n
spite of the appeals of his chums.

Ned as usual was poring over his well-thumbed chart. Every day he marked
the new ground they had covered, and very seldom had he found cause to
doubt the correctness of the two guides. And whenever this had happened
it turned out that they were right, and the map wrong.

"Well," Frank finally broke out with, "so far we haven't run across
anything in the shape of a rival expedition, though Ned seemed to think
in the start that was what would happen to us."

"I haven't changed my mind yet," observed the party mentioned, looking
up from examining his chart. "We understood that the syndicate that is
trying to unload this wonderful new mining tract they claim will be
richer than Mesauba on Jack's father as a speculation, knew about our
being sent up here on some secret mission. They could easily guess that
we meant to find out if half of the big claim they made was true, and
that on our report Mr. Bosworth would base any action he might take. Now
it was to be such a tremendously big deal that under the conditions, if
so be there was something crooked about the claims they made, you can
understand that it would pay them handsomely to shunt us off the track,
or else salt the mine, and make us think it would be as rich a
proposition as their prospectus set out."

"But," interrupted Jack, "who could they get to do their crooked work
away up here in this forlorn country, where we haven't run across a
living being since we met that trapper going south with his winter's
catch of pelts?"

"Oh! money will do lots of things," answered Ned. "Given a soft berth,
with good pay, and plenty to eat, and scores of Indian half-breeds,
timber cruisers, guides out of employment along the salmon fishing
streams of the Dominion, and trappers loafing through an off season,
would jump at the bait. There'd be plenty to enlist under the lead of a
bold man hired by the syndicate; if, as we more than half believe,
their claim is a great swindle which they mean to hang about Jack's
father's neck."

"Francois says we will always have to be prepared, and as that is the
motto of Boy Scouts all over the known world, it isn't likely to seem
new to us," Frank Shaw remarked, a little boastfully it must be
confessed, for having passed through so many strange happenings in times
past had given him a touch of what Jimmy was inclined to call the
"swelled head," though any one would have been justified for feeling
proud