d crept into his
voice. The three men stood waiting, their tense attitude expressing the
anxiety they would not put into words. The deliberate Smith, who had
transferred his services from old Thatcher to Cameron and who had taken
the ranch and all persons and things belonging to it into his immediate
charge, disposed of his bundle in a stall, and then facing them said
slowly:

"Guess he's all right."

"Is he home?" asked the Inspector sharply.

"Oh, he's home all right. Gone to bed, I think," answered Smith with
maddening calmness.

The Inspector cursed him between his teeth and turned away from the
others till his eyes should be clear again.

"We will just look in on Mrs. Cameron for a few minutes," said the
Superintendent. "We won't disturb him."

Leaving Jerry to put up their horses, they went into the ranch-house and
found the ladies in a state of suppressed excitement. Mandy met them at
the door with an eager welcome, holding out to them trembling hands.

"Oh, I am so glad you have come!" she cried. "It was all I could do
to hold him back from going to you even as he was. He was quite set on
going and only lay down on promise that I should wake him in an hour.
Sit down here by the fire. An hour, mind you," she continued, talking
rapidly and under obvious excitement, "and him so blind and exhausted
that--" She paused abruptly, unable to command her voice.

"He ought to sleep twelve hours straight," said the Superintendent with
emphasis, "and twenty-four would be better, with suitable breaks for
refreshment," he added in a lighter tone, glancing at Mandy's face.

"Yes, indeed," she replied, "for he has had little enough to eat the
last three days. And that reminds me--" she hurried to the pantry and
returned with the teapot--"you must be cold, Superintendent. Ah, this
terrible cold! A hot cup of tea will be just the thing. It will take
only five minutes--and it is better than punch, though perhaps you men
do not think so." She laughed somewhat wildly.

"Why, Mrs. Cameron," said the Superintendent in a shocked, bantering
voice, "how can you imagine we should be guilty of such heresy--in this
prohibition country, too?"

"Oh, I know you men," replied Mandy. "We keep some Scotch in the
house--beside the laudanum. Some people can't take tea, you know," she
added with an uncertain smile, struggling to regain control of herself.
"But all the same, I am a nurse, and I know that after exposure tea is
better."