Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/34

 over, Sergeant McKeever and Rip Wade lighted their pipes and the three drew close about the little camp-fire. In the daytime the air was soft with the feel of spring, but the nights were cold and the warmth of the flaring fire was grateful.

The dogs wolfed down their evening meal and, finding the snow frozen to a hard crust into which they could not burrow, returned to the scow to nestle among the canvas-covered packs that littered its floor.

“So you come from over Ten Bow way, kid?” asked the Sergeant.

“Yes, we’ve got a claim over there—my pardner and I have. He’s Waseche Bill—maybe you know him.”

“Waseche Bill! Well, I guess I do know him! Heard a while back he'd struck it rich over in the