoulder, which always +caused Ross's heart to leap fearfully. + +"Don't go outside my tracks here. There's a flat rock on the down side +that ends in a ledge. Not a pretty slide t' take," he shouted once. + +Again it was: "Be careful ahead here under that rock. Brace toward the +inside of the trail. We may get a few pounds of snow on our heads." + +For half an hour longer they tramped on steadily. Ross ached in every +muscle. His feet were beginning to cramp. They almost refused to raise +the snow-shoes and push them forward. Miller slackened his speed when +he saw that Ross was nearly played out. + +"A few minutes more, and we're there," he explained. "Keep up your +courage." + +And at that moment Ross thought he had need of courage. They had been +descending the mountain gradually above timber-line, zigzagging back and +forth across the face in such a way as would enable them to use their +snow-shoes to the best advantage. Now the storm lightened just enough to +enable Ross to see they were traveling along the edge of a cliff with +an overhanging fringe of trees, and the cliff appeared to the boy to be +the jumping off place into space. Right and left as far as the falling +snow permitted him to see the cliff extended. Above was the white bulk +of the mountain; below was nothing but storm. + +Along this cliff Miller had walked slowly, pausing occasionally to look +up into the trees. Finally he gave a grunt of satisfaction, and, throwing +his staff and the heavy pouch on the rock, took from the snow-laden +branches of a pine a coil of slender new rope. + +"Nerves good?" he asked jokingly. + +"For what?" was Ross's startled response. + +Miller explained. Ross saw that for the first time the colored goggles +were no longer astride the other's nose. His cap was drawn down over +his eyes, however, and his coat collar was turned up so that not much +of his face was visible save his nose. + +"If it was summer," began Miller, busying himself with the rope, "we +could get around this here little rock. But now there's nothin' t' +do but go over it, because the mountain on each side shelves down so +steep now we couldn't git down on snow-shoes or off 'em to save our +necks. We'd bring down a load of snow on our heads if we should try." + +As he talked, he knotted the rope securely around a tree standing near +the edge of the rock. "Right here the cliff slopes so I can just slide +you down," Miller's gruff voice ran on in jerks, "and then I can slide +after ye. But I take it you ain't used to mountains and this sort of +game, and so I guess ye'd better hitch the end round yer waist." + +He tossed the end of the rope to Ross. "Take off yer shoes, and pack 'em +in your hand," he directed when with numb, trembling fingers the boy had +knotted the rope. "Forty feet down," Miller continued, "you'll come to +a ledge. Stop there, and free the line." + +A moment more, snow-shoes in hand, Ross was on his back sliding down an +almost perpendicular wall, his hair doing its best to raise his cap from +his head. Slowly he was let down, down, so far as he could see, into +space. Then suddenly, just as he had closed his eyes in dizzy terror, +his feet struck snow into which he sank to his knees, and the rope above +slackened. + +The ledge had stopped him, but it seemed to Ross but an insecure footing +hung between heaven and earth. It was a mere path across the face of the +cliff not more than three feet wide at the widest part. + +Ross untied the end; and then, as he felt it jerked from behind him, he +covered his eyes with his hand and stood shivering, crowding back against +the cliff. + +It was the work of a moment only for Miller to slide down the rope and +stand beside him. + +"Hug the cliff," directed Ross's conductor shortly, "and follow me. No, +don't put on your shoes. I'll break the trail fer ye." + +Slowly they crawled across the face of the cliff, the ledge leading +downward. At the base they were in a winding caņon scarcely twenty yards +wide. Here they buckled on their snow-shoes again. + +"If," said Miller, bending over the straps, "we see it's best fer you +t' stay a few days with my pard and let me go back and help Uncle Jake, +I wouldn't do much investigatin' of the premises around here if I was +you." + +Ross shuddered, and looked up at the face of the cliff, obscured now not +only by the storm, but by the coming darkness. + +"No investigating for me!" he exclaimed forcefully. + +Then they began the tramp up the caņon, the shadow from the wooded +mountains deepening every moment. Finally, Miller made a sharp turn +around a group of seven spruces standing at the foot of a peak, and +cautiously approached a log shack that stood half buried in the snow, and +had as its corner posts four tall trees. The snow was shoveled away from +the door and window, and a light smoke arose from the joint of stovepipe +projecting from the roof. + +At the door Miller stopped and listened. "Guess he's asleep," he +whispered. "Take off yer shoes out here." + +Ross stooped, and unbuckled his snow-shoes. + +"Guess the fire must be low," whispered Miller. "Wisht you'd go round +the corner there, and load up with wood while I go in and see what he's +up to. But don't come in till I tell ye to. I'll sort of prepare him +to see ye." + +Ross did as he was bidden. He found the path to the pile of pine chunks +partly broken; but, with his numb fingers incased in huge mittens, +it was not easy work to dig out the wood frozen under its covering of +snow. But finally, his arms full, he staggered around the corner of +the shack, and stood again in front of the door. So busy had he been at +the wood-pile that he had not thought of listening for sounds within +the shack. + +Now, as he stood in the dusk before the door, he was surprised at the +stillness within, and also by the fact that the window beyond the door +showed no light. With a growing but vague uneasiness he waited, chilled +to the bone by the wind, which had begun to suck through the caņon and +whistle along the sides of the mountains. + +The few moments during which he waited seemed to him like years. Then he +raised the wooden latch softly, and opened the door. Darkness and silence +greeted him. + +"Mr. Miller," he whispered. + +No reply. + +"Miller!" His voice rose sharply. + +The wind soughed through the branches over his head; and a sharp flurry +of snow, forerunner of the blizzard, assailed him, while from the open +door came a whiff of warmth. + +Ross dropped the wood outside, and, stepping within the shack, closed +the door, and groped his way toward the stove, from the front of which +came a faint glow. + +Pulling off his mittens, he held his hands over the heat, at the same +time holding his breath that he might hear the breathing of the sick man. +But all he heard was the beating of the blood in his own ears. + +Working some life into his fingers, he tore open the front of his +fur-lined coat, and, pulling a match out of his pocket, lighted it, +and held it above his head. In the further corner of the cabin was a +bunk, from beneath the blankets of which the straw protruded. Trembling +so that he could scarcely walk, Ross started across the floor. Half-way +to the bunk his match burned out. He retreated to the stove, and lit +another. This time he succeeded in reaching the bunk. Several blankets +were spread over a foundation of straw. Otherwise the bunk was empty. + +A panic seized Ross. "Miller!" he shouted, "Miller!" + +The wind howled through the caņon. The trees above the shack swayed and +grated their interlocked branches together. + +Striking a third match, Ross observed a candle stuck into a hole in a +piece of wood which lay on the table. He lighted it, and sank into a +chair beside the table. + +What had happened? Where was Miller? Where was the sick partner? + +Ross took off his cap, and laid it on the table. In bewilderment he ran +his fingers through his hair. + +Suddenly his eyes fell on something in the shadow beside the door. He +went to it. It was the heavily loaded game pouch. Evidently Miller had +opened the door, dropped that inside, and vanished into the night. + +Ross was reaching for the pouch when another thought struck him so +forcibly that he jerked himself to a standing posture with a loud +exclamation. Hastily opening the door, he stopped and, throwing the +wood about, peered through the darkness, searching the open space +where he had parted from Miller. + +His snow-shoes were gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A NEW CAMP + + +THE disappearance of the snow-shoes, instead of proving to Ross that he +had been hoaxed, at first, only deepened his bewilderment. Finally, +the idea found lodgment in his brain that Miller's partner had wandered +off in the storm delirious, and Miller, having found him gone, had +followed, forgetting Ross. The boy was too confused to weigh the +probabilities of such forgetfulness, especially in view of the missing +snow-shoes. Therefore, the moment the idea occurred to him he acted +on it, hurrying out into the storm with the intention of going to +Miller's assistance. + +But, without snow-shoes, he found himself helpless. He had not gone a +dozen yards from the door before he sank half-way to his waist in the +snow. Scrambling hastily back again, he ran around the cabin where the +snow was not so deep, and struggled up the mountainside. + +"Miller!" he shouted desperately. "Miller, where are you?" + +Here and there among the trees he plunged frantically until the fear that +he could not find his way to the shack drove him back. + +He filled the stove with wood, snuffed the candle mechanically, and +looked about him. Then for the first time he realized that there was +but one bunk. + +"If two men lived here, there would be two bunks," he said slowly; +and then came the conviction that Miller had decoyed him here and +deserted him, taking the snow-shoes along. But Ross's brain was too +numb to pursue the thought. Exhausted by his long tramp and by his +fruitless battle with the snow, he filled the stove with chunks, closed +the draughts, and, without stopping to blow out the candle, rolled +into the bunk, and was asleep before he had pulled all the blankets +over him. + +When he awoke, the shack was filled with a light, which, although +exceedingly dim, was unmistakably daylight. Outside, the snow was piled +to the top of the window. The candle was burned out and the fire low. +Ross crawled out stiffly, every muscle aching and sore. Filling the +stove, he looked at his watch. Twelve o'clock! He had slept away the +morning. + +Outside the blizzard raged in unabated fury, but so sheltered was the +shack by scrub hemlocks and banks of snow roof-high, that but little wind +found its way through the mud-chinked log walls. + +Standing over the fire, Ross looked at the dark outlines of the one bunk, +and considered his situation. His heart sank when he thought of the miles +which Miller and he had put between themselves and Meadow Creek Valley. + +And who was Miller? + +Ross's suspicions, of course, had fastened to the McKenzies. But why +had they considered it necessary to have him marooned so far from Meadow +Creek? How did they know that the dynamite had been found? When they left +Meadow Creek---- + +"Oh!" cried Ross aloud at this point. He brought the stove poker down +vigorously on top of the stove. "That blast under Soapweed Ledge! I +wanted 'em to hear it--guess they didn't fail!" Ruefully he turned +from the stove. He was certainly paying for his little triumph. + +But who was Miller? + +The lack of wood in the cabin soon turned his attention from the +answer to the necessity for immediate action. He found a large wooden +snow-shovel behind the stove; and, opening the door cautiously in +order to prevent a mass of snow from following it, he cleared away a +space in front of the door and the two windows, and shoveled his way to +the wood-pile. + +It was not until he was struggling around the corner of the shack with +an armful of wood that he realized that his weakness and tremors were +due not only to anxiety, but to hunger; and with that realization came +a fear which nearly induced another panic. Was there food in the cabin? +So great had been his absorption that he had not noticed the contents of +the shack beyond those things which he had required for immediate use. + +Throwing the armful of wood down beside the stove, he proceeded to +make a hurried search, the results of which quieted his fears. The +cabin was as well stocked with provisions as Weimer's. A portion of +these supplies, the canned milk, vegetables, and fruits, he found in +boxes beneath the bunk. Sacks of flour and meal were suspended from +the roof logs to protect them from the "pack" rats. Having investigated +these provisions, Ross opened a second door at the back of the shack, +supposing it led out-of-doors. But he was agreeably surprised to find +it led to a little lean-to of logs, where were suspended a large ham, +strips of bacon, jerked meat, and quantities of fresh venison all frozen. +The door protected these from the heat inside the shack, while the +logs, unchinked, gave protection from timber wolves and coyotes, but +not from the snow, which had sifted in over everything. + +Ross at once set about getting breakfast. He found every necessary +cooking utensil at hand. The cabin was--as such cabins go--completely +furnished and, it appeared, must have been inhabited not long ago by a +stout man; for in a box at the head of the bunk he found some clothing +much too large for him or for the man who had brought him there. + +"But," he thought, as he sat down to venison steak and flapjacks, +"whoever owns the cabin, Miller must have gone from here to Meadow Creek, +because there was a fire here last night when I came in; and it was +a fire fixed to keep some hours, too." + +As he finished eating, his eyes fell on the game pouch still bulging +beside the door. He had not looked inside. With a piece of steak balanced +on his fork he crossed the floor. Then: + +"Books!" he cried aloud. "_My_ books!" + +The fork fell from his hand. He dropped to his knees and emptied the +pouch. Besides the appliances which he had given to Miller to carry +there were all