ed the day. So here we be,
tired in body, hungry, and nigh 'bout ready to drop. I say let's camp,
and wait till mornin'."

"That's Dickey Bird," whispered Thad in the ear of his companion.

Aleck had had a load taken from his breast. Although the three men
might be so close to the entrance of the mine that they could toss a
stone into it, still it seemed only mere accident that brought them
here, and not design, or a suspicion as to the truth.

Another voice chimed in now, that of Kracker himself.

"Oh! as for that, I'm about as leg weary as you can be; and ready to
rest up a bit. So Waffles, stir around, and gather some tinder to
start a blaze. This night air is some cool, too. And say, I'm that
hungry I could eat anything 'most. But with only one six-shot gun in
the crowd, it's going to be hard lines to provide grub, I reckon."

"Then why'd you turn back, when we was all started for a place where
we could git all the eats we wanted, with money to pay for 'em?"
grumbled Dickey Bird.

"Why? Any fool could see that," retorted the big prospector, sternly.
"Here I've been looking for this mine years and years, and it's got to
be the one dream of my life to find the same. That boy knows; he's
just been waitin' till he growed up big enough to start out. You saw
how he acted, and said he'd die before he'd give up what belonged to
his mother. That proves he's got the combination, either in his head,
or somewhar about his clothes, which we couldn't find."

"Well," said the grumbler, "what good is that same agoin' to do us,
now that he's in with that party of scouts, who say they'll stand up
for him right along? We ain't got no show, seems to me, Kracker."

"We ain't, hey?" replied the other, disdainfully. "Jest because you
can't see anything before your nose, you say they ain't nothing doing.
Let me tell you we never was nearer that same mine than we is now."

Thad felt his companion give a sudden start; he himself was wondering
what these strange words of the prospector might mean; though he could
not believe that the other could really suspect the presence of that
fissure back of the vines.

"As how? Mebbe you wouldn't mind tellin' me, to ease up the pain in my
legs; while Waffles, he's astartin' that ere fire?" Dickey Bird went
on, skeptically.

"Sure thing," answered the big man who controlled the party of mine
seekers. "If that boy does know the secret, he's going to open up
while he's got them scouts to back