“What do you mean?” asked Jack.
“I mean that we expect some legal documents
by mail, after these letters have reached those for
whom they are intended,” answered the miner.
“The replies will be very important, and I wouldn’t
want them to fall into the hands of those who are
trying to get the property away from us.
“So if you’ll just mention to your cousin
to bear in mind when any letters like these come for
me that they’re important, and if you’ll
remember that yourself, Jack, why, we’ll be
much obliged to you.”
“I sure will be on the watch,” promised
Jack. “They’ll be registered, of
course.”
“Oh sure! But I don’t imagine anything
will happen to them. For no one can know exactly
when they will come. Only be on the watch for
them.”
“I certainly will! Now if you’ll
give me those I’ll put them in a safe place.”
Mr. Argent handed over the missives, and Jack put
them in his inside pocket, and then used a safety
pin to close the opening.
“Safety first!” he exclaimed with a laugh.
“That’s right,” assented the miner.
As Jack rode off on the back of his pony, which was
becoming quite famous because of his speed and the
regularity with which he made the trips, the young
express rider thought of the two strangers who had
suddenly reappeared after having annoyed Jennie.
“I just wonder who they are, and what their
game is,” he reflected. “After all,
maybe it would have been a good thing if we had caught
them. I guess Jennie would be game enough to
go to court and testify. But I don’t know
on just what charge we could have held them.”
“Anyhow, we haven’t got ’em, so
perhaps it’s all for the best. But I sure
will be on the watch for them again. And I’ll
have to be on the lookout for the replies to these
letters. Well, it’s all in the game,”
Jack reflected. “Dad probably has gone
through the same, and worse, maybe, and he never backed
down. I’ve got to keep up his reputation,
if I’m doing his work. It would be fine,
too, if I could find some way of proving that he wasn’t
at fault in that Harrington matter. But I suppose
that’s too much to expect.”
Thus reflecting, Jack rode on.
A NIGHT ATTACK
Naturally, after the little experience of the morning,
having received the sealed letters, and having again
seen the two men who had acted so roughly toward Jennie,
Jack was a little apprehensive as he rode along the
trail toward Golden Crossing. There were several
places very favorable for holding up a stage coach,
had one used the mountain road, but, as has been said,
the route was too difficult for a vehicle to traverse.
“Though they might hold me up, more easily than
they could a coach if they wanted to,” reflected
Jack. Consequently he approached all suspicious
places with more than his usual caution.
