Page:J Allan Dunn--The Girl of Ghost Mountain.djvu/281

Rh Thora, silent all this time, ministering to Red, who acted like a great dog having its head scratched, broke into speech.

"By Yiminy," she cried. "I bane forget. Did you bane get the gold?"

"Half of it," said Sheridan. "The rest won't be hard to come at."

Perhaps it was not curious, after all they had gone through, that the gold should have sunk to such insignificance, but it appeared that Mary Burrows had said nothing of the treasure. The sheriff and the riders who had come with Stoney gasped.

"Gold," said the sheriff. "What gold?"

Sheridan told him briefly.

"I've heard of that old yarn," he said. "Never took no stock in it. Three quarters of a million in bars! No wonder they were out for yore scalps." He looked at Quong with a suddenly increased respect.

"You folks are dead where you sit an' lie," he said. "We're fairly fresh, barrin' some stiff from that ride. I'll boss us gang of newcomers. Leave one man on guard, an' to tend the fire, an' the rest of us'll dig out yore gold for you, an' clean up things a bit while you take a snooze."

It suited Sheridan. He was tired and he ached, and he was, with all of it, ineffably comfortable with Mary by his side. Quong voted to go along, wide-awake, the only one of the treasure party actually unscathed. The horses had been found at the head of the canyon, scared by the shots, but