his books, the medical text-books which he had left in +the emergency chest in Weimer's shack. He could scarcely believe his +eyes. He sat back on his heels, and stared. + +"Weston!" he finally shouted. "Miller is Weston!" + +Suddenly rising, his eyes narrowed and his lips compressed, he kicked +the game pouch across the floor in a gust of anger caused by an +illumination of certain circumstances which explained the events of the +previous day. + +"I'm slow," he muttered between clinched teeth. "Any one can get the +better of me." + +He recalled Weston's imitation of different people the night he and +Waymart had come to Weimer's together and Sandy's displeasure at +the exhibition. Sitting down in an armchair beside the table--the only +chair in the shack--he followed his chain of evidence link by link. The +conversation which he had overheard between Waymart and Sandy the night +of the latter's return from Cody was fully explained--the some one whose +assistance they might need in Meadow Creek Valley, but who would not +come unless some one else had left. + +"Weston would not come with Leslie there for fear he'd be recognized," +thought Ross. "Therefore, Sandy took steps to remove Leslie and--yes--in +spite of the mess I made of it, I blocked the game!" + +Then, despite his anxiety, Ross grinned. Of course the McKenzies had +not expected Leslie to return any more than they had expected the +dynamite to be found. But after hearing his signal of discovery they +had sent Weston, the skilful impersonator, to maroon him here--where? +Ross dropped forward his head on the table and groaned. + +"They brought me here to get rid of me entirely," he finished; "and I +came voluntarily!" + +Presently he picked up the pouch, intending to hang it on a nail in the +logs beside the door. It was not quite empty; and, lifting the flap he +looked in. At the bottom lay a few wads of newspaper. Ross concluded +that the pouch had been stuffed with these when Weston came to Weimer's. +Then, when he went back after the books, he had thrown out the paper, +the presence of which had prevented his companion from noticing much +difference in the pouch after the books were put into it. Ross picked +up one of the pieces, and glanced at it listlessly. It was a page of the +Cody "Gazette." He dropped it back into the pouch. + +"I wonder what he told Uncle Jake and Leslie when he got the books," +thought Ross, hanging up the bag. + +Leslie was the only comfort the situation held for him, and this merely +came from the knowledge that Weimer was not alone. For, of course, Weston +having seen the boy in Meadow Creek would return and block the work +somehow, probably steal the dynamite again, and convey it farther than +the tool house. + +Here Ross started up in a sort of frenzy, and, putting on his top-coat +and cap, rushed out-of-doors. He would find a way out. There must be a +way, for Miller had gone back--Ross felt sure he had returned--and if +Miller had he could! He would save the claims yet. The first plunge into +the snow, waist-deep now, with the whip-lash of the blizzard in his face, +brought him to his senses. + +"This is folly," he thought as he dropped once more into the chair beside +the table, "when I have no idea where I am." + +But, even if he did know, his snow-shoes were gone; and without them he +could not safely venture--nor with them, either, he decided, recalling +with a sick shudder the snow-filled ravines against which Miller had +warned him--_Miller_, indeed! + +His bitterness came back with a rush. After all he had done for Weston +this was the final reward. Weston had shaved his beard, recolored his +hair and the fringe of whiskers left beneath his chin, covered his deep +brown eyes with goggles, and brought his benefactor of Dry Creek here to +spend months in this deadly loneliness! That was the thanks he gave "Doc +Tenderfoot" for saving his life. + +That night the storm ceased and a warm wind arose. The next morning +Ross again shoveled out the doorway, window, and wood-pile. The sky was +clear, but the sun did not swing over the towering peak which rose +almost perpendicular, opposite the cabin, until ten o'clock. But, when +it did show its face, it looked down on a bewildering mass of snow. +Ross gazed longingly down the caņon, which wound like a serpent between +the overhanging mountains. Down there not half a mile away a ledge +ran diagonally across the face of a cliff; and Ross felt impelled to +go to the foot of that cliff, and find out whether or not the rope +still dangled from its summit. But well he knew that even so short a +journey would be impossible without the aid of snow-shoes. However, +if the warm wind continued and the sky remained unclouded, perhaps in a +day or two there would be a crust on the snow of sufficient strength to +bear his weight. Then he would investigate. + +Meanwhile he tried to force himself calmly to the business of living +and planning. He was there. So far as he could see there was no escape. +He would make the best and the most of the months of his banishment. +When he arrived at this conclusion, he found himself relenting a trifle +toward Weston on account of the books. It had been no light load to pack +across the mountains on a tramp which had lasted many hours. + +"Perhaps Weston has a piece of heart, after all," Ross mused the +following morning, "but so thoroughly is he under Sandy's control +that he dare not show it." + +Before him on the table lay Piersol's "Histology," although he was +totally unable to focus his scattered thoughts on the contents. He was +anxiously watching the weather. The warm wind had continued, but the +sky was lowering. Another storm was brewing. Finally Ross left Piersol +and going to the door, looked out anxiously over the caņon. + +"The snow is settling finely," he decided, "and if the cold comes before +the storm the crust will hold me up." + +He went back to the armchair and began drumming nervously on the arms. He +wondered how it had chanced to be packed so far over the narrow trails. +A chair, a "store chair," that is, was an uncommon sight among the +mountains. From which point had it been brought, Cody or Red Lodge? The +latter, he knew, was more than one hundred miles from the Shoshones, +while Cody was but eighty. + +However, nearness depended not so much on miles as on accessibility, and +for the thousandth time Ross wondered where he was. + +He could not reason from the memory of the tortuous windings of that +stormy afternoon's journey, with no view of the sun's face to guide +him; but his strong impression was that he was many miles northwest of +Meadow Creek, with at least three chains of peaks between him and Weimer. + +Then he fell to wondering again about the shack. Did it belong to one +of the McKenzie relatives? Who had given it over to his use for the +winter? He suspected that, while the furnishings and the clothing had +been left there by the owner, the McKenzies had planned for his winter's +residence, and had partially, at least, stocked his larder, as the owner +would not be likely to desert such a supply of meat, especially the +fresh venison. Perhaps the venison was due to Weston's forethought. +Ross liked to think that Weston had done all that he dared do for the +comfort of "Doc Tenderfoot." + +"He's a bigger man," mused "Doc"; "and yet he seems more than half +afraid of Sandy. Wonder what the trouble is." + +That night the wind changed, the temperature dropped, and the next +morning snow began to fall, lightly, however. Again and again Ross +went out for trial trips on the fast freezing crust, but not until +afternoon did he venture on the journey to the cliff. + +The shack stood among the trees on the mountainside about ten feet above +the level of the caņon. Taking with him a long pole with a sharpened +end, which he found in the shack, Ross slid from tree to tree until he +gained the level of the caņon. Then, hugging the foot of the mountain +closely, that he might judge of the lay of the land by the trees, and so +avoid the dreaded creeks and gorges, he turned down the caņon toward +the cliff. + +It was difficult walking, the crust being smooth and slippery. Several +times one foot broke through, and each time Ross's heart seemed to +rise in his throat when he considered that he was walking on a body of +snow deeper than he was high. The caņon had no distinguishing features. +It might have been any one of a dozen located among the Shoshones, and +all of them unfamiliar to the young man lost in their midst. On either +side, the mountains, dreary and lonely and lifeless, arose precipitately. +It was windless in the caņon, but on top of the mountains a white, cold +cloud of snow played perpetually. + +But Ross's eyes were eagerly searching the mountain at the left for +the cliff; and presently he recognized it despite the curtain of snow +drifting across its face. There it was, stretching up until his neck +ached in the effort to scan the top, where in an unbroken line along +the edge hung a great body of snow, the undisturbed accumulations of the +last blizzard. The steep side of the cliff, however, was bare, and Ross +failed to discover a rope dangling over its surface. + +[Illustration: THE SNOW HID IT FROM VIEW] + +He thought he had not expected to see it there, and so could not account +for the sinking of his heart when he found it gone. For a few moments he +stood looking down the caņon hemmed in by its great mountain barriers. +He fully realized the fact that he was a prisoner within those barriers, +perfectly helpless until released by the brief summer. + +With bent head he turned his back to the cliff and cautiously retraced +his steps while a wildly whirling "squall" suddenly caught him in its +clutches. He had gone but a short distance before a sound in the rear +caused him to wheel about and listen sharply. Only a smother of snow, +swirling up the caņon, met his eyes and a blast of the rising wind his +ears. Hesitating, he struggled back a few steps and turned his face +up toward the cliff. The snow hid it from view. He stood listening +again, and, presently, the sound, above him and a little in advance, +again mingled with the roar of the wind. Ross broke into a run, panting +through the storm, breaking through the crust, struggling to his feet +and tumbling on again. It was certainly the call of a human voice, +although no words were distinguishable because of the noise of the wind. + +Ross, obsessed by one idea, raised his voice: "Miller--Weston!" he yelled +frantically. "I'm here--below here! Where are you?" + +But the wind swooped down on him, seized his words and bore them down +the caņon. Then it suddenly died away, and again the snow fell quietly, +mistily, and Ross, looking up, saw, as in a nightmare, a rope dangling +across the face of the cliff. In bewildered joyousness he pressed his +hand against his eyes and looked again. + +"It's there!" he cried, "but it certainly wasn't ten minutes ago. +That's the queerest--I know I saw straight before----" + +He opened his lips to call again, but the call was checked by the +discovery of a man half-way down the cliff, creeping along on what +looked to be a thread of snow fastened diagonally across the dark +surface of the rock, but which Ross at once recognized as the narrow +ledge he himself had trod only three days before. Slowly the figure +was progressing, its feet kicking away the snow lodged on the ledge, its +hands clinging to the bare face of the cliff. Then, faintly into the lull +of the storm a nervous voice floated down to Ross from the thread-like +path. + +"I'm almost down, I guess, Miller. Hope I can get to the cabin before +another squall strikes us." + +Then, from the top of the cliff, the barely distinguishable words +behind the veil of falling snow, "All right. Remember you'll find Doc +not half a mile straight ahead. The cabin's on the right, as I've +told ye. It's above a bunch of seven spruces. Ye won't need yer +snow-shoes--crust'll hold down there." + +Ross waited to hear no more. "Leslie!" he yelled joyously. "Ho, Leslie! +I'm down here. Come on! Hurray for that rope again!" + +But even as the hurray ascended the side of the cliff, so did the rope. +Snakily, jerkily, the knotted end traveled upward until it disappeared +in the cloud of snow that hid the mountain tops. + +From this cloud came a faint and far-away voice: "Good luck t' ye! Tell +Doc ye're in the same boat as he is. He'll savvy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE INGRATITUDE OF WESTON + + +THE presence of Leslie without snow-shoes, the disappearance of the rope, +and Weston's voice caused Ross to "savvy" immediately in impotent anger +and bitter disappointment. But not until the two boys had reached the +cabin and Leslie was warming himself beside the hot stove, did he fully +comprehend the trick that had been played on him. + +"Weston!" he exclaimed stupidly in answer to Ross's explanation. "Why, +this isn't the man you told about at Sagehen Roost--it's the Miller +that you went away with. I saw that Weston fellow, you know. They're +not the same!" + +"It's evident that when you've seen Weston you've seen any number of +men that he cares to imitate. This Miller is Weston, the McKenzies' +cousin and the man you----" Here Ross checked himself, as Leslie had +not yet connected the dark-haired Weston with the light-haired Oklahoma +man of the same name. + +Finally, after supper, Leslie recovered from his bewilderment +sufficiently to tell connectedly the story of the days that had +intervened between Ross's departure from Meadow Creek and his own. + +"Begin at the beginning," urged Ross finally, putting a pine chunk in +the stove and snuffing the candle. + +He had seated the newcomer in the armchair beside the fire, while he sat +on an overturned box in front of the stove door and within reach of a +heap of wood. On the table at his elbow lay the gun which Steele had +insisted on adding to his equipment the day he arrived in Meadow Creek +and which he had not since touched. Leslie had brought it strapped +across his shoulders and with it all the ammunition which Steele had +provided. This was another proof of Weston's strangely curious good +will that continued to