lost them all; then, too proud to return and "take on"
again, had found starvation-wages at Argenta.

"Stay here," whispered Toomey, "and keep sittin'." Then, wiping his
hands on a wad of waste, and with an affable grin on his face, he swung
over behind Ben and leaned out of the cab.

"Hullo, Scotty! Any of our fellers in that outfit?"

"Hullo, Toomey! None of 'em with _that_ gang, but there's three of 'em
came, and old Nolan's head of the whole caboodle. He's their cap' and
spokesman."

"Nolan! Nolan here?" cried Toomey, in great excitement, while Geordie
felt his heart beating hard.

"Nolan, as big as life and twice as wicked."

CHAPTER VII

A BALKED ARREST

For a moment Graham's spirits sank like lead. Nolan, the stanch old
soldier who had been his foremost trooper friend and guide, was the man
of all others on whom he pinned his faith, on whose help he had relied,
and upon whose loyalty and devotion he was ready to stake his every
hope of success. And now--so said this former soldier and comrade--now
Nolan was here in Argenta, instead of up at the mines, here with a mob
of strikers, their leader and spokesman, chief of the crew, possibly,
that had nearly done to death the son of one of the principal directors
of Silver Shield.

That Breifogle was his father's enemy, and a leading spirit in the plot
to rob him, Geordie Graham knew full well. That Breifogle the younger
had been sent to Denver to watch for the coming of Dr. Graham, McCrea,
or others of the officers, all of whom he knew by sight and name, there
was every reason to believe; but that Nolan should take part in or
countenance the mobbing of the Breifogles, or any others of the
mine-owners, was abhorrent, if not impossible.

Now for the moment Geordie longed for the presence of McCrea, who had
remained in Denver in hopes of bringing local officials to their senses
and his terms. And McCrea, for his part, was at the same moment wishing
to Heaven he had followed Geordie's lead and pushed ahead for the field
of battle. The Denverite members of the board, warned of his presence,
had easily managed to elude him, and with others were now on their way
to Argenta for a special meeting, while McCrea was still held at a
distance, lured by an appointment for a conference to come off that
very morning at eleven, long three hours after the other conferees had
vanished from town.

But no older head was there to advise. Graham alone, representing the