ud of steam. And
p'raps after all you might git a chanct to set eyes on him yet;
because I heard down at Greeley, last time I was thar, that he'd
passed through with a couple of fellers, and packs; so it looked like
he meant to give that pesky lost mine another whirl, makin' p'raps the
fourth time he's been up thisaways."

"Glad to hear it," spoke up Bumpus. "Makes it more interesting to know
that he's still got some faith in the story of the lost Rawson mine.
But I'm real sorry for Colonel Kracker, because he's a back number
since the Foxes have come to town. If he knows what's good for him
he'll go away back and sit down."

"It's refreshing just to hear you say that, Bumpus," declared Allan.

"He's just talking for the fun of hearin' himself, that's what?"
grumbled Step Hen. "What sort of chance would we have, a lot of
greenhorns who never yet saw a silver mine; against an old-timer like
him? For one I'm not going to take any sort of stock in the yarn. Like
as not it's just one of the thousands of lies that are circulated all
through the mining regions. Why, I've heard that there are just any
amount of wonderful lost mines that never existed, my dad says, except
in the mind of some crank. And my dad ought to know, because he owns
stock in heaps of mines that was salted dreadful, just to sell to
innocent people in the East."

"About this Rawson who was said to have found the silver lode that was
nearly pure," Thad remarked, wishing to pick up more information;
"what sort of a man was he, Toby--you said you used to know him once,
I believe?"

"A pretty fair an' square sort of a prospector; and they sez as how he
was that tickled over his rich find, sayin' that now his fambly could
enjy some of the comforts o' life. Seems like his fust thought was
'bout them. But I never knowed whar he lived, except that it was
somewhar down in Utah among the Mormons; though to be sure he wasn't
belongin' to the plural wife colony, not much. Seemed to think all the
world 'bout the one wife, and the children he'd got."

"Then it's too bad poor Rawson never lived to profit by his
discovery," went on the scoutmaster. "If he'd only been able to hand
the key to his find over to his family, they might long ago have come
in for a fair share of the profits of the lode. Well, Bumpus, if, as
you seem to believe, in that stubborn way of yours, that the Foxes are
just _bound_ to tumble into this lost mine, we'll remember, boys, to
hunt up th