puzzle Ross. How the unsuspecting Leslie was +prevailed on to bring the limited arsenal was a part of the story +which Ross was demanding. While the storm raged outside and the dim +candle-light flickered and cast long uncanny shadows within, and the +pine chunk flamed and cracked cheerily filling the room with a warmth +grateful to the chilled narrator, Leslie complied with the request to +"begin at the beginning." + +"I'd no sooner seen your back, Ross, as you followed Miller out of the +door, than I had an awfully uncomfortable feeling of responsibility. +By the time the storm had swallowed you two up, the whole outfit there at +Weimer's was sitting hard on my shoulders. We watched you out of sight, +Uncle Jake and I, and then we went back into the cabin and, Ross, if +that cabin seems to Uncle Jake now as--well--as--when you left----" + +Leslie paused and stared at the candle. Ross drew his seat nearer the +stove and cleared his throat. + +"Uncle Jake has stayed there a lot in the winter all alone, you must +remember. He was telling me about it not long ago, how the----" + +Above the cabin, through the roaring and soughing of the wind among +the spruce, came the long drawn yelling, harassed, pitiful cry of a +coyote. From the caņon the cry was answered. Again and again the two +human-like voices wailed despairingly at each other while the boys +involuntarily drew nearer together and Ross laid a caressing hand on +the gun and finished his speech: + +"That's exactly what Uncle Jake told me--how the coyotes and wolves +prowled around, and he didn't mind them nor the loneliness at all." + +Leslie nodded. "I noticed that he didn't seem to mind your being away in +the same way I did. He just took to his pipe and his bunk and seemed +settled for a rest until you got back again. That didn't add any to +my restfulness, I can tell you, for what could I do up in the tunnel +without him? I rustled around a bit trying to decide what to do when +the door opened and there was Miller again, or Weston rather. I was as +surprised as they make 'em until he said: + +"'Say, young feller, Doc he sent me back t' round up a book on medicine +that he may need. It'll be layin' round loose som'ers, maybe in that +hair covered chist of hisn.'" + +Leslie went on to say that when he had opened Ross's emergency chest +Weston professed to have forgotten the name of the book he had been +directed to fetch, and, consequently, had taken all the books, stuffing +them carelessly into his game pouch. Then the storm had again swallowed +him up. + +"After he went away," said Leslie, "I got to thinking pretty strongly +about the dynamite. If it was so easy for one man to get into the valley +from the land only knew where, why couldn't the McKenzies make their +way back and spirit the dynamite off for good and all? We'd gone and +touched off that charge under Soapweed Ledge to make 'em understand that +we had it again, you know." + +"Yes, I know!" affirmed Ross grimly. "Geese that we were!" + +"Well, those sticks got on my nerves, and I made up my mind to fasten +them up if such a thing were possible. So I put on my snow-shoes and +began to rattle around in the storm to see what I could do. I thought +no one could come up into the tool house from under because of the mass +of snow all around, and because the dynamite box was so heavy with all +of your and our and the McKenzies' sticks in it that it held the floor +boards down with a vengeance. But I wasn't taking any chances after +seeing what our 'friends the enemy' were capable of doing, so I got +all the spike nails that Weimer had and nailed down the floor. Then I +plowed through the storm up to Wilson's shack, shoveled my way in, +collected all the tools that could be used to pry or hammer with and +brought 'em back to our tool house. And with them, Ross, I brought a +great padlock and chain that I recollected seeing up there rusty and +unused. I oiled it and put a bar across the tool-house door and padlocked +it. And if I do say it, it would cost a man some time and strength +and racket to get into that shack. It would also take some tools, and +there's none in the valley except what are behind that locked door, +for before night came I had raided the McKenzie cabin and brought over +all their tools. Then," continued Leslie, "I went to sleep feeling +some better." + +"I'll bet you," cried Ross eagerly, "that it's because you fastened up +the dynamite that you're here! I do believe that when Weston went back +it would have been easier to cache that if he could have got it than to +have brought you here." + +"I don't know, Ross." Leslie gave a short laugh. "It was easy enough +to get me here, as easy as to get you. I--but you want the story as it +comes." + +"Every word of it. Go on. The next day----" + +The next day, Leslie continued, so furious a blizzard was raging that he +didn't work in the tunnel but spent the time keeping open the trails +to the dump, the wood-pile and the spring. But the second day, the sky +having cleared, he tried his best to get Weimer to work. + +"Ich vill vork mit Doc," was Uncle Jake's declaration of independence, +"mit you, nein!" + +"You can imagine, Ross, how much work I did alone, not used to going +ahead with the blasting. When I came down at noon the old fellow had +dished up a capital dinner. He washed the dishes, but not one step would +he budge to the tunnel. Said that you were likely to drop in any time +that day and he'd stay in and watch for you. Said it would be work +enough for him to do to fill you up after your long tramp through the +snow! He simply boiled over with ready excuses. When I went up to the +tunnel I left him with his goggles on, swinging open the door about once +in two minutes for a look over on Soapweed Ledge. You know it was clear +that day and----" + +Here Leslie suddenly paused and sat up with a jerk. He gripped the arms +of the chair and gave a startled exclamation. + +"See here, Ross, that clearness business has reminded me of something +that I noticed in the morning, and, because I thought it couldn't be +true, I paid but little attention. But now I know--well, this is what +it was: when I reached the dump I glanced across the valley at the +McKenzie shack. It seemed completely buried in snow except the roof and +the chimney stovepipe, and at first I imagined that I saw heat coming +out of that stovepipe! You know how, after a hot fire, the heat will +crinkle the air above a chimney and no smoke in sight?" + +"That's so!" exclaimed Ross. "And you think----" + +"At the time I thought it was a mere notion of mine, but now I believe I +saw correctly, and that Weston was there waiting to dispose of my case." + +"That's the idea," agreed Ross excitedly. "There all the time after he +left me, probably. He had likely got him a hot breakfast before you were +up and then let the fire die." + +Leslie nodded. "Same as I did when I was hiding down in Miners' Camp. +But, anyway, I didn't investigate and forgot all about that chimney +until this minute." + +Here Leslie broke off to ask abruptly, "Another thing, Ross, right here +before I forget. The day you left, you remember Uncle Jake was sick and +you went down to get dinner and left me in the tunnel?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, only a few minutes after you left I looked out and you, as I +supposed then, stood in the mouth of the tunnel----" + +"Nope, 'twas Weston," interrupted Ross. "He said he went up there first. +He came to the shack from that direction." + +"Then he got a squint at the work and the dynamite and your assistant +right then! I thought it was queer I didn't get an answer when I yelled +to know if you had dinner ready. But just as I spoke, the figure took a +sneak, and I supposed you had just stopped a bit to look things over." + +"Weston was attending to that, evidently," retorted Ross promptly. "But +now let's see--you've brought the happenings up to to-day, haven't +you?" + +"Not quite," Leslie answered. "I'll be there in a minute, though. +Yesterday I got as uneasy as Weimer over your not getting back, and +Miller, or Weston, I mean, not coming as he promised. I confess I was in +a blue funk by afternoon, and I saw things were shaping for another +storm. I went slipping and sliding out beside the dump a dozen times +where I could look over to Soapweed Ledge while Uncle Jake tramped +around outside the shack continually watching for you." + +"Poor Uncle Jake!" muttered Ross stirring uneasily. + +"Well, that brings me to to-day," Leslie began after a pause. "I was +down beside the dump looking for you about eleven o'clock this morning +when I saw him coming over the Ledge--Weston, I mean. Same goggles, +same cap drawn down over his ears, same outfit except the game pouch. +I noticed as soon as he came near that the pouch was gone. Tell you +what, Ross, I made tracks down the trail, got my snow-shoes on and +went to meet him. I would have hurried to meet a Hottentot! Uncle Jake +stayed behind jabbering in German, and fairly dancing up and down in +his excitement because you had not come with Weston." + +Ross, his elbows on his knees and his chin in his palms, staring at +Leslie, saw in a flash the latter as he had appeared at Sagehen Roost, +overbearing and dictatorial. Then he saw him running across the lonely +valley of Meadow Creek eager to meet any one on a fraternal footing. + +"Weston must have left his shack and made a long trip behind it up the +mountain and around over the summit to have come in on the Ledge; don't +you think so?" asked Ross. "He probably didn't want to run any risk of +being seen." + +Leslie assented and went on with his story. He had gone to meet Weston +with a demand as to Ross's whereabouts and return. + +"Don't ye worry none about Doc," Weston declared heartily. "He's +fixin' things fine over our way. Doc's all right!" + +"So he is," Leslie agreed, "and for that reason we want him right here, +Uncle Jake and I!" + +"Wall," Weston drawled good-naturedly, "he says the same about you even +t' wantin' ye where he is now for a day." + +"What do you mean?" Leslie asked. + +The two had been walking back toward the shack and the frantic Weimer, +and Weston did not explain until he had assured Uncle Jake of Ross's +safety and health, and was seated beside the stove. + +"Not once while he was there," Leslie told Ross, "not even when he +was eating dinner, did he take off his cap--merely pushed it back a +little. Uncle Jake urged him to shed it, but he just grinned and said he +had a bald spot on the top of his head, and had got into the habit of +wearing his cap all the time to keep that spot warm. Said he guessed +he wouldn't 'bust into that habit now.' I thought he was an odd Dick +to get into such a habit, and with a fur cap, too, but it was all so +plausible, Ross, everything he said was said with such an air of truth, +that I didn't once suspect." + +"No more did I," confessed Ross. + +"And then, of course, I was awfully interested in what he had to tell, +and ask me to do. He told a clever lie, Ross. He said that you had +brought down an elk with his gun and wanted me to come back with him and +the sled you had made to help the McKenzies haul supplies, and help +pack the venison over the mountains for our winter meat. It was all +the more clever because I knew that meat was all we needed to make our +winter's supplies good. The story hit Uncle Jake in the right spot, +too. He hurried up dinner for us to be gone before the big snow came. +Weston thought we could reach his cabin that night and make it back again +to-morrow morning with the elk meat. He said it would be a pretty good +pull for the three of us, but as there was a good crust we could make +it with that sled. Why, Doc, there wasn't a suspicion of deceit in his +manner. He said you had fixed his pard up all right and would leave +some stuff for him, and so didn't need to stay any longer. So I went up +to the tool house and got the sled out and we started----" + +"The gun," interrupted Ross. "Did you think of the gun?" + +"Not much I didn't! That was Weston. Just as we were starting off he +turned back and said: + +"'See here, young feller. Doc said as how ye was t' bring his gun along +and mebby he could bring down a mountain sheep as we come back. They is +a lot of them animals over with us.'" + +So the two had turned back and Leslie strapped Ross's gun across his +shoulders. He carried the ammunition. Weston insisted on taking all of it +along as he and his partner had run short, and Ross had promised them a +share of his! Then they had started out, and, screened by the veil of +gently falling snow, entered on the same tortuous, winding, upward trail +that Ross and Weston had taken a few days previously. + +"And all the way," Leslie continued, "whenever the trail let us walk +together, he was telling me a long yarn about the day you and he had +spent chasing that elk whose meat we were going after. I listened, Ross, +with my mouth opened half the time, and wished a dozen times, if I did +once, that I had been with you. + +"Well, as the afternoon passed, the storm became heavier, and part of +the way we couldn't see a dozen feet before us, and finally I think +Weston himself was uncertain of our way although he said he wasn't. +It must have been about four o'clock when we came to the head of the +ledge. Weston searched and groped along until he came to a tree where a +rope was already tied. + +"'It's the one I used fer Doc and me,'" he explained and slung it over +the cliff. + +"He had been hauling the sled along, while all I had to carry was the +gun and ammunition. Now he said that I had better leave my snow-shoes +on top of the cliff and tie the end of the rope around my waist and +he would let me down to the ledge. That I was to kick clear of snow +and then go up the caņon and get you to come down and help heave the +sled over and get it down to the caņon. He said you would know better +than I how to do that. He kept giving me directions about where to +find the cabin, for the snow had thickened until we couldn't see the +ledge, to say nothing of the caņon. You see, Ross, I'll confess I +was too nervous about going over into space attached to that rope to +think that his