Presently a third man, a fellow named Larry Jaley, joined the others. All were very bitter against Abe Blower, and each vowed that he would "git square" with the old prospector sooner or later. From their talk the boys learned that the men, along with some others of the crowd, were stopping in Butte at the Solid Comfort House, a place that, so they afterwards learned, bore a very shady reputation. Nothing was said about where Abe Blower was stopping, and the youths did not dare to inquire, for fear of making the men suspicious.
"They might think we were friends of Blower sent to spy on them," said Phil. "They must know we have heard some of their talk."
"If Abe Blower is so well known in Butte it ought to be an easy matter to find him," returned Dave. "We can look for him in the directory and the telephone book, and ask for him at the hotels and mining offices."
"And remember, I have one of his old addresses," said Roger. "Maybe the folks at that place know where he has gone."
It was dark when they rolled into the railroad station at Butte, a typical western mining city, with a population of about thirty-five thousand souls.
"No use in trying to do anything to-night," said Roger, who was tired and knew his chums must be the same. "We'll go to some first-class hotel and start on our hunt for Blower in the morning."
"Yes, I'm dead tired," answered Phil, who had been yawning for the last hour.
The boys had the address of a good hotel, and were soon on the way to the place. They saw the man called Sol Blugg start off down a side street with his companions.
"I wish we would run into Link Merwell and Job Haskers," remarked Dave, as they hurried towards the hotel.
"What good would that do?" demanded the senator's son.