guarded for
a minute until we find out what it contains."

"Oh, please, Judge, let us guard it!" cried Bet.

"No!" There was a harsh, decided ring in the Judge's voice and the
girls did not urge him further. That "no" meant exactly that.

"I think it might be a good idea for me to go back to the ranch and get
Tommy and some of the boys to move the professor's tent up here and
Tommy and Seedy Saunders might stay for a few nights to guard your
claims. You'll have all the excitement there is in it, even if there
is no treasure."

Bet flared up at once. "We're not so silly as to want excitement and
nothing else. We want the treasure now that we have started out to
find one. Nothing else will do."

The Judge laughed as he mounted his horse and rode down the trail.

But when he returned to the ranch and informed the boys what he wanted,
he was met with roars of laughter.

"You want us to guard a buried treasure! That's a good one!" said
Seedy Saunders, the old cowboy who was now staying with Judge
Breckenridge. "Let Tommy