The next morning, when Aldous joined the engineer in the dining-room below, he was disappointed to find the breakfast table prepared for two instead of four. It was evident that Peggy Blackton and Joanne were not going to interrupt their beauty nap on their account.
Blackton saw his friend's inquiring look, and chuckled.
"Guess we'll have to get along without 'em this morning, old man. Lord bless me, did you hear them last night--after you went to bed?"
"You were too far away," chuckled Blackton again, "I was in the room across the hall from them. You see, old man, Peggy sometimes gets fairly starved for the right sort of company up here, and last night they didn't go to bed until after twelve o'clock. I looked at my watch. Mebby they were in bed, but I could hear 'em buzzing like two bees, and every little while they'd giggle, and then go on buzzing again. By George, there wasn't a break in it! When one let up the other'd begin, and sometimes I guess they were both going at once. Consequently, they're sleeping now."
When breakfast was finished Blackton looked at his watch.
"Seven o'clock," he said. "We'll leave word for the girls to be ready at nine. What are you going to do meantime, Aldous?"
"And I'll run down and take a look at the work."
As they left the house the engineer nodded down the road. MacDonald was coming.
"He has saved you the trouble," he said. "Remember, Aldous--nine o'clock sharp!"
A moment later Aldous was advancing to meet the old mountaineer.
"They've gone, Johnny," was Donald's first greeting.
"Yes. The whole bunch--Quade, Culver Rann, DeBar, and the woman who rode the bear. They've gone, hide and hair, and nobody seems to know where."
"Also," resumed old Donald slowly, "Culver Rann's outfit is gone--twenty horses, including six saddles. An' likewise others have gone, but I can't find out who."
"That Culver Rann ain't lost any time in gettin' under way for the gold," said Donald. "DeBar is with him, an' probably the woman. Likewise three cut-throats to fill the other saddles. They've gone prepared to fight."
Old Donald hunched his shoulders, and suddenly John's face grew dark and hard.
"I understand," he spoke, half under his breath. "Quade has disappeared--but he isn't with Culver Rann. He wants us to believe he has gone. He wants to throw us off our guard. But he's watching, and waiting--somewhere--like a hawk, to swoop down on Joanne! He----"