THE NET TIGHTENS
Allen learned much about Peter Levine and his associates and about Gold
Run itself in the following conversation, and when he and the girls
finally said good-by to the old man and his daughter and started off
down the trail again, he was more than satisfied.
As for the girls, they could hardly wait to get out of earshot of the
mine before letting loose a flood of excited comment.
"Well, I don't see anything to get so excited about," said Allen, after
they had rattled on for several minutes. "Dan Higgins didn't tell us
anything we didn't already know--or suspect, anyway. He simply confirmed
our suspicions, that's all."
"Seems to me that's enough," retorted Mollie. "It's one thing to think a
thing yourself and an entirely different thing to find out somebody else
thinks it too."
"Don't be an old granddaddy, Allen," Betty said, adding threateningly:
"If you don't look out we won't let you have any of that wonderful gold
we are going to find--not one little tiny nugget."
"That's gratitude for you," said Allen reproachfully. "Not one little
nugget for a fellow who finds her a fortune."
"You haven't found it yet," Amy reminded him.
"No," said Allen suddenly animated, "I haven't found it--not yet--but
I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. Look here," he appealed to them:
"It seems reasonable to me to suppose that if Peter Levine and the
people above him are so anxious to get the property they know pretty
well where they stand. They don't want the ranch simply because they
_think_ there is gold on it."
"Then you think----" Betty was beginning breathlessly, when Allen
interrupted her with a rush of words.
"Yes, that's just what I think," he said. "I've been pretty well over
the whole of this ranch since I came, and I've noticed that this extreme
northwest portion of it, the only part where there would be any
possibility of finding gold, is pretty well deserted most of the
time--absolutely so at night----"
"Then you think," Betty burst forth, "that these people, whoever they
are, may have made actual tests? That they are sure there is gold here?"
Allen nodded.
"That is my theory," he said gravely. "But of course the only way to
prove the truth of it is to keep my eyes open and catch them, if that is
possible, in the act."
"But how could one conceal such a thing?" Grace objected. "A big thing
like a mine can't be hidden away in the daytime like a rag doll. There
must be some signs about the place to show that people have been
here----"
"Exactly," said Allen. "There probably are signs--only nobody has had
the incentive--or the interest, maybe--to hunt for those signs up to
this time. Although," he added thoughtfully, "there are many ways of
camouflaging the entrance to a mine so that a casual observer, even an
interested one, possibly, would be fooled--branches, leaves, a rock or
two."
"But wouldn't there be noise?" It was Amy who put the objection this
time. "I should think they would make enough disturbance to rouse
suspicion at least."
"They might not," Allen contended. "Remember, they are right in the
mining territory, so that if any of the miners heard an unusual noise
they would think it was one of their neighbors working late. Anyway,"
he finished, "their operations would necessarily have to be small, and
they might be so small as not even to arouse suspicion. Sometimes," he
added, and the girls hung on his words as though they were prophetic,
"there need be no actual digging to ascertain that there is gold in a
certain region. Sometimes the bed of a spring if sifted to get rid of
pebbles and other débris will reveal gold enough to make the finder
certain that there is a rich gold vein close by."
"Goodness, let's go and hunt up some springs!" cried Mollie
irrepressibly. "What's the use of leaving all this gold finding to Mr.
Peter Levine?"
"I remember seeing an old broken sieve around the ranch house
somewhere," Grace suggested helpfully. "Don't you suppose we can go back
and get it?"
"But, Allen," Betty asked anxiously, "how do you expect to find out
about these men? I suppose you intend to show them up?"
"I most certainly do," responded Allen cheerfully. "It would give me the
greatest delight to land Mr. Peter Levine and his associates in jail."
"Well, you'd better look out you don't get landed yourself," said Mollie
sagely. "I imagine these particular gentlemen are pretty handy with
their guns--like most of the other people around here--and I reckon they
wouldn't be very backward about using them."
"It would be fifty-fifty, at that," said Allen, adding grimly: "I'm not
so very unhandy with a gun myself. But the war's over and I haven't any
idea of staging a tragedy," he added lightly, anxious to banish the
cloud that had come over Betty's bright face. "I shall keep out of sight
till I have them just where I want them, and when they find themselves
caught I don't think they'll do much fighting. All crooks are more or
less cowards, you know."
