Rounding the hill, they paused by mutual consent and stared at one another. Stretching to the right before them, the hillside flattened into a spacious plateau heavily forested, and above the trees in three tall gables rose the roof of the house. To Bob Lake it seemed to have the dimensions of a palace, and his heart fell.
To him a house in the mountains meant a three-room shack. How would he be able to face the mistress of this mansion and talk to her of the things that he began to feel vaguely forming in his mind?
“I remember hearing something about it,” Sumpter was saying. “But can you imagine the owner of a property like this becoming a common gunfighter and gamester?”
Bob Lake returned no answer. They struggled over the slippery snow up the hillside, and on the level of the plateau
