“To be perfectly frank, I’ll be worried about him and won’t know a single moment’s peace until he returns. However, Slade can look after himself much better than he could if you boys went with him. He’s the best scout in the mounted police service.”
“Do you think he has any chance of recovering the map?” Dick asked.
Corporal Richardson shook his head.
“I doubt it very much. I do not believe any of us will ever see the map again. But that does not mean that you need give up hope altogether. Your chance of finding the mine and eventually getting it into your possession is almost as good now as it ever was.”
“What do you mean?” both boys shouted out in unison.
“Henderson and his gang will be apt to find it, won’t they? Well if they do, we’ll take it away from them. Could anything be simpler? It sounds easy but, of course, it isn’t. Just the same, I really do think the thing could be managed.”
“A sort of roundabout way of gaining possession,” laughed Dick.
“Any way is a good way, especially in their case,” grinned Sandy. “But if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see Uncle Walter. He’s covered with bruises from head to foot. Painful, of course, but not serious. I can’t imagine how I managed to sleep through all that uproar last night.”
“I’m not at all surprised,” rejoined Dick, who well knew his friend’s propensity in this regard, and never lost an opportunity of chiding him about it.
When Sandy had hurried away, Corporal Richardson turned to Dick.