“I don’t know as a ranch is such a lively place; but it will give you a chance to make money.”
“Then that’s lively enough for me,” I returned.
We spent the evening in getting acquainted. I found Mr. Norton a splendid, whole-souled man, and took to him immediately; and I was glad to note that this feeling seemed to be reciprocated.
On the following morning we started for Bend Center at an early hour. Almost the first person we met was Constable Pointer, who had just come over from Bayport.
“What luck?” I asked.
“We’ve got the diamonds!” he replied; “and the Catch Me too.”
“You mean that you didn’t catch Avery?”
“We caught him, but he gave Captain Harley the slip in Loadhead. We hope to get him to-day.”
But I may as well add right here that Avery was never captured, nor was he ever heard from after that day.
I introduced my uncle to Pointer, and also to Ford, who came up while we were talking. The mill-hand was highly pleased as well as astonished to meet the stranger.