And I hadn't the heart to praise him or laugh it off." Nevertheless they were both silent as the object of their criticism bounded down the trail towards them.

He had seen the funeral pyre.

It was awfully sad, it was awfully lovely, but there was something grand in it! Who could have thought Stacy could be so poetic?
But he wanted to tell them something else that was mighty pretty.
"What was it ?" said Demorest.
"Well," said Barker, "don't laugh! But you know that Jack Hamlin?
Well, boys, he's been hovering around us on his mustang, keeping us and that pack-mule in sight ever since we left.

Sometimes he's on a side trail off to the right, sometimes off to the left, but always at the same distance.

I didn't like to tell you, boys, for I thought you'd laugh at me; but I think, you know, he's taken a sort of shine to us since he dropped in last night.