Travelin' for your health?"
"No," answered Luke, with a smile. "I have no trouble with
my health."
"You do look pretty rugged, that's a fact. Goin' to settle
down in our State?"
"I think not."
"I reckon you're not travelin' on business? You're too young
for a drummer."
"The fact is, I am in search of a family that I have been told
lives, or used to live, in Franklin."
"What's the name?"
"The lady is a Mrs. Ransom. I wish to see her brother-in-law,
Mr. James Harding."
"Sho! You'll have to go farther to find them."
"Don't they live here now?" asked Luke, disappointed.
"No; they moved away six months ago."
"Do you know where they went?" asked Luke, eagerly.
"Not exactly. You see, there was a great stir about gold being
plenty in the Black Hills, and Mr. Harding, though he seemed to
be pretty well fixed, thought he wouldn't mind pickin' up a little.
He induced his sister to go with him--that is, her boy wanted to
go, and so she, not wantin' to be left alone, concluded to go, too."
"So they went to the Black Hills. Do you think it would be
hard to find them?"
"No; James Harding is a man that's likely to be known
wherever he is.
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