opined
Watts, reflectively.

"Why don't men like them?" asked the girl eagerly.

"I dunno. Seems like they jes' nachelly mistrust 'em someways."

"Did my father like him--Mr. Bethune?"

"'Cordin' to Mr. Bethune they wus gret buddies, but when I'd run
acrost yo' pa in the hills, 'pears like he wus allus alone er elsen
Vil Holland was along. But, Mr. Bethune claims he set a heap by yo'
pa, like the time he come an' 'lowed to take away his pack. I wouldn't
let hit go, 'cause thet hain't the way Vil said, an' Mr. Bethune, he
started in to git mad, but then he laffed, an' said hit didn't make no
diff'ence, 'cause all he wanted wus to be shore hit wus saft kep."

"An' Pa mos' hed to shoot him, though, 'fore he laffed. I done tol' Pa
he hadn't ort to. Lessen yo' runnin' a still, yo' hain't no call to
shoot folks comin' 'round."

"Shoot him!" exclaimed Patty, staring in surprise at the easy-going
Watts.

"Yas, he aimed to take thet pack anyways. So I went in an' got down
the ol' rifle-gun an' pintedly tole him I'd shoot him dead ef he laid
holt o' thet pack, an' then he laffed an' rud off."

"But, would you have shot him, really?"

"Yas," answered the mountaineer, in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'd of hed
to."

Patty rode home slowly and in silence--thinking. And that evening, by
the light of her coal-oil lamp she puzzled over the roughly sketched
map with its cryptic signs and notations. There were a half-dozen
samples, too--chips of rough, heavy rock that didn't look a bit like
gold. "High grade," her daddy had called them as he babbled
incessantly upon his death-bed. But they looked dull and unpromising
to the girl as they lay upon the table. She returned to the sketch.
With the exception of a single small dot, placed beside what was
evidently the principal creek of the locality, the map consisted only
of lines and shadings which evidently indicated creeks and
mountains--no cross, no letter, no number--nothing to indicate
landmark or location, only a confusing network of creeks and feeders
branching out like the limbs of a tree. Along the bottom of the paper
the girl read the following line:

"SC 1 S1 1/2 E 1 S [up arrow] to [union symbol] 2 W to a. to b. stake L.C.
[zigzag symbol] centre."

"I suppose that was all clear as daylight to daddy, and maybe it would
be to anyone who is used to maps, but as for doing me any good, he
might as well have copied a line from the Chinese dictionary."

She stared hopelessly