"I have not. Perhaps he is back already and over in the smoking room." "I don't know him personally, but I am very anxious to see him." "I'll have a boy look for him," returned the clerk, and called up a bell-boy, who took Dick's card and went off with it to the smoking room and the dining hall, calling softly as he passed one man and another, "Number 144! Number 144!" Presently the bell-boy came back, followed by a tall, thin, and pleasant-faced man of sixty, wearing a light-checked suit and a broad-brimmed slouch hat. "This is the gentleman, sir," he said to Dick. "Are you Mr. Jack Wumble?" asked Dick curiously. "That's my handle, lad," was the answer, in a broad, musical voice. "And I see your card reads Richard Rover. Any relation to Andy Rover, as used to be a mining expert?" "I am his son." "Well, well! His son, eh? Glad to know you, downright glad!" And Jack Wumble nearly wrung Dick's hand off. Then Tom and Dick were introduced, and more handshaking followed, and the boys felt that they had found a true friend beyond a doubt. CHAPTER XIX THE BURLY STRANGER'S LITTLE GAME "I'm more than glad to have met you as we did," said Dick, a little later, after Jack Wumble had asked the boys about their father. "I think it has saved us from getting into a lot of trouble." And he related the particulars of the meeting with Henry Bradner, and what the stranger had said and done concerning Wumble. "The snake!" ejaculated the old miner passionately. "He's a sharp, true as you are born! Why, I never put up at the Palace of the West in my life." "I wish I knew what his game was," went on Dick. "You will know Dick--if I can get my hands on him. Do you reckon as how he is over to that other hotel now?" "More than likely." "Unless he shadowed us to here," burst out Tom. "If he did that he must know his game is up, and you can be sure he will keep out of sight." The matter was talked over, and it was decided that Jack Wumble and the boys should go to the other hotel without delay. On the way Dick told the old miner what had brought them to the West. Jack Wumble took a deep interest in all mining schemes, and listened closely to all the youth had to say. "Yes, I remember about the Eclipse Mine," he said. "And I remember this Arnold Baxter, too. He was a bad one, and if I and some others had our say he would have dangled from a tree for his stealings, for, you see, we didn't have no jails in those days, and stealing was a capital crime." "It will you help us to locate the mine before Arnold Baxter or his confederates can get on the ground? We will pay you for your trouble." "Certainly, I'll do what I can. But I--don't want any of Anderson Rover's pile--not me. Why, your father nursed me through the worst case o' fever a miner ever had--an' I ain't forgittin' it, lads. I'll stick to ye to the end." And the old miner put out his hand and gave another squeeze that made Dick wince.