ance of the stranger, "are you still here?" As there was
nothing in the world to interrupt Miss Bruce's vision of the young man,
even if she had been hopelessly near-sighted, he was obliged to
understand her meaning. Coloring hotly under his already rosy skin, he
got up.

"I thought you wouldn't mind if I rested a bit," he explained. "I have
been tramping around this neighborhood for the last two days and I was
counting on slowing up when I got back to this place. I need to fill my
water bottles. And look here, I wonder if you would give me something to
eat. You don't know it, but it is a custom for travelers of the open
road to help each other out."

Ralph Merrit knew he had never seen a girl whose expression changed as
swiftly as Jean's. A minute before, her eyes had been cool and reserved,
and now they were brimming pools of kindness.

"Oh, I am so sorry you are hungry. I'll get you something to eat right
away," she replied sympathetically. "If you will stay until Cousin Ruth
and Olive come back I know they will invite you to lunch. I am sure you
will tell how you happened to turn up here, and, of course, I can see
you are a gentleman," she ended.

Ralph's face flushed gratefully, "You are awfully kind," he murmured,
and then all at once Frieda saved the situation from further
embarrassment. Suddenly she thrust into the young man's hand a large,
red apple and a cracker, which she had concealed in her apron pocket.
She had been foraging on her own account inside their tent, but had
forgotten her provisions in the interest of Jean's discovery.

Ten minutes later Ruth and Olive appeared on the scene, swinging a large
basket of chips and pine cones between them. In amazement they set down
their basket and stared at a three cornered group composed of Jean,
Frieda and a strange young man, seated comfortably on the ground,
laughing and talking and lunching on their best jam and pickles and
bread.

CHAPTER XI

"WHERE'S JACK?"

Ralph Merrit explained his unexpected appearance to Ruth in a far more
conventional fashion than Jean had required. He was a native of Chicago,
a graduate of a mining school, and had come west to see if he could make
his living by testing the gold deposits in the mining camps in the
northwest states. Two miners had induced him to go with them to an old
mine not far away to see if their discoveries of gold deposits were of
value. When the find turned out to be no good, the men had slip