When he spoke, finally, it was to himself, rather, as if in denunciation of the momentary temptation which the telegram had been to him.
"No!" emphatically, "I'm not going back like a prodigal who can't stand the gaff any longer! I won't slink into a soft berth because it's offered, and admit that I'm not man enough to stand up and take what comes to me! I'm licked again--proper--and," harshly, "I don't expect anybody to believe in me, but I won't stay licked if I can help it!"
"I'm said to be a good 'picker,' and I've always believed in you, Wallace Macpherson," Helene said, slowly.
He stared his incredulity, then replied with ungracious irony: "You've concealed it well."
"Flattery is bad for growing boys," she smiled mischievously.
"I'm sure you've never spoiled any one by it. You've treated me like a hound, mostly."
Her eyes sparkled as she answered: "I like hounds, if they have mettle."
"Even when they run themselves down following a cold trail?" he asked in self-derision.
Her reply was interrupted by voices raised in altercation in the vicinity of the supply-wagon. A clump of bushes concealed the disputants, but they easily recognized the rasping nasal tones of Mr. Stott and the menacing bellow peculiar to the cook in moments of excitement.
The wrangle ended abruptly, and while Helene and Wallie stood wondering as to what the silence meant, Pinkey with a wry smile upon his face came toward them.
"Well, I guess we're out of the dude business," he said, laconically.
"What's the matter now?" Wallie demanded so savagely that the two burst out laughing.
"Nothin' much, except that Hicks is runnin' Stott with the butcher-knife and aims to kill him. I don't know as I blame him. He said his grub was full of ants and looked like scraps for Fido."
Wallie was alarmed, but Pinkey reassured him.
"Don't worry! He won't catch him, unless he's got wings, the gait Stott was travellin'. He'll be at the hotel in about twenty minutes--it's only five miles. What do you make of this, pardner?" Pinkey handed him a worn and grimy envelope as he added in explanation: "I found it stuck in the cupboard of the wagon."
Wallie took the envelope, wondering grimly as he turned it over if there was anything left that could surprise him. There was. On the back was written: Ellery Hicks INSULTED August 3rd, this year of our Lord, 1920.
Below, in pencil, was a list of the party with every name crossed out save Mr. Stott's, and at the bottom, ornamented with many curlicues and beautifully shaded, was the significant sentence, with the date as yet blank: Ellery Hicks AVENGED, August ---- this year of our Lord, 1920.