rquoise carved
to what was plainly meant to be the form of a bad-tempered horse, and
two small specimens of ore!

Altogether, the captain passed a wild and whirling night.

CHAPTER XIII

THE SIEGE OF DOUBLE MOUNTAIN (_Continued_)

"If the bowl had been stronger
My tale had been longer."

--_Mother Goose_.

When the sun peeped over Rainbow Range, Captain Griffith bent over Tobe
Long's bed. His eyes were aching, burned and sunken; the lids twitched;
his face was haggard and drawn--but he had arrived at an unalterable
decision. This thing could not and should not go on. His brain reeled
now--another such night would entitle him to state protection.

He shook Mr. Long roughly.

"See here! I believe you're Bransford himself!"

Thus taken off his guard, Long threw back the bedding, rose to one
elbow, still half asleep, and reached for his shoes, laughing and
yawning alternately. Then, as he woke up a little more, he saw a better
way to dress, dropped the shoes and unfurled his pillow--which, by day,
he wore as overalls. Fumbling behind him, where the pillow had lain, he
found a much-soiled handkerchief and tenderly dabbed at his swollen eye.

"Bit of steel in my eye from a drill-head," he explained. "Jiminy, but
it's sore!"

Plainly he took the accusation as a pleasantry calling for no answer.

"I mean it! I'm going to keep you under guard!" said Captain Griffith
bitingly.

Poor, sleepy Tobe, half-way into his overalls, stared up at Mr.
Griffith; his mouth dropped open--he was quite at a loss for words. The
captain glared back at him. Tobe kicked the overalls off and cuddled
back into bed.

"Bully!" he said. "Then I won't have to get breakfast!"

Gurdon Steele sat up in bed, a happy man. His eye gave Mr. Long a
discreetly confidential look, as of one who restrains himself, out of
instinctive politeness, from a sympathetic and meaningful tap of one's
forehead. A new thought struck Mr. Long. He reached over behind Steele
for the rifle at the bed's edge and thrust it into the latter's hands.

"Here, Boy Scout! Watch me!" he whispered. "Don't let me escape while I
sleep a few lines! I'm Bransford!"

Gurdie rubbed his eyes and giggled.

"Don't you mind Rex. That's the worst of this pipe habit. You never can
tell how they'll break out next."

"Yes, laugh, you blind bat!" said Rex bitterly. "I've got him all the
same, and I'm going to keep him while you go to Escond