"Maybe he is still searching for new gold mines," suggested Miss Lavina. "I notice he does seem very much engaged in thought, and is of a rather solitary nature."
"Never was before," protested her cousin. "And if these gold finds just twist a person's nature crosswise, or send them into a fever, then I hope the good Lord'll keep the rest of them well covered up in future."
"Lorena Jane," said Miss Lavina, in a reproachful tone, "it is most essential that you free yourself from those very forcible expressions. They are not a bit genteel."
"No, I reckon they ain't, Lavina; and the more I try the more I'm afraid I never will be. Land sakes, if folks would only teach their young ones good manners when they are young, what a sight of mortified feelings would be saved after a while!"
Lyster left them in the midst of the very earnest plea for better training, for he espied a new boat approaching camp. As it came closer, he found that among the other freight it carried was the autocrat of Sinna Ferry--Captain Leek.
"What a God-forsaken wilderness!" he exclaimed, and looked around with a supercilious air, suggesting that he would have given the Creator of the Kootenai country valuable points if he had been consulted. "Well, my dear young fellow, how you have managed to exist here for three weeks I don't know."
"Well, we had Mrs. Huzzard," explained Max, with a twinkle in his eye; "and she is a panacea for many ills. She has made our wilderness very endurable."
"Yes, yes; excellent woman," agreed the other, with a suspicious look. "And 'Tana? How is she--the dear girl! I really have been much grieved to hear of her illness; and at the earliest day I could leave my business I am here to inquire in person regarding her health."
"Oh!" and Max struggled with a desire to laugh at the change in the captain's attitude since 'Tana was a moneyed individual instead of a little waif. Poor 'Tana! No wonder she looked with suspicion on late-coming friends.
"Yes, she is better--much better," he continued, as they walked up from the boat. "I suppose you knew that a cousin of Mrs. Huzzard, a lady from Ohio, has been with us--in fact, came up with our party."
"So I heard--so I heard. Nice for Mrs. Huzzard. I was not in town, you know, when you rested at the Ferry. I heard, however, that a white woman had come up. Who is she?"