THE BORDER SEARCH 7

early the next morning in the pre dawn light del was snugging the cinchas on his horse when maxine stepped up behind him. "arnt you going to saddle my horse?" she asked. andy just shook his head. " why? ime going along too!"maxine stomped her foot to make her point. slowleyandy turned to face her. " as i understand it harry s place is right on the border if not in mexico. takeing you along makes you bait for the bandidos.. lets face it, you pretty little piece of fluff that can be singled out from a long ways off. this is going to be dangerous enough with out you wiggling your tail feathers and bringing the bad boys a runnin." del smiled" dont worry if i find harry or something in think needs your attention ill come get you when i think i can safley get you down there, ok?" maxine put her pout face on. " you better!" she turned and walked back toward andys wagon. del left when he could tell a bush from a man. he had his rifle and pistol belt he didnt know what he was walking into. a mile from ruby he came to a rough looking cabin, a miner was breaking up rock with a sledge hammer and picking the silver from the crumbling rock. when asked about harry collier he simply pointed south . del rode on. he passed a couple of claims and when asked about harry got the same response. soon the country opened up into rolling hills and deep draws. grass was plentiful. he didnt know if he was in mexico or not but del felt he ought to be. in the draw to the north that he followed was a trickle of water. then when rounding a bend he saw a pile of rock that had been piled next to a shaft that went into the bank of the draw. he could hear some one attacking the shaft with a pick. he rode his horse into the shade of a oak tree and sat there. presently a tall man came from the shaft pushing a wheel barrow. he was bent at the waist to keep from hitting his head on the rock over hand. when he cleared the tunnel and came into the light and straightened up to dump the wheel barrow he saw del. the man froze. he stared at del then back in the tunnel then back to del. "you wont need that gun if thats what your looking back there for.are you harry collier?" del asked. the man looked like he had been slaped. he let go the wheel barrow and let his hands hang loose at his side" yep thats me." " i work for maxine, she hired me to find you. she is waitting in ruby." del explained. " first, i cant leave here. if i do the mexiocans will kill me if i come back. half of what i did out of here goes to them. second, who is maxine?" harry asked. del stammered" she says she is your sister. that is what she has been telling us. she has letters you wrote to her sent from ruby." harry looked at his feet. " i didnt think she would follow me. this is a bad place with the revolutionarys hellin around. she is a half sister, no blood kin. but we are all each other have." harry looked all around while he was talking" did you see anyone when you rode down here?" del shook his head. "lets go to the cabin, i got what passes for coffee."