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The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 17. The Net Tightens |
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_ CHAPTER XVII. THE NET TIGHTENS Allen learned much about Peter Levine and his associates and about Gold Run itself in the following conversation, and when he and the girls finally said good-by to the old man and his daughter and started off down the trail again, he was more than satisfied. As for the girls, they could hardly wait to get out of earshot of the mine before letting loose a flood of excited comment. "Well, I don't see anything to get so excited about," said Allen, after they had rattled on for several minutes. "Dan Higgins didn't tell us anything we didn't already know--or suspect, anyway. He simply confirmed our suspicions, that's all." "Seems to me that's enough," retorted Mollie. "It's one thing to think a thing yourself and an entirely different thing to find out somebody else thinks it too." "Don't be an old granddaddy, Allen," Betty said, adding threateningly: "If you don't look out we won't let you have any of that wonderful gold we are going to find--not one little tiny nugget." "That's gratitude for you," said Allen reproachfully. "Not one little nugget for a fellow who finds her a fortune." "You haven't found it yet," Amy reminded him. "No," said Allen suddenly animated, "I haven't found it--not yet--but I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. Look here," he appealed to them: "It seems reasonable to me to suppose that if Peter Levine and the people above him are so anxious to get the property they know pretty well where they stand. They don't want the ranch simply because they _think_ there is gold on it." "Then you think----" Betty was beginning breathlessly, when Allen interrupted her with a rush of words. "Yes, that's just what I think," he said. "I've been pretty well over the whole of this ranch since I came, and I've noticed that this extreme northwest portion of it, the only part where there would be any possibility of finding gold, is pretty well deserted most of the time--absolutely so at night----" "Then you think," Betty burst forth, "that these people, whoever they are, may have made actual tests? That they are sure there is gold here?" Allen nodded. "That is my theory," he said gravely. "But of course the only way to prove the truth of it is to keep my eyes open and catch them, if that is possible, in the act." "But how could one conceal such a thing?" Grace objected. "A big thing like a mine can't be hidden away in the daytime like a rag doll. There must be some signs about the place to show that people have been here----" "Exactly," said Allen. "There probably are signs--only nobody has had the incentive--or the interest, maybe--to hunt for those signs up to this time. Although," he added thoughtfully, "there are many ways of camouflaging the entrance to a mine so that a casual observer, even an interested one, possibly, would be fooled--branches, leaves, a rock or two." "But wouldn't there be noise?" It was Amy who put the objection this time. "I should think they would make enough disturbance to rouse suspicion at least." "They might not," Allen contended. "Remember, they are right in the mining territory, so that if any of the miners heard an unusual noise they would think it was one of their neighbors working late. Anyway," he finished, "their operations would necessarily have to be small, and they might be so small as not even to arouse suspicion. Sometimes," he added, and the girls hung on his words as though they were prophetic, "there need be no actual digging to ascertain that there is gold in a certain region. Sometimes the bed of a spring if sifted to get rid of pebbles and other debris will reveal gold enough to make the finder certain that there is a rich gold vein close by." "Goodness, let's go and hunt up some springs!" cried Mollie irrepressibly. "What's the use of leaving all this gold finding to Mr. Peter Levine?" "I remember seeing an old broken sieve around the ranch house somewhere," Grace suggested helpfully. "Don't you suppose we can go back and get it?" "But, Allen," Betty asked anxiously, "how do you expect to find out about these men? I suppose you intend to show them up?" "I most certainly do," responded Allen cheerfully. "It would give me the greatest delight to land Mr. Peter Levine and his associates in jail." "Well, you'd better look out you don't get landed yourself," said Mollie sagely. "I imagine these particular gentlemen are pretty handy with their guns--like most of the other people around here--and I reckon they wouldn't be very backward about using them." "It would be fifty-fifty, at that," said Allen, adding grimly: "I'm not so very unhandy with a gun myself. But the war's over and I haven't any idea of staging a tragedy," he added lightly, anxious to banish the cloud that had come over Betty's bright face. "I shall keep out of sight till I have them just where I want them, and when