re or less protected from the elements. But they could
not lie down, and sleep was out of the question.

"Dave, do you think Merwell and Haskers went back to Butte?" asked the
senator's son, as the three boys sat close together under a big rock.

"I am sure I don't know, Roger. They'd have to go back unless they fell
in with somebody who knew something of this district."

"What do you think of that other party we saw at a distance?"

"They might be the Sol Blugg gang, or they might be almost anybody,
Roger. Anybody can come here and try to locate a paying claim."

"Somehow I feel it in my bones that that is the Blugg gang and that Link
and old Haskers are with 'em," said Phil. "To my mind, all those fellows
are tarred with the same brush, and they would like nothing better than
to relocate the lost Landslide Mine first."

"Perhaps you are right," returned Dave. "Well, I don't see how we are
going to stop them from going ahead--I mean Blugg and Haskers. Of
course we can have Merwell arrested on sight, and Mr. Dillon can have
that Staver locked up for trying to steal the horses."

A rush of wind made further conversation just then impossible. So far
there had been little thunder and lightning, but now came a flash and a
crack that caused the boys to leap to their feet, while the horses
plunged and acted as if they wanted to bolt.

"Some stroke, eh?" cried Abe Blower, when the alarm was over. "It must
have struck near here."

"It was a little too close for comfort," returned Dave, grimly. "I don't
think a spot like this is particularly safe in a storm."

"Oh, ye might git struck down in the valley jest as quick," answered the
old miner.

"The rivers will be pretty high after this flood," said Roger.

"Might be as how it will start another landslide, although I hope not,"
said Tom Dillon, musingly.

"It wouldn't be so bad if the landslide opened up the lost mine," said
Dave.

"Oh, thet would be all right, lad,--if we wasn't caught in the fallin'
rocks."

Slowly the night wore away, and when daylight came it was still raining.
But the wind had gone down and the sky looked as if the rainfall might
cease at any moment.

"Wall, we'll try fer breakfast," observed Abe Blower. "Nothin' like a
hot cup o' coffee an' some flapjacks to cheer a man up."

The driest of the wood was selected, and they built a new fire with
care, in the shelter of the largest of the overhanging rocks. Soon the
appetizing odor of fresh