CHAPTER XVI
A TIP
For the next few days the girls took possession of Allen, showing himthe sights with a will and showering him with details of theiradventures till the poor fellow's head was in a whirl and he couldhardly tell whether it was the wolves or the landslide that hadfrightened the girls into the cave on that memorable afternoon.
"Seems to me," he said, as the girls showed him the cave--at a safedistance from the mountain, one may be sure--"that you young ladies needa chaperone pretty badly."
"Do you think you're it?" teased Mollie.
"Great guns! I should hope not," said Allen, with a flash of his whiteteeth. "I would rather face a dugout full of Boches than try to keeptabs on you girls. See here," he added, suddenly serious. "Do you meanto tell me that you were really caught in that cave with your horses andnothing to dig your way out with but your hands?"
"And a few sharp stones that we found," Betty nodded soberly.
Allen whistled softly.
"No, I should think not," he said slowly. "It's a wonder that with youand your horses, too, in that small space, you didn't smother before aidcould reach you."
"We should have," spoke up Amy quickly, "if it hadn't been for Betty.She was the one who kept us at it when we were ready to give up."
"Yes, and she was the one that kept at it when the rest of us _had_given up," Mollie reminded her. "She was the one who kept digging untilshe forced the hole through. If it hadn't been for her we would have allgiven up and just died there, I guess."
Betty, who had been getting redder and redder through this recital ofher heroism, found it hard to meet Allen's eyes as he turned to her withall his heart in his own.
"The girls give me altogether too much credit," she protested. "Anybodywill fight when he has his back against the wall. And now let's takeAllen to see Dan Higgins' mine," she added lightly. "Dan Higgins and hisdaughter Meggy are great friends of ours, Allen, and I know you willlove them as much as we do."
"Your friends will always be mine," Allen assured her gallantly, andthey rode off gayly toward Gold Run.
On the way they told him a good deal of Dan Higgins and Meggy, and Allenlistened with sympathetic interest.
"That surely is tough," he said boyishly. "But of course his case is nodifferent from that of hundreds of others who have come out here to'God's Country' in the hope of beating the daily grind and jumping tofortune at one fell swoop. That sounds rather Irish, doesn't it?" headded, with his contagious grin.
"You're right about that, I suppose," said Betty gravely. "As you say,Dan Higgins is just one of a hundred others in the same pitiful fix. Butat least he has had his dreams and the excitement of gambling. He chosethis sort of life, and so we don't feel so awfully sorry for him. But itis his daughter Meggy that we pity. She is really a wonderful girl,Allen, and to condemn her to a life of work and poverty is really acrime."
"Well, I didn't do it," said Allen plaintively, adding quickly asBetty's face clouded: "I beg your pardon, little girl, I didn't mean tobe flippant. But, like her father, there are many others in theposition of this girl. A man can't choose to live a life like thatwithout dragging his family into it too."
"Then he shouldn't have a family," said Mollie hotly. "He should make uphis mind to be an old bachelor--though I don't think there is anythingworse under the sun," she added, with such emphasis that the girlsgiggled.
"I agree with you there," said Allen, adding whimsically: "But what aman should do and what he does do are often very different things."
"But you speak of Dan Higgins and Meggy as if they were just ordinarypeople," Grace objected, as she flicked the reins gently on Nabob'sarching neck. "You seem to forget that they saved our lives--probably."
"No, I don't forget that," said Allen gravely. "And I respect your wishto do something in return. I also owe them a debt of gratitude." Hiseyes unconsciously sought Betty's, and a quick glance passed betweenthem that was more eloquent than words.
"Then you will help us to help him?" said Betty quickly.
"I'll do anything I can," Allen answered, adding, rather dubiously: "ButI don't see what any one can do for them. If the old man hasn't struckgold yet and is short of funds to finance further search, I don't seewhat any one can do for him. Do you?" he added, looking at her.
"No-o," admitted Betty reluctantly. "I haven't thought of a way yet. ButI'm sure I shall," she added so bravely that the girls wanted to hugher.
