s struck a lead or vein it's bound
to run across OUR CLAIMS, and what's to keep us from sinking for it as
long as Marshall hasn't worked the other claims for years nor pre-empted
them for this lead?"

"What'll keep him from preempting now?"

"Our possession."

"But if he can prove that the brothers left their claims to him to keep,
he'll just send the sheriff and his posse down upon us," persisted the
first speaker.

"It will take him three months to do that by law, and the sheriff and
his posse can't do it before as long as we're in peaceable possession of
it. And by the time that expert and Marshall return they'll find us in
peaceful possession, unless we're such blasted fools as to stay talking
about it here!"

"But what's to prevent Marshall from getting a gang of his own to drive
us off?"

"Now your talkin' and not yelpin'," said Steptoe, with slow insolence.
"D----d if I didn't begin to think you kalkilated I was goin' to employ
you as lawyers! Nothing is to prevent him from gettin' up HIS gang,
and we hope he'll do it, for you see it puts us both on the same level
before the law, for we're both BREAKIN' IT. And we kalkilate that we're
as good as any roughs they can pick up at Heavy Tree."

"I reckon!" "Ye can count us in!" said half a dozen voices eagerly.

"But what's the job goin' to pay us?" persisted a Sydney man. "An' arter
we've beat off this other gang, are we going to scrub along on grub
wages until we're yanked out by process-sarvers three months later? If
that's the ticket I'm not in it. I aren't no b--y quartz miner."

"We ain't going to do no more MINING there than the bank," said Steptoe
fiercely. "And the bank ain't going to wait no three months for the end
of the lawsuit. They'll float the stock of that mine for a couple of
millions, and get out of it with a million before a month. And they'll
have to buy us off to do that. What they'll pay will depend upon the
lead; but we don't move off those claims for less than five thousand
dollars, which will be two hundred and fifty dollars to each man. But,"
said Steptoe in a lower but perfectly distinct voice, "if there should
be a row,--and they BEGIN it,--and in the scuffle Tom Marshall, their
only witness, should happen to get in the way of a revolver or have his
head caved in, there might be some difficulty in their holdin' ANY OF
THE MINE against honest, hardworking miners in possession. You hear me?"

There was a breathless silence for th