e. Not long before this time they had come from Tombstone
to search for a mine of whose existence they declared they had received
information from certain somewhat vague reports.

"The trouble is, Mr. Stranger," one of them explained, "that we don't know
just where this mine is. There was a report in Tombstone that an old
prospector up here had struck it rich, but that he died or at least hadn't
been heard from since the report started. The Indians say that he was
looking for his mine in a part of the country where the Great Spirit has
forbidden the children o' men to come. They declare that this prospector
didn't die a natural death."

"What did he die of?" inquired Zeke.

"Why they say that no man ever goes into that region and comes out alive,
or if he does happen to succeed in that, he can't dodge the bad luck which
is sure to catch him."

"And do you want to find the place?" inquired Fred quizzically.

"We do and if there is any such place we're going to find it."

The four boys meanwhile had glanced apprehensively at one another when
they heard the reference to the discovery of a mine which soon had been
lost. The statement too that the original prospector was dead increased
the mystery as well as the interest of the Go Ahead Boys.

What would these strangers say if they knew that already in the possession
of the Go Ahead Boys was the statement of an old prospector who very
likely was the very one to whom the unwelcome guests had frequently
referred?

CHAPTER IV

TWO THIEVES IN THE NIGHT

The question was speedily answered when, to the dismay of his companions,
John said abruptly, "That must be something like the man whose body we
found to-day."

Instantly both strangers were staring at the boy who had spoken. Even in
the dim light their intense interest was plainly manifest. Zeke was doing
his utmost by absurd motions to impress upon the mind of John the fact
that he must say nothing more.

The two visitors at the camp, however, were too deeply interested to lose
the opportunity. Speaking slowly and as if he was not especially
interested, the man with the scar on his face said in a drawling manner,
"Where was that, sonny?"

"I don't know just where it was," replied John. "We found the body or
rather the bones of a man to-day."

"What did you do with them?"

"Buried them, of course." John was aware now that his friends were angry
at his uncalled-for statements. His obstinacy, however, ha