that!" exclaimed Teddy.

"You don't owe me anything," affirmed Fred, "and as for what you owe
Uncle Aaron, he's stopped worrying over that long ago."

"But won't he be surprised when we write and tell him all about this?"
demanded Teddy.

"If we could only pitch in and help Ross find the gold, we'd square
ourselves with Uncle Aaron for the rest of our lives," remarked Fred.

"Why, has he anything against you now?" asked Ross, in surprise.

Teddy's eyes twinkled as he looked at Fred.

"Oh, no," he explained, "not especially. Down in his heart I think he's
rather fond of us. But he's a bachelor, and he hasn't much use for boys.
I got in bad with him last year when I sent a baseball against the horse
of a coach he was riding in and made the team run away. He jumped just
as they got to a bridge and went head first into the river. Do you
remember how he looked, Fred, when he came up dripping?"

"Will I ever forget it?" chuckled Fred, as the picture of his uncle,
with his hair plastered over his face and the water streaming from his
bony frame, came up before him.

"He was furious," explained Teddy, "and he was worse yet when he found
that he'd spoiled his watch and lost some valuable papers. We got those
back for him, though, and that made things better, though I don't think
he approves of us yet. But if we could get this money for him, he'd sure
give us a clean bill of health."

"Uncle Aaron likes money, all right," added Fred, "though I will say
that when he does spend, he does it royally. He certainly fixed us up in
style when he bought the tickets for us to go out to Bill's ranch. He's
got a hair-trigger temper, but take him all in all, he's a good old
chap."

"I think he must be, from what mother has told me," said Ross. "He might
have seized what property we've got in payment of the debt, but when he
learned that father had died and that mother had just enough to get
along on, he did not trouble us. And that's one thing that makes me all
the more eager to pay what father owed him."

"I tell you what we fellows ought to do!" exclaimed Fred. "We ought to
spend the rest of our vacation here helping Ross look for the gold.
There'll be lots of fun and excitement in it anyway, even if we never
lay eyes on it."

"And think what it would mean if we did really find it," gloated Teddy.
"Think what Uncle Aaron would say, and how proud father and mother would
be if we had a hand in it."

"To say nothing of how Ross