"Emma! Emma!" cried Anne. "For mercy sake come up and get a breath of air. You will drown if you stay down another second." Nora laughed heartily. In the meantime Grace and Elfreda were leaning over the bed watching the doctor's diagnosis. Elfreda told him what had been done for the two children, naming the few home remedies that she had been able to find and administer to them. "Good, Miss Lizzie might have been dead by this time if you had not done what you did. Susie is not in quite such bad shape." "What is the matter with them?" questioned Grace. "Scarlet fever--both of them," was the terse answer. "Have your party all been exposed?" Elfreda informed him that, not knowing what the children's trouble was, they had thought best not to permit the Overland Riders to enter the cabin. Grace questioned the doctor further on the attack that had been made on himself and Hippy, and asked him to indicate, as nearly as possible, the spot where the attack was made. The doctor was giving them the details when the door of the cabin was roughly thrown open and a man stepped in. "It's Paw! Hello, Paw. The Doc is here." Jed Thompson carried a rifle under his arm, and his face was as black as a thunder cloud. "Here's a squall," murmured Miss Briggs, just loud enough for Grace to hear. "What you-all doin' here?" he demanded, eyeing the two Overland Riders sternly. It was plain that Thompson's anger was rapidly getting the best of him. "You-all! Git out o' mah house afore Ah throws ye out!" he roared. "Be quiet, Paw," urged Julie weakly, Mrs. Thompson being too frightened to utter a word. "When we have finished with our work, Mr. Thompson, we will leave. Not one second sooner," retorted Elfreda Briggs coolly, as she stepped forward and faced the irate mountaineer. "Then Ah'll throw ye out! The pack of ye git out afore Ah fergits mahself and shoots ye out." Jed started for Miss Briggs, his anger now beyond all control. "Stop where you are, Jed Thompson!" commanded Elfreda Briggs. The mountaineer halted abruptly. He was facing J. Elfreda's revolver, which was leveled at him, held in a steady hand. "Let your rifle drop to the floor," she directed sweetly. "Drop it! My hand is a little nervous to-day and this revolver might go off." The rifle clattered to the floor, but Elfreda Briggs still held her position, her eyes narrowly watching the angry mountaineer. CHAPTER XXI AN APOLOGY AND A THREAT "Here, here, here!" roared the doctor in a commanding voice. "What you-all trying to do here? Haven't you got trouble enough on hand without looking for more, Jed Thompson? Give me that gun." The doctor recovered the fallen rifle, drew the cartridges from its magazine, dropped them in his pocket and stood the gun in a corner. Elfreda lowered her weapon, but did not immediately return it to its holster under her blouse. "Thank you," she said, smiling over at the doctor.