tful half
hour in the shadows of the trees. His audience listened breathlessly.

"Then this thing," said Mr. Nelson, taking the bit of paper which was
crossed and criss-crossed with a number of lines and dotted with numbers
until it seemed more like a jig-saw puzzle than a map, "is supposedly a
map which will point out the probable location of gold."

"Yes, sir," said Allen.

"Then," said Mr. Nelson, feeling the thrill of adventure in his own
blood, "we'll begin to look for this gold to-morrow. That is--" He
paused and looked quizzically about at the group of tense young faces.
"If everybody is willing."

"Oh-h," was all that they could say--just then.

CHAPTER XIX

THE NEW MINE

The next day much excitement filled the ranch house. Betty declared that
she had not slept a wink the night before, worrying for fear her father
had not meant what he said.

But Mr. Nelson had meant what he had said, and there was Mrs. Nelson as
eager as the girls to keep him to his word.

"The ranch is mine, you know," she laughingly reminded the girls. "And
if there are gold mines on it I certainly intend to find them."

It was settled, and Mr. Nelson and Allen set out for town to make
arrangements for the enterprise. The girls wanted to go too, but Mr.
Nelson pointed out that he and Allen could probably do the work more
quickly if they were alone, and it was upon this point and this point
only that the girls consented to let them go.

"But that needn't keep us from the saddle," Mollie decided, as they
watched the two men canter swiftly away. "I don't know about the rest
of you, but I'm just longing for action."

"Ditto," cried Betty, then added with bright eagerness: "Girls, I know
what we can do! Let's go down to the place where Allen found those two
men last night. That's where the mines are, you know, and we might stake
out claims or something."

"Your mother might have something to say to that," said Grace, making a
funny face. "It isn't quite the thing to stake out claims on somebody
else's property."

"Oh well, you needn't be so particular," cried Betty airily. "Come on,
girls, who's with me?"

It seemed they all were, and, fairly dancing with excitement, they made
their way to the corrals where Andy Rawlinson saddled their horses for
them.

The horses seemed to catch some of the girls' excitement, and it was all
that the latter could do to hold the animals in.

"It must be in the air," laughed Grace, as