close to the river's edge, twisting
one of his long red moustaches in doubt and vexation.

"Damn this river," he growled, as Aldous came up. "You never can tell what
it's going to do overnight. Look there! Would you try to cross?"

"I wouldn't," replied Aldous. "It's a foot higher than yesterday. I
wouldn't take the chance."

"Not with two guides, a cook, and a horse-wrangler on your pay-roll--and a
hospital bill as big as Geikie staring you in the face?" argued Stevens,
who had been sick for three months. "I guess you'd pretty near take a
chance. I've a notion to."

"I wouldn't," repeated Aldous.

"But I've lost two days already, and I'm taking that bunch of sightseers
out for a lump sum, guaranteeing 'em so many days on the trail. This ain't
what you might call _on the trail_. They don't expect to pay for this
delay, and that outfit back in the bush is costing me thirty dollars a day.
We can get the dunnage and ourselves over in the flat-boat. It'll make our
arms crack--but we can do it. I've got twenty-seven horses. I've a notion
to chase 'em in. The river won't be any lower to-morrow."

"But you may be a few horses ahead."

Stevens bit off a chunk of tobacco and sat down. For a few moments he
looked at the muddy flood with an ugly eye. Then he chuckled, and grinned.

"Came through the camp half an hour ago," he said. "Hear you cleaned up on
Bill Quade."

"A bit," said Aldous.

Stevens rolled his quid and spat into the water slushing at his feet.

"Guess I saw the woman when she got off the train," he went on. "She
dropped something. I picked it up, but she was so darned pretty as she
stood there looking about I didn't dare go up an' give it to her. If it had
been worth anything I'd screwed up my courage. But it wasn't--so I just
gawped like the others. It was a piece of paper. Mebby you'd like it as a
souvenir, seein' as you laid out Quade for her."

As he spoke, Stevens fished a crumpled bit of paper from his pocket and
gave it to his companion. Aldous had sat down beside him. He smoothed the
page out on his knee. There was no writing on it, but it was crowded thick
with figures, as if the maker of the numerals had been doing some problem
in mathematics. The chief thing that interested him was that wherever
monetary symbols were used it was the "pound" and not the "dollar" sign.
The totals of certain columns were rather startling.

"Guess she's a millionaire if that's her own money she's been figgeri