CHAPTER VI 

NEWS OF IMPORTANCE 

"Link Merwell!" 

"Nat, you must be fooling!" put in Ben. 

"Why, we couldn't find a single trace of him after that awful landslide!" went on Dave. "We made a thorough search, too." 

"I don't know anything about that," returned the money-lender's son. "But I know Link Merwell is alive. I got a letter from him yesterday." 

"Are you sure that it was not an old letter delayed in delivery?" queried Ben. 

"No, it was not an old letter. It was dated only a few days ago. It was sent to me from Boston." 

"Boston!" cried Laura. "Then he must not only be alive, but he must have followed us East." 

"Did he say anything about Job Haskers?" queried our hero. 

"He said he didn't know what had become of Haskers. He said they had separated a short while before the big landslide struck them. He was pretty well bruised up, and had to rest in a little mining camp up in the mountains for two weeks." 

"This is certainly the strangest news yet," was Dave's comment. "I thought sure that he and Haskers had been swallowed up in that landslide, along with that miner who was with them. Nat, what caused him to write to you? I thought you told me that you had destroyed his last letter without answering it." 

"So I did destroy it, Dave, without answering it," returned the money-lender's son. "I was as surprised to hear from him as you would have been. I thought he would know enough to let me alone." 
who is still alive ?
"Link Merwell!" 