e dead man they had
buried last night, when he had spoken of the man they were looking for
as being on his way back from the diggings.

"Wal, he won't exactly what you ladies would call a beauty," answered
the big man, grinning, "seein' that he'd let his whiskers an' ha'r grow
long an' scraggly all over his face an' head; but you'd a-knowed him, if
you'd a-seen him, by a peecoolyer scar over his left eye, shaped
sumthin' like a hoss-shoe, with th' ends of th' shoe pointin' t'ord th'
corners of th' eye."

"Why," and Iola's face whitened, "he must have been the man our
brothers, Thure and Bud, brought home with them yesterday afternoon! He
had a scar on his forehead like that. Didn't you notice it?" and she
turned to Ruth.

"Yes," Ruth answered, "and he was from the mines."

"Wal, now, that's good news," declared the big man, glancing out of the
corners of his eyes at his companion. "We was afeared sum harm had come
tew him. An' so he's restin' safe an' easy at your home. Now, whar might
that be, if I may be so bold as tew ask?"

"But, he'd been robbed--murdered!" exclaimed Iola. "And it was his dead
body that had been brought to our house. We buried him last night."

"Robbed! Murdered!" almost yelled the big man. "Do you hear that,
Spike?" and he turned excitedly to his companion. "Sumone got him for
his gold, jest as he was afeared they would. An' you say 'twas your
brothers who found him, an' took th' body home with them, an' gave it
decent burial. Now I call that decent, don't you, Spike?" and he glanced
sharply at his companion.

"White an' decent," agreed Spike. "But," and his small snake-like eyes
shifted swiftly from face to face of the two girls, as he spoke, "did
he--did he leave any message for his friends; or, was he dead when your
brothers found him?"

"He lived only a little while," answered Iola. "He had been stabbed by
one of the cowards, and he died before they could get him to the house.
I don't think he left any message. I don't remember of hearing our
brothers say anything about a message, do you?" and she turned to Ruth.

"No," replied Ruth. "He--he left no word for any friend. He only--" she
stopped abruptly, and just in time; for, unthinkingly, she had been
about to speak of the skin map and the Cave of Gold.

Both men started slightly at her words and abrupt stop and flashed swift
glances into each other's eyes.

"Now, that's tew bad," declared the big man. "We sure thought he would
l