ou fell and bruised
your leg, to say nothing about trying to slide over the precipice and land
in the valley below."

"I guess what Thomas Jefferson said didn't make you lose your way,"
replied George.

"I know," acknowledged Fred thoughtfully. "But how do you account for it
that he should have said what he did and then before we get very far on
our way into the Gulch something happens to both of us and something may
have happened to John, to say nothing about Grant and Zeke."

"I guess you're tired and nervous, Pee Wee," said George, who was aware of
the feeling in the heart of his friend.

"Well, all I can say," declared Fred, "is that I hope there won't be
anything worse happen to us than has come already."

"Why should there be anything worse?"

"There shouldn't, that's just what I mean."

"Of course we've got a job ahead of us. It isn't any easy thing to locate
a valuable claim. If it was there wouldn't be anything in the copper, or
silver, or gold, or whatever the metal is that we want to get. That's why
men use gold for money. It's so scarce and so hard to find and then after
you have found it it's harder still to mine it. Hark," he added abruptly,
"it seems to me I heard somebody speak."

Both boys listened intently and a moment later Fred declared, "You're
right, Pop, there is somebody coming."

The sound of voices was faintly heard coming from the direction in which
Thomas Jefferson had gone in his search for Grant and Zeke.

The sound became steadily clearer and in a brief time the dim outlines of
the three approaching men were seen not far away.

"Hello, there!" called George.

"Hello, yourself!" came back the reply which both boys recognized at once
as the voice of their missing comrade, Grant. A few minutes later all
three arrived at the place where George and Fred were awaiting their
coming.

"You're a great fellow!" exclaimed Grant to George. "Why didn't you keep
up with us?"

"Why didn't you come back and look for me?" retorted George. "It's a great
idea that a man slips down the side of the canyon and almost falls over a
precipice and nobody cares enough about it even to stop and say good-by to
him."

"We did come back," explained Grant, "and then we decided that you must
have gone on again, so we turned back, then we stopped for we didn't know
what to do. That was just about the time when the Navajo caught up with us
and told us that you and Fred were back here together. He told us