The Argosy, Vol. 82 No. 2 — page 108: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

290 Why should any sane man spend fifty thou- sand dollars to put life into a played-out mining camp? Why pull a leaf out of the past and drop it down in NuggetGulch? How can Robbins reap any profit from what he calls his Big Idea? He’s not the sort of man to go into such a venture if he didn’t expect to make something out of it. What can he make? And how?” “Tve thought of that, too. And mother and dad, they talked it over during the ride to the camp, back there, so mother told me. They’re as much in the dark as anybody else. But dad says that he guesses we can stand it if we’re getting paid for it; and that he’s glad to be going anywhere instead of trying to find a job in Los Angeles.” “After the thirty days, what then?” “The Bobbetts,”’ answered the girl with a soft laugh, ‘‘never cross a bridge of that kind until they get to it. Something will turn up, dad says.” “T was offered a place by a real estate man in Los Angeles,” said Reeves thought- fully. ‘He wanted me to go to Imperial Valley and drive an automobile for land- seekers.” ‘“Why—why didn’t you take the job, Marty?” Lady Ann asked, a flutter in her soft voice. “Well, because I wanted to stay with the Camp and be with you. Now you have it, Lady Ann. We have known each other for a month, but during that month you have become quite necessary to my happiness. I can’t think of the future, somehow, with- out thinking of you.” He paused. ‘The girl sat on the boulder with face upturned in the moonbeams and seemed scarcely to breathe. He reached out and took her hand. “Did you ever have an idea, a forebod- ing, stamp itself upon your brain so clearly and indelibly that it haunted you and gave you no rest?” Reeves spoke in low tones that throbbed with conviction. ‘Such thoughts of you have been with me for some time, Lady Ann. Because of them I turned my back on a sure thing in Imperial Valley and held to my uncertain prospects with the Forty-Niners. Just for you. When you need a friend I want to be within call.” “Why, what do you mean, Marty?” the girl breathed. Before he could answer, sounded behind them. “Ah, there you are!” drawled a voice. “Lady Ann, your mother is worrying about a footfall THE ARGOSY. you, and I have been commissioned to find you and escort you back to camp. Pardon, Reeves, but perhaps you can understand how Mrs. Bobbett felt when she looked around for her daughter and couldn’t find her.”’ Jim Rayner, tall and straight and grace- ful, stood before Lady Ann and Reeves. ‘No danger could come to Miss Bobbett while she was with me,” Reeves observed, pointedly. “Certainly not,” agreed Gentleman Jim pleasantly. “If you admire the quiet and the moonshine, Reeves, by all means enjoy them. Come, Lady Ann.” The girl started up from the boulder, took a step toward Gentleman Jim, hesi- tated a moment and then moved on. ‘Good night, Marty,” she said. “Good night,” he returned, and watched her fade away in the dim shadows with Jim Rayner. He remained alone among the boulders for an hour or more, wondering about Jim Rayner and the influence he appeared to hold over the Bobbetts. Rayner, as Gentleman Jim, played the role of a gambler in the Camp. There had been no gambling, of course, and Rayner carried off the part by force of a romantic personality and a little realistic ‘make be- lieve” with a faro lay-out; but there were times when Reeves had ugly suspicions of what was going on in Rayner’s “off” hours, away from the Forty-Niners and at large in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Tenderfoot drifted back to the camp after a while, and crawled into his blankets under the prairie schooner. Billy Vince, who was bunking near, aroused sleepily. “That you, Martin?” inquired the piano- player. 3 Vag." “Some thief would make a big haul if he could get away with Robbins’s chest of double-eagles,”’ went on Vince. “I just had a dream about that chest.” “The gold is safe enough,” said Reeves, settling down. ‘‘Robbins and Castle are armed and they’ll look out for it.” The ride next day was even more trying than the first stage of the journey had been, but the Forty-Niners were looking forward to Nugget Notch, and bore the discomforts with some show of cheerfulness. Lady Ann was not riding with the others on horseback, Billy Vince had the girl’s mount, COMMUC SS .OO (S@)