ched it in time for supper.

John, Roy, Joe, and Hal Beeman were sons of a pioneer Mormon who had
settled the little community of Snowdrop. They were young men in years,
but hard labor and hard life in the open had made them look matured.
Only a year's difference in age stood between John and Roy, and between
Roy and Joe, and likewise Joe and Hal. When it came to appearance they
were difficult to distinguish from one another. Horsemen, sheep-herders,
cattle-raisers, hunters--they all possessed long, wiry, powerful frames,
lean, bronzed, still faces, and the quiet, keen eyes of men used to the
open.

Their camp was situated beside a spring in a cove surrounded by aspens,
some three miles from Pine; and, though working for Beasley, near
the village, they had ridden to and fro from camp, after the habit of
seclusion peculiar to their kind.

Dale and the brothers had much in common, and a warm regard had sprang
up. But their exchange of confidences had wholly concerned things
pertaining to the forest. Dale ate supper with them, and talked as usual
when he met them, without giving any hint of the purpose forming in his
mind. After the meal he helped Joe round up the horses, hobble them for
the night, and drive them into a grassy glade among the pines. Later,
when the shadows stole through the forest on the cool wind, and the
camp-fire glowed comfortably, Dale broached the subject that possessed
him.

"An' so you're working for Beasley?" he queried, by way of starting
conversation.

"We was," drawled John. "But to-day, bein' the end of our month, we got
our pay an' quit. Beasley sure was sore."

"Why'd you knock off?"

John essayed no reply, and his brothers all had that quiet, suppressed
look of knowledge under restraint.

"Listen to what I come to tell you, then you'll talk," went on Dale. And
hurriedly he told of Beasley's plot to abduct Al Auchincloss's niece and
claim the dying man's property.

When Dale ended, rather breathlessly, the Mormon boys sat without any
show of surprise or feeling. John, the eldest, took up a stick and
slowly poked the red embers of the fire, making the white sparks fly.

"Now, Milt, why'd you tell us thet?" he asked, guardedly.

"You're the only friends I've got," replied Dale. "It didn't seem safe
for me to talk down in the village. I thought of you boys right off. I
ain't goin' to let Snake Anson get that girl. An' I need help, so I come
to you."

"Beasley's strong around Pin