"Don't forget that Silver Face and the young woman are in that tent,"
said Stella warningly. "Look out for treachery."
Without further delay the boys and Stella climbed down the mountain to
where their horses were, and, mounting, rode fearlessly into the valley.
As they approached the tents the flap of one of them was pushed back and
the young woman came out.
Her hand was raised for silence, and the tears were coursing down her
cheeks.
"Hush!" she said. "He is dead."
"Who is dead?" asked Ted, with the greatest respect.
"Silver Face," was the answer.
"Who was he?" asked Ted.
"I don't know. I found him lying in the mountains almost dead from an
accident a few months ago, and nursed him back to life, but he never
spoke again, and he has never been able to let me know who he was."
"Pardon me, but who are you?" asked Ted.
"I?" said the woman, drawing herself up proudly. "I am Whipple."
"What? Leader of the Whipple gang?" asked Ted, almost incredulously.
"The same," said she. "I have laughed many times at the fear I inspired
among you ranchmen in the valley, and the officers of the law, to say
nothing of the soldiers. But that was because they had never seen me,
and believed me to be a man."
They all looked their astonishment, for she was an exceedingly pretty
woman, and spoke in gentle tones.
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