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Oh, save me!" whined Jaley, and he turned a face full of fear on those before him. "Where are Merwell and Haskers and Blugg?" asked Dave. "All gone swept away by the landslide!" was the whining reply. "Oh, it was awful! It smashed them all up and smashed up the horses, too! Oh, save me! Save me!" And then Larry Jaley gave a gasp and fell in a heap, unable to say another word.
"Why, they might side right in with Blugg!" "So they might," added Phil. "A case of 'birds of a feather, you know." "And so you are the real Roger Morr," said Abe Blower, catching Roger by the shoulder and looking him squarely in the eyes. "Wall, I must say I like yer looks a heap better nor I did the bogus one!" And he chuckled, broadly. "I am glad you do, Mr. Blower.
Isn't that right, Haskers?" asked Link, coolly. "I I presume so," answered the former teacher, nervously. He had dropped his hands, but Sol Blugg still had his weapon handy, and the sight of it was far from comforting. "Had a row, did ye?" asked Blugg, curiously. "Yes. You see, Blower wanted to run things to suit himself and we er we didn't see things quite that way.
"That we don't know," answered Phil. "But we are hoping they are safe." "By the way, did you see Merwell and Haskers?" cried Dave, suddenly. "Why, no not since they ran away from our camp," returned Roger. "I saw them just before I found this opening. They were below me, the two of them and Sol Blugg." "Maybe they got caught," muttered Phil.
"I'm a-comin' in to wait fer Abe Blower, an' when I meet him well, we'll have an account to settle," and the man lurched heavily against the door-frame. "It's one of the fellows we met on the train!" whispered Phil. "The fellow called Sol Blugg!" "Yes, and that other man, Larry Jaley, is waiting on the sidewalk for him," announced Dave, after a glance through a window.
"Tom Dillon allers was a good one at strikes, an' so was Abe Blower. They know enough to keep away from anything thet looks like a wildcat. I'm a-goin' to look into this," he concluded. And after that the Blugg crowd kept close watch on Dave and his friends. The departure was made from Butte about noon of the next day. It was clear and warm, with a gentle breeze blowing from the west.
"And neither of them seem to be very sober." "You get right out of here, Sol Blugg!" cried Mrs. Carmody, with sudden energy. "Abe ain't home, an' I won't have you hangin' around. You get right out!" And she caught up her broom, which chanced to be behind the door. "Drop the broom, old woman!" snarled Sol Blugg, and it was plain to see that he was befuddled by liquor.
"There is no need to do any shooting," said Link Merwell. "You were spyin' on us," growled Staver. "Who are you? Come here and give an account o' yourselves," ordered Sol Blugg. There was no help for it now, and, rather awkwardly, with their hands still upraised, Job Haskers and Link Merwell stumbled over the rocks to where the three men had been resting and talking.
Then, turning around, he glanced below him and made out several other persons on a lower ridge of the mountainside. "Link Merwell and Job Haskers, and that Sol Blugg is with them," he murmured. "Evidently they are not going to give up the hunt." Dave watched the party of three for several minutes and then continued his own hunt.
They climbed down to the camp and told Phil about what they had witnessed. Then all ate breakfast slowly, meanwhile discussing the adventure from all possible standpoints. "It was one of the Blugg crowd, I feel certain of that," said Dave. "Perhaps it was Sol Blugg himself." Slowly the morning wore away.
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