The trader leaped forward, jumped to the ground and caught him in his arms.
“My good God, Price!” he cried, “say you ain’t dead! You ain’t bad hurt—Oh, my God!”
Selwood looked at him with eyes that seemed dull as ashes.
“——solved—mystery——” he said thickly. “——rustlers—raid—caught with the goods—they are——”
The thick voice failed and Sheriff Price Selwood slumped down heavily on the shoulder of his erstwhile friend.
It was to be long before he would finish his cryptic sentence.
CHAPTER XVI
THE ANCIENT MIRACLE
News in the mountains travels fast, by mysterious ways, and in places where it seems impossible. Also it has marvelous powers of mutation. What may start out far down on Little Beaver Dam as an innocent prank, is liable to reach the Upper Sweet Water as a full-fledged scandal.
So it was on Nameless that drowsy day in August.
Nance Allison was busy about her work in the scoured kitchen, with Sonny Fair following her like a small-sized shadow.