flap hooked up; and in the opening, a wide-eyed diminutive child
with a very old face and a very small frame, that looked for all the
world to Wayland like a clothes rack in a pawn shop covered with
colored rags.

"Waz ye wantin' me faather?"

As the reader is aware this little person never lacked speech.

"H's away! H's gone t' th' citie for th' throuble that's comin' on
about th' mine, y' onderstand? He's wan o' th' men t' be on hand if
there's throuble."

"Are you one of the new settlers'?"

"Yes, sor! M' name's Meestress Leezie O'Finnigan! We're come upp t'
live three years, mebba four, m' faather says we may fool 'em on less
than five; an' we're goin' to be wal-thy, an' we won't hev' a thing t'
do but sit toight an' whuttle an' sput an'," it was the same story, she
had told Eleanor.

"What trouble in the mines?" asked Wayland.

"In the coal mines, sor! There's a gen'leman come from Waashington,
an' soon as the Ranger's been found, there's been goin's on, sor, bad
goin's ons, soon as th' Ranger's back, their expectin' throuble; un' m'
faather's gone down for to be there, he saz."

"Well?" said Wayland, as they rode on towards the Cabin.

"They've been busy, Wayland! They've been busy, man! You're in the
thick of it! More power t' y'r elbow! We've got the first licks in on
th' sheriff's carcass."

"And six dead men to the good," added Wayland dryly, "only I guess they
don't go into the reports, they are missing!"

As they approached the Cabin, a young man in gray flannels and sailor
hat sat up in the hammock, looked twice at Wayland, got up and came
forward.

"Are you Wayland?" he asked, with a contemptuous glance at the Ranger's
disguised suit.

"That's my name."

The young fellow handed him a letter stamped from the head department
at Washington. It stated that the bearer was a Federal attorney sent
out to investigate the Smelter City Coal Claims and any other matters
bearing on the contests of the Holy Cross. The letter was
couched--Wayland thought--with peculiar frigidity, as though he and not
the coal claimants were the guilty party to an undecided contest. Then
he glanced back at the bearer: an incredibly young and inexperienced
youth--not more than twenty-two or three, barely out of a law school.

"Glad to see you, sir," said Wayland, "Been waiting long?"

The young fellow gave him a side wise look.

"About a week."

"I'm sorry to have delayed you; but one of the most impo