she had a sense of something lacking and could not say the words she knew he was hoping to hear. But her smile satisfied him.
Sudden had not been pleased to have company--he would not be able to pay the Rocking Stone a visit, but his objection that there might he danger had been met with a merry laugh.
'We've faced it all together before,' Lora reminded.
'Yeah, an' I'd have thought once would 'a' been a-plenty,' he replied.
'You don't know how fascinating you are, Jim,' she mocked.
'I reckon yore brother is some disappointed,' he said.
'I didn't come to discuss Paul; I want to talk about you.' He looked at her quizzically: 'Well, I can't stop yu, but I don't have to listen.'
'That is mean of you,' she cried. 'If I knew the way back...'
'I'll show yu,' he offered instantly.
To his surprise, she laughed. 'No, you are too anxious to get rid of me, my friend. Why?'
'I've work to do.' A little later he pulled up. 'Wait here,' he told her, 'I won't be far off. No, yu needn't to hold Nigger--he'll stay put.' He dropped the reins to the ground, took his rifle, and slipped noiselessly into the brush. She heard the shot, and soon he was back, carrying his spoil. The woman looked at the limp, sleek body of the deer and shivered. Such a little time ago it had been full of life, and now ... With an uncanny instinct he sometimes showed, he read her thought.
'I warned yu not to come,' he said.
She did not speak until they were nearly back at the camp, and then: 'Jim, do you ever think of-- Logan?'
'On'y when thoughtless folk remind me,' he said harshly.
'I killed a man once,' she went on in a low voice. 'I suppose you heard? I didn't intend to; he was--horrible to me. I meant to frighten him, but--he died.'
'Forget it,' the cowboy said. 'Yu had a right to protect yoreself, an' by all accounts, the fella got what he deserved.'
'Death, when one thinks seriously of it, seems terrible,' she mused.
'Shucks, it's just goin' to sleep an' not wakin' up, that's all,' he said lightly.
She shook her head. 'I'm afraid,' she confessed.
'What of?' Sudden asked.
'I don't know--which is the worst kind of fear,' she said, and, with an effort at a smile, as the camp-fires came in view, 'I've been a doleful Dinah this evening, Jim. I'll be all right in the morning.' She walked listlessly to the tent. The puncher unsaddled and turned loose the horses, hung the meat on a branch out of reach of four- footed prowlers, and went down to the shack in search of supper. He found an air of savage dejection, and soon realized that in the bitter condemnation of Snowy, he himself was included.
'Allus knowed he was a romancer,' Rodd remarked. 'Hell if that of geezer opened his mouth much more he'd be liable to swatter hisself.'
'Yeah, you can't tell him nothin' 'bout gold, an' he fetches us out here on this shadder-huntin' play,' Lem supplemented.
'Anybody might think yu'd paid him for the chance,' Sudden said. 'How much has any o' yu lost?'
'We're riskin' our ha'r an' wastin' time,' Berg argued.
'Like the rest of us,' Sudden pointed out. 'Did yu expect to find the dust packed up in sealed boxes ready for yu?' He was watching Fagan as he spoke, and saw the sinister face darken. Husky--who did not understand the allusion--laughed and said, 'Even Ducane didn't promise that. Arter all, it's a blow in the breakfast for him too, but we may hit on her yet--you never know 'bout claims.' His optimism evoked only scowls and sneers. Sudden finished his meal, said good night to the big miner, and sought his blankets. He did not sleep at once. Lora's mood, so unlike her confident, cynical self, puzzled him. Was it another trick of an accomplished coquette or could there be real reason for fear? Possible she had recognised Hank. But her brother would protect her. Then came the amazing thought that Paul might be the cause of her apprehension, but he dismissed it as absurd.
The morrow brought no encouragement to the fortune hunters; the ravine was tested from end to end and the results were meagre indeed. Even Snowy had to admit that it was useless to continue work there. He appeared to be dazed by the disappointment, wandering from one point to another like a man who had lost something precious. Only Sudden caught and read the malicious gleam of joy which sometimes crept into his narrowed eyes.
