Chapter IX: Friends

Westy drew his legs up onto the seat, careful not to touch Artie’s bandaged foot. And so these two friends sat one at either end of the seat facing each other and chatting. Artie was the one boy in all the troop whom it was impossible to quarrel with. He had almost a girl’s delicacy and an amiability that made him likeable to every one.

“Yes, but you wanted to go all right,” said Westy.

“What you don’t get you don’t miss,” Artie said.

“Well, I’m going to miss it,” said Westy sullenly.

“Well, what do you say we both miss it together?” said Artie. “Then we’ll have some fun missing it. I dare say my mother will be disappointed; she’s getting postcards from me out there already. Well, let’s see. You were asking if I’ve seen any of the troop. Elsie Harris sent me up some jelly; the chauffeur brought it; I guess she wouldn’t trust Pee-wee. Safety first, hey? Sure, all the troop have been up. Mary Temple was here yesterday; she’s in Barnard now. Say, Wes, do you know how Mr. Temple first got hold of Uncle Jeb.”

“Sure, he was out in Montana.”

“Yes, but do you know how he got in with him? Mary was telling me about it.”

“They were surveying or something, weren’t they?”

“Sure, they were surveying for a branch of a railroad through a pass in the mountains. Mr. Temple himself went out there when they got to the pass because he wanted to see that place with his own eyes. _Boy_, but it must be lonely out there!” Artie burst out laughing at the solemn stare of interest and disappointment on Westy’s face. “Wait till you hear what I’m going to tell you,” Artie added.

“You only make it worse,” Westy said.

“I had to laugh at the way Mary Temple shuddered when she told me about it,” said Artie, still laughing.

“Yes, and you wanted to go out there just as much as I did,” Westy said. “Go on, what did Mary tell you?”

“I’ve got you interested, hey?”

“_Will you go on and tell me?_”

“Sure, but I can’t tell you the whole thing, because it’s a mystery.”

“Yes, go on.”

“All right,” said Artie, “one, two, three, _go_. Mr. Temple went out to Montana to see the pass; it was all like a deep ravine through the mountains. That’s the Continental Divide out there. From there if you don’t look out you go rolling down into the Pacific Ocean, _kersplash_.”

“Will you talk sense and go on?” Westy fairly pleaded.

Artie craned his neck under the swing seat and glanced inquiringly here and there. “Your father isn’t anywhere around, is he? Because there’s a peach of a place for breaking your neck out there. Well, Mr. Temple went out there----”

“You said that four times.”

Artie continued, “He went to a large city with a population of thirty-two people in it--and two dogs. I think there was a cat too----”

“Will you _please_----”

“The name of it is Eagle City; I guess it’s named after the Eagle Scout Award, hey? All right, I’ll go on. Mr. Temple went there, there’s a train stops there every Tuesday and a week from Friday----”

“You’re worse than Roy Blakeley,” said Westy.

“All right, he went to Eagle City,” said Artie, pursuing his narrative more seriously. “That was as near as he could get to the pass by railroad. That’s where he first met Uncle Jeb. Uncle Jeb was buying tobacco at the village store and Mr. Temple wanted somebody to guide him up to the pass; I guess it was about fifty miles. They told Mr. Temple that Uncle Jeb was an old trapper and a guide and a lot of things like that. That’s how Mr. Temple got in with Uncle Jeb. Uncle Jeb said his cabin was up toward the pass, somewhere up that way, so anyway it wouldn’t be out of his way if he guided Mr. Temple to where he wanted to go.”

“Did Mary tell you that?”

“Sure she did,” said Artie, “and there must be some reason why nobody at Temple Camp knows anything about it. Anyway, I never heard Mr. Temple or Uncle Jeb say anything, did you? So then Uncle Jeb guided Mr. Temple up into the mountains--oh, but it was wild and lonely! They stopped at Uncle Jeb’s cabin, just where you and I were going to go----”

“Yes, go on,” urged Westy.

“Then they went on up to the pass, but they couldn’t find the surveyors anywhere. Uncle Jeb found marks that showed they had been there and he showed them to Mr. Temple. He found little holes in the ground that showed where one of those surveyors’ instruments had stood, and they found footprints, and a place where a campfire had been, and a place where a tent rope had been around a tree--gee, I guess Uncle Jeb didn’t miss anything. They kept following the pass where it led through the mountains and they found more signs, remains of fires and all like that, but they never found the surveyors and those surveyors were never heard of again--not to this day. Tell your father that!”

Westy stared. “You mean they never got any news about them at all, _ever_?”

“And there’s something else too,” said Artie.