"I'll wager that that German knew what he was doing," said Bob. "Mr.
Waterman thought that he was from the west by the way he knew the woods
and woodcraft and I bet he did not dig that big hole himself without
feeling that he had something worth while."

"You are probably right," said Mr. Waterman. "But here is another
thought. If we put in a claim for this gulch, we may have a hundred
mining sharks down here right away and that would spoil the whole thing,
especially if there is more of the stuff."

"Well, let's lay claim to the whole gulch," said Mr. Anderson. "I'll
give them the impression that we are buying this gulch because it is so
picturesque and centrally located."

"You may be able to get away with it if you go about it carefully," said
Mr. Waterman.

"Don't you think that those revenue officers noticed that mine?" asked
Mr. Anderson suddenly.

"They probably did but thought nothing of it as they were so intent on
catching Field and finding out what he had been doing," said Mr.
Waterman.

"We can't be sure of that," said Mr. Anderson. "I think it would be best
for Bill and me to get out as fast as we can without attracting
attention and put in a claim for this gulch at once."

"You'll have to put in a mining claim for this to be any good," said Mr.
Waterman.

"I'll fix that," was the reply. "I'll put in a full claim, which means
that if any minerals are found on the land, they belong to the owner of
the land if found by him and half the same if discovered by any other
person."

"Do you think that we can get to Lac Parent to-night?" asked Bill.

"If we start right away," said Mr. Anderson.

Everything was full of excitement until the two had departed on the back
trail. We shall not follow them but merely mention that in due course of
time, Mr. Anderson filed a claim for the gulch, the same to be paid for
at the regular settler's rates. It seemed that the big timber companies
had had men down into the gulch and because of the difficulties in
getting out the lumber they had not bought the timber on this particular
part of the country. This was very fortunate, for Mr. Anderson was thus
able to buy the land outright, to be paid for after it had been
regularly surveyed. The preliminary papers were signed and the two then
heaved a sigh of relief as they now knew that they were secure in their
discovery.

We shall thus leave them and return to the others. These latter spent
the rest of the afternoon e