"Sure, his deputy--Lawrence--a man we can get hands down."

Bostwick stared at him hopefully.

"You don't mean to say this accident--this crime--is fortunate, after
all?"

"It's a godsend." McCoppet would have dared any blasphemy.

Bostwick's relief was inordinate.

"Then what is the next thing to do?"

"Wait for Lawrence," said the gambler. Then he suddenly arose. "No,
we can't afford the time. He might be a week in coming. You'll have
to go get him, to-morrow."

"Where is he, then?"

"Way out South, on a survey. You'd better take that car of yours, with
a couple of men I'll send along, and fetch him back mighty pronto. We
can't let a deal like this look raw. The sooner he runs that
reservation line the better things will appear."

Bostwick, too, had risen.

"Will your men know where to find him?"

"If he's still on the map," said the gambler. "You leave that to me.
Better go see about your car to-night. I'll hustle your men and your
outfit. See you again if anything turns up important. Meantime, is
your money in the bank?"

"It's in the bank."

"Right," said McCoppet. "Good-night."

CHAPTER XXIII

BETH'S DESPERATION

The following day in Goldite was one of occurrences, all more or less
intimately connected with the affairs of Van and Beth.

Bostwick succeeded in making an early start to the southward in his
car. McCoppet had provided not only a couple of men as guides to the
field where Lawrence was working, but also a tent, provisions, and
blankets, should occasion arise for their use.

Beth was informed by her fiance that word had arrived from her brother,
to whom Searle said he meant to go. The business of buying Glenmore's
mine, he said, required unexpected dispatch. Perhaps both he and Glen
might return by the end of the week.

By that morning's train the body of Culver was shipped away--and the
camp began to forget him. The sheriff was after Cayuse.

Early in the afternoon the body of the girl who had never been known in
Goldite by any name save that of Queenie, was buried on a hillside,
already called into requisition as a final resting place for such as
succumbed in the mining-camp, too far from friends, or too far lost, to
be carried to the world outside the mountains. Half a dozen women
attended the somewhat meager rites. There was one mourner only--the
man who had run to summon Van, and who later had waited by the door.

At four o'clock the Goldite _Ne