g to meet the old mountaineer.

"They've gone, Johnny," was Donald's first greeting.

"Gone?"

"Yes. The whole bunch--Quade, Culver Rann, DeBar, and the woman who rode
the bear. They've gone, hide and hair, and nobody seems to know where."

Aldous was staring.

"Also," resumed old Donald slowly, "Culver Rann's outfit is gone--twenty
horses, including six saddles. An' likewise others have gone, but I can't
find out who."

"Gone!" repeated Aldous again.

MacDonald nodded.

"And that means----"

"That Culver Rann ain't lost any time in gettin' under way for the gold,"
said Donald. "DeBar is with him, an' probably the woman. Likewise three
cut-throats to fill the other saddles. They've gone prepared to fight."

"And Quade?"

Old Donald hunched his shoulders, and suddenly John's face grew dark and
hard.

"I understand," he spoke, half under his breath. "Quade has
disappeared--but he isn't with Culver Rann. He wants us to believe he has
gone. He wants to throw us off our guard. But he's watching, and
waiting--somewhere--like a hawk, to swoop down on Joanne! He----"

"That's it!" broke in MacDonald hoarsely. "That's it, Johnny! It's his old
trick--his old trick with women. There's a hunderd men who've got to do his
bidding--do it 'r get out of the mountains--an' we've got to watch Joanne.
We have, Johnny! If she should disappear----"

Aldous waited.

"You'd never find her again, so 'elp me God, you wouldn't, Johnny!" he
finished.

"We'll watch her," said Aldous quietly. "I'll be with her to-day, Mac, and
to-night I'll come down to the camp in the coulee to compare notes with
you. They can't very well steal her out of Blackton's house while I'm
gone."

For an hour after MacDonald left him he walked about in the neighbourhood
of the Blackton bungalow smoking his pipe. Not until he saw the contractor
drive up in the buckboard did he return. Joanne and Peggy were more than
prompt. They were waiting. If such a thing were possible Joanne was more
radiantly lovely than the night before. To Aldous she became more beautiful
every time he looked at her. But this morning he did not speak what was in
his heart when, for a moment, he held her hand, and looked into her eyes.
Instead, he said:

"Good morning, Ladygray. Have you used----"

"I have," she smiled. "Only it's Potterdam's Tar Soap, and not the other.
And you--have not shaved, John Aldous!"

"Great Scott, so I haven't!" he exclaimed, rubbing his chin. "Bu