"Oi did thot, but whin we returned to th' hut pwhere he was it's up an' gone he had."
"Frank says the body was carried off by his friends."
"Mebbe it wur, Oi dunno; but whoy th' ould scratch they wur afther takin' all thot throuble an' risk is pwhat bates me. Somehow Oi'm thinkin' th' mon up an' walked away all by hissilf, an' it's cowld chills Oi git from thinkin' he may be lookin' fer me to sittle our account."
"You'll get over that feeling after a while," said Hodge. "Frank knows when a man is dead, and you heard him pronounce Del Norte dead."
In Browning's ear Frank whispered:
"I confess I'd feel better satisfied if I had seen him buried; but I don't intend to tell O'Toole that."
In due time supper was cooked and served in the plain but comfortable dining room. The death of Del Norte was forgotten, and it was a jolly crowd that gathered about the large table.
"Hold me!" cried Browning, as he drank in the odor of baked potatoes, cooked fish and steaming coffee. "If you don't look out I'll wade in here and create a famine. I feel as if I might eat everything on this table without half trying."
"There is plenty of everything," said Warren Hatch. "Joe tells me there is more fish. Here he comes with some of his hot biscuits right out of the oven."
Joe appeared with a heaping plate of biscuits, and soon all were enjoying the meal.