.

THE CLAIM-JUMPERS.
"Guess that bobcat was after my ducks again, last night," commented Phoebe Hart, when she handed Baumberger his cup of coffee.

"The way the dogs barked all night--didn't they keep you awake ?" "Never slept better in my life," drawled Baumberger, his voice sliding upward from the first word to the last.

His blood-shot eyes, however, rather gave the lie to his statement.

"I'm going to make one more try, 'long about noon, for that big one--girls didn't get him, I guess, for all their threats, or I'd heard about it.