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As they toiled up the stream toward the camp, Winthrop recalled their former chats by the night-fire. Now he began to see the drift of Overland's then frequent references to Collie. And there was a girl, mentioned by Overland almost reverently, the Rose Girl, Louise Lacharme, of whom Anne Marshall had written much in eulogy to him. And Winthrop himself?
"And they're gettin' about as far along at it, too. Like most folks does in a crowd jest howlin' all together. Mebby it sounds good to 'em. I don' know." "I'm somewhat of a scoffer, I think," said Winthrop presently. "Most lungers is," was Overland's cheerful comment. "They're sore on their luck. They ain't really sore at the big works. They only think so. I've knowed lots of 'em that way."
"I'll lend a hand," he said, in answer to Overland's questioning face. "I don't believe I'll go before to-morrow night. It is hardly right to leave the minute my new pardner arrives. I want to talk with him." Overland nodded. "Guess you're right. It won't hurt to keep in the shadow of the hills for a day or two. Can't tell who might 'a' spotted Collie ridin' out this way."
"Shall I ask 'em in, Saunders?" queried Overland, his voice edged with a double meaning. "Not on my account," said Saunders over his shoulder. "All right. Let's have a drink, boys." Even "Go-Light" Sago, the vilest of the Gophertown crew, admired Overland's coolness in turning his back on Saunders and facing the bar. For a second Saunders's fingers twitched. He glanced up.
Heretofore the paternal note had not been evident. Winthrop had imagined them chums, friends, tramps together. They were more than that. Overland considered Collie an adopted son. The Easterner glanced at Overland's broad shoulders stooped beneath the weight of the heavy stock saddle.
Some one was saying at the Camelot last night that the Overland's reorganization of its within-the-State lines was going to cost all kinds of money in excess of the legal fees." Loring's smile was a wordless sarcasm. "It's the reward of virtue," he said ironically. "We were not in the list of subscribers to the conditional fund for purchasing a certain veto which didn't materialize."
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