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 all the gold in the 'arth. Were you all alone up there?"

"My father—he was there. Some other men had started, but they quit. Then we met the Indians, and they were friendly till they stole me."

"Did they kill your father?"

"I don't know."

"That's a tall story," Freegift murmured, to Terry; and tapped his head. Evidently they didn't believe it "Where do you think you are now, then?" he asked, of Stub.

"I guess I'm with Lieutenant Pike. But where is he?"

"Well, we'll tell you. You see, that yaller hoss an' you went down together. You got a crack on the head, an' the hoss, he died. We had to shoot him. But we picked you up, because you seemed like worth savin'. The lieutenant put a bandage on you. Then he took the rest of the outfit up out the canyon. The hosses couldn't go on—there wasn't any footin'. But he left Terry an' me to pack the dead hoss's load an' some other stuff that he couldn't carry, on a couple of sledges, an' to fetch them an' you on by river an' meet him below. Understand?"

Stub nodded. How his brain did whirl, trying to patch things together! It was as if he had wak