THE COUNCIL.
Celeste Seldon was not one to put on airs. She had been well reared, was
refined, lovable by nature, plucky enough for a man, for she had the
heart and will to do and dare anything where duty called, and yet she
was as simple as a child by nature.
She was deeply touched by the reception she had received, and, in
glancing about, when she saw only a wild-looking set of men, rude log
cabins, and an air of the far frontier pervading all, she knew that it
was just what she must expect to see, and she at once adapted herself to
circumstances.
She was escorted by Landlord Larry to her cabin, Harding himself
bringing her trunk and another miner her saddle and bridle.
The appearance of the cabin revealed to her at a glance how much had
been done to make her comfortable, and she praised the neat quarters and
expressed the greatest satisfaction in her surroundings.
When she went over to the hotel to dinner, the whole crowd of miners
there rose at her entrance, and every hat was doffed and placed beneath
the bench on which the man sat, for hat-racks were not one of the
luxuries of the last Chance Hotel, and a miner would as soon have
thought of parting with his pistols as his head-covering.
At his own table, where sat, besides himself, Doctor Dick and Harding,
Landlord Larry placed Celeste Seldon, and she was given the best the
house afforded, and expressed herself as being treated far more kindly
than she had had the slightest anticipation of.
The meal concluded, Celeste said that she would like to consult with the
three she regarded as her immediate protectors, the Landlord, Doctor
Dick, and Harding.
So the three met her in the landlord's private office, and Celeste at
once said:
"I wish first to thank all of my kind friends here, through you,
gentlemen, for the very generous manner in which you have received and
treated me here. I know that the ransom money demanded for my release
was quickly raised by the people here, you three being particularly
generous; but I desire to say that I have the money to pay you back, and
will do so."
"No, no, under no circumstances, Miss Seldon," said Doctor Dick eagerly,
and the others chimed in with him.
But Celeste was firm in her determination, and said:
"I have no claim upon you, and, besides, I am very well off, so I shall
insist, and, Landlord Larry, I will give you a draft for the amount upon
an Eastern bank, and for more, as there will be another demand upon me,
in the amount to ransom the one who came here for me, Mr. Bernard
Brandon."
"But will you pay his ransom, Miss Seldon?"
"Why not, Landlord Larry?"
"I think," said Doctor Dick, "that as you came to visit Last Chance, we,
the dwellers here, should be responsible, and pay these ransoms."
"So say I," put in Harding quickly.
"And I agree with you," added the landlord.
"Under no circumstances will I hear to it, for I will pay all, my own
and the ransom of Mr. Brandon, so please send the draft through for the
money, Landlord Larry, and while here I will take steps to find out all
I can regarding my father, who was last heard of in this part of the
country."
"Miss Seldon, _I_ can tell you what you must know sooner or later about
your father, who, let me say, was also my friend," said Doctor Dick.
It seemed hard that, in the joy of her release from captivity in the
hands of the outlaws, Celeste Seldon should feel the blow of knowing
that the unfortunate Bernard Brandon had been captured and she would
have to pay a ransom for him, while she also had to suffer still further
in learning what was her father's fate, as told her by Doctor Dick.
It had been a long time since she had seen her father, the last time
when she was a little girl, and she remembered that he had left home
under a cloud, and she had never expected to see him again.
With her mother dead, and her father a fugitive wanderer, she had been
sent by her guardian, left so by the wishes of her parents, to a
Northern school, and there had had no one upon whom to lean.
At the words and tone of Doctor Dick, she nerved herself to bear the
worst; and asked calmly:
"What have you to tell me, Doctor Dick?"
"Of your father."
"You knew him?"
"Yes, for, though my senior in years, we were devoted friends."
"Have you seen him since coming West?"
"I have not; but let me tell you that, when on a scout with Buffalo
Bill, the latter was rescued by a person who was alone, and on his way
to W----. The scout had with him a prisoner, a deserter from the army
and a murderer, who had been taken here in Last Chance, and he was
taking him a prisoner to Fort Faraway, when he was attacked by a
desperado by the name of Headlight Joe and his gang.
"With his horse shot and falling upon him, Buffalo Bill would have been
killed and his prisoner rescued, but for the coming of the horseman
referred to, and who put the outlaws to flight. He gave the name of
Andrew Seldon, said nothing as to why he was in that part of the
country, or where he lived, and went on his way.
"When I came up with Buffalo Bill, and heard his story of his rescue,
and the name of his rescuer, it at once recalled my old-time friend,
and, with the scout as my companion, we later sought to find him. We
trailed him to his home, where he had dwelt with one other comrade."
"And where was that, sir?"
"In the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, Miss Seldon."
"And you found him?" eagerly asked Celeste, while the landlord and
Harding gazed at her with deepest sympathy at what they felt she must
hear.
"We found his house, or, rather, the wreck of it, for, mining under a
cliff a thousand feet in height, it had caved in upon them, burying them
beneath a mountain of red sandstone."
Celeste shuddered and covered her face with her hands, but very quickly
regained her composure, and said:
"Are you sure that my father was in the mine when it caved in?"
"I am very sure, Miss Seldon, that both he and his comrade were. We, the
scout and myself, were camped in the canyon, and heard the cave-in, and
it felt like a mighty earthquake, and was at night.
"We made a thorough search the next day, but could not find any trace of
a human being, and their horses shared the same fate, with a dog, also,
which we heard barking that same night. Yes, there is no doubt of your
father's fate."
"I thank you, Doctor Dick, for your telling me all; but I must see
Buffalo Bill, the famous scout, and ask him to guide me to the fatal
spot, the scene of my father's lone life in these wilds, and of his
death," said Celeste, in a low tone that revealed how deeply she felt
her father's fate.