eing highly educated, I knew a way to save time and expense.

We went to the State land-office and had a practical, what they call a
"working," sketch made of all the surveys of land from the old mission
to the Alamito River. On this map I drew a line due southward to the
river. The length of lines of each survey and section of land was
accurately given on the sketch. By these we found the point on the river
and had a "connection" made with it and an important, well-identified
corner of the Los Animos five-league survey--a grant made by King Philip
of Spain.

By doing this we did not need to have the line run out by a surveyor. It
was a great saving of expense and time.

So, Lee Rundle and I fitted out a two-horse wagon team with all the
accessories, and drove a hundred and forty-nine miles to Chico, the
nearest town to the point we wished to reach. There we picked up a
deputy county surveyor. He found the corner of the Los Animos survey for
us, ran out the five thousand seven hundred and twenty varas west that
our sketch called for, laid a stone on the spot, had coffee and bacon,
and caught the mail-stage back to Chico.

I was pretty sure we would get that three hundred thousand dollars.
Lee Rundle's was to be only one-third, because I was paying all the
expenses. With that two hundred thousand dollars I knew I could find
May Martha Mangum if she was on earth. And with it I could flutter the
butterflies in old man Mangum's dovecot, too. If I could find that
treasure!

But Lee and I established camp. Across the river were a dozen little
mountains densely covered by cedar-brakes, but not one shaped like
a pack-saddle. That did not deter us. Appearances are deceptive. A
pack-saddle, like beauty, may exist only in the eye of the beholder.

I and the grandson of the treasure examined those cedar-covered hills
with the care of a lady hunting for the wicked flea. We explored every
side, top, circumference, mean elevation, angle, slope, and concavity of
every one for two miles up and down the river. We spent four days doing
so. Then we hitched up the roan and the dun, and hauled the remains
of the coffee and bacon the one hundred and forty-nine miles back to
Concho City.

Lee Rundle chewed much tobacco on the return trip. I was busy driving,
because I was in a hurry.

As shortly as could be after our empty return Goodloe Banks and I
forgathered in the back room of Snyder's saloon to play dominoes and
fish for informa