'Damned if I can understand it,' he said to Lesurge. 'There's the shack I lived in '
'Ducane lived in,' Paul reminded.
'O' course, I meant that,' the other assented. 'But here's the ravine, an' the marks when he tried her out.'
'The directions Mary gave you indicated this place?'
'Shore they did. How else would I find it?' Paul turned away impatiently; it would be just like the doddering old idiot to have made a mistake. He went in search of the girl and found her sitting on a tree-stump, absorbing the view. Though the frown had vanished, his face was worn and worried; finding the mine meant everything to him. Nevertheless, he forced a smile to his lips as he answered her question.
'No better news. I'm beginning to fear that Ducane's memory has served him ill and that he has brought us to the wrong spot.' Mary had known this as soon as they arrived, but the promise to her uncle had kept her silent. But surely now that they were away from Deadwood and she was to wed Paul, there was no more need for secrecy. Pity for him impelled her to speak; she did not see that he was watching her narrowly.
'I am afraid you are right, but Uncle seemed so sure,' she replied. 'There was mention of a kind of cup with cliff-walls, a rock peak which somehow threatened, and a hidden entrance. I think, from what I can remember, that we came the right way, and that it should be near here.' Though he questioned her closely, she would tell him nothing more definite. 'Possibly these particulars may stir your uncle's sluggish memory,' he said, and cursed below his breath. at the thought that the old man could know no more than himself.
'I hope so,' she replied. 'It will break his heart to fail.' On his way back to the camp he met Lora, and gave an order: 'When that cowboy goes hunting to-night you stay here.'
'And why?' she inquired, raising mutinous eyebrows.
'Because it is necessary,' he snapped, 'unless you wish to remain a pauper.' She gave a weary gesture. 'Oh, I'm tired of it,' she cried. 'I'm afraid you were right, Paul; he is too strong for me.'
'Well, it doesn't matter now; I can handle Mister Green myself,' he said harshly.
An hour after the puncher had departed on his foraging expedition, Rodd come rocketing into camp and drew Lesurge aside.
'Boss, we're bein' sold out,' he said. 'I follered Green, saw him git the meat, an' then, 'stead o' turnin' back, he goes on. An' he ain't just wanderin' neither, but makin' for a fixed point. Next, cuss the luck, I loses him.'
'Blundering jackass,' came the angry comment.
'Warn't my fault. We comes to an open stretch o' grass an' that black o' his leaves mine a-standin' still. I'll swear he never got a peep at me; it was just a smart dodge, in case.'
'All right. When he returns, you know what to do.' The spy had been correct--Sudden had no suspicion that he was being trailed, but he was taking no chances. At the Rocking Stone he found the work proceeding merrily and the gold was being got out with all speed.
'Somethin's bound to happen to-morrow,' he told Gerry, as he was leaving. 'The ravine's busted wide open an' there ain't enough dust to pay one o' the gang. Snowy's a born actor but Paul is gettin' suspicious.'
'Mebbe he'll throw the hand in an' go back to Deadwood?'
'What the of man is hopin' for, I expect, but it won't be that easy. Keep a sharp look-out, an' don't light a fire--smoke can be seen a long ways off in the daylight.'
'Now I'll tell one,' Gerry said. 'Yu had a gran'mother.' Sudden stared at him. 'What th'--?' he began.
'Don't deny it fella. Yore gran'mother could suck eggs, an' I'm bettin' yu taught her how.'
'Awright, I take it back,' the other Iaughed. 'I keep forgettin' yo're near growed up.' Everything appeared to be normal when he reached the ravine. He rode down to the shack, dismounted, and was in the act of handing the buck he had brought in to Berg when one of the men deftly removed his guns and two others grabbed his wrists. With a violent wrench he freed himself and drove a bullet-hard fist into the nearest face--that of Rodd. But Hank
