"Of course, Phil," Lesurge smiled. "It's just jealousy, because you have seen so much more of the world." In an undertone to the girl, he added, "He's a bit eccentric, especially when his memory fails, and the ignorant settlers here have but one explanation for that, but he's quite harmless."
"I'm sure of it," Mary said warmly. "I must try and make up to him for all he has suffered. I can never be sufficientlygrateful to you for discovering my uncle; it solves all my difficulties, and I might never have found him." The feeling in her low sweet voice stirred the man's cold pulses and brought an eager gleam into his dark eyes.
"It will always be a pleasure to serve you," he replied. "I am taking Phil away now, but we'll meet again this afternoon and discuss plans." Outside the hotel the old man glanced at his companion and slyly asked, "How'd I do it?"
"Wonderfully," Lesurge told him, and meant it. "A fine actor was lost in you, Snowy."
"Ah, I got brains, I has," came the complacent answer. "You reckon she swallowed it?"
"Hook, line and sinker," Paul assured him. "How do you know she resembles her mother?" o "I don't," Snowy smirked, "but most gals like to think so." At the Pioneer the prospector found himself a popular person. Not only was he the uncle of the most charming visitor Wayside had ever received but he owned a fabulously rich gold-mine; Fagan had talked to some purpose. Never in Snowy's sinful life had so much free whisky been offered to him and he was preparing to enjoy himself thoroughly when Lesurge intervened; a liquor-loosened tongue might well wreck his plans.
"No more now, Phil," he said firmly. "You have business to talk over with Mary presently." Two of the company watched him follow Lesurge out of the saloon with unbelieving eyes.
"That of skeezicks her uncle?" Mason ejaculated contemptuously. "The whale what found a home for Jonah couldn't 'a' swallowed that."
"I'm allowin' Jonah must 'a' looked more appetizin'," Sudden said soberly. "O' course, Snowy might be the fella, but how did Mister Lesurge get wise an' what's his game? was he waitin' here for the girl, an' where's the real uncle? Also who wiped out her daddy?" His friend looked at him in mock disgust. "Can't yu think o' no more questions?"
"Shore, there's another," Sudden grinned. "What are we goin' to do about it?" Mason spun round, his face alight. "Jim, did yu mean that `we'?" he asked.
"Why, I got nothin' to interest me about now," was the careless reply, "an' they tell me gold-minn' is a lazy way o' gettin' a livin'."
"I wish I knowed if she really believes in this scarecrow relative," Gerry reflected.
"Go an' ask her," Sudden suggested. "She don't look like she'd savage yu, though yu can't tell; women is same as hosses--the meekest-appearin' is sometimes the one to pile yu "
"Miss Ducane would never say a harsh word to anyone," Gerry reproved, and departed in search of this paragon.
Greatly to his relief he did not have to ask for her--she tripped out of the hotel just as he arrived. She was pleased to see this boy who had been chivalrous and attentive to her, and she said so, but when he bluntly asked whether she was satisfied that Snowy was indeed the uncle she had come to find, her smile vanished and a look of dignified surprise took its place.
"Have you any right to put such a question?" she inquired, and when he could find no answer, "What object could Mister Lesurge and that harmless old man have in deceiving a girl who has nothing?" Mason could have replied that she had herself, but his courage would not carry him so far, and as he did not know the whole story of her pilgrimage could only mutter doubts about "that other fella."
"Mister Lesurge has been exceedingly good," she said severely. "He is a gentleman."
"Looks to me more like a tin-horn gambler," the boy burst out angrily.
Her eyes grew stormy. "How dare you say such an outrageous thing?" she cried. "I am afraid I have misjudged you. When I heard you had been engaged in a brawl yesterday I was willing to believe it was not your fault, but I fear you must be of a quarrelsome nature." He could have told her that the trouble was on her account, but he had his pride, and remained silent. One not vitally concerned might have smiled at her rather prim seriousness, so out of keeping with her budding beauty, but to Gerry Mason it was the end of a dream and it made him reckless. Leaving her without another word, he went to the Pioneer. There Sudden found him an hour later and one glance showed him the state of affairs.
"Tryin' to buy the business a glassful at a time?" he asked sarcastically, and then, "So Uncle is all wool an' a yard wide, huh?"
"Shore, an' at that he ain't so wide as Mister Lesurge," Mason sneered."Yu were dumb enough to mention him, o' course?"
"I on'y said he looked like a card-sharp an' she r'ared right up--I thought she was goin' to eat me."
"A sad mouthful--she would have had a headache in the mornin'. Well, yu seem to have made a mess of it, an' that rotgut won't help none. Let's vamoose." As they stepped from the door of the saloon, Mason staggered and nearly fell. And, of course, it was at that moment Miss Ducane and Lesurge passed on the other side of the street. The girl gave them one glance of mingled pity and disgust and went on, her head high.
"Your young friend appears to be enjoying himself," Lesurge commented.
"I didn't think he was that kind," she replied sadly, a little conscious that she might be responsible for the lapse.
"Oh, cattlemen are all alike," he said easily. "Women and drink are irresistible magnets to them."
"Yes, I suppose so," she returned, and wondered why she should regret it.
* * * The next few days were spent in preparing for the journey westwards and in the course of them Mary Ducane came to know and like the old man she called "Uncle." Queer he undoubtedly was, but always, to her, kind and considerate. He was eager to start for the gold-fields and extravagant in his promises of what he would do for her.
It had been arranged that Lesurge and his "friend"--Fagan --who had expressed his contrition to Miss Ducane and been prettily pardoned--should join them in their journey to the Black Hills. They would not be alone. Tim Welder's reports and Snowy's stories of lucky strikes in the old wild Californian days had aroused the cupidity and adventurous spirit of some of the younger Waysiders, tempting them to try their fortunes at the new diggings.
"Yu fellas oughta come along," Welder remarked to the two cowboys on the night before the start was to be made. "Why, I reckon we'll trail with yu," Sudden said, and saw the fleeting frown pass across the face of Lesurge. He looked at the saloon-keeper. "I didn't figure on stayin' here, anyways." The cowboys consulted Snowy as a matter of course and when he had advised on the question of outfit, he added: "I'm right glad you boys is comin'. Don't git too fur from me--fella never knows when he'll need a friend:" With a finger on his lips he stole away.
"Now what d'yu make o' that?" Gerry queried, when they were alone. "O' course, he's weak in the head."
"Mebbe," Sudden replied. "Did yu notice that he kept glancin' over his shoulder an' that Lesurge an' Angel-face wasn't about? They ain't pleased we're goin'--not a little mite, an' that's a good reason for not changin' our minds."
"An' for takin' Snowy's tip to stay around."
"Shore, but I misdoubt we're headed for trouble."
"I ain't carin'," the boy said. "I can shoot some, an' I'm guessin' yu know about guns, seem' yu tote a couple."
"It's a matter o' balance," Sudden explained gravely. "One makes me walk all lopsided. Allasame, I do savvy which end to point at the other man."
"Yeah. Yo're forgettin' I was present when yu put Angel-face through his paces," Gerry said, and regretted the reminder when he saw the twinkle in the other's eyes.