proceeding was queer. I just didn't question a thing, +but shut my eyes and went over. It didn't occur to me to wonder why +my snow-shoes, instead of that gun, weren't tied on my shoulders. +Well, I struck the ledge and untied the rope and felt my way along that +ticklish shelf until the squall lifted and then--you know the rest. +If I live to be a hundred I'll never forget how I felt when that rope +was drawn up and he yelled down that I was to tell you I was in the +same boat that you were!" + +It was late and Leslie was too tired to talk longer. Ross gave him the +bunk and, waiting only long enough to fill the stove with wood, close +the draughts and blow out the candles, wrapped up in a blanket and lay +down beside the stove, his coat for a pillow. He did not fall asleep at +once, but lay staring up at the flicker of firelight dancing about on +the mud-chinked logs overhead. + +After all his planning and working, he thought, his mission in the +mountains was doomed to failure. The claims would pass into the +McKenzies' hands, and, besides, he would have missed one year of the +preparation for the work he had chosen. He rolled over and half groaned. + +"Awake, Ross?" came from the bunk. "I'm so tired I haven't dropped off +yet and, besides--say, Ross, here I am and there's dad waiting for me +to turn up with that missing five hundred--and then your claims--we're +not exactly in luck, are we? I feel as though I'd like to get my hands +on that Weston-Miller fellow's throat." + +"There's one thing I can do, though--study," muttered Ross. "That I've +got to hold myself to." + +Conversation languished then, and both boys fell asleep, Ross's last +thought being of Weimer watching for their return in the lonely valley +of Meadow Creek. + +By daylight the following morning the two were up, full of plans for +living and doing during the long months of their imprisonment. + +"There are some nails, but no hammer," said Ross. "But we can drive 'em +with a stick of wood and fix up another bunk out of these two boxes. +They're the longest, and I think they'll fill the bill for my five +feet ten. Then we'll divide the straw and the blankets, and by keeping +up the fire all night, I guess we won't freeze to death." + +On the floor in the corner back of the stove they built the bunk. There +were not nails enough nor were the boxes strong enough to allow of +making a substantial bunk such as the owner of the shack had built +against the side logs. + +Until the bunk was completed, Leslie, while working docilely enough under +the older boy's direction, regarded the more comfortable bunk as his +permanent possession. He had never been taught to be unselfish. He had +from his motherless childhood demanded what he wished and received it +until the question arose of his continued attendance in school. There +he had taken the course he wished and was now paying for it dearly. +It was not until he was dividing the straw in his bunk and had come +across Ross's watch and pocketbook that the idea smote him hard that +the other had vacated the easier bunk in a wordless generosity that +he, Leslie, had never practiced, and that he had not even thanked the +bunk's former occupant. + +"See here, Ross," he began brusquely, "you needn't think that you're +going to rest your old bones in the new bunk all the time, for you +ain't! I shall try it myself half the time." + +"Week and week about, then," Ross agreed. "And this brings us up +against a calendar. I brought my watch, thank fortune! But what about a +calendar? I want to be sure that I know when the 4th of July gets +here, for Steele says you'd never know it except by the calendar, +there's so much snow." + +"Snow!" groaned Leslie. "Snow! There's never a time when there isn't +snow in these mountains, it seems. Well, I know what day to-morrow is, +and--have you a pencil?" + +Ross slapped the breast pocket of his slicker. "Yep, a long one. And +there's one in the pockets of the trousers you'll find in that box," +nodding toward the repository of the shack owner's clothing. "Guess +we will keep a record of the days up on the side logs. I know how many in +each month when I say that old jingle, 'Thirty days hath September,' +etc." + +But the need of a calendar was not so pressing as the need of wood. +The few days that Ross had spent in the shack had caused an alarming +shrinkage in the pile of chunks already cut; and Ross, commencing to +shovel his way to the nearest pine tree, now ran across a number of logs +which had been "snaked" down the mountainside before the snow came, and +lay ready for the axe and saw. + +"I guess if Aunt Anne were here, she'd not complain that I took no +exercise," he muttered grimly, shouldering a short cross cut saw. + +While he sawed Leslie got dinner. After dinner Leslie took his turn at +the saw and axe while Ross considered the matter of the calendar. Looking +about the shack, his glance fell on Weston's game pouch. He had hung +it on a peg driven between two side logs and had forgotten it. + +"The very thing!" he exclaimed aloud. "We can mark the days on the margin +of the old newspapers that are in the bottom of that pouch." + +Taking the bag down he dumped the crushed papers out on the table, and +sitting down, began to smooth them out, glancing over the contents +idly. He found nothing which interested him until he reached the last +wad. When he spread this out, he found, stuck to the newspaper by +candle-drippings, a scrap of coarse note paper which at once riveted his +attention. It contained only the latter part of one sentence and the +first part of another. + +"----come and help us out, and no fooling about it, either. If you back +out I will turn you over to old man Quinn----" + +Over and over Ross read these words. They were few and short, but to him +now they were the intelligible index to a whole volume. The scrap was +stuck to a "Gazette" bearing a date which was just previous to Weston's +appearance in Meadow Creek. There was no name to show that Sandy had +written the letter, but Ross knew Weston had escaped from Oklahoma. No +doubt Sandy possessed the knowledge that compelled his obedience. + +Ross drew a long breath. "Strange what parts of two sentences may tell a +fellow!" + +"Tell a fellow what?" demanded Leslie's curious voice at his elbow. A +hand came over his shoulder and pinned the paper down to the table while +Leslie read the contents aloud. + +"'Old man Quinn,'" he finished excitedly. "Why, that is my father, +but--Lon Weston--say, what does that mean, Ross?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A RANDOM SHOT + + +FOR an instant Ross made no reply. He sat with his back to the door and +had not heard Leslie enter. Turning slowly he looked up with puzzled eyes. + +"Less, there's something that I've not told you before--because--I +guess because I've thought it wasn't fair to tell. But after Weston +has brought us away off here and dumped us in this wilderness--even if +he has done it out of fear of Sandy--well, it seems to me that about +now he has forfeited all right to my silence." + +Leslie fell back in astonishment, the scraps of the letter still in his +hand. "Doc, are you getting luny? What are you talking about?" + +Ross laughed ruefully. "Just thinking out loud, that's all. Now I'll +get right down to business about Weston. You said you knew a fellow in +Oklahoma by his name--Lon Weston." + +Leslie pursed his lips incredulously. "Yes, but as I said, our Lon Weston +had light hair and didn't murder the King's English like this man, and +he hadn't a husky voice." + +"Just so!" cried Ross triumphantly. "Neither does this Lon Weston murder +the English language when he is talking like himself, nor has he a +husky voice naturally nor has he dark hair! It's colored dark--near +the roots, as I found out, it's light." + +"Jiminy crickstones!" cried Leslie excitedly. "If that's true, it's +one on me! Come to think of it, Weston was forever imitating folks, but +I never have seen him in such a serious imitation as this. How do you +know all about him, anyway?" + +From this Ross proceeded to tell what he knew except Weston's connection +with the note laid under the electric bulb in the bedroom of "The Irma." +That much he felt himself pledged not to relate, but its omission, +really, in no way detracted from the proof of Weston's identity. +Furthermore, Ross, concerned only with that identity, began his recital +with Sheepy's talk about Weston forgetting the photograph which had +revealed the injured man's name. + +"You can see," Ross concluded, "by putting together all the evidence, +that he is the fourth man your father is after, and that Sandy has come +it over him completely, knowing that he is the fourth. The more I think +of it the more I'm convinced of Sandy's power. Sandy holds this cudgel +over his head and makes him do the dirty work. But, no matter how big +the cudgel is, he had no business to play this low-down trick on us." + +"Wait till we get out of here!" declared Leslie wrathfully, "and I'll +make him pay for his trick!" Suddenly his face lighted. "Ross, see +here! Dad has been hunting for that fourth man for two years, and if I +can go to him and tell him who it is and set him on the right track, +well--I'll stand in better with dad, that's all! The five hundred +that I can't begin to earn until next summer won't be in it beside that +information!" + +Then, as suddenly as it had come, the light died out of the boy's face. +He sat down on the table and rubbed his forehead in perplexity. + +"But, Ross, there's another side to this. For me to do that would knock +things endwise with Sue." + +"Sue," repeated Ross, "who is Sue?" + +"I've got a sister," explained Leslie. "She's four or five years older. +She keeps house for us. She's an awfully good girl, Sue is, although," +turning his head shamefacedly away, "she'd be surprised to hear me +say so, for we, dad and I, have made her a lot of trouble. Dad's as +up and down with her as with me and I--say, Ross, I've been a nuisance +at home!" + +Leslie choked. He looked slowly around the cramped, dirty, ill-lighted +room, so unlike the neat, pleasant home presided over by Sue, and +swallowed hard. Ross industriously made notches in the edge of the +table with his pocket-knife. + +Finally Leslie, clearing his throat, continued, "I guess all this serves +me about right. I know I ought to be kicked--and I am being--in a way. +Well, it's always been up to Sue to put up with us both, and she has. +And then three years ago Lon Weston came. You see, Ross, dad is a sheep +owner, and North Bend is on the edge of the range between sheep and +cattle, and that always means war. About three miles away is a cattle +ranch, and Peck, the owner, and dad are always by the ears. It was at +Peck's that Lon was foreman, and he used to come over to North Bend +to see my sister whenever dad would let 'im, but things were never +very smooth for 'em. Of course, I didn't see much of him because I +was off at school most of the year. I was away when the cattlemen had +their big round-up two years ago in the fall. After each had cut out +his own bunch of cattle and shipped 'em, a lot of the boys went on a +drunk and dad lost his sheep. Naturally he went up in the air at the +loss and was at the throat of every cattle owner and cowboy for miles +around. And, first thing, of course he came down on Sue about Lon's +coming to the house and forbid 'er to see him again, not because he +suspected Lon, but just because he was Peck's foreman and a cowboy. + +"Well, Lon cleared out right off and Sue cried herself sick. She never +said anything, but I've guessed that Lon never has written to 'er and +I'm afraid she's foolish enough," tolerantly, "to think a lot of him. + +"But I never suspected that Lon was in the bunch that sent dad's sheep +over, and I know that no one else around the ranch suspects it, because +of Lon's coming to see Sue right along. Still--there were times when +he was a pretty rough customer, and--it's a mixed up mess, ain't it, +Ross, along with Sue?" + +Ross had been leaning forward on the table listening eagerly. Two or +three times he had started to interrupt, and had checked himself with +difficulty. Now he burst out: + +"I had forgotten the girl's photo in Lon's pocket, Leslie. I know now +it's Sue's picture, because it looks like you. It fell out of his +pocket at Sagehen Roost, and both Hank and I saw it, and then, when +you came, you puzzled Hank because he thought he had seen you before!" + +"The very idea!" exclaimed Leslie indignantly when Ross had told him +about the name on the photograph. "How dare he carry my sister's picture +around with him after doing dad such a dirty trick. Oh, I have it in for +him all right! I don't wonder the McKenzies knew they had to get rid +of me before they could make Lon come over to Meadow Creek! I see now! +I presume he thinks that dad has been on his track these two years. I +wonder if Sandy and Waymart were with Peck at the same time Lon was?" + +For a long time the boys talked over the affair in all its bearings, and +as the long lonely days passed, they recalled every incident that had +occurred since they left Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. Their conversations +mostly took place in the evening by the light of one dim candle, or in +the darkness relieved only by the flicker of the firelight, as candles +were not plenty. It was at that dreary time between day and night with +the wind and the coyotes howling outside that the homesickness that they +could fight successfully in daylight had its inning. + +"But what if I were here alone!" Ross exclaimed periodically. + +His gratitude at having Leslie there softened his anger at Weston, +although he knew that the bringing of Leslie had been no philanthropic +move on Weston's part. + +Soon, however, the boys settled to a routine of work, exercise and study +planned by Ross and acquiesced in by Leslie, all, at first, save the +study. In that Ross began with no thought of aid from the other or +partnership with him until one day when he sat with a book on anatomy +before him industriously absorbing the pages. Presently, turning his book +over on its face, he resolutely closed his eyes