nd the telegraph lines were all down! Nobody
seemed to know when communication with the outside world would be
possible. She might have to stay here a month, for all she could learn
to the contrary. There was just one cheerful thought connected with
the whole thing, and that was the fact that this Fred, of whom Kate
talked so much, could not be summoned. Mrs. Singleton Corey felt that
another Humphrey in the house would drive her quite mad.

Then one day Murphy came stumbling in to the cabin, just after three
or four disheartened searchers had arrived, and announced that he had
got on the track of the man that shot Hank Brown.

"An' it's Mike, the crazy fool thot did it, an' I'll bet money on it,"
he declared, goggling around at his audience. "An' what's more, the
rest of ye had betther be travelin' wit' yer eyes open, fer he's crazy
as a loon, an' he'll kill anny one that crosses his trail. An' didn't
I notice just this marnin' that his rifle was gone wit' him--me dom
eyes bein' so near blind thot I c'uldn't see in the corner where it
was, an' only fer wantin' a belt that hung on a nail there, I w'uldn't
av been feelin' around at all where the gun sh'uld be standin'. An'
it's gone, an' I mind me now the talk he was makin' about sphies in
the woods, an' thot the gurrl had betther look out, an' the feller up
on the peak had betther look out, an' me thinkin' he was talkin'
becawse av the railroad tie thot hit 'im wanct, an' hushed 'im up whin
I sh'uld 'a' been takin' 'im in to the crazy house, I dunno. An' if
he's kilt the gurrl an' the missus' boy, like he kilt Hank Brown, it's
like he's found the cave the lad was livin' in, an' is sthayin' holed
up there, I dunno--fer he ain't been near the cabin, an' unlest a tree
er a fallin' limb kilt him, he'd have to be sthayin' somewheres. Fer
he's kilt the gurrl an' the boy, an' I'll bet money on it, I dunno."

"Looks that way, Murphy--" began one, but he was stopped by a cry that
thrilled them with the terrible grief that was in the voice,--grief
and hope that was dying hard.

Mrs. Singleton Corey, having stood just within the other room
listening, made two steps toward Murphy and fell fainting to the
kitchen floor.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

TROUBLE FINDS THE GOLD THAT WAS IN THEM

After that nothing seemed to matter. The days slipped by and Mrs.
Singleton Corey cared so little that she did not count them or call
them by name. She would sit by the one window that fac