Welcome Perkins was smoking a pipe on the porch as Matt rode up. He jumped excitedly to his feet when he saw who was coming.
"Howdy, pard!" he called. "Did you an' Chub do the trick? Did ye beat out them villains, Jacks an' Hawley? Snakes alive, Matt, don't say ye didn't! From the looks o' yer face, I'm argyin' ye've had bad luck. Oh, ye ort to hev took me! Ye ort to hev let me take keer o' this."
Hearing Welcome's loud talk, Susie came out on the porch.
"Why, Matt!" she exclaimed. "Where's Mark? Didn't he come with you?"
Matt shook his head as he climbed up the steps.
"What's the matter with ye?" demanded Welcome. "I don't reckon I ever seen ye quite so cut up afore, Matt. Somethin' must hev gone a hull lot crossways to make you pull sich a face."
"Nothing has happened to Mark, has there, Matt?" queried Susie anxiously.
"A good many things have happened to both of us, Susie, since we left here," said Matt; "but Chub's all right."
"You're kind of pale, Matt," went on Susie solicitously. "Here, take this chair."
"What makes ye limp?" queried Welcome. "Hawley been roughin' things up with ye? Shade o' Gallopin' Dick! I never felt so all-fired worked up about anythin' as I do about that there 'strike' o' Jim's. Tell me right out, Matt, hev ye saved the claim?"