"But what are you going to do in the meantime--while you are waiting for
a chance to show them up?" Betty persisted. She did not half like the
way things were going--even if there was a chance of finding a fortune
on the ranch. It seemed to her that Allen was putting himself into too
great danger. And if anything happened to him, what would all the gold
in the world be worth?
"'In the meantime?'" Allen was answering her question lightly. "Why, in
the meantime I intend to keep my eyes and ears wide open and do a little
scouting around Gold Run until I get a line on the doings of Peter
Levine and his crowd--if he has a crowd. He may just be in partnership
with one other rascal like himself, for all I know. That's one of the
first things I want to find out. After the information of our friend,
back there at the mine," he added, "there is no longer any doubt in my
mind that this Levine is a crook."
"Humph," said Betty, "I was sure of that the first time I laid eyes on
him."
"And yet you said you could almost love him for making your mother
decide to come out here," Allen reminded her quizzically.
"And you said you were on your way to kill him," said Betty, adding with
a chuckle: "What made you change your mind?"
"I didn't change my mind," retorted Allen, with a grin. "I just didn't
happen to meet him, that's all."
They had nearly reached the ranch house before Betty thought to ask
Allen if he had talked his plans over with her mother.
"No, I haven't," he admitted. "As a matter of fact, I hadn't made any
definite plans until I had this confab with Dan Higgins. He made me see
the whole thing straight, so to speak. I'll have a talk with your mother
and father to-night," he promised.
He kept his promise and had the satisfaction of knowing that both his
clients were backing him heartily.
"Go to it, Allen," Mr. Nelson said at the end of the conference. "Seems
to me that you have gotten the correct angle on this thing, and if you
need any help from me just call on me. Only," he warned, "don't run
yourself into unnecessary trouble."
"I've found, sir," said Allen, with that straight-forward look that made
every one like and admire him, "that it's usually the fellow who runs
away from trouble who gets the most of it. I'm not worrying about that
end of the business."
But if he did not worry, Betty certainly did in the days that followed.
She had dreams at night in which she saw Allen riding about in the
shadows. There would be a report, two reports, and he would topple over
backwards to lie crumpled up and motionless. No wonder that she became
pale and lost her appetite and made her mother worry even in the midst
of the excitement over this double hunt--the hunt for men and gold.
One night after dinner Allen asked her to ride with him a little way,
said it would do him a lot of good just to talk to her. Betty agreed,
and they cantered off in the twilight, their bodies swaying to the
rhythm of the beautiful animals under them.
For a long time they were silent, just enjoying the rapid motion, the
sweet scented air that fanned their faces, the beauty of the hazy
mountains in the distance. Then, suddenly Allen spoke.
"Betty," he said, swinging round toward her, "you aren't letting this
thing get on your nerves, are you?"
"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked faintly. "What thing?"
"This gold business--the excitement of it all," he said, waving his hand
largely as though to take in the whole landscape. "I've noticed you
looked tired lately," he went on gently, "and I've worried about it,
little Betty. I--I have almost dared to hope," he leaned toward her, but
Betty was looking the other way, "that you were a little anxious about
me. Were you?"
"Why--I--yes--no--why--I don't know," cried Betty wildly, then, meeting
his eye, she laughed, a twinkling little laugh. "You shouldn't ask
questions like that, not so suddenly, anyway," she said primly. "It
isn't fair."
"Never mind, I got my answer," said Allen jubilantly, and again Betty
found it a little hard to look at him. "You mustn't worry though,
little girl," he went on gently. "There isn't any danger--really. I'm
just playing a delightful little game--and I'm going to win. Went to see
Levine to-day, representing your mother," he added, and his tone
suddenly became grim. "He made me feel, or at least he tried to make me
feel, that he had as much respect for my ability as he would for a
little speck of dirt."
"The very idea!" cried Betty indignantly. "I'd just like to tell him
what I think of--your ability----" she faltered on these last words, for
Allen was gazing at her with a most disconcerting light in his eyes.
Suddenly she whirled Nigger's head about and urged him to a gallop.
"Race you home, Allen!" she challenged. "Winner gets the other fellow's
piece of cake."
"Who cares for cake!" cried Allen, but it might have been noticed that
he followed her just the same.