against the outer world, +and his ears against Leslie's lively whistle, mentally reviewing the +facts he had been conning. Suddenly Leslie, who had been lying in the +bunk, came over to the table and, picking up the text-book, lazily bade +Ross think aloud. + +"It's so deadly lonely, Ross, with you poring over those dull books," +complained Leslie, "that I'd rather hear you recite than not to hear +anything at all!" + +From this trifling beginning, a student partnership grew up. At first +the task meant to Leslie only a form of passing the time away, of hearing +a human voice instead of the crackle of the fire and the sough of +the wind. Then, gradually, his interest in the subject of anatomy was +awakened. He began to look at himself with a new interest. + +"I say, Ross," he burst out one day when he was frying bacon, "I never +have thought of myself before as being made up of parts that must work +together smoothly--and I never considered how they must work and that +some one or other must know just how they ought to work so that he can +put 'em together if they fall out of place. Now, about that femur, +and ball and socket joint at the hip here----" + +Immediately Ross plunged into a lively description which soon led both +boys to the books for proof and illustration, and Leslie's interest +grew. From being merely the holder of the book while Ross recited and +explained what he had studied, Leslie, the "hater" of studies, began to +study also, at first, in a fitful way, and then more steadily as Ross +proved himself an enthusiastic teacher. + +Neither, however, became so absorbed in his studies as to become +reconciled to his enforced residence above the seven spruces. Day +after day they ventured out and up and down the caņon, or up the side +of the mountain on the side of which their shack was located, but no +discoveries resulted. The absence of snow-shoes made travel impossible +except on top of a strong crust, and even then a realization of a +constantly increasing danger resulted in making such trips shorter +and shorter. The danger was this: blizzard succeeded blizzard until +the willows, ten feet tall, which grew thickly in the caņon, were +completely concealed, also the scrub hemlocks and quaking asp on the +mountainside. The tops of the bushes, lashed by the wind until they +became finally snow covered, formed each a dangerous hollow under a +crust thinner and weaker than the surrounding surface. This painful +discovery was made by Leslie. + +One bright day, leaving Ross to cut off the branches of a tree that he +had felled for fire-wood, Leslie took the gun and started down the caņon +on a tour of exploration. + +"The crust is stout enough to hold up an ox, Doc," he declared, bringing +the butt of the gun down on it hard, "and I'm going out to see what +there is to see--and shoot." + +"Shoot!" echoed Ross, poising the axe in air. "I'd like to see something +shootable up here beside coyotes, and we never see them--only hear +'em!" and the axe descended with a thud. + +Leslie laughed, shouldered the gun and tramped briskly down the caņon, +while Ross wielded the axe and, whistling cheerfully, thought of the +progress he was making in his studies. + +Presently, he rested on his axe handle and chafed his cheeks and nose +briskly with the shaggy mittens he had found in the box of clothing left +in the shack. "I don't want any more frost bites in mine!" he muttered. +He had had several experiences of the kind that winter, the altitude +being so great that he did not realize the intense cold until nose or +cheek or ear had become frost nipped. + +He was resuming his axe when a faint sound traveled up the caņon on the +wings of a slow south wind. Ross straightened himself and listened. Again +came the wind and the sound. With the axe in his hand he slipped and +slid down the mountainside until he stood in the caņon below the seven +spruce trees. There he paused long enough to distinguish in the sound the +faint muffled cry, "Ross!" and "Help!" + +"Coming!" yelled Ross frantically. "Where are you?" + +He did not await a reply but, slipping unsteadily along the icy crust, +he hurried down the caņon in the general direction of Leslie's voice, +yelling intermittently, "Coming--here I am! Where are you, Less?" + +As he came to the cliff over which he had been lowered into the caņon, he +heard Leslie's voice again, still curiously muffled, although evidently +only a little way in advance. It seemed to rise from beneath the ground. + +"Hold on, Ross. Don't come fast. I've fallen through among the willows." + +Cautiously Ross advanced toward the voice, testing the strength of the +crust at every step until it gave under the stamping of his heel. Then he +stopped and found himself looking down a section of shelving crust into +a hole filled with loose snow, willow tops--and Leslie. + +"Great guns!" cried Ross. "What are you doing in there?" + +Leslie attempted to respond nonchalantly, but his face was nearly as +white as the bed of snow he was occupying, and his teeth chattered with +cold and fright. + +"I've been flopping around here for half an hour yelling," he explained +jerkily, "and have only managed to sink deeper and break off more crust +and more willow tops." + +"Rub your nose and face the next thing you do," advised Ross immediately, +"or you'll be a mass of frost bite." + +He rubbed his own nose meditatively. Then grasping the axe he cried +cheerfully, "Hold the fort a while longer down there, Less, and relief +will arrive. See here! I hadn't finished the wood and I ran off with +the axe. Now I'll skiddoo and cut a pole and help you out. And don't +forget to rub your face!" + +Laboriously and fearfully--lest he meet with Leslie's fate--Ross +climbed the side of the mountain until he stood among the branches of a +sturdy spruce, the depth of snow raising him to that height. Cutting +and trimming a long limb, he dragged it back to the caņon. Projecting one +end over the hole he sat hard on the other. Then Leslie, by jumping +and seizing the projecting end, and bracing against the sloping sheet +of crust, climbed, breathless but relieved, to the surface of the snow. + +"I tell you what, Ross," he said emphatically as they made their way +gingerly back to the shack, "I've done all the research work I want +to in this caņon!" He shivered and slapped his hands smartly together. +"Without snow-shoes we are helpless here, and the McKenzies know it!" + +To make snow-shoes without boards or small nails or a hammer was +impossible to workmen of their inexperience. They broke up some boxes +and put in all their spare time for days experimenting, but to no purpose. + +"Even if we did succeed, Less," Ross comforted himself one day as he +looked gloomily at their latest failure, "we couldn't escape from here. +We have no idea where we are, whether we are nearer Red Lodge or Cody or +Timbuctoo. We would merely start out and leave a half-way comfortable +certainty for a mighty ticklish uncertainty." + +"That's right," agreed Leslie, "and we couldn't pack enough food on +our backs to last many days, nor can we tell when a storm is coming." + +In fact, storms were the order of the day. By the middle of February +immense masses of snow curled out over the cliffs on the side of the +mountain opposite the shack waiting for the warm chinooks of spring to +send them hurtling down into the caņon. Fortunately, the mountain above +the shack was lower than its neighbors, and the face, heavily wooded, +sloped back more gently until it reached a great elevation. + +"The trees here prove that there have been no snowslides within the +memory of this generation, at any rate," Ross broke out one day as they +were sawing the branches from a spruce on the mountainside above the +shack. "Now, if the shack were on the other side----" + +"But it wouldn't be built on the other side," interrupted Leslie. "No +cabin builder would do such a thing unless he built when he first struck +this country as young and green as we were!" + +Ross laughed and started the branch he had trimmed down the mountainside +on the crust. It skidded along rapidly until it wedged itself into a +great snow bank which had drifted from the shack to the trees on either +side, and through which the boys had tunneled. With the last branch sent +home in this convenient fashion, Ross shouldered the axe and picked up +the saw, while Leslie took the gun from a near-by branch where it had +been slung, and followed down the mountainside. + +With the increase in the depth of the snow, the coyotes and gray wolves +had grown bolder, and without the gun the boys never went now outside +of their dooryard, as they called the spaces they had cleared around the +shack. So far, however, the coyotes had only skulked near the strongly +built lean-to, attracted by the smell of the meat, while the wolves +contented themselves by howling at night from the rocks far above the +cabin, and being answered from the mountainside opposite. + +"I have always heard that the gray wolf is a coward," commented Leslie +as the two entered the shack. "We have not had a glimpse of one yet." + +"Uncle Jake said they are far more afraid of people than sensible people +are afraid of them," returned Ross, "but I'd rather not be called +sensible than to meet one face to face!" + +That night the boys turned in early, tired with their exertions at the +wood-pile. About midnight they were both awakened by a mysterious noise. +Leslie, in the wall bunk, came up on his elbow before he was fairly +awake. Ross, on the floor, sat up instantly, whispering sharply: + +"Leslie, is that you?" + +"What?" asked Leslie bewildered. "Is it you? What was that?" + +Before Ross could reply again, the noise was repeated. It came from above +their heads, a soft padding and crunching on the roof logs. Suddenly +there was added a whining sound and a scratching at the side and then +an increase in the crunching on the roof. + +"Wolves!" cried Ross and Leslie simultaneously. + +"They smell the meat in the lean-to," added Leslie. + +"Tell you what, Less," said Ross, "I'm glad we're inside a stockade. +I'll put my trust in logs rather than boards with those fellows around." + +Ross's voice was decidedly husky, Leslie was glad to note. His own was +almost beyond control while cold chills ran up and down his spine. He +grunted assent and tried to yawn aloud but was unsuccessful. + +Then, as the soft padding and eager sniffing continued, he found his +voice in a frightened quaver, "Ross, can they get into the window, do you +think?" + +"Or break into the door?" added Ross equally uncertain as to tone. "One +thing I know, Less, they're afraid of fire." + +At that both boys came out of their bunks and began to fill the stove +with wood. But at these sounds from below, the wolves departed hastily +and put in the remainder of the night howling from the side of the +mountain a safe distance away. + +"Guess Uncle Jake is right. They seem as afraid of us as we are of them!" +exclaimed Leslie, lighting a candle and setting it in the window. Then +he turned on Ross with a sheepish grin. "Say, Doc, is my hair standing +straight up?" + +Ross passed his hand over his own. "I don't see it stand, but if it +feels like mine it won't lie down again in a week. To-morrow, Less, +we'll let studies go by the board and have that window and the door +barricaded. Then, if a wolf or two chance to stumble against them we can +turn over and laugh in our sleep." + +There was no more sleep in the shack that night, however, and before +daylight the boys were up planning the proposed barricade. They +finally hit on two cross poles for the door, fitted into crudely +carved stanchions nailed to either side. These bars were removed by +day, but when night came, it was with a feeling of relief that the boys +dropped the bars into their stanchions and knew the device could foil +any wolf that prowled about the mountains. The window, also, was +similarly barricaded. + +But, secure behind these protections, the boys soon became accustomed to +their midnight visitors, and even began to look eagerly for them during +the day, Leslie being a fair shot. + +"I would like to get a skin or two, Ross," he said one evening. "Sue +would like 'em as rugs, you bet!" + +It was after supper, and the boys, having washed the dishes, had blown +out the candle and were sitting beside the stove. The draft in front +was open, and the blazing chunks within sent a cheerful glow dancing +past the window and flickering on the bunk and the side wall beyond. +Outside, the wind soughed among the branches of the seven spruces, +whipping them savagely. It was densely dark, darker than it would be an +hour later when the moon swung over the tops of the mountain opposite +the shack. There had been no storm for several days, but severe cold, so +that on top of a strong crust a light snow drifted about continually. + +"I'm satisfied to leave the skin on the brutes if they'll agree to +leave mine on me!" laughed Ross in answer to Leslie. "Guess you're a +better sport, Less, than I am." + +Leslie shook his head. "Aw, I'm no sport," he disclaimed in a pleased +tone. "If I ever think I am I shall remember the first night the wolves +came." + +He was rubbing his head reminiscently when, suddenly, there came an +unexpected sound from the neighborhood of the window. There was a thump +against the outer logs, followed by the splinter of glass and the inward +rush of cold air. This was immediately succeeded by a hasty scraping +noise in the midst of which Leslie sprang to his feet shouting: + +"Wolves! Quick, Ross, the door!" + +While Leslie sprang to the gun hung on pegs against the logs near the +door, Ross fumbled at the door fastenings and, in a moment, both boys +were out in front in the clearing that they had shoveled in front of +the door and window. The sound was rapidly retreating down the side of +the slope toward the seven spruces. Eagerly the boys ran toward the +spruces, which, in the darkness, merely made a darker spot below them. +From the midst of the trees came the scratching sound on the crust. +Throwing the gun to his shoulder Leslie excitedly fired again and again +in the direction of the rapidly receding sounds. + +"There!" he exclaimed when the chambers of the gun were emptied. "Of +course I haven't hit anything, but I have the satisfaction of knowing +I've shot at a wolf, at least!