The two scoundrels escaped in the crowd, and pretended to be hunting for someone. The last thing they would now think of was to try to settle in the place made so dangerous for them.
Helen and the child came along to the box where Morris had fixed his abode and sat down upon it, she having registered the two claims. She said:
“We must try and get back to the Gulch before there is any kind of trouble, for often when there is a crowd like this they get to drinking and fighting. Snakes was so good, and would not sell any, but there may be others who will. Some of the men are desperate characters.”
“Let’s hurry then, for I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, because I love you so much.”
“Do you love me, Loney? That sounds so sweet, and I am so glad that I could win your affection. And I am glad if I could to-day do anything to insure your future. If my own little boy had lived, he would have been about your own age. And he must have looked as you do had he lived.”
“Well, I wish that I had been your little boy. You don’t know how it feels to know you are nobody’s boy.”
All the boomers were occupied each with his own plans, and they seemed to consist in getting their claims registered, and after that getting their tents set up. In a surprisingly short time the place looked like a miniature village done in white. No one seemed to notice that two men had approached Helen and the child, who were still sitting on the box which Morris owned. As she saw these rough-looking men, each with a full dark beard, Helen started, for there was something sinister in their manner. She turned to them, saying:
“Who are you, and what do you want?”
“Never mind who I am. I know my business, and it is that I want that boy.”
“What right have you to ask such a thing? What is this child to you?”