Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/244

230 when he was too drunk, to know it. One of the other girls got me some clothes. And I came on.

"I told Doctor Seward as much as I had to. He had taken a fancy to you, and to Larkin and Harvey, but he didn't like Healy. He said he would get some men together but it would take time to stir them up in Verde because he would have to make them believe the real danger of the thing and they were mostly ranchers and slow to act. But he let Peggy and me have two horses. I had a hard time to persuade him until he knew we were both Western girls and mountain-bred and knew how to take care of ourselves. I would have stolen them if I had to. So we came.

"We found your camp below above Stone Men Cañon and started this morning, way before dawn. But we had to wait until it was getting light before we could pick up your trail. The moon was below the mesa then. We saw the burro tracks just as dawn was breaking and started to follow them up the mesa. Then Padilla and his gang must have seen us from the opposite cliffs and they came after us. He recognized me and knew they had to stop us. You know the rest."

"I know that you are the pluckiest girl and the cleverest that I have ever dreamed of. And I have dreamed of you more than once, Lola."

"You mean it? After the dance hall?"

"That," he said, "is a very foolish question. Now it is my turn to talk."

Presently Larkin came along the ledge with Peggy