UEST.

The miners of Last Chance were too much excited over the expected ransom
of Celeste Seldon, and the thought of soon having a young and beautiful
girl in the mining-camps, to devote themselves to steady work, after the
situation was known to them.

Then, too, they were greatly disturbed at the mysterious disappearance
of Bernard Brandon, the young man whose mind had been destroyed by his
wound, and which they could not comprehend, for not the slightest trace
had been found of him, with all their searching.

The fact that they had been robbed, and also Celeste Seldon, was another
disturbing element, and so it was that little work was done in the mines
during the time following Harding's arrival and the day set for Doctor
Dick to go out with the ransom money for the young girl whom they all so
longed to welcome in their frontier home.

Landlord Larry had set the example of having things spruced up for her
coming, and the miners had quickly followed his example, having put
their cabins in better condition.

A cabin which the landlord was having built for his own especial use,
apart from the hotel, was hastened to completion, and then the very best
the hotel could supply was put in it as furniture and to make it
attractive to the fair visitor, who was to be regarded as the guest of
Last Chance.

At last, the eventful day arrived for the ransom to be paid, and the
miners had all taken a peep into the quarters of Celeste Seldon, to see
how attractive it was.

Doctor Dick had furnished a number of things, and the miners who had any
pretty robes, or souvenirs, did likewise, until it would have been a
callous heart, indeed, that would not be touched by their devotion to
one whom they had never seen.

The question of an attempt to capture the road-agents had been fully
discussed, but dismissed upon the advice of Landlord Larry, Doctor Dick,
and Harding, who represented the danger that the girl would be in, at
the hands of the merciless masked chief.

That Doctor Dick was the right man to send out with the ransom all felt
assured, for if there was any trickery on the part of the road-agents,
he was the one to meet it.

Doctor Dick had even offered to go out upon horseback alone, but it was
thought best that the coach should be sent for the visitor, and Harding
should drive, he having met her.

The miners, however, arranged to meet her with a delegation at the
entrance to the valley, and escort her to the hote