morning, which meant that
he must keep the jumpers talking for several hours. It appeared very
doubtful whether their patience or his conversational powers would
hold out, but he meant to do what he could.

"I'm not quite as sure that you're going to move that post as you seem
to be; and, anyway, I don't quite see why you want to do it," he said.
"You can't take possession of a duly recorded claim."

The jumper laughed.

"Your record won't hold. You should have made it clearer; given
two-point bearings, or blazed your line on trees."

"Why?" asked Devine. "This post fixes the key boundary."

"Trouble is that we're going to move that post," said the other man.

He did not appear impatient, and Devine deduced two things from the
fact that he was willing to discuss the matter. One was that the
jumper, who evidently had not met the Indian, was unaware that the men
from the settlement were then in all probability pushing on as fast as
possible through the brulee, and the other that the man had no desire
to proceed to extremities. This was reassuring as far as it went, but
it must be admitted that the surveyor was afterward a little
astonished at his collectedness and perspicacity.

"Why don't you want to move all the posts?" he asked.

"We couldn't square that with your record," was the candid answer.
"Moving one will swing you across instead of along the lead, and will
let in our new location. I'm telling you this, because you'll probably
be reasonable now that you understand the thing. Light out and don't
make trouble, and you'll still hold quite a strip on the lead."

"Give us a minute or two to think it over," said Devine.

"In the meanwhile you'll stop just where you are," Saunders broke in.

The man waved his hand as though he conceded that point, and Devine
turned to his companion.

"I've only one excuse to make. When I staked off the claims, I was in
a feverish hurry to prove the lead and get down and record," he said.
"Now, that's not an educated man, but he's got the hang of this thing
as clearly as a surveyor could have done. It's evident that the man
who hired him has drilled it into him, and, what is more, has warned
him that he's to make no unnecessary trouble. We're to be bounced out
of rather more than half our claim, but it's to be done as quietly as
possible. He explained the matter in the expectation that we'd pull
out and leave the field to them."

"You've hit it," said Saunders. "Don't an