did. The first we knew, she had her things packed, and asked me for

her salary. I wouldn’t pay it, of course, under the circumstances, as we expect to play here another week, and she was in the cast. She went away in a huff.”

“How long was she with your company?” was the scout’s next question.

The manager admitted that he had “picked her up” at Calumet Springs, when the company was there on its way to Blossom Range.

“She wanted to join us, and I let her do so, as I thought we could use her,” he explained.

“So you really know nothing about her?”

“Not a thing!”

When Buffalo Bill left the Casino, he sent a telegram to the marshal of Calumet Wells, requesting him to hold the woman until certain charges against her could be investigated.

“Now for Juniper Joe’s!” he said to the officer.

When they reached the cabin of Juniper Joe, they had somewhat the same experience; Juniper Joe was not there, neither was his wife. The cabin was locked.

The door which the scout had so recently splintered had been somewhat repaired, and was braced on the inside, as well as locked.

“This is queer!” was the officer’s comment.

“Just a little bit,” the scout agreed.

“Shall I break the door in?”

“That is my advice.”

When it was battered in and they entered, they found no one inside.

A warrant had been secured, authorizing the house and the mine to be searched. Therefore, the officer forced the door which led to the mine. The mine looked dark as a cave; so lights were secured, before they tried to enter it.

They examined the mine back of the cabin, the scout flashing the light curiously on the walls.

He made no remarks about his discoveries, and his examination was not a close one; but he commented freely enough on the fact that the couple must have departed by the front door.

“Yet it seemed to have been barred on the inside!” was the officer’s objection.

This was overcome, when a closer examination of the door was made. The bar of wood had been so arranged that it would drop down on the inside and so hold the door when it was closed from the outside. Hence the theory that it had been barred from the inside fell to the ground.

“This may be nothing but a mare’s nest, though,” the officer suggested; “Juniper Joe and his wife may be both downtown right now.”

“His wife was supposed to have been too badly hurt to leave the cabin,” the scout reminded.

“But she may have gone to some doctor’s office!”

Though this was true enough, the scout did not believe it.

After they had made sure that the mine and cabin were unoccupied, Buffalo Bill asked the men to return to the town and make a search for Juniper Joe and his wife, and to arrest them if they were found.

As for himself, as soon as the men set out, he turned about and started off, with the intention of rejoining Nomad and the baron.

“A water haul!” he said to himself, as he walked on swiftly. “But I think that at last we are making some progress.”

It was the scout’s opinion that the couple and Vera Bright had hastily left the town.

“Why?” was the question.

It seemed to him there could be but one answer.