t's
got you now? Have I been a doin' anything I hadn't ought to?"

"You know it isn't that, Joe. I wanted to speak to you about that tin
box your father said was taken from him that night."

"Oh, was that it?" remarked Joe, faintly, and catching his breath.

"You believe that I'd like to help get it back for him, don't you?"
demanded the young patrol leader.

"I remember hearing you say you'd be glad to have a hand in recoverin'
it; and I guess you meant it every time, Paul," came the reply.

"Well," Paul continued, "perhaps the chance may come to me up here on
Rattlesnake Mountain, Joe. It would be queer now, wouldn't it, if, in
coming up to this country we just happened to land on the chap who was
in your father's store that night, and put out the lamp after he had
picked up that little old tin box, eh?"

Joe seemed to have some difficulty in answering. He appeared to be
swallowing a lump in his throat as though it threatened to choke him.

"Why, yes," he presently managed to mutter, "that would be funny now,
for a fact. My dad'd like mighty well to get that stuff back, Paul, sure
he would."

"Perhaps then you wouldn't mind telling me who that man was, Joe,"
remarked Paul, quietly.

"What man?" queried Joe, though his voice betrayed the fact that he knew
only too well what his friend was driving at.

"I chanced to see you when that party drove past our noon camp," said
Paul, softly. "You recognized him, Joe, I am sure you did; and you
showed every sign of being both startled and alarmed."

"Huh! well," Joe stammered, "you see it did give me a sorter start,
because he looked like somebody I knew was at the other side of the
world right then. I reckon you'd feel upset like, Paul, if you thought
you saw a ghost."

"Perhaps I would," replied the patrol leader, quickly; "but you
immediately knew that it wasn't a ghost. Still, it has been bothering
you all the afternoon, Joe."

"Say, what makes you think that?"

"I've watched you when you didn't think anybody was looking," Paul went
on. "I've seen you shake your head and talk to yourself as if you might
be trying to believe something your common sense told you couldn't be
so. How about it, Joe?"

"Oh! I'm willing to admit I've been mixed up about that thing, and bad
too," confessed Joe, as if brought to bay; "but I ain't goin' to say
anything about it, not just yet anyhow. I must see dad first, and get
his opinion."

"Well, I don't want to force you, Jo