"When did YOU get here?" said Stark, after a pause.
"Black Bear Creek," said the soldier, curtly, at which Runnion broke into profanity.
"Better hush," Burrell admonished him; "there's a lady inside," and at that instant Necia showed her laughing face under his arm, while the trader uttered her name in amazement.
"Lunch is ready," she said. "We've been expecting you for quite a while."
"Ba Gar! Dat's fonny t'ing for sure," said Poleon. "Who tol' you 'bout dis strike--eh?"
"Take off your packs and come in," Burrell invited, but Stark strode forward.
"Hold on a minute. This don't look good to me. You say your mother told you. I suppose you're Old Man Gale's other daughter--eh?"
"What time of day was it when you learned about this?"
"Cut that out," roughly interjected Gale. "Do you think I double-crossed you?"
"It looks that way, and I intend to find out. You said yesterday you hadn't told anybody--"
"I didn't think about the woman," said the trader, a trifle disconcerted, whereupon Runnion gave vent to an ironical sneer.
"But here's your girl and this man ahead of us. I suppose there's others on the way, too."
"Nonsense!" Burrell cut in. "Don't quarrel about this. Miss Gale got wind of your secret, and beat you at your own game, so that ends it; but there's plenty of ground left for all of you, and no harm done. Nobody knows of this strike from us, I can assure you."
"I call it dam' sleeck work," chuckled the Canadian, slipping out of his straps. "De nex' tam' I go stampedin' I tak' you 'long, Necia."
"Me, too," said Lee. "An' now I'm goin' to tear into some of them beans I smell a bilin' in yonder."
The others followed, although Stark and Runnion looked black and had little to say. It was an uncomfortable meal--every one was ill at ease; Gale, in particular, was quiet, and ate less than any of them. His eyes sought Stark's face frequently, and once the blood left his cheeks and his eyes blazed as he observed the gambler eying Necia, gazing at her with the same boldness he would have used in scanning a horse.
"You are a mighty good-looking girl for a 'blood,'" remarked Stark, at last.
"Thank you," she replied, simply, and the soldier's vague dislike of the man crystallized into hate on the instant. There was a tone back of his words that seemed aimed at the trader, Meade thought, but Gale showed no sign of it, so the meal was finished in silence, after which the five belated prospectors went out to make their locations, for the fear of interruption was upon them now.