"But why did you follow me?" Tom continued, as they neared the camp.
"Did you think I was going to run into danger?"
Leon hesitated.
"Well," he admitted, finally, "when I saw you stealing off, soft like, I had a queer notion come over me that, maybe, you were discouraged, and that you were going off to put an end to yourself."
Tom started, stared in amazement, then spoke in a tone of pretended anger:
"Much obliged for your fine opinion of me, Leon," he declared.
"Only cowards and lunatics commit suicide."
"That's all right," nodded the cook doggedly. "I've seen men lose their minds out here in these gold fields."
They were now in camp.
"Wait, and I'll call Ferrers and a few of the men, Leon," Tom proposed.
"What for? To stand guard?"
"No; we must send back a few of the men to find that man you wounded. It was Eb. He fell in a heap. If his own companions didn't carry him away he was left in a bad fix."