They reached the Higgins' mine soon after this, and at the sound oftheir approach Meggy ran eagerly out to them, as she always did. Butwhen she saw Allen, looking to her unsophisticated eyes like some heroout of a story book, handsome and city-bred, she halted and turned redwith embarrassment.
However, Allen, by his own gracious and friendly manner, soon set her atease, but her eyes continued to follow every movement of his as thoughin amazement that such a perfect creature could live.
"Better look out, Betty," Grace whispered to the Little Captain whennobody was looking. "Meggy thinks Allen is pretty nice. Just watch her,she's hypnotized."
But Betty only smiled. Somehow, she felt pretty sure of Allen.
The latter struck up a great friendship with old Dan Higgins rightaway--wonderful how everybody took to Allen, thought Betty proudly--andsoon they were talking like old friends. In five minutes Allen hadfound out more about Dan Higgins' mine and his prospects than the girlswould have learned in a year.
Toward the end Allen managed to put a few adroit questions concerningGold Run Ranch and the possibility of there being gold upon it.
"Waal now," drawled Higgins, spitting upon the ground reflectively,"folks here'bouts used to wonder why old Jed Barcolm didn't get busy andfind out if there was gold on thet property, but somehow th' old mannever seemed to get interested. Conservative old fellow, Jed Barcolm,anyways--allus said he'd made enough raisin' cattle and didn't aim to dono prospectin' at his time o' life."
"But you think there is a good possibility of there being gold on theranch?" insisted Allen, and the girls held their breath.
Dan Higgins gave him a shrewd look and spat once more.
"You thinkin' of doin' a little prospectin' on your own hook, Son?" heinquired.
"Heavens, no!" answered Allen with convincing sincerity, adding with asmile: "It is barely possible that my client might, though."
The old man started and stood upright, squaring his thin shouldersbelligerently.
"You don't mean to tell me you're one o' those ornery lawyer cusses,"he said, with a disgusted emphasis that angered the girls but apparentlyleft Allen unmoved.
"A lawyer--but not ornery, I hope," he said pleasantly. "And my clientis Mrs. Nelson, the new owner of the ranch. Is there anything else youwould like to know about me?"
But the old man's anger had departed and he regarded Allen with a shrewdtwinkle in his kindly blue eyes.
"Sorry, Son," he said. "I reckon there are some honest lawyers, though Inever ain't met one yet--not round here leastways."
"Thanks for a rather doubtful compliment," laughed Allen. It was evidentthat he was enjoying the old man extremely. "I assure you, though I amnot always honest, there are times when I try very hard to be." Then hesuddenly added: "By the way, do you happen to know a man aroundhere--one of those ornery lawyers--by the name of Peter Levine?"
Again Dan Higgins spat disgustedly.
"Know him!" he answered with a wealth of scorn in his voice. "I reckonmost everybody round here knows him--an' they's mighty few knows anygood o' him. Take my advice, Son, an' keep away from him."
"Thanks," said Allen dryly. "But the problem seems to be to keep himaway from us. He is representing a client who wants to buy Gold RunRanch."
The old man started and a gleam of excitement shot into his eyes whileMeggy, seeming to share his emotion, crept closer to him.
"Peter Levine wants you to sell," he repeated eagerly, then relaxed oncemore into his drawl, though his eyes reflected a strange inward turmoil."Listen, Son," he said. "
Ef you let that snake in the grass argy youinto sellin', you're a bigger fool 'n I take you to be. An' what'smore," his voice lowered and the girls leaned forward eagerly, "if Peterwants that there property of yourn there's gold on it, you can bet yourlast dollar onto it. Pete ain't no angel, an' he don't work fornothing."
Burning with excitement themselves, the girls marveled that Allen couldtake this statement so calmly.
"Thanks for the tip," he said, in his ordinary voice. "I had some suchidea myself, but it certainly helps to have my judgment backed bysomebody who knows the people in the case."