_ CHAPTER XXIX. TO WELCOME THE FAIR GUEST
The miners of Last Chance were too much excited over the expected ransom of Celeste Seldon, and the thought of soon having a young and beautiful girl in the mining-camps, to devote themselves to steady work, after the situation was known to them.
Then, too, they were greatly disturbed at the mysterious disappearance of Bernard Brandon, the young man whose mind had been destroyed by his wound, and which they could not comprehend, for not the slightest trace had been found of him, with all their searching.
The fact that they had been robbed, and also Celeste Seldon, was another disturbing element, and so it was that little work was done in the mines during the time following Harding's arrival and the day set for Doctor Dick to go out with the ransom money for the young girl whom they all so longed to welcome in their frontier home.
Landlord Larry had set the example of having things spruced up for her coming, and the miners had quickly followed his example, having put their cabins in better condition.
A cabin which the landlord was having built for his own especial use, apart from the hotel, was hastened to completion, and then the very best the hotel could supply was put in it as furniture and to make it attractive to the fair visitor, who was to be regarded as the guest of Last Chance.
At last, the eventful day arrived for the ransom to be paid, and the miners had all taken a peep into the quarters of Celeste Seldon, to see how attractive it was.
Doctor Dick had furnished a number of things, and the miners who had any pretty robes, or souvenirs, did likewise, until it would have been a callous heart, indeed, that would not be touched by their devotion to one whom they had never seen.
The question of an attempt to capture the road-agents had been fully discussed, but dismissed upon the advice of Landlord Larry, Doctor Dick, and Harding, who represented the danger that the girl would be in, at the hands of the merciless masked chief.
That Doctor Dick was the right man to send out with the ransom all felt assured, for if there was any trickery on the part of the road-agents, he was the one to meet it.
Doctor Dick had even offered to go out upon horseback alone, but it was thought best that the coach should be sent for the visitor, and Harding should drive, he having met her.
The miners, however, arranged to meet her with a delegation at the entrance to the valley, and escort her to the hotel.
Every man was to be dressed in his best, and, in honor of the occasion, the saloons were to be all closed.
When, at last, the day arrived, Harding mounted his box and gathered up his reins, Doctor Dick following to a seat by his side a moment after.
The bag containing the gold to be paid in ransom was placed between their feet, Landlord Larry gave the word to go, and the coach rolled away at a rapid pace, followed by the wildest cheering.
The doctor was fixed up in his most magnificent attire. His jewels shone with more than accustomed luster, and there was an expression upon his face that boded no good for the road-agents if they meant treachery in their dealings.
Harding was also rigged out in his finest, and wore a pleased look at the prospect of meeting Celeste again, upon whom he considered that he held a special claim, and yet, underlying all, was an anxiety that some hitch might occur in gaining her release that would destroy all prospect of seeing her.
The coach had been cleaned up to look its best, and a United States flag floated from a staff fastened upon the rear.
The harnesses had been burnished up, and red, white, and blue streamers had been attached to the bridles, so that the whole outfit presented a very gorgeous appearance, and one intended to impress the beholder with the grandeur of the occasion.
And so it was that Doctor Dick went out with the ransom for Celeste Seldon, with Harding proud at holding the reins over the picked team that would take her back to Last Chance.
"Well, Doctor Dick, what do you think of our chances?" asked Harding, when the coach had turned out of the valley and was fairly started upon the trail to the meeting with the masked road-agent chief.
"How do you mean our chances, Harding?"
"To get the young lady?"
"You were the one to make the terms."
"True, and I fear treachery."
"What chance is there for it?"
"We have the money."
"Yes."
"We are but two."
"Very true."
"They have the captive."
"Yes."
"And they can bring many against us."
"Also very true, Harding."
"Now, if the chief means treachery, and has his men there, he can hold us up, get the ransom money, still keep possession of the girl, and there it is."
"He might do so; but I hardly believe we need submit to even half a dozen outlaws, where so much is at stake."
"I'm with you, Doc, in whatever you say do."
"I know that, Pard Harding; but there is another way to look at this affair."
"How is that?"
"If those road-agents were treacherous, as you seem to fear, it would end in their utter annihilation."
"How so, Doc?"
"Why, the miners would send the alarm to W---- and to Fort Faraway, and we would have that splendid fellow, Buffalo Bill, leading a column of soldiers on the hunt for them from one point, another force would push out from W----, and a couple of hundred miners from Last Chance, and every outlaw in this part of the country would be caught and hanged."
"I believe you are right, Doc. I had not thought of the result of treachery on their part, for they would get the worst of it; no, I guess all will go well."
"I think so, and hope so sincerely," answered Doctor Dick, and the coach rolled on in silence for some time, when Harding asked:
"What do you think of Brandon's disappearance, doctor?"
"I hardly know what to think, unless he has fallen from some precipice and killed himself."
"I guess that is it; but now let me give you a warning, Doc."
"Of what?"
"That young girl."
"What have I to fear, pard?"
"If you don't fall in love with her, you are a different man from what I take you to be."
"You have been caught, I see."
"Yes, I'm gone, clean gone; but I guess that is all the good it will do me, for I suppose her lover is that poor fellow Brandon."
"You only think her lovely just because she is the only woman you have seen on the frontier. She is doubtless as ugly as an old maid."
"Just wait and see her, and then say which of us is wrong," said Harding, with a confident smile.
As the coach turned around a cliff, neither Doctor Dick nor Harding saw that there was a man standing among the pinons watching them. He had, from his position, been able to see the coach a mile away, as it wound along the valley, and he had watched it as it approached with seemingly the deepest interest.
He stood erect, like a soldier on duty, one hand resting upon a repeating rifle, the other grasping a field-glass, which he had occasionally raised to his eyes and viewed the coming stage.
He stood like a sentinel, and had been there for an hour or more before the coach rolled into view.
A glance was sufficient to show that the silent sentinel on the cliff was none other than Buffalo Bill, the chief of scouts.
He was dressed as was his wont, and back from the cliff a couple of hundred yards, grazing upon the ridge, was his horse.
But, strangest of all, the scout-sentinel did not hail the coach, did not make his presence known, but allowed it to roll by, himself unseen, as though he wished to keep the fact of his being there a secret, even from Doctor Dick and Harding, his ally and spy. _