In the afternoon he went down into camp to strengthen the
associations he had made, to buy claims, and to gamble. Upon his
return Joan, peeping through a crack between the boards, could
always tell whether he had been gambling, whether he had won or
lost.
Most of the evenings he remained in his cabin, which after dark
became a place of mysterious and stealthy action. The members of his
Legion visited him, sometimes alone, never more than two together.
Joan could hear them slipping in at the hidden aperture in the back
of the cabin; she could hear the low voices, but seldom what was
said; she could hear these night prowlers as they departed.
Afterward Kells would have the lights lit, and then Joan could see
into the cabin. Was that dark, haggard man Kells? She saw him take
little buckskin sacks full of gold-dust and hide them under the
floor. Then he would pace the room in his old familiar manner, like
a caged tiger. Later his mood usually changed with the advent of
Wood and Pearce and Smith and Cleve, who took turns at guard and
going down into camp. Then Kells would join them in a friendly game
for small stakes. Gambler though he was, he refused to allow any
game there that might lead to heavy wagering. From the talk
sometimes Joan learned that he played for exceedingly large stakes
with gamblers and prosperous miners, usually with the same result--a
loss. Sometimes he won, however, and then he would crow over Pearce
and Smith, and delight in telling them how cunningly he had played.
Jim Cleve had his bed up under the bulge of bluff, in a sheltered
nook. Kells had appeared to like this idea, for some reason relative
to his scout system, which he did not explain. And Cleve was happy
about it because this arrangement left him absolutely free to have
his nightly rendezvous with Joan at her window, sometime between
dark and midnight. Her bed was right under the window: if awake she
could rest on her knees and look out; and if she was asleep he could
thrust a slender stick between the boards to awaken her. But the
fact was that Joan lived for these stolen meetings, and unless he
could not come until very late she waited wide-eyed and listening
for him. Then, besides, as long as Kells was stirring in the cabin
she spent her time spying upon him.
Jim Cleve had gone to an unfrequented part of the gulch, for no
particular reason, and here he had located his claim. The very first
day he struck gold. And Kells, more for advertisement than for any
other motive, had his men stake out a number of claims near Cleve's,
and bought them. Then they had a little field of their own. All
found the rich pay-dirt, but it was Cleve to whom the goddess of
fortune turned her bright face. As he had been lucky at cards, so he
was lucky at digging. His claim paid big returns. Kells spread the
news, and that part of the gulch saw a rush of miners.