“What is it?” asked Tom. “More bears?”
“No. Somebody has been ahead of us here. Perhaps we are not alone in having an interest in this Freezeout place.”
“What do you mean, Ruthie?” cried Helen, running to her chum.
“Here are the remains of a campfire. The ashes are still warm. Somebody camped here last night, that is sure. Do you suppose they are here now?”
CHAPTER XV—MORE DISCOVERIES
A quick but thorough search of the abandoned mining camp revealed no living person save the party of tourists themselves.
Ruth’s inquiry for the persons who had built the campfire aroused the curiosity of Min Peters and her father, and they made some investigations for which the girl from the East scarcely saw the reason.
“If we’ve got neighbors here, might’s well know who they are,” said Flapjack, who was gradually finding his voice and was “spunking up,” according to his daughter’s statement.
Peters was particularly anxious to please. He felt deeply the humiliation of what he had gone through at Handy Gulch, and wished to show Ruth and the other girls that he was of some account.
No Indian could have scrutinized the vicinity of the dead campfire which Ruth had found more carefully than he did. Finally he announced that two men had been here at the abandoned settlement the night before.