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A HUMILIATING DISCOVERY + + +RETURNING to the cabin, the boys excitedly split up a box and, binding +the dry splinters together, thrust one end into the stove. A moment +later, Ross, brandishing this improvised torch, and followed by Leslie, +bearing the gun in hands none too steady, ran down to the seven spruces. + +This group of trees, full grown and broad limbed, interlocked their +branches at the foot of the mountain in the path of the high winds which +roared through the caņon as through a funnel between the high mountains. +The trunks formed a windbreak for the storms that left their load of +snow heaped to the branches on the upper side at the expense of the +lower side where the crust was swept as clear of loose snow as though +by a broom. + +Here, in the shadow of these trees, Leslie, despite his earnest protest +to the contrary, half expected to see a wolf dead or wounded, but no +wolf appeared. Lowering the torch, the boys made their way warily around +the trees and the drifts heaped to leeward. The pile of snow had not +been disturbed, nor did they discover any tracks. + +"Less, I'm not satisfied," exclaimed Ross finally. "Something broke that +window and something ran down here. There's enough loose snow over this +crust to show traces if----" + +Here the speaker hastily interposed his body between a gust of wind and +the flaring torch. + +"That's true," asserted Leslie, "but the snow is so light that this wind +has probably moved every particle of it since that window was broken, +and this crust is too hard to show a track." + +Ross uttered a sudden exclamation and plunged forward, the torch's head +flaming against the crust. + +"Quick, Less, see here!" + +Leslie sprang forward and bent over the torch. "Blood!" he shouted. "I +did hit him for sure! There is a--no, see here, Ross, here are some more +drops, a neat little collection! I must have hit hard. Oh, we can track +him now easily!" + +The telltale drops were scattered on the glistening face of the crust +just below the trees. There was one splash of red and a few inches +further along scattering drops. Sweeping the crust with the torch the +boys cautiously crossed the caņon taking care to test the crust with the +heels of their shoes as they advanced. But, to their disappointment, no +more blood appeared, and no further signs of life. Slowly they zigzagged +back and forth, searching and listening, but to no purpose. + +"He got away all right," said Leslie in a voice of deep chagrin. "Guess, +after all, I must only have scratched him." + +"Yes, but it's queer that a scratch would have produced that much blood +and not another drop," returned Ross puzzled. "Such a wound would keep on +bleeding for a few moments at least. We ought to find more traces right +around here." + +Convinced of the soundness of this reasoning, Leslie urged another +search. Stopping long enough to make a fresh torch they returned to the +blood spots and with them as a center carefully enlarged the circle of +their search until they had again covered the surface, inch by inch, +for yards around. + +"He must have stopped and licked the wound clean right here and then +streaked it for the mountains," said Leslie at last. + +Ross shook his head obstinately. "I don't believe it. With your shots +pattering around him he'd likely streak it for the mountains and attend +to his wounds later--only in that case there would be more blood." + +Discouraged and cold, the searchers returned to the cabin. Nailing a box +cover over the window, and barring the door again, they went to bed. + +The following morning dawned bright and still in the Caņon of the Seven +Spruces as the boys had named their home. Tired out with the excitement +and exertion of the previous night they overslept, and not until the +sun had appeared above the eastern peaks were they ready for a further +examination of the neighborhood of the blood spots. They searched as +they had the previous evening and with no better results, until noon. +Then the unexpected happened! + +They had given up the hunt disgustedly and were returning to the shack +for dinner, when passing to windward of the seven spruces, Leslie +chanced to pause beside the trunk of the outermost sentinel in the +group. Ross, in advance, turned and, simultaneously, the gaze of both +boys fell on another evidence that Leslie's gun had drawn blood the +night before. Half of each tree trunk was covered with snow and on +the white envelope of the spruce beside which they stood appeared +four red streaks lying parallel and a couple of inches away around the +curve of the trunk a faint red blotch. The second of the four streaks +contained the deepest stain. + +"I say, Ross!" cried Leslie. + +"Less, here you are again!" ejaculated Ross. + +For an instant they both stared at the tree trunk motionless. Then Ross, +with a sudden narrowing of his eyes and upward tilt of his square chin, +strode forward, drew off his mitten and extended his arm. The marks were +shoulder high. Leslie gave an exclamation as Ross grasped the trunk, his +four fingers covering the four streaks of blood, his thumb pressed on +the fainter blotch. Then his hand fell to his side. + +"A man!" gasped Leslie. His face turned white. "Ross, did I shoot a man?" + +"That would account for things," said Ross slowly. He looked back. Only a +few feet intervened between the tree and the blood on the crust. "If you +hurt his hand--and he steadied himself here at this tree, and then ran +on--perhaps before he realized that he was hurt--and then staunched the +flow in his mittens or on his clothes--anywhere----" + +"It was Sandy!" exclaimed Leslie. His voice was weak, also his knees. + +"Or Weston," added Ross and scowled. + +"He--they were looking in the window----" began Leslie. + +"And slipped and fell against the glass," added Ross. + +Only one more proof was needed to convince them that Leslie had drawn +human blood, and that proof they found where they had not thought to look +previously--beneath the window. There, in the loose snow blown against +the side of the shack, was the blurred impression of a snow-shoe. + +"I believe," said Ross with conviction that night as they sat beside +the fire with their door barred and the window securely shuttered, "I +believe, Less, that it was Sandy and perhaps Waymart, coming to see if +Weston had done his duty by us." + +"But where did they come from?" questioned Leslie. "Where are we? Can +they get over to Meadow Creek and from there here? Or is there another +way of getting here?" + +It was months before that persistent question was answered, months of +a dull routine wherein the boys turned with more and more zeal to their +studies. Nights now, behind their barred door and shuttered window, they +listened, not for wolves, but for the return of their human caller, +but he did not come again. Day after day they looked sharply for prints +of snow-shoes, but looked in vain. Gradually as the spring advanced, the +wolves and coyotes retreated until the boys no longer carried the gun on +their wood-cutting excursions. + +"I guess Sue will not see a wolf skin this year," Leslie complained in +March. "Even in that I have failed." + +Ross, standing over the stove frying bacon, glanced over his shoulder. +"Brace up, Less," he gibed. "There's one thing you haven't failed in, +nor I either. We've got outside of more anatomy and physiology and----" + +"That's so," Leslie interrupted brightening. "I've found out what I +want to do--after I've made my peace with father," soberly. "I guess +he'll not make any objections to a doctor in the family. It strikes +me," lugubriously, "that he'll be pleased to find out that I want to +be anything!" + +March gave place to April, finally; but in the mountains April showers +do not have the effect they are popularly supposed to have elsewhere, +the showers being great downfalls of snow alternating with thaws which +threatened to turn the entire caņon into a river and brought to their +ears daily the thunder of the snowslides. By the first of May the tops +of the tallest willows began to appear, but the boys knew that the roots +would not be visible for six weeks yet, so long does winter linger among +the Shoshones. On the mountainside above timber-line bowlders began to +push aside their dense white covering. + +But with the softening of the great body of snow, the inhabitants of the +caņon became more closely confined than ever. It was well that the hot +sun did away with the necessity for a fire during the day, because the +boys were able to cut and shovel their way only to the nearest trees. + +"Things are getting worse instead of better," said Leslie gloomily one +day when May was two weeks old. + +The boys sat in the doorway in the red glow of a warm sunset. At their +feet, only a few yards away, the narrow caņon was transformed into a +river choked with ice and snow and mud flowing sluggishly among the +willows. For weeks the boys had looked in vain for the subsidence of +the water. On the steep slope of the mountain opposite lay a mass of +wet heavy snow waiting for its turn to come to plunge into the caņon. + +Ross, his eyes on this slope, gave a rueful laugh. "Less, if only we had +such a charge of dynamite now as we set off under Soapweed Ledge we might +have a little fun across there." + +"Fun!" echoed Leslie miserably. "Never connect that piece of foolishness +with the word 'fun.' If it hadn't been for that shot we probably would +have been in Meadow Creek Valley now hard at work." + +Ross gazed gloomily up the river-like caņon. He wondered whether the +trail from Miners' Camp to Meadow Creek was clear yet, and whether the +McKenzies had returned to the valley; for in three weeks Weimer's fifth +year of work on the claims would close. He chafed with impatience at the +delay necessitated by that slowly moving stream. With the caņon clear, +the boys had determined to start out and follow its windings until they +came to--Somewhere. + +Late one afternoon of that same week Ross sat studying beneath the window +while Leslie was out trying to force a path to a fine spruce tree that +promised good fire-wood. The sun had long since hidden his face behind +the mountain against which the cabin rested, but his rays turned the snow +on the peaks opposite to gold. The day had been warm. The door stood +open, and the fire was almost out. Near the doorway, and only a few +feet from a solid bank of ice, blossomed a profusion of forget-me-nots +and yellow wild asters. The breeze which rocked their petals was the +breeze of summer that, nevertheless, carried the tang of the ice and +snow over which it passed. + +Suddenly Ross, deep in his book, heard a sound, the crunching of the +pine cones and boughs with which the ground was strewn. A moment later a +shadow moved across his book. He sprang to his feet, the book falling to +the floor, and confronted a man in the doorway. + +The man was middle-aged, large, and stoop-shouldered. His face was burned +and bearded and furrowed, but astonishment was stamped on every feature +and furrow. + +"Hello!" he greeted Ross, as one familiar with his surroundings greets +a stranger. + +He stepped inside with that air of assurance which proclaims ownership. +His eyes left Ross, and swept the shack. + +"What----" he began, and suddenly stopped, his gaze traveling back +curiously to the boy. "What----" he began again, but got no further. + +Ross was the first one to complete a question, and it was an eager one. + +"Where did you come from?" + +"Cody," returned the stranger, reciprocating with "And you?" + +"Meadow Creek." + +"Meadow Creek!" in surprise. "Is the trail open now?" + +Ross shook his head. "I don't know. I came last January." + +"January!" The stranger stared, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. +"Do ye mean t' tell me ye've been here sence January?" + +"Ever since then." + +Briefly but excitedly Ross told the story of his coming. + +The stranger, listening, leaned back against the door-post. Successively +he removed his cap, scratched his head, and contracted his bushy +eyebrows. When Ross finished he was grinning in grim humor. + +"Young man," he began slowly, "this here is Wood River caņon. Ye're only +seven miles from Miners' Camp. Ye could 'a' hoofed it down t' Gale's +Ridge in two hours on top of any crust that would 'a' held ye up." + +Stepping to the door Ross raised a chagrined voice, "Leslie, ho, Less! +Come here!" + +The boy's unexpected and welcome visitor was Terry Brown, the owner of +several adjacent coal claims. He had gone out of the mountains the first +of December, his preparations for departure consisting merely in closing +the door of his shack. He had expected to open it in June on the same +furnishings and provisions which he had left. + +"I see how it was," Brown began as the three talked things over that +evening. "That 'ere Weston waits fer a storm a-purpose. Then he takes +ye a pretty chase around and up and among them little peaks over at the +head waters of Meadow Creek until he gits ye so mixed up that ye don't +know east from west. Then he slides ye over the cliff, and lands ye in +here; and you, thinkin' ye're miles away from ye don't know where, +with a heap o' danger spots between ye and anywheres, jest naturally +sets down here and behaves yerself. It was the only sensible thing to +do," added Brown approvingly. + +"But in the face of the facts it doesn't look sensible now!" Ross burst +out. + +[Illustration: "The Crooked Trail that Deceived Ross"] + +"No," meditatively, "but without knowin' any of the facts, and with no +way t' know 'em, you acted with sense, plain hoss sense. But that 'ere +Weston, he sure done you dirt, all right." + +Ross's fists doubled involuntarily. Seeing this, Brown's voice changed. + +"Better fergit it, son. Chuck the hull matter. Ye've lost and they've +won; and, if what I hear of the McKenzies is true, it won't do ye +no good t' keep thinkin' of this. And when ye git down t' Camp I +wouldn't tell the first man I seen about