some important letters to go to Rainbow Ridge, and be forwarded from there
on."

"All right, I'll wait," promised Jack.

"It will mean a night ride," suggested Jennie.

"I know it, but it can't be helped. It's part of the game. I'm not afraid."

But when Jack helped Jennie sort the mail a little later, and found among
the letters and parcels some large envelopes addressed to Mr. Argent and
sealed with red wax, a strange feeling came over him.

"Here are those answers," he thought. "These must be the important papers
about the secret mine. And I've got to carry them through on a night ride.
Well, I wish they hadn't come just at this time, but there's no help for
it. I've got to take them through."

He paused for a moment, with the important letters in his hand.

"What are those?" asked Jennie.

"Oh just some stuff for our town," Jack answered, indifferently.

In a flash he had made up his mind not to tell his cousin of the value and
importance of the mail that night. She would worry if she knew what he was
carrying along the trail after dark.

And Jack had another plan. He realized that the enemies, or business rivals
of Mr. Argent, (call them what you will) might know of the arrival of the