The old man was chuckling gravely when the tale was finished.
“So ye rambled round in the woods and got lost, did ye? Well, now—ye shore did it right and proper! You’re a good ten mile from the Mule-Ear trail, right this minute. Been travelin’ away from it ever sence ye got down the mount’in, I reckon.”
Dick jumped as if he had been shot.
“Good goodness!” he ejaculated. And then: “I’ve got to get back to it some way, to-night! Those fellows will have a fit if they don’t find me! Besides, they took only a snack with them and they won’t have anything to eat. I’ve got all the camp duffle and grub! I thought, all the time, I was working back toward the trail as I came up the creek.”
“Ye would’ve been, if ye’d hit the right creek,” said the patriarch mildly. “This ain’t Silver Creek—that comes down from the pass gulch; it’s a branch that runs into Silver about twelve mile west. Reckon ye must’ve crossed over from one to t’other when ye was ramblin’.”
“Sure!” said Dick, astonished and provoked to think that he hadn’t had any better sense of direction. “But you see how it is? I’ve got to get back, dark or no dark, and if you’ll just let me cook a pot of coffee over your fire——”
“Sho, now!” said the old man; “you lemme talk a spell. I could p’int ye right, but ye never would find your way over to Silver in the dark; ain’t right shore I could do it myself. You listen to ol’ Daddy Longbeard: you jest camp down with me for the night, and right early in the mornin’ I’ll set ye on your way. Them boys ye tell about’ll make out to take care o’ theirselves for one night, I reckon.”
Dick hesitated. Now that he had found somebody who could direct him, at least in a general way, it seemed all the more needful that he should eat and run. But on the other hand, the burros had had a long day, counting from the start out of Lost Canyon, and they needed the night halt—to say nothing of himself. Again, there was something almost pathetic in the way the old man pressed his invitation. Dick tried to imagine how it would seem to him if he hadn’t seen a living human since the good Lord knew when.
“I guess maybe you’re right,” he said at length. “It’s more than likely that I’d get lost again in the dark. If you’re sure it won’t be any trouble to you to have me stay——”
“Trouble? None such! I’ll shore take it mighty handsome if ye’ll stay and lemme see if I’ve forgot how to talk to folks. But I reckon ye’re hongry. Set down and I’ll give ye what I’ve got, and right welcome.”