nearly been lost.

"I'm glad to get rid of that," he said to Jed Monty. "It looks as if it's
worth something," and he pointed to the many seals.

"That's so, it does," Jed replied. "Guess I'll stow it in a safe place
myself."

Jack gave a warning about the missing planks of the bridge, and the road
commissioner promised to have repairs made. The lad said nothing of his
suspicions that the planks had intentionally been loosened, for he felt it
would do no good.

"I'll just keep my eyes open myself," he reasoned, "and maybe I can find
out a few things. It might be that some one who wants to be a pony express
rider in my place might try to make trouble for me in that way. Maybe they
didn't actually want to harm me or my horse, but they might have wanted me
to lose some mail. But I didn't!"

For the next few days nothing of moment occurred. Jack rode the trail
without anything happening to him, and there were only light loads to
carry. His father improved slightly, but Dr. Brown predicted that it would
be at least two months before he could be out.

At Golden Crossing Jennie was busy with her post office duties, but she
found time to spend a few hours with Jack when he was at the settlement.

It was one morning when the young rider went to the Mansion Hotel, as the
one hostelry in Rainbow Ridge was called, that Samuel Argent, who had once
been a prominent miner, but who had lost several fortunes, came to the