CHAPTER VII
BEATRICE RISES EARLY
DAWN in the woods is the signal for general renewal of activity. If Steele was about with the first pale glimmerings of the new day, so were robins, bluebirds, noisy jays, and the soft-footed, furred denizens of the forests. So were Turk Wilson and Bill Rice who, though with no thought to the adage which commands "when in Rome do as the Romans," responded to the stimulus of environment and emulated the great hidden army of the solitudes. By the time Steele had turned upstream toward his cave Turk Wilson was headed downstream to report to Ed Hurley at the Little Giant. Rice, in obedience to the second of the commands laid upon them, was to spend the day in a spiritless search for the gold he was confident would never be found here.
For half of the six miles lying between last night's camp and the mine Turk followed the river's side. Then, when the boiling stream began to describe its wide curve which turned it again westward and toward ranch headquarters, Turk set his back to it, climbed the ridge ahead, and trudged on straight to the east. He came to the first of the cabins, the one used by Ed Hurley as his office and sleeping quarters, before the mine superintendent was awake. Turk pounded heavily upon the door.
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