the cowboy pushed his way into the tent and sat down beside ballard on a pile of blankets.
“first off,” said he, “let me ask you if you’re satisfied schuster gave me a straight tip when i met him on the way back from gold hill?”
“why, yes,” frank answered, “schuster had a pretty good line on the situation, all except that ‘getting even’ part.”
blunt screwed up his black eyes and gave merriwell a keen sizing.
“what do you think about that bowlder that dropped from the cliff?” he asked.
“accident,” said frank briefly.
“well, holy smoke!” grunted the cowboy, in disgust. “is that what you really think, chip?”
“it is, barzy.”
blunt removed his hat and ran his fingers through his long, jet-black hair.
“you’re a little shy in your headpiece,” he remarked. “either that or else you’ve got a fool notion about not wanting to go on record with what you really think. some of the lads outside kind of told me the way you were leaning, and how you’d been cracking jode lenning up as something of a man, in spite of his shortcomings. what schuster said lenning and shoup had up their sleeves for you, chip, worried me a heap. i got to thinking more of keeping the three of you apart than i had thought about recovering the money. pretty soon after
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i left you and bleeker in the hills, i tied up my horse and started to skirmishing in some difficult places on foot.
“first thing i knew i was in the brush on top of the point. the canoe race was going on below, and i could hear the yells pretty near as plain as though i had been down in the bottom of the gulch. shoup and lenning were skulking back of the cliff’s edge. they had a rock poised on the brink. lenning was waiting to push it over, while shoup was looking down, ready to give the signal at the right time.
“it was a few minutes before i got on to what they might be up to. just as it rushed over me, and i started to get busy with the coyotes, shoup gave the signal and lenning pushed the rock over. then both of them took to their heels. i was right after ’em, but they pulled a canoe out of the bushes when they got near the water, and slid beyond my reach.
“i started back toward the place where i had left my horse, but stopped again when i got a glimpse of the river and saw you and clancy chasing the other canoe. i saw the rest of what happened, too, including the bat shoup gave lenning on the head, and the way you and clancy went to the rescue. i reckon that was fine, considering all that those skunks had tried to do to you, but, pard, it was a whole lot more than i’d have done in your place.”
“no, it wasn’t,” said merriwell decidedly.
“no? seems like you’re putting me in your own class. chip, and you know as well as i do that i don’t belong there. well, we’ll let that pass. i went for my horse with my thoughts and feelings sort of scrambled, so that i didn’t know how i really felt. i sort of forgot about the stolen money, and about everything else, but the way those two sneaks pushed the bowlder down on you, and
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the way you went into the drink to save the fellow that did the most of it. finally i got into my saddle and rode for this camp, where i was told how you believed that bowlder business was an accident, and that lenning had done the square thing with the money. then i was at sixes and sevens again. i didn’t want to jolt you with the truth about lenning, and yet i couldn’t see how you were so dense as not to figure it out for yourself. now, chip, i come to you as an eyewitness, and you’re getting the facts. schuster had it pretty straight, didn’t he?”
“surest thing you know, barzy,” frank answered. “here’s the money,” he added, passing over the roll. “it’s all there but twenty dollars. shoup spent that in ophir.”
“i’m glad enough to get hands on it, even if it is a twenty short. mam is coming in for quite a wad of coin, on account of that mine deal, so maybe she wouldn’t have missed this so much as she might. it was the way shoup took it, more than anything else, that got me all worked up. now, chip, tell me this: what’s your opinion about lenning?”
“it was the best thing that ever happened to him when colonel hawtrey kicked him out,” said merriwell. “there’s good stuff in lenning and he’s going to prove it a good many times—just as he proved it this afternoon.”
“bosh!” said bleeker, thrusting his head into the tent, “you’re dippy on that point, chip.”
“wait and see, bleek.”
“supper’s ready—that’s what i looked in to tell you. place for you, blunt. going back to ophir to-night?”
“i hear there’s a race on to-morrow forenoon,” returned blunt, “and i’d sort of made up my mind to hang around and take a hand in it.”
“good for you!” cried merriwell.
“but,” the cowboy went on, with an odd gleam in his
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black eyes, “i don’t want any more bowlders tumbling from apache point if i’m to be in one of the canoes.”
“now that shoup and lenning have cleared out,” cried clancy, “i’ll guarantee there won’t be any more rocks rolling down the cliff. come on and let’s eat.”
