hts.

"Miss Seldon, what I most wished to say to you I fear will deeply pain
you," said Doctor Dick, after a pause.

"Let me hear it, sir, for I am becoming accustomed to being pained of
late," and Celeste was perfectly calm.

"I was told by Harding, the driver, that you were on your way to Last
Chance, to look up a friend who had come here on a mission for you, and
who you had feared was in trouble?"

"Yes, and my fears were realized when I learned that the coach in which
he was a passenger had been held up, I believe that is what you call it,
by road-agents, and Mr. Brandon was so severely wounded in the head that
his brain was turned."

"Yes, but that is not all, Miss Seldon."

"Ah! what else is there to tell?"

"He was under my care for a long while, and I did all that I could to
restore his reason, except to perform an operation for his relief, which
I feared to risk."

"So Mr. Harding told me."

"When his bodily health was restored he left my cabin and roamed about
the camps up to a week ago, when he most mysteriously disappeared. We
had all the miners out upon a search for him, did all in our power to
find him, but in vain, and what his fate has been is only conjecture."

"And what is that conjecture, Doctor Dick, for I believe you are so
called?"

"Yes, I am known to all solely as Doctor Dick; but let me answer your
question by replying that we believe the poor fellow has lost his life
by falling over a cliff."

"Such is not the case, sir," was the reply that startled the doctor.
"Mr. Brandon is now a captive of the road-agents."

Doctor Dick gazed at Celeste Seldon in amazement.

"Do you know this, Miss Seldon, or is it only conjecture on your part?"
he asked, when he had recovered from his surprise.

He had come prepared to console, but, instead, had found the young girl
cool and with apparently knowledge which he did not possess regarding
the man whom Harding had said he believed was her lover.

"I know it, Doctor Dick."

"May I ask how?"

"I have just been a captive of the outlaws myself, and in coming here
from their secret retreat we met two of the road-agents with a prisoner.
The leader had some talk with them, but though I at once recognized Mr.
Brandon, I was not allowed to speak with him."

"Did you request it?"

"Naturally."

"But were refused?"

"Yes."

"Was any reason given?"

"Simply that I would not be allowed to, and, if I did, Mr. Brandon would
not know me, as h