slipping as silently as possible through the
shadows, though now and then a stone clinked beneath their feet, or a
stick or twig snapped as they passed, with a sound that seemed
startlingly loud. Nobody, however, seemed to hear them, and at last
they sank down amidst a brake of tall fern near a little,
neatly-squared stake which had been driven into the soil. The brake
was in black shadow, but a broad patch of moonlight fell on the green
carpet of wineberries a yard or two away. The rustling had ceased, and
they could hear nothing for several anxious minutes; then it commenced
again. A man floundering through that kind of bush makes considerable
noise, even when it is daylight and he can see where he is going. Then
one of the jumpers, who apparently had fallen into a clump of thorns,
broke out into half-smothered expletives, and there was a soft laugh,
evidently from a comrade.

"Looking for the stake," said Saunders with a rather grim chuckle.
"They mean to put the work through before they come round to call on
us. As far as I can figure, there can't be more than four of them."

That appeared to Devine quite enough, but he recognized the necessity
for a determined opposition. He knew that he had framed his record
before the Gold Commissioner, and that it would not be difficult for
the men who pulled up that stake to swing his claim a little off the
richest of the lead. This would give them an opportunity for staking
off a good deal of the strip he meant to hold, and once they took
possession it would be a case of proving them wrong; and when it came
to testimony, they were two to one. He felt sincerely sorry that
Saunders had not sent the boys word of his discovery a little earlier.

In the meanwhile the rustling had ceased once more, and Devine felt
the silence react upon his nerves. What the strangers were doing he
could not tell, but he fancied that they must be consulting together
somewhere among the trees. He felt that it would be a vast relief if
he could only see them; and he glanced around at Saunders. The latter
crouched among the dewy fern, impassively still, a blurred, shadowy
object, with the rifle across his knees.

Then the crackling of undergrowth commenced again, and Devine fancied
that he could distinguish the movements of four men. He heard the fern
rustle close behind him, and saw that his companion had raised himself
a trifle. The latter appeared to be gazing into the bush, and looking
around s