It was about eleven o’clock, and one hour past their usual time for hunting their bunks, when Clancy and Ballard pushed away from their checkerboard.
“An even thing, Red,” said Ballard, with a good deal of satisfaction, “and that’s the way I like to quit.”
“You’ve kept me up for an hour longer than usual, Pink,” yawned Clancy, “just to saw off even. If I hadn’t given you the last three games, we wouldn’t have got to bed to-night.”
“I’ve got a picture of you giving anybody a game,” jeered Ballard. “You played for all there was in it, and I merely demonstrated the fact that I’m as good as you are.”
“Oh, well,” murmured the red-headed youth, “if it pleases you to think that, I’m agreeable. Wonder where Chip is?”
“In bed, of course, just where I’m going to be in a brace of shakes. Come on.”
They hustled upstairs, and Clancy stepped into the room jointly occupied by himself and Merry. A call from Clancy brought Ballard on the jump.
“What do you think?” asked Clancy. “Chip, isn’t here. Where the nation do you suppose he is?”
“Ask me an easier one,” answered Ballard. “It isn’t like him to skip out without telling us what he’s up to.”
Clancy had an idea.
“I’ll bet a plugged nickel against a chink wash ticket,” said he, “that Chip’s absence has something to do with Lenning.”
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“What has it to do with Lenning?”
“I’ve dug up that much, Pink, and it’s up to you to think out the rest. I’ve started something, now you finish it.”
“If I tried to finish everything you started,” snorted Ballard, “I’d have my hands full. But I guess I can fill in the gaps of this particular proposition, all right.”
“Well, what’s the answer?”
“Chip has gone out to the mine to bolster up Lenning’s good resolutions. That would be like him, wouldn’t it? Just remember, please, that we interrupted a confab Chip and Lenning were having when we came in from the gulch. More than likely Chip has gone to the cyanide plant to wind up that conversation.”
“You’ve hit it, old man,” beamed Clancy. “I know as much as anybody, if I could only think of it, but that gilt-edged theory certainly got past me. Look here, Pink. Suppose we take a stroll out toward the mine, meet Chip, and escort him back to the hotel?”
“You’re on! But if Chip doesn’t happen to be at the mine——”
“Well, if we don’t find him, we’ll have a nice little walk. And it’s a fine old night for a walk, Pink.”
“If I’d known you’re as wide-awake as all that, Red,” grumbled Pink, “I’d have had another game out of you.”
“You would—not. If we don’t stir up a little excitement during this stroll of ours, so I can get my mind off checkers, I’ll be beating you in my sleep. Come on, if you’re ready.”
They descended the stairs, passed through the office, and out at the front of the hotel. Then, turning south, they traversed the length of the main street.
Ophir was an orderly little place. A great many Easterners had come to the town, in the employ of the syndicate
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 that operated the mine, and they exerted an influence in the settlement that was all on the side of law and order.
The street was quiet, and almost deserted. At the end of it, Clancy and Ballard found themselves in the trail that led directly to the Ophir “workings.” The road stretched southward in a clear, whitish streak against its background of dusky desert.
“Chip has got me going in this Lenning affair,” confessed Ballard, as they walked leisurely along the trail.
“Same here, Pink,” said Clancy. “When Chip takes the bit in his teeth you might as well stand back and let him go.”
“He never does that unless he’s mighty sure he’s on the right track.”
“Sure not, but one of these days he’s liable to run full-tilt over the wrong course. Between you and me, Pink, I believe that’s what he’s doing now. Lenning had a lot of nerve to refer Mr. Bradlaugh to Chip.”
“That was the right move, though, if Lenning really wanted help from Merry. Lenning was wise to that.”
“I guess he’s wise to a lot of things that Merry will never know anything about. Hang it all! I wish Shoup had taken Lenning out of the country with him. They’re a fine pair, those two, and one isn’t much better than the other.”
As the lads strolled on they kept an expectant watch ahead. At any moment they believed Merriwell might show up in the trail, traveling townward. But they did not see him. The stamps were rumbling in the distance, and as the noise grew in volume, Ballard halted with a shiver.
“There’s something about that moaning of the stamp
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 mill, at the dead of night like this,” he remarked, “that gives me the creeps.”
“Don’t get scared, little Bright Eyes,” murmured Clancy soothingly. “Remember, I’m along.”
“Oh, you go to blazes!” grunted Ballard. “If it was a case of spooks, Red, you’re the last fellow I&rsquo............