this, nuther----" + +"Because," Leslie broke in hotly, "they'd laugh at us for staying here +so near Camp all winter." + +Brown made no reply, but a slow grin expressed his opinion. + +"I say, Less," Ross broke out, "we don't look any bigger to ourselves +than we did when we found out what that blast under the Ledge had done +for us, do we?" + +But Leslie did not hear. He sat with his elbows on his knees scowling +down at the floor. "If we're that near Camp," he reasoned, "it was +surely one of the McKenzies that came up to see if we were here yet that +night that I fired. He chose a night, you remember, when the snow was +light and the crust icy. No tracks left for us to follow." + +Their visitor asked for no explanation to this. He was studying Ross's +face intently as the boy sat leaning forward, his hands clasped around +his knees. + +"I say!" the older man broke out suddenly. "Ye look almighty like a +feller that rode up in the stage from Meeteetse yisterday--almighty +like 'im. They was two of 'em. They got out at Amos Steele's." + +"Where did they come from?" asked Ross absently. + +"I dunno. Sheepy Luther said they was Easterners." + +"Sheepy Luther!" exclaimed Ross. "I know Sheepy. His wagon set on the +hill just back of the stage camp when I was there with Weston." + +"Is that so? Wall, Sheepy is down on his luck. He's too old t' chase +sheep, and last winter he lost five hundred or thereabouts; so he got +his walkin' papers. He come up yisterday. Stopped at Steele's t' try +t' git a job with the Gale's Ridge Company. Steele may take 'im on to +wrangle the hosses, but he can't do more'n a boy's work. He's done +fer; only he don't know it." + +In the pause which followed Brown again studied Ross. "This feller," he +began again suddenly, "was a bigger man than ye be; but I vum, ye're +alike even t' the way ye squint up yer eyes and mouth, 'n'----" + +Ross came to his feet alertly, his interest at last aroused. + +"His name?" he demanded eagerly. + +Brown shook his head. "Didn't hear no names except the front ones. They +called each other 'Ross' 'n' 'Fred.'" + +"Uncle Fred and father!" shouted Ross excitedly. "They came up yesterday, +you say, and stopped at Gale's Ridge!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AN UNEXPECTED VICTORY + + +THE boy's first feeling of joy was immediately succeeded by a deep +chagrin. Probably his father had come on to complete the legal process +for securing a clear title to the claims, and had brought Dr. Grant +with him, and Ross must confront them with news of failure rather than +victory. He winced when he thought of the expression of disappointment +which he felt sure would sweep over his father's face, especially when +his father learned that the way to failure had lain in part through the +boy's exercise of his medical knowledge. + +"There's my snow-shoes," he heard Brown saying, and the words brought +him out of his reverie back to the present at once. "To-morrer ye better +hoof it down t' Camp and meet up with yer relation." + +"That's right, Ross," urged Leslie. "I'll stay here until you can bring +more shoes back. In that case," cheerfully, "you see I'll get the better +bargain because you'll have to take the brunt----" he paused abruptly. + +"Yes, the brunt of the ridicule," added Ross grimly. "We may as well look +the thing squarely in the face. I'm pretty hot inside, and I shall +probably boil over at sight of the McKenzies, but--they've made us +ridiculous instead of laying themselves open to prosecution." + +"Except Weston," Leslie burst out significantly. "Wait till I get hold +of father!" + +According to the plans laid, Ross set out the following morning on the +snow-shoes. Following Brown's directions, to keep to the side of the +mountain, he threaded the windings of the caņon on reluctant feet, past +the cliff whose dark face mocked him, over the treacherous rotting ice +and packed snow, and finally emerged into the broader portion of the +caņon which contained Miners' Camp. + +The cabins, deserted the previous December, were inhabited again. The +sound of the woodchopper was in the air; and, as Ross came into Camp, a +dull reverberating boom from the heart of Dundee told that the Mountain +Company's mining operations were resumed. + +But so intent was he on the thought of meeting his father and uncle that +these sights and sounds did not fill him with the joy he had imagined +they would give. He even failed to notice a man standing in the doorway +of a shack, scanning Crosby, on whose steep face the snow still hung in +loosening masses. + +Toward the shack came Bill Travers, the stage-driver between Meeteetse +and Miners' Camp. + +"Wall, beat me," cried the man in the doorway, "if here ain't Doc!" + +Ross flashed around and faced Sandy McKenzie. + +Sandy's hands were rammed into his pockets; but his sun-burned face was +smiling an unruffled welcome, and his voice rang pleasantly. + +"How," Sandy inquired, "did ye get over here from Medder Creek?" + +Ross instantly "boiled over" as he had feared he should, and said the +very thing he had not intended to say. "You know how I got here! You know +where I came from!" + +The stage-driver, joined by a second man, came nearer and paused. Sandy +pushed his hands yet deeper into his pockets, and looked amazingly +innocent. + +"Me!" he drawled. "What d'ye mean?" + +At the insolent tone Ross's blood boiled. It hummed through his ears, +deafening him to the sound of his own voice. What he said he never +could recall beyond the general knowledge that he accused Sandy of +the theft of the dynamite and of his own and Leslie's abduction across +the mountains. + +And, when he paused to catch his breath and steady his voice, Sandy was +looking him over with an amused grin which maddened him. + +"Now, ain't that a likely story?" he inquired. "Kept ye a prisoner fer +six months not five miles from Camp on a trail that can be follered at +any time in the year! Ha, ha!" + +Bill Travers grinned faintly. The other man turned away with the corners +of his mouth twitching, while Sandy went on: + +"And as fer Weston, he went to Missoury the day after we left Medder +Creek, and there he is now fer all I've heard." Again Sandy's laugh +rang out as he added: "That story won't hold water. Why didn't ye make +up a----" + +Here Waymart appeared in the doorway of the shack. He scowled at Ross, +but his peremptory words were aimed at Sandy: + +"See here! If we're goin' t' send that bundle down by Grasshopper +we've got t' make lively tracks in here, and ye ought t' know it!" + +"Keep yer hair on tight, Mart," laughed Sandy. + +He turned, nevertheless, toward the door. As he did so, he mechanically +withdrew his hands from his pockets and Ross saw something which at once +arrested his attention. The middle finger of Sandy's right hand was +gone! In a flash, memory showed Ross the four blood streaks on the trunk +of the spruce with the second streak the deepest in color. + +[Illustration: YOU'VE PAID FOR IT.] + +With his anger still burning he snatched off his glove and held up his +right hand triumphantly, the middle finger projecting. "Well, anyway," +he cried, "Leslie ain't a bad shot. We may never prove that you put us +in that hole, but you've paid for it, nevertheless!" + +Sandy involuntarily doubled his right hand into a fist. He caught his +under lip between his teeth and sent Ross a black look as, wordlessly, +he entered the shack and slammed the door behind him, leaving Ross to +tell the story of Leslie's shot to two interested and excited men. + +"That accounts fer it," confirmed Bill Travers. "Sandy and Waymart they +come up from Cody along in February and when they clumb int' th' stage +goin' back, Sandy's hand was tied up. Next thing I knowed when they +come up with me t' other day, that finger was off clean to the hand, +but Sandy hain't never spoken of it." + +Ross, leaving Bill to talk the matter over with his companions, went on +rapidly now down the caņon, his eyes narrowed and his chin protruding +doggedly. One disagreeable scene was ended, and he was, perhaps, facing +another. + +"I ought to be sorry that Sandy lost a finger but--hanged if I am!" he +burst out loud. He was anxious to have Leslie know the result of his +random shot. + +Rounding a shoulder of Gale's Ridge, he came in sight of Steele's +shack. Steele sat in the doorway. Beside him, leaning against the logs +of the shack's side, was a man in shirt-sleeves and cap, beneath which a +rim of woolly gray hair projected. + +Facing Steele were two well dressed men, one in a tall silk hat, which +appeared incongruous against its background of log shack and pine tree. +Ross, with narrowed eyes and compressed lips, plodded on. + +"I've done my best," he muttered defensively. "It's all a fellow can +do; but, when that best is failure, why, it's not much consolation." + +Then he raised his head, squared his shoulders, and doggedly faced the +four in front of Steele's cabin. + +Ross Grant, Senior, had not come West to look after his claims, but after +his son, with whom he felt he had but just begun an acquaintance. He had +no difficulty in getting Dr. Grant to accompany him, reënforced as he +was by an anxious Aunt Anne. It was true that both Ross and Steele had +written that all communications with the former would be shut off for +months. But, when the hot days of June came and brought no letter from +the boy, as Aunt Anne said, "something must be done." + +That something was represented in the persons of the Grant brothers in +Miners' Camp. + +After the first greetings, tinged with amazement on the part of the four, +Ross backed up against a spruce, and, facing the others, proceeded to +answer the questions with which they bombarded him. + +In half an hour they were in possession of the main facts in his life +during the last six months. + +"The McKenzies all through," commented Steele finally; "but--prove it!" + +"I've got to prove it!" declared Ross violently; "I shall!" + +"Ross,"--Dr. Grant's comment carried with it the pride and honor of his +profession,--"if you're called upon to attend the sick, you must go. +That's the duty of a physician, even before he receives his diploma. You +did right." + +"I felt that way myself, uncle," returned Ross quietly. "As soon as +Weimer opened the way, I never thought of not going, so long as there +was no regular doctor within reach." + +Ross Grant, Senior, looked his son over. There was no expression of +disapproval on his face as he took the measure of this full-blooded, +broad-shouldered, erect young man whose muscles had been hardened by +wind and sun and work in the open. + +Having completed his survey, Ross, Senior, smiled. "Well, my boy," he +remarked characteristically, "it took three good sized men to down you +two boys, didn't it? And it must have cost them a heap of thinking into +the bargain. Shake, Ross; I'm proud of you!" + +And Ross, bewildered, shook hands with his father, his cheeks reddening +with pleasure. + +"I--I never thought of it in that way before," he stammered. "But--that +doesn't save the claims, and the fifth year is up next week, and Uncle +Jake----" + +"Don't you worry about Uncle Jake," interrupted his father meaningly. +"We may lose the claims, but Uncle Jake will be provided for." + +"The first thing to do," interpolated Steele, "is to root him out of +Meadow Creek Valley. I've never known the snow to hang so late to the +side of Crosby." + +That very night it ceased to "hang." At midnight every one in the +shack was awakened. There was a cracking of trees, a long steady rush, +and then a mighty and prolonged roar as the snow, under the influence +of a swift warm wind, swept down the side of old Crosby, and took the +thousand-feet plunge into the ravine at the foot of the falls. The roar +echoed against the sides of Dundee and Spar and Sniffle, starting other +though lesser slides until the caņon was filled with the confusion of +sound. + +The following morning, Steele, after investigation, found the trail +around the shoulder of Crosby swept clean, and at once proposed that +they follow it to Meadow Creek. Ross objected to starting until Leslie +reached them. Steele had sent Society Bill up the caņon the previous +evening with snow-shoes for the boy. But neither Society Bill nor Leslie +had appeared. Ross's objections were, therefore, overruled by the older +men. + +"Leave word in the upper camp for him to follow us when he comes," Steele +suggested, "and we'll start right away. We shall have to foot it, too, +for no horse can make it yet." + +The sheep-herder, who had shared Steele's hospitality over night, +shouldered his blankets, observing that he was going over with them +to see his friend Weimer, and find out what was "doin' on the Creek." + +There were others of the same mind also, as the party from Steele's +shack found when they reached the foot of Crosby. Just ahead of them, +so engrossed in their climbing that they did not look back, were Sandy +and Waymart. + +Slowly, to accommodate the older Grants, the party moved up the trail, +slippery with mud and snow, their way obstructed by rocks and tree trunks. + +Sandy and Waymart, ahead, were obliged to move slowly also; for to their +lot fell the removal of any obstacles too large to surmount, and the +snow and landslide of the previous night had left many such. Around the +shoulder, however, the trail was intact, the mountain being so steep +at this point that the slide had leaped clear of the trail and projected +itself headlong into the gorge below. + +An hour later Ross called back to his father and uncle, who were puffing +along, breathless and tired and dizzy: "We'll be in sight of the dump +in ten minutes. It's just around the spur of the mountain there." + +Then, unable to restrain his impatience and anxiety longer, he ran +on ahead of Steele, keeping a short distance between himself and the +McKenzies. The McKenzies, however, seemed no more anxious to enjoy his +society than he did to enjoy theirs. Sandy, for once, omitted his usual +pleasantries, an omission easy to account for whenever Ross thought of +the missing middle finger of his right hand. + +Hearing footsteps behind him, Ross glanced around. Steele had left the +others, and