they find themselves caught I don't think they'll do much fighting. All crooks are more or less cowards, you know." "But what are you going to do in the meantime--while you are waiting for a chance to show them up?" Betty persisted. She did not half like the way things were going--even if there was a chance of finding a fortune on the ranch. It seemed to her that Allen was putting himself into too great danger. And if anything happened to him, what would all the gold in the world be worth? "'In the meantime?'" Allen was answering her question lightly. "Why, in the meantime I intend to keep my eyes and ears wide open and do a little scouting around Gold Run until I get a line on the doings of Peter Levine and his crowd--if he has a crowd. He may just be in partnership with one other rascal like himself, for all I know. That's one of the first things I want to find out. After the information of our friend, back there at the mine," he added, "there is no longer any doubt in my mind that this Levine is a crook." "Humph," said Betty, "I was sure of that the first time I laid eyes on him." "And yet you said you could almost love him for making your mother decide to come out here," Allen reminded her quizzically. "And you said you were on your way to kill him," said Betty, adding with a chuckle: "What made you change your mind?" "I didn't change my mind," retorted Allen, with a grin. "I just didn't happen to meet him, that's all." They had nearly reached the ranch house before Betty thought to ask Allen if he had talked his plans over with her mother. "No, I haven't," he admitted. "As a matter of fact, I hadn't made any definite plans until I had this confab with Dan Higgins. He made me see the whole thing straight, so to speak. I'll have a talk with your mother and father to-night," he promised. He kept his promise and had the satisfaction of knowing that both his clients were backing him heartily. "Go to it, Allen," Mr. Nelson said at the end of the conference. "Seems to me that you have gotten the correct angle on this thing, and if you need any help from me just call on me. Only," he warned, "don't run yourself into unnecessary trouble." "I've found, sir," said Allen, with that straight-forward look that made every one like and admire him, "that it's usually the fellow who runs away from trouble who gets the most of it. I'm not worrying about that end of the business." But if he did not worry, Betty certainly did in the days that followed. She had dreams at night in which she saw Allen riding about in the shadows. There would be a report, two reports, and he would topple over backwards to lie crumpled up and motionless. No wonder that she became pale and lost her appetite and made her mother worry even in the midst of the excitement over this double hunt--the hunt for men and gold. One night after dinner Allen asked her to ride with him a little way, said it would do him a lot of good just to talk to her. Betty agreed, and they cantered off in the twilight, their bodies swaying to the rhythm of the beautiful animals under them. For a long time they were silent, just enjoying the rapid motion, the sweet scented air that fanned their faces, the beauty of the hazy mountains in the distance. Then, suddenly Allen spoke. "Betty," he said, swinging round toward her, "you aren't letting this thing get on your nerves, are you?" "Wh-what do you mean?" she asked faintly. "What thing?" "This gold business--the excitement of it all," he said, waving his hand largely as though to take in the whole landscape. "I've noticed you looked tired lately," he went on gently, "and I've worried about it, little Betty. I--I have almost dared to hope," he leaned toward her, but Betty was looking the other way, "that you were a little anxious about me. Were you?" "Why--I--yes--no--why--I don't know," cried Betty wildly, then, meeting his eye, she laughed, a twinkling little laugh. "You shouldn't ask questions like that, not so suddenly, anyway," she said primly. "It isn't fair." "Never mind, I got my answer," said Allen jubilantly, and again Betty found it a little hard to look at him. "You mustn't worry though, little girl," he went on gently. "There isn't any danger--really. I'm just playing a delightful little game--and I'm going to win. Went to see Levine to-day, representing your mother," he added, and his tone suddenly became grim. "He made me feel, or at least he tried to make me feel, that he had as much respect for my ability as he would for a little speck of dirt." "The very idea!" cried Betty indignantly. "I'd just like to tell him what I think of--your ability----" she faltered on these last words, for Allen was gazing at her with a most disconcerting light in his eyes. Suddenly she whirled Nigger's head about and urged him to a gallop. "Race you home, Allen!" she challenged. "Winner gets the other fellow's piece of cake." "Who cares for cake!" cried Allen, but it might have been noticed that he followed her just the same. _ |
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