“But the Chinaman! Who is he?” asked Mary Louise.
“I’m not prepared to state, but my opinion of him is he is no better than he should be either.”
“They are guarding the house, aren’t they?” asked Josie excitedly.
“Oh yes, but that Slater is an awful dub,” said Danny.
“I hope they won’t let them get away,” said Josie with an unusual animosity in her tone. “Those Markles have done enough damage and they were evidently at the Hathaway house hoping to find the Colonel’s gold mine. They would have carried off every coin if they could have got their hooks on it.”
“I shouldn’t have cared,” said Mary Louise dreamily. “Money doesn’t mean a thing to me.”
Danny felt for her hand under the little cutting out table that served as a dining table for the Higgledy Piggledy girls.
“I wish they would get away. The poor things!” she continued. “Just think how long it has been since Hortense has seen her Felix.”
Danny looked at his Mary Louise as though she were plenty good enough to eat. If she wanted the Markles to get away, he was willing that they should, although he could but consider them great rascals. As for the gold mine, they were welcome to it. He could take care of his little wife himself and wasn’t dependent on anybody’s money. He was almost sorry he had found it but, of course, since he had, he agreed with Chief Lonsdale and Mr. Peter Conant that it must be carefully guarded and taken to the bank and reinvested for his Mary Louise.