y was a source of constant anxiety to him; he was
so frank and straightforward himself that double dealing seemed foreign
to his nature.

"Well, as we didn't come all the way up here just to worry our heads
over guessing hard problems, I guess we won't lose any sleep," Ethan
went on to say, in his easy-going way.

"I'm wondering what made all these burns on the floor," Phil told them;
"and on this table, too. In these days people don't mold bullets like
they used to years ago, when the pioneers were settling the wilderness;
and yet that's what it looks like to me."

"The place isn't as clean as it might be," Ethan now remarked, "and the
first thing we'll have to do in the morning will be to tidy up. I'll
make a broom out of twigs, like I've seen poor emigrants do. It answers
the purpose pretty well, too."

He was prying around in one of the bunks while saying this, as though he
had suspicions; which Lub, who was anxiously watching him, hoped in his
heart might turn out to be groundless.

Phil had turned to other things, and was proceeding to undo his pack.
This caught Lub's eye, and caused the worried expression on his face to
give way to one of pleasure. He knew that such a move meant it was
getting time for them to think of supper; and Lub was always ready to do
his part toward providing a meal; oh, yes, and in disposing of the same,
too.

"Wow! you quit too soon!" suddenly yelped X-Ray, who had continued
prowling on hands and knees after Phil and Ethan had stopped searching
the floor.

"Found something, have you?" asked the former, without looking up from
his job of opening the contents of his pack.

"Is it worth a hair-pin, X-Ray?" chirped Ethan, who had been gathering a
handful of timber in a corner where a lot of wood lay in a pile, ready
for burning.

"You could buy a thousand with it, I reckon!" was the astonishing
declaration of the finder, which remark caused every one to immediately
take notice.

The boy with the sharp eyes was holding something up between thumb and
forefinger. It shone in the last rays of the setting sun, as they came
into the cabin through a small window in the western side.

"Why, what's this mean?" ejaculated Ethan; "looks like you've gone and
struck a silver mine, X-Ray! That's a half dollar, ain't it? D'ye mean
to say you found it on this same floor?"

"Just what I did, and deep down in a crack, where it must have slid, so
nobody noticed it!" exclaimed the other, exultan