"I will do so, though I hate to give a woman pain." "Now, doctor, I wish to ask about the one she seeks here in Last Chance." "Who is he, Harding?" "The poor fellow you so devotedly cared for, but whose reason was destroyed by the wound he received from the road-agents." "Ah, yes, poor fellow, his mind is irrevocably wrecked." "Where is he?" "Landlord Larry can tell you better than I, for he seems to avoid my cabin since I gave him up as a patient." "He wanders about among the camps at will; but that reminds me that I have not seen him to-day," the landlord said. "Is he the one the girl is coming to see?" asked Doctor Dick. "Yes, and his name is Bernard Brandon. He came out here on a special mission for her, I suppose to find her father, and not hearing from him she feared that he had gotten into trouble, so came West herself in search of him." "Well, her coming may bring back his reason, though I doubt it." "Will you not question him, doctor, telling him about her, and see if you cannot get him to talk rationally?" "Certainly, Harding, but where is he?" Landlord Larry asked his clerk about the man, but he had not seen him all day, and, the miners being questioned, not one recalled having seen him since the day before. In some dread that harm had befallen him, Harding then went out in search of the poor fellow. He went from miner to miner and camp to camp in his vain search, for not anywhere could he find any one who had seen the missing man for over twenty-four hours. Becoming really alarmed, when he realized the shock it would be to Celeste Seldon, whose hazardous and costly trip to the West would be utterly useless, Harding went back to the hotel to consult Doctor Dick and Landlord Larry about giving a general alarm. Then alarms were only given in times of direct need, for the miners were sworn to obey the call, and come from every camp and mine within the circuit of habitation about Last Chance. The alarm was given by sending a mounted bugler to every prominent point in the valley, where he was to sound the rally three times. A half-dozen positions thus visited would send the bugle-notes into every camp of the valley, and it was the duty of all miners to at once strike for the place of assembly at the hotel, and give the warning to all others whom they saw. Landlord Larry hearing the story of Harding's fruitless search for the stranger, at once decided to order the alarm sounded without consulting Doctor Dick, who was not at his cabin. So the bugler was called in, and, mounting a speedy horse, he placed the bugle to his lips and loud, clear, and ringing resounded the "rally." Then he dashed from point to point at the full speed of his horse, and within half an hour, from half a dozen prominent positions, the bugle-call assembling the miners had rung out and men were hastening to obey the summons. Within an hour every man in Last Chance had reported at the assembling-point, all eager to know the cause of the alarm.