ved Smith, "for the next
time we see the old Roost it will probably be snowbound."

Old Ben had been watching for their return most of the afternoon. As they
came across the stream and up to the road below the inn, he called Mr.
Allen to the door.

"I jist want t' ask ye if that tarnal varmit, Williams, has been
botherin' yew fellers any sence he started work on that new claim o'
hisn. If they ever was a sneakin' whelp, he's it. He couldn't get
possession o' Tad's tunnel; he darsent touch it, so he's gone an' started
a tunnel on the other side o' that dyke. He's been workin' it, now, off
an' on all this fall, but I didn't know it till they brought a wounded
man from there yesterday. Seem a stone mashed his foot bad. They stopped
here to rest a bit, an' I seed the feller. I've knowed him these ten
years, an' he's a devil. Does dirty work fer any tarnal critter at'll pay
him well fer it. Served him right. I s'pose you saw something of them
last night, as they went back up to the mine. There was three of 'em and
a mean lookin' dog." Mr. Allen listened in silence. He was wondering just
what Old Ben knew of this Williams, and why he should be so interested in
the boys at the cabin.

"Ben," he said, and he looked the old man straight in the eye, "do you
know a man named Tad Kieser?" Ben dropped his eyes and shuffled his foot
aimlessly on the floor.

"Yep, I know him, boy, an' a finer man never walked these here hills. Too
fine a man to get along with varmits!"

"Is he still living, Ben?"

"Yep, still livin'. He'll be a poppin' up in these parts one o' these
days, an' then you'll see who's boss at that tunnel up yonder. I've
always said they was gold there, but Tad never would go into the mine
again after the accident. That varmit, Williams, believes same as I do,
or he wouldn't be a diggin' that hole on t' other side o' the dyke. If he
er any o' the rest o' them fellers bothers ye any at the cabin, jist let
me know; I'll take ker o' them fer ye. Good-night." He went inside and
closed the door. Mr. Allen hurried along, and, catching up with the
crowd, he called Willis aside to tell him what Ben had said--all except
that Tad was living and Ben knew where he was. That much he kept secret.
Willis listened intently, then he told of how he heard the dog bark in
the night.

When Willis reached the Association that evening he was handed a
telephone call. He noted that it was the home number, and he realized in
an instant wha