still," answered Dubb; "and if nothing be done for her, she may die. The mine be not going to suffer if it am left alone, like she am."
"But what good does all this 'ere huntin' an' skirmishin' among them 'ere Utes do her? None o' yer searchin'-gang has had a glimpse at her, or at ony one as has seen 'er, since the Injins toted her off. What c'n ye say ter that?"
"They have not found her because they have not looked for her where she am."
"But how c'n they tell where ter look?"
"That am what they be searching for."
"Look 'ere, Dubb, I tells yer she am either dead er gone outen that country."
"If that am so, they be some one in that country what knows that she am dead, or gone away."
"An' you purpozes," interrogated Droopy, with rising impatience, "an' you purpozes a-keepin' them air fellers what ye have hired a-huntin' till they finds her, er finds some one what knows as how she am gone dead, er gone outen the country?"
"Yes," was the quiet answer.
"Well, I'll be damned!" exclaimed Droopy ; and Dubb looked as if he was perfectly willing that Droopy should dispose of himself according to his own tastes. "An' this mine o' yourn a-needin' yer hull 'tention so much," Droopy added, sorrowfully, after a brief silence.
"I be working the mine, Droopy; I be working it hard, and it am paying me well."
"Yes, but it oughter have yer hull 'tention, an' not be goin' it snooks with this 'ere Stanley woman," maintained Droopy, but with the feeling that he must seem as unreasonable to Dubb as Dubb seemed to him.
The silence which followed was prolonged; and to Droopy it was awkward and embarrassing. He felt that he had been injured, though he was uncertain as to whether he ought to blame Dubb, or himself, for his uncomfortable condition. Droopy did not like to give advice without having it either followed or systematically parried. Somehow, he could not get used to Dubb's way of dealing with superfluous advice, Dubb had such a quiet but decisive way of arraying facts against whatever he found opposed to the plan or course he happened to be following. And facts, with Dubb, were hard, immovable things.
Droopy's embarrassment, or chagrin, or whatever it was, was speedily relieved by the appearance of a man who bore a letter for Dubb from some one at the fort near which the parting between him and Mark Stanley had taken place the year before. This letter was very brief. Dubb read it aloud:
"They have found her, and are bringing her to you. You may expect her almost as soon as you get this."
The "her" alluded to was, undoubtedly, Mark Stanley's wife; but Dubb took the news as quietly as if he had reasons for believing that it referred to a cinnamon bear, and a dead one at that. Droopy regarded him first with disgust, then with admiration, then with awe.
"I'll be darned!" he muttered.
