Part 23 (1/2)
Not only Allen, but also Noel Urner and Daddy Wampole were astonished by the revelation Ike Watson made.
”Uncle Barnaby trapped into leaving San Francisco!” gasped Allen. ”Did they say where they had taken him?”
”Didn't say nuthin' more'n I told ye,” responded the hunter from Gold Fork. ”Leas'wise, didn't say nuthin' ez I could hear.”
”Who were the men?”
”I don't know, 'ceptin' I seed 'em hangin' around Jordan Creek about six months ago. Like ez not they belong to the old Sol Davids gang. Nearly every one up thet water course belonged to thet gang.”
”Would you know them if you saw them again?”
”Sartinly--I'm powerful good at recerlectin' faces onct I see 'em.”
”Where do you suppose the men went to?”
”Rode off in the direction o' Black Rock River Canyon.”
Allen started. Could it be possible they suspected the claim was up in that neighborhood? It was more than possible.
The young ranchman turned to Noel Urner. ”Noel, I'm going to change my plans. I am going after those two men instead of going to San Francisco.”
”It would certainly seem a useless trip now,” replied the young man from New York, slowly. ”There is not the slightest doubt but what your uncle was decoyed away from San Francisco. Where he is now is a mystery which those two men must solve for you--they or----”
”Captain Grady,” finished Allen, impulsively. ”I feel it in my bones that he is in this plot against Uncle Barnaby.”
”It would seem so.”
”How do ye make that out?” asked Ike Watson.
In a few words Allen told the old hunter about the missing letter.
”Gee, shoo! He are one o' the gang, sartin!” cried Ike Watson. ”The best ye can do is to start in an' round 'em all up.”
”Thet's the talk,” put in Daddy Wampole. ”The state would be a hundred per cent better off with 'em fellers out o' it.”
Allen gazed at Ike Watson earnestly.
”Will you help me in this work?” he asked. ”You know more about these bad men than I do.”
”Will I help ye? Allen ye ought ter know better than ter axt sech a question. O' course I'll help ye. I ain't got much ter do. Them new claims up the Salmon kin wait well enough.”
”I would help ye, too, if I could git away,” said Daddy Wampole. ”Thet gang worried me enough for six years, goodness knows!”
”And what of you?” Allen turned to Noel. ”You see how matters stand. I don't want to ask you to go, for we may have some rough times, and----”
”I came out to see rough times,” interrupted the young man from the east. ”So unless you think I'll be too much of a hindrance, I would like greatly to accompany you wherever you go. You must remember that I, too, am anxious to find your uncle.”
”Then, thet's settled,” said Ike Watson. He did not much fancy having the company of a ”tenderfoot,” but Noel's manner pleased him.