was following on a run. The McKenzies pushed on without +looking back, and neither Steele nor Ross spoke. + +In silence, then, the four approached the spur. But before they reached +the dump that silence was most unexpectedly broken. Out of the open mouth +of the tunnel rolled a volume of sound, then another and another. + +Ross in his surprise, his head thrown back as he scanned the dump, nearly +fell over a mass of newly mined ore which blocked the main trail. + +Then he caught a glimpse of Weimer shielding his eyes from the sun with +both hands, waiting for the effects of the explosions in the tunnel to +subside. And, leaning against the tool house, his hands in his pockets, +his head bent forward, was another man, the sight of whom caused a +great illumination in Ross's mind. + +"Weston!" he shouted. "Weston!" + +The two men on the dump came to the edge, and looked over. The McKenzies +on the trail ahead halted. The Grants with the sheep-herder drew nearer. + +Weimer, squinting, recognized Ross. He took off his cap, and waved it +as wildly as a boy. + +"The vork," he yelled, "ist done! It ist done dese two veeks. Me und +Miller here, ve ist vorkin' now joost for de fun!" + +Weston gave one glance at Sandy and Waymart, and without speaking went +back to the tunnel. + +Ross was after him with a bound, scrambling up over the dump, followed by +the others, who were infected by his excitement. He ran to Weston with +both hands outstretched. + +"Weston," he shouted, "you did this!" + +"Veston!" exclaimed Uncle Jake. "Dot ist Miller. He has been mit me all +der spring." + +"I told him," muttered Weston, extending his hand to Ross, but turning +away shamefacedly, "that you two boys had taken my place with my sick +pard, while I was to stay by him." + +Ross pumped the big hand up and down. + +"Father," he cried excitedly, "he has saved our claims." + +Weston tried to liberate his hand. He stole a glance at Sandy and +Waymart, who had stopped just beyond the dump. + +"Doc here"--he spoke to the group who surrounded him--"saved me first. I +had that little business to pay for, but"--his tone sank to a mutter--"I +thought I could pay it and git away to Missoury before Sandy found out +what I was up to here----" + +He was interrupted by Sandy's voice from the trail, and the voice was +harsh and vengeful. "Better come over to our shack, Lon. I want a little +talk with ye about old man Quinn. He's wantin' t' see ye powerful bad." + +At the name the sheep-herder, who had been standing stupidly staring at +Weston, woke up. + +"Old man Quinn," he began. "A feller in Cody told me----" but no one was +paying any attention to him. + +Sandy and Waymart moved on slowly toward their cabin, talking and +gesticulating excitedly, evidently in disagreement. + +For the present no one undeceived Weimer in regard to Miller. + +"He come pack in all dot storm," Weimer exulted, "und mit me vas." + +Weston looked away, but Steele cried, "Good work, man," clapping him +warmly on the shoulder. Then he added boyishly: "I'm hungry as a bear! +Got any grub left?" + +"Yes," answered Weston quietly, "plenty. Come on down all of you, and +I'll rustle some flapjacks and coffee." + +They started down the trail, Weston and Ross in advance. At the mention +of "old man Quinn" Ross's elation had subsided. He looked at Weston +out of the corner of his eye. The other's eyes were downcast and his +face pale beneath its sunburn. His hair was of a peculiar color, light +at the roots and dark at the ends. He had evidently forgotten to bring +his hair dye to Meadow Creek. + +The older man spoke first. His voice was low and his words halting. "I +had to take you across the mountain and leave you there," he explained +briefly. "Sandy was behind the cabin when we got there. I couldn't +fool 'im about you, but I did about myself; and, if you all had put +off comin' over a day longer, I could have got away out of Sandy's +reach." + +As he spoke, Weston's hand involuntarily crept up to his breast pocket. +It fell again, however, as he added in a mutter as though to himself: +"And Less--I had to take 'im over too--for my own good. But it's all up +now and I've got to face it out." + +Just behind them came the sheep-herder, his thoughts reverting to a +subject on which he had tried once to speak. Now he saw an opportunity. + +"Ye must 'a' known of old man Quinn then," he called to Weston. +"Didn't ye?" + +Weston stumbled. He caught himself, but the movement saved him from the +necessity of an answer. + +"Wall," the sheep-herder went on, almost running in order to keep up with +the pace Weston had set, "I met Happy in Cody t' other day, and Happy +said old man Quinn had pinched the fourth puncher that druv his sheep----" + +"What?" shouted Weston. He swung around so suddenly that the sheep-herder +ran full tilt against him. + +"What?" Weston shouted again. He seized the amazed and terrified Sheepy, +and held him by the arms in a vise that made the man wince. "Say that +again." + +"S-say what?" faltered Sheepy. + +"What about the fourth? Tell me!" + +With every word Weston, his eyes ablaze, his lips drawn back over strong +white teeth, gave the old sheep-herder a convulsive shake. + +"W-why," the old man quavered, "Happy, he said that a feller down in +Oklahomy, name of Burns, went and give himself up to old man Quinn. He +said he was the feller the old man was after--that he was the fourth +who done the business with the sheep. But because he owned up the jedge +give 'im only six months----" + +Weston suddenly pushed the sheep-herder from him, his face working +convulsively. "Then I wasn't in it!" he cried. "Sandy said I was, +but I wasn't!" + +Offering no further explanation to his astonished hearers, he turned +toward the McKenzie shack on a run; and for a couple of hours they saw +no more of him. + +It was a busy time for Ross, who promptly took Weston's place "rustling +grub." But, as he worked, his thoughts wonderingly circled around +Weston's strange actions. The fourth man was found and it was not +Weston--yet Weston, it would appear, had believed himself to be the +guilty party! It was too deep a puzzle for Ross. As the boy worked he +kept a watchful eye on the trail for Leslie. Surely the latter would +come down to Camp that morning and receive the word Ross had left him at +the post-office. + +Steele, who had stayed behind long enough to examine the tunnel, +confirmed Weimer's statement that more than enough work had been done to +cover the requirements of the law. Weimer, jubilant, sat and talked +to his old-time "pard," whose voice answered him, but whose satisfied +gaze followed Ross. + +But it was to the man who had stood in the place of a father to him that +Ross's eyes turned most frequently. Dr. Grant sat, appropriately, on +the emergency chest, looking affectionately at his energetic nephew. + +Suddenly Ross picked up a tin cup full of water from the table, and held +it out at arm's length toward his uncle. + +Dr. Grant smiled. "All right, Ross," he said quietly. + +Ross, Senior, looked from one to the other inquiringly. Ross, Junior, +answered; but he turned his back on his father, and spoke hesitatingly. +"I was showing uncle, father, that my hand is still steady enough to be +the hand of a first class--surgeon." + +Promptly and heartily came the unexpected response from the elder Grant. +"I'm glad of that, Ross, for I shall look to see you as successful +in your profession as you have been in my business," and he turned at +once to Weimer, and went on speaking. + +"Suppose," he was saying, "as long as you want to stay here, you get your +friend"--he indicated the sheep-herder--"to come and live with you. I'm +going to buy out Ross's interest in the shares, and I'll look to you +to keep 'em in good shape--you and your friend--until we get a chance to +sell well. Of course," he added carelessly, "I'll grub-stake you and +more, both of you." + +Sheepy's eyes lighted, and Weimer grinned and slapped his knee. They +were the only signs necessary to complete the bargain. + +After dinner, as Ross arose from the table, he saw Leslie hurrying down +the trail. Ross went to meet him. + +"Hello, Ross!" Leslie called in a voice which he tried to make +matter-of-fact, but which bubbled over with jubilation. "I stopped in +at the post-office and got your word and a letter from dad. It's only +a month old! He thinks we're mewed up over here, you know, working your +claims. And he says he and Sue want me to come home as soon as I get +this letter. He says if I'm willing to work he'll give me better +wages than I can get anywhere else! He doesn't know yet," here Leslie +grinned broadly, "that I want to do now the very thing he has fought +all my life to make me do--go to school. That doctor business has +sort of sunk in. But say, Ross, here's a thing that bothers me." Leslie +pulled the letter from his pocket and read: + +"'A few days ago I got hold of the fourth man that ran my sheep off into +the river two years ago. The fellow came and gave himself up to me.'" + +The reader looked up tentatively. "Ross, if it was Weston dad would have +said----" + +Ross's hand descended on the other's shoulder in a mighty whack as he +shouted: "It isn't Weston. Now you listen and give me an inning on the +talk!" + +For half an hour they stood outside the shack while Ross got his +inning--Sandy's hand, the work, Weston's strange actions were all +reviewed hurriedly and listened to excitedly. Then, seeing Weston +approaching, the boys went inside. + +Weston crossed the valley slowly, looking down at something which he held +in the palm of his hand, something in a small gilt frame that he slipped +into his breast pocket when he entered the shack. + +Completely absorbed in his own thoughts--cheerful thoughts too, +apparently--he went directly to his bunk, and began gathering his few +possessions together not noticing that the group had been augmented by +Leslie. + +"I guess," he explained abstractedly, "that I'll go on at once--I'm +going to Oklahoma and not Missouri." Then he looked over his shoulder at +the sheep-herder, adding abstractedly: "Waymart says I ain't the fourth, +and never was. He's been makin' up his mind to tell me this good while." + +The blank expression on the sheep-herder's face brought Weston back to +a sense of his surroundings. + +"I forgot," he muttered turning to Ross, who stood beside the bunk, "that +you may not know about this Quinn business." + +Leslie stepped forward quickly, but paused as he saw Weston was oblivious +of his presence. + +"I know a good deal about it," exclaimed Ross impulsively, "and I wish +I knew the rest--your part of it." + +Weston leaned against the bunk, his back toward the silent room, his eyes +downcast. He made the explanation with visible reluctance. + +"You see, Doc, I used to drink; and when I had two or three glasses down, +I'd go out of my head; and when I had come to myself again I wouldn't +know a blooming thing that had happened while I was drunk. But all the +time I could ride straight and talk straight and shoot straight." + +He paused to moisten his lips. Leslie came a step nearer. + +"Well," Weston continued, "to make a long story short, I was foreman on +a cattle ranch in Oklahoma two years ago. Sandy and Mart came around +wanting a job, and I gave 'em one on the same ranch. Then came the big +round-up at North Fork--and there was trouble between the sheep and +cattle men." + +Weston hesitated and looked down. He raised his hand to his breast pocket +and let it fall at his side. + +"The night the round-up ended most of us--got drunk." + +He paused, shook himself impatiently, and hurried on: "I didn't go +with the rest intending to drink--but I did, what with treating and all +that. And when I come to myself, Sandy told me I was one of the men +who had done the job on the Quinn sheep. And, knowing what I am when +drunk, I believed him and cleared out with him and Mart over the Texas +line, and----" his hand traveled to his hair completing the sentence. + +"I see!" exclaimed Ross excitedly; "and since then Sandy has held that +over you." + +Weston nodded. "I was sick of drink, but I got sick of it too late, you +see. I'd put a lasso round my own neck just when I most wanted to be +free." + +His hand again wandered toward his breast pocket. + +"But now," he added, "I am free." + +He lifted his head proudly and turning, was aware for the first time +of Leslie's presence. As the hands of the two met Ross strode across +the room and began speaking loudly and at random to the others, leaving +Sue's lover and Sue's brother to talk alone. + +Presently, however, unable to restrain the question longer, Ross turned +again on Weston. + +"Sandy stole our sticks, didn't he?" he demanded, "and planned the whole +thing to get rid of me?" + +Weston turned slowly back to his bunk. For a moment he fumbled among the +blankets in silence. Then he faced about again resolutely. + +"Say, Doc, you have your claims here secure, haven't you, and Sandy has +lost 'em?" + +"Yes, thanks to you." + +"And you've got outside of enough of those books so you can go to +college next year, eh?" + +"Yes, again thanks to you!" + +"And," here Weston glanced at Leslie, "Sandy has dropped a finger +somewhere in the game." + +Leslie could not restrain a look of exultation. "Yes." + +"Well, then, let this thing drop, will you? Sandy hain't all to the +bad. He's pulled me out of as many holes as he's chucked me into; and +I--well, I--say, Doc, call it square, will you?" + +Ross glanced from his father to his uncle and then at Steele. A glance +satisfied him. Stepping forward, he extended his hand. + +"It's square, Weston, and I'll let everything go except--I can't +forget that you've pulled me out of a pretty big hole--the worst one I +ever dropped into." + + +The Books of this Series are: + ROSS GRANT, TENDERFOOT + ROSS GRANT, GOLD HUNTER + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ross Grant Tenderfoot, by John Garland + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSS GRANT TENDERFOOT *** + +***** This file should be named 34296-8.txt or 34296-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/2/9/34296/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |