e dread that harm had befallen him, Harding then went out in
search of the poor fellow. He went from miner to miner and camp to camp
in his vain search, for not anywhere could he find any one who had seen
the missing man for over twenty-four hours.

Becoming really alarmed, when he realized the shock it would be to
Celeste Seldon, whose hazardous and costly trip to the West would be
utterly useless, Harding went back to the hotel to consult Doctor Dick
and Landlord Larry about giving a general alarm.

Then alarms were only given in times of direct need, for the miners were
sworn to obey the call, and come from every camp and mine within the
circuit of habitation about Last Chance.

The alarm was given by sending a mounted bugler to every prominent point
in the valley, where he was to sound the rally three times.

A half-dozen positions thus visited would send the bugle-notes into
every camp of the valley, and it was the duty of all miners to at once
strike for the place of assembly at the hotel, and give the warning to
all others whom they saw.

Landlord Larry hearing the story of Harding's fruitless search for the
stranger, at once decided to order the alarm sounded without consulting
Doctor Dick, who was not at his cabin.

So the bugler was called in, and, mounting a speedy horse, he placed the
bugle to his lips and loud, clear, and ringing resounded the "rally."

Then he dashed from point to point at the full speed of his horse, and
within half an hour, from half a dozen prominent positions, the
bugle-call assembling the miners had rung out and men were hastening to
obey the summons.

Within an hour every man in Last Chance had reported at the
assembling-point, all eager to know the cause of the alarm.

Again Landlord Larry was the speaker, and he began by asking if the
unfortunate stranger, whose wound had crazed him, was in the crowd.

Every eye was at once on the search for the man, but soon the reports
came that Bernard Brandon was not in the crowd.

Then Landlord Larry made known that the mysterious disappearance, at the
time of Miss Seldon's capture by the road-agents, was a coincidence so
strange that it needed explanation.

Miss Seldon was coming to Last Chance to find that very young man, who
had in turn come there in search of her father, and now, when she was a
captive to the road-agents, to be given up only upon the payment of a
large ransom, the stranger had most mysteriously disappeared.