ter.

"We can't take nothin' thet we can't pay fer, sir," the old fellow
assured Mr. Nelson positively. But the latter reminded him that he and
Meggy had saved his daughter's life, as well as those of the other
girls, and that this put him, Mr. Nelson, deeply in the others' debt.
In view of this the old fellow finally surrendered. In his heart he was
deeply, fervently thankful for the help of the young, able-bodied man
whom Mr. Nelson provided and for whose services he paid.

"But ef I strike thet thar gold vein, sir," Dan assured Mr. Nelson
earnestly, "I'm goin' to make it up to you, sir, every cent of it."

"All right, we can talk about that later," Mr. Nelson said, and laughed
and walked on to view his own operations, feeling that he had done a
very good day's work.

One morning, as the girls mounted their horses and turned their heads in
the direction of the gold diggings, they heard what seemed to be wild
cheering and shouting in the distance and with one impulse they urged
their horses to a gallop.

"Somebody's found something!" shouted Mollie, as the cheering and
shouting became more distinct. "Oh, girls, I wonder who it is."

"Maybe a mine has caved in, or something," Grace called back,
pessimistically. "You'd better not get too happy, all at once."

"You old wet-blanket!" cried Betty, as she leaned forward and whispered
in Nigger's ear, urging him to greater speed. "That kind of mine doesn't
cave in very often. Oh, Nigger, hurry, old boy! Don't you know we've
got to get there quickly?"

As they approached the noise became tumultuous, and as they topped a
small hill that brought them in full view of the new diggings they saw a
sight that they would never forget as long as they lived.

They gazed on what seemed to be a mob gone wild. Men grasped each other
around the waists, performing some kind of crazy dance that looked like
an Indian cakewalk. Others tossed their hats in the air and shot holes
through them as they fell to the ground. And all were laughing, crying,
shouting, waving arms and head gear in a sort of wild, feverish, primal
jubilation.

The girls caught the thrill of it and they tingled to their finger tips.
Putting spurs to their horses, they galloped down into the thick of it.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE END OF PETER LEVINE

The crowd scattered as the Outdoor Girls came whirling down into its
midst, but in an instant it had closed about them again. They
dismounted, leaving their exc