eck went on to explain. "One of the men knew about that
ledge, and the idea seemed to tickle Kracker more than a little. They
just shoved me over, and it was keep a tight hold on that rope for me,
or a drop to the cruel rocks away down at the foot of the precipice.
Then, late in the afternoon I saw you come into the valley far below. I
wanted to shout, at first, but was afraid you were only some of the
other hard cases of silver mine hunters like Kracker. But I had found
out in the meantime that in crevices of the rock some small trees had
once taken root, several of them dying, so that I amused myself in
breaking off pieces of wood and starting a little fire deep in a fissure
I found, and which they didn't know anything about, I guess.

"Then, to my surprise I saw some one making all sorts of figures in
the darkness with what seemed to be a torch. I used to belong to the
Boy Scout troop of Logan, you see, and for a little while I even
manipulated the telegraph key in the railroad station a few miles out
of there, on the Oregon Southern Railroad; so that I soon saw he was
practicing the Morse code. And then a wild desire came over me to get
in touch with you. What I did, you all know; and I'm the happiest
fellow in the whole Rocky Mountains to think that I've found friends
up here, friends who say they'll stand back of me, and help me win out
in my fight for my father's mine."

There were tears in Aleck Rawson's blue eyes as he said this last, and
somehow every one of the scouts was deeply affected. It does not take
much to arouse the boyish spirit of enthusiasm as a rule; and what they
had already seen and heard of young Aleck Rawson, made the members of
the Silver Fox Patrol ready to enlist heart and soul in his cause.

"There are nine of us here," said Thad, quietly, but with a firmness
that thrilled the newcomer in the camp; "it's true that all but one of
us are boys; but then we've got guns, and can use them too, if we have
to. And let me tell you, Aleck, we're the kind of friends that stick.
We've heard a lot about this hidden mine that your father discovered,
and believe that it ought to belong to your mother, and no one else.
This old rascal of a Kracker is a regular pirate, a land shark that
ought to be tied up to a stake, and tarred and feathered, for the way
he persecuted you, just because you refused to give away your secret,
which means everything to your folks. And Aleck, we're going to stand
by you thro