"Is that so! Well, if Abe did that I give him credit for it, I sure do.
Those fellers are swindlers, pure an' simple. But they generally work in
sech a way that the law can't tech 'em. I ain't got no use for 'em--and
I reckon Abe ain't neither," went on the old miner, vigorously. And
then he sat down to breakfast with the boys, telling them much about
Butte, and the mining country around it, and about what dealings he had
had with Roger's uncle.

"A square man he was," he said. "And a great pity the way he dropped off
and had his mine lost by a landslide."

The meal over, the three boys lost no time in walking over to the other
side of the city, where Abe Blower lived. They found the front windows
of the house open and an elderly woman was sweeping off the front stoop
with a broom.

"Good-morning," said Roger, politely. "Is this Mrs. Carmody?"

"Yes, I'm Mrs. Carmody," was the reply, and the old lady looked
questioningly into Roger's face. "I don't seem to remember you," she
went on.

"We never met before, Mrs. Carmody," answered Roger, and introduced
himself and his chums. "I came to see Mr. Abe Blower."

The woman looked quite bewildered, so much so that the boys were
astonished. She dropped her broom.

"Did you say you was Roger Morr?" she gasped, looking at the senator's
son.

"Yes."

"Then what brought you here--lookin' fer Abe?"

It was now Roger's turn to be surprised.

"Why do you ask that?" he questioned. "I came because I want to have a
talk with him, and maybe get him to help me look for a lost mine."

"Well, I never!" gasped Mrs. Carmody, and looked more bewildered than
ever.

"Isn't Mr. Blower here?" asked Dave. A sudden idea had sprung into his
mind.

"Of course he isn't here. I--I--don't understand this at all--really, I
don't."

"Don't understand what?" asked Roger.

"Your bein' here, after the letter Abe sent yesterday afternoon. Didn't
you say your name was Roger Morr?"

"Yes."

"Then you went off with Abe, didn't you?"

"Me?" cried Roger. "Why, I have never seen him as yet."

"Never seen him!" gasped Mrs. Carmody. "Well, I never! Of all the queer
things! What can it mean?" And she walked to a chair on the stoop and
sank down heavily.

CHAPTER XV

AT ABE BLOWER'S HOME

The boys saw at once that something was wrong. Mrs. Carmody was
completely bewildered, and being old, had no easy time of it to collect
her wits.

"Do you feel faint?" asked Dave, kindly. "Can I