ht near where they found that old suit-case.
All at once it come to me that something's got to be did."

"Vell, vot you bane goin' to do?" Nels spoke indifferently, for he had his
own troubles heavily on his mind.

"I don't want you to say much to the others. But if you find they ain't
goin' to foller up that trail we lost in them burnt woods, 'count of the
rain, I'm goin' to foller it myself. Say, Nels, I want to get your wife to
cook me up some grub--on the quiet, see?"

"On de qviet--heh? V'ot for you bane goin' to do?" Nels was vaguely
suspicious but kindly.

"They've gone for the sheriff and the dawgs. But they won't get back afore
ter-morrer. I want that grub right away--see?"

Nels grunted a surly assent, adding: "Don' you forget to bring dat grub."

This Chip proceeded to do, managing to secure through Billy Worth and Phil
Way a limited amount of flour, bacon and one or more minor ingredients.
But both were curious, naturally.

"Look here, Chip," remarked Phil casually. "You ain't going to leave us,
are you? We--we rather like you, boy."

Chip took them both aside as he explained his purpose to some extent.

"You know Paul found a gold piece where that suit-case was picked up. That
shows as how Murky, or whoever it was, must 'a' been puttin' the money in
something else. It's rained on that trail, and even if the sheriff comes
with his dawgs, they can't foller it to do any good."

"Well then, how the mischief can you follow it?" demanded Worth. "You just
can't! Believe me, Chip, you're going up against a hard thing."

But Chip persisted. The sooner he got off, the better. After all, seeing
he was bound to go, they wished him luck. But meanwhile Paul had come up
and was listening eagerly. When Phil and Billy turned away, he clapped
Chip on the back, saying:

"Chip, you're the goods--sure! I'm going with you, see?"

Chip looked so astonished that Paul hastened to add: "Don't you worry!
I'll have some grub of my own, too. More'n that, I'll get a couple of our
camp blankets. Now that our Thirty is gone, we won't be using much of our
camp supplies. Say, it's up to us to help get back that twenty thousand
dollars or what's left of it--hey?"

So it was arranged. During the afternoon Mr. Beckley and a constable came
back but without either the sheriff or the dogs. To the anxious queries
put to them Beckley shook his head discouragingly.

"We talked to the sheriff. He seemed anxious to do all he could; but