Dick had some loose change in his pocket, and he was debating on whether a lost man would have the right to take some and leave the money in return.
As he pondered over the ethics of this, he heard something that caused a flutter of excitement.
Someone was nearing the cabin. This in itself would have caused him no great concern, except that whoever was coming was singing softly to himself an old French chanson.
Dick darted to the cabin door, and there, facing him, stood the last person in the world that he wanted to see—Jean LeBlanc.
CHAPTER XIV
THE GREAT SECRET
Left to pursue their mining, Nate and the two Ranger boys worked the remainder of the morning, and mined several handsome specimens. These Garry had been carrying loose in his pocket, but now they had become too bulky, and so they were transferred to a canvas bag.
Phil suggested that they be secreted in the tent, and so a hole was dug and the bag inserted. Then the dirt was replaced, and the boughs that made one of the bunks thrown back there.
About midafternoon, another rich pocket was unearthed by Garry, and when this was panned, revealed a score of fine commercial gems.
Phil was detailed to take them to the tent and add them to the others. This he did, and had barely uncovered the gems and was putting the latest find with their companions, when he was struck over the head with a heavy club. His last remembrance, as he floated away into unconsciousness, was the sound of a mocking laugh that belonged to none other than their deadly enemy, the halfbreed.
Garry waited several minutes for Phil to return, and when his chum failed to come back, walked to the tent to see what was delaying him.