"Not to-night, Stella, surely."

"Yes, to-night. Right now."

"But----"

"There's no buts in this at all. Who wants to help me find Singing Bird?"

Every fellow in the outfit stepped forward.

"Well, I guess that's enough," she said, laughing. "But, I want you and Kit. The others can stay behind and 'tend the herd. We'll be back when we return." She waved a merry hand to the others, and the three strode into the woods, Bud bending eagerly forward to find the trail.

Presently Bud struck a moccasin trail, and they followed it until it mingled with another.

The first was undoubtedly that of Singing Bird. The other was that of a big man, or of a man with a big foot.

"I reckon she come out here ter find her mother's grave, an' met up with ther bully, her husband. Here they seem ter hev had a struggle, and then thar is only one track, but deeper, showin' that he was carryin' weight.

I reckon he put his hand over her mouth an' carried her off by main strength."

"Poor Singing Bird," murmured Stella. "If she has really fallen into the hands of that brute, it's a sure thing that she'll be killed this time, and now we're bound to follow her and get her."

"That's interfering between a man and his wife," said Kit.

"I don't care. She's mine now, for I saved her life. She said so."

"All right, Stella, we'll find her if we swaller our chewin' gum.

Forward!" Bud led the way, always with his eyes on the ground.

After traversing a few hundred yards he stopped.

"Here they're walkin' side by side again," he said, "and they're going toward the river."

They hastened on to the bank of the river, and there all trace of them was lost at the water's edge.

"They've crossed over, but not in a boat," said Bud. "I don't see how they could do it if they didn't swim. There isn't the sign o' a boat around here."

"Then over the river we go," said Stella. "But the question is, how?"

"I'll swim it," said Bud. "And if I find any trace of them over there, I'll holler."

Bud threw his guns on the bank and plunged into the water, and in a few minutes was across, for so near the headwaters it was not wide.

They saw him scouting along the sh.o.r.e, and presently he waved his hand at them, and pointed to the ground.

"He's found them," said Kit. "But how are we to get over?"

Kit ran up and down the sh.o.r.e, and soon found several logs, which he towed to where Stella was waiting, and fastened them together into a raft.

"There you are," he said. "Climb aboard, and I'll ferry you across."

Stella did so, and in a few minutes they were on the other side.

Bud showed them the tracks of Singing Bird, and they followed them into the woods.

Close beside the track was a huge stump of a sycamore tree, and Stella elected to sit down beside it and wait until they returned, as she was pretty tired. The boys pa.s.sed on with the warning to fire her revolver three times if anything should alarm her.

As she sat beside the stump, she picked up a stick, and began poking in the earth at her feet. As she did so, there was a rumbling sound beneath her, and the world seemed to be slipping from her. This was followed by a rush of earth and a clatter of stones, and Stella went down with it.

She did not fall more than ten feet, however, before she stopped, a little shaken but unhurt.

When she had recovered somewhat, she looked about her.

Then she gave a little shriek of joy. It seemed as if she had fallen into a regular nest of pure gold, for the glittering grains were everywhere about her, on her clothes and in her hair.

Suddenly she recalled everything. She had found the mother lode that the Indian girl had told of.

Drawing her revolver, she fired three shots, the danger signal, and immediately it was answered by three shots, but from the side of the river she had just quitted.

This surprised her, but in a moment she heard a shout. It was Ted.

Evidently thinking that something might befall her, he had followed, and in a few moments she heard him splashing in the water.

"h.e.l.lo!" he cried.

"Here I am, Ted," cried Stella, and in a moment she saw his face outlined above her in the opening of the hole.

"How the deuce did you get there?" he asked.

"Oh, I just dropped in to take a look around, and what do you think I found? I've found gold by the bushel. Ted, this is the mother lode."

Ben, Carl, and Clay were with Ted, and soon Bud and Kit, who had heard the shots, came hurrying back.

When they heard what had happened they were much surprised.

"But this cannot be the place. Where is the sycamore tree Singing Bird said was a landmark?" said Ted.

They had pulled Stella out of the hole, and now she pointed to the big, old stump.

"That is what's left of it," she said. "If I hadn't that hunch to sit down here, we wouldn't have found the mother lode in a blue moon."

As they were speaking they heard a sound behind them, and turned to see Running Bear. He had crept up to them so silently that not one of them had heard him until he was a step away.

"Ugh!" he grunted. "White boy go away. This my country."

"Go to your grandmother," said Ted. "Where is Singing Bird?"

"She in Running Bear wigwam. Mebbe so you like Singing Bird. You can have same go away."

"What, and leave you in possession of all this gold? Not likely."