two letters you heard about, Neilson--and which you wished you'd got
hold of. Who that letter was to was an official in Bradleyburg--an old
friend of Hiram's--and in it was a description of the claim. This letter
Morris got was a notice that his claim was all properly filed in
his--Hiram's--name. Whatever formalities was necessary was cut out
because the old man had been too sick to make the trip--the recorder got
special permission from Victoria. To be plain, I didn't file the claim
because it's already filed, and I didn't want to show myself up as a
claim-jumper quite as bad as that."

"It's all over town--about the claim?"

"Sure, but there won't be a rush. There's quite a movement over
Bradleyburg way for one thing; for another, this is a pocket country,
once and for always."

For some seconds thereafter his partners could make no intelligent
response. This bitter blow had been anticipated by neither. But Ray was
a strong man, and his self-control quickly returned to him.

"You see what that means, don't you?" he asked Neilson.

"It means we've lost!"

The eyes before him narrowed and gleamed. "So that's what it means to
you! Well, I don't look at it just that way. It means to me that we've
got to take these supplies and these pack horses and start out and find
Ben Darby--and never stop hunting till we've found him."

"Of course we've got to rescue Beatrice--"

"Rescuing Beatrice isn't all of it now, by a long shot. For the Lord's
sake, Neilson--use your head a minute. Didn't old Hiram leave a will,
giving this claim to his brother Ezra? If the claim wasn't recorded that
will wouldn't mean much--but it is. And hasn't this Ben got a letter
from Ezra leaving the claim to him? Now do you want to know who owns
that claim? Ben Darby owns it, and as long as he can kick, that quarter
of a million in gold can never be ours."

"You mean we've got to find him--and destroy that letter--"

"We've got to; that's all. He wrote us he had it, just to taunt us, and
we've got to burn that up whether we find the girl or not. But that
ain't all we've got to destroy--that piece of paper. You see that, don't
you?"

Neilson breathed heavily. "It's all plain enough."

"I want it to be plain, so next time I want to let daylight through a
man you won't stand in the way. It ain't just enough to burn up that
letter. We've got to get the man who owns it, too. If we don't he'd
still have a good enough case against us--with a good