to cock a gun, it would have been
good-by. Those fellows were not fools."

"And what made Elam deny his identity?" said Tom. "You said you were
Toby Johnson."

"And what became of his map?" I chimed in. "I saw him have it a short
time before they came up. What did you do with it, Elam?"

"It's there, close to where I was sitting on the rock. When we think we
have given them time to get away, I'll go back there and get it. I
didn't want them to find it on me."

"And do you say that you took it out of your bag and threw it on the
rocks?" said Tom in utter amazement. "I sat close to you all the while,
and I never saw you do anything like it."

"No; I took it out of my pocket," said Elam. "The name I gave, Toby
Johnson, saved them from handling me mighty rough."

"Well, now I am beaten!" I exclaimed.

"You see, if I had told them what my name was, they would have said at
the start that I had some sort of a map with me, and would have hazed
till I give it up. But they would never have got it," said Elam quietly,
and there was deep determination in his words. "But I know one thing,
and that aint two. Those fellows have left their picks and spades up
here. They got tired of them and didn't mean to take them back."

"Who were they, anyway?" asked Tom. "They were not the men who stole the
skins."

"Now, wait until I tell you; I don't know."

"One of them might have been the man who got shot," I suggested.

"There are a good many things connected with this nugget that we will
never find out," said Elam. "And that's one of them. We'll stay here
until we get dinner, and then I will go back after my map. It is all in
a lifetime. So long as I get my nugget I don't care."

"I never heard of men turning out so friendly after doing their best to
rob us," said Tom, pulling the saddle off his horse. "And you met them
half-way."

"Who? Me? I will always be friendly with a man who never tries to do me
dirt," said Elam. "If they had had the nugget you would have seen more."

I was very glad indeed that they did not have the nugget. So long as
they let us off without being hurt I was abundantly satisfied; but if
they had had gold stowed away in their blankets, we probably should
never have seen them. They would have slunk away among the rocks and
tried to hide their booty for fear that we should try to take it away
from them. Would Elam try to hide his nugget after he got it? Well, he
had not got it yet by a long ways. We at