“That’s it! And I’m downright glad I got here just in time to take care of them timber wolves for you. That one yonder is as dead as a doornail, and I don’t think them others will bother you again for a while. You see, timber wolves has been multiplying most amazing in Canada, and they’ve got so thick they’re slipping all over us down here. There’s a bounty on killing ’em, but what it is I don’t just know.”
“But where have you been, Mr. Billings?” questioned Randy. “My dad has been looking all over for you.”
“I know it, lad. But I had to lay low. I had a good reason for doing it, too. Your father will know all about it as soon as I reach him. I understand he’s stopping with Cal Corning.”
“He is,” put in Andy. And then he went on: “From what Hank Butts said, my dad thought you might have been made a prisoner by Mr. Garrish.”
“So I was. And Garrish wanted me to sign some reports that was all false. I wouldn’t do it, and I got away from him and since that time I’ve been spying on him and on them fellers who’re running the Bigwater crusher. I’ve got a lot to tell Mr. Rover when I see him. And I’ve got an account to settle with Peter Garrish, too,” went on the old miner.
The boys dressed, and while so doing Lew Billings gave them a few particulars of what had happened to him. But he was in a hurry to go on and left them as soon as he felt satisfied that they were now able to take care of themselves.
“As you’ve all been to a military academy you ought to know how to shoot,” he declared. “And as you’ve got your guns and also a couple of pistols with you, it ain’t likely that you’ll have any more trouble—especially if you keep your firearms handy. You don’t want to prowl around in these mountains without some kind of a gun.”
“Believe me, you won’t catch us without our guns again,” answered Fred.
“Even when I sleep I’m going to have a pistol under my pillow,” added Randy.
They thanked Lew Billings heartily for what he had done and then watched the old miner as he rode away on Sunset Trail in the direction of Gold Hill Falls.