On rolled the coach, and when it neared the silent form, without any command to do so, Harding drew hard upon the reins, pressed his foot heavily upon the brake, and brought the coach to a standstill, the horses, which had before drawn it through the deadly dangers it had passed at that spot, showing a restless dread and expectancy of the cracking of revolvers. But there was no weapon drawn either by the man on the side of the trail, or by Harding, and neither seemed to dread the other. The reason for this was that the one who had awaited the coming of the coach at the Dead Line was none other than old Huckleberry. CHAPTER XVII. A SECRET KEPT. Just fifteen minutes before the time of arrival set for the coach by schedule, Hal Harding drove up to the hotel at Last Chance. From his entering the valley, and passing the first mine, he had been followed by cheer after cheer, until when he reached Landlord Larry's tavern there were many there to swell the chorus of welcome. Larry greeted him most warmly, and when he saw what a valuable freight he had brought through with him, he told him that he was deserving of the highest praise. Harding received the honors heaped upon him in a modest manner, and when asked by Landlord Larry if he had seen any road-agents, answered: "Not one." "All quiet along the trail, then?" "As quiet as the grave." "I suppose you were anxious upon reaching the Dead Line?" "I think the horses were more nervous than I was, for they at least showed it." "You told the agent at W---- about old Huck's fate?" "Of course, sir, I told him of his mysterious disappearance." "Do you know I half-way hoped you would hear something of old Huck at W----." "No, I heard nothing of him there." "And none of the stock-tenders had seen him?" "They did not speak to me of having done so." "Well, he is gone, that is certain; but you have begun well, Harding, and I hope may keep it up." "Thank you, Landlord Larry, I hope that I will, for I have an abiding faith in the belief that I will live to be an old man." "I hope so sincerely," said the doctor, who had been an attentive listener to the conversation between the young miner and Larry. "They say at W----, Doctor Dick, that if I go under, you will be the only man who will dare drive the coach through." "And I will not do it unless we are doomed to be cut off from all communication, and I see that Last Chance will be ruined, from fear of traveling the trail to it," said Doctor Dick decidedly. "How is your patient, doctor?" "Which one, for I have a number of patients just now?" "The young man whose wound at the hands of the road-agents turned his brain." "I see him daily, and he is about the same, like a child, mentally." "They asked about him at W----, for the agent had received several letters regarding him." "Ah!" said Doctor Dick, with interest. "What was their tenor?"