Part 42 (2/2)

What's the use of askin' how Jim Weston finds things out? Why, he seems to know what a man miles off is thinkin' about. Ye'd almost imagine that he has a wireless outfit fixed up in his head.”

Glen and Reynolds laughed, and even the old man smiled. He seemed to like to see them both happy, and when supper was over he told several humorous stories in his quaint, droll fas.h.i.+on. For a time Glen forgot her exciting experiences of the afternoon, and Samson did not once allude to them. At length he arose and laid his hand upon Reynolds'

shoulder.

”Come, young man, it's time fer us to be goin' if the la.s.sie is to git any sleep,” he reminded. ”I know you'd like to sit here all night an'

watch. But she'll be as safe as in her own little nest at home. We'll be around early in the mornin', remember, Miss.”

Glen held out her hand as she bade each good night. Reynolds held her hand for a few seconds and looked lovingly into her tired eyes. How he longed to put his arms around her to comfort her and tell her how brave and n.o.ble she was. But no, he would not do that now, as she might resent it. Instead, he merely bent his head, and lifting her hand touched it lightly with his lips, and hurried out of the building.

Alone in the little room that night, ere she laid herself down upon the rough cot, Glen pressed her hand to her lips and kissed the spot where her lover's lips had rested. Tired though she was, a sweet peace stole into her heart. Forgotten was Curly, and she thought only of him she had rescued, and of whose love she felt a.s.sured.

Frontier Samson made no allusion to Reynolds' presence at Big Draw. He never even asked what had befallen him when he was lost out in the hills. This did not seem strange to Reynolds for a while, as his mind was much filled with the stirring events of the night. But when lying wrapped up in his blankets in his tent he thought it all over, and the silence of the prospector did seem strange. Then he remembered that Samson had been at the cabin in the hills, and no doubt Weston had told him the whole story.

No reference was made to the matter the next day until they were well advanced on the trail. Glen was like her former self once more after her refres.h.i.+ng sleep, and the color had again returned to her cheeks, She was full of spirit and animation, and laughed gaily at Samson's quaint remarks as he rode by her side wherever the trail permitted.

Reynolds, too, was happy, and Glen's buoyant cheerfulness affected him like magic. To listen to her voice and merry laughter made him perfectly contented. Life was very pleasant to him this morning, with the dark clouds all rolled away.

Suddenly a moose appeared on the trail ahead, which gazed for an instant upon the riders, and then bounded off into the woods.

”Like to chase it, eh?” Samson queried, as he looked quizzically at Reynolds.

”Not this time,” was the laughing reply. ”I have learned a lesson.”

”In the school of experience, I guess. It's the only school in which some people'll ever learn anything.”

”Chiefly babies and fools, so I've heard,” Reynolds replied. ”I was certainly a fool, all right, for not obeying orders and leaving a moose alone unless one is in need of meat. But, then, things turned out all right after all. If I had not got lost, I would not have reached Glen West as I did.”

”An' not have found the gold, either.”

”Why, did you hear about the discovery?” Reynolds eagerly asked.

”Sure. I heard all about it, an' how ye staked a claim fer yer old pardner, Frontier Samson. It was sartinly kind of ye to think of me.”

”But I didn't stake any claim for you,” Reynolds confessed, while his face crimsoned.

”Ye didn't, eh? An' we was pardners, too! Wall, that's queer.”

”Oh, I am sorry,” the young man acknowledged. ”But I staked two claims, so you shall have one of them. How will that do?”

”No, thank ye. I've got enough to do me, I guess, to the end of me tether. An', besides, mebbe you'll need a hull gold mine to keep a-goin' by the looks of things. Women need a lot these days.” His eyes twinkled as he turned them upon Glen's face, and noted that she was blus.h.i.+ng, for she understood the meaning of his words. ”But, then, it'll all depend upon the woman,” he continued, ”Now, some wouldn't be satisfied with a dozen gold mines, while others would be perfectly contented with a little log shack, so long as the place was built of love. I guess that'd be the way with you, Miss, from what I've seen of ye. But, h.e.l.lo! who's this? Why, it's the rascal Dan, I do believe!

He seems to be in a hurry.”

And Dan certainly was in a hurry. He was not at all inclined to talk, but anxious to get along as fast as possible.

”What's yer rush?” Samson asked.

”I want to get to Big Draw before night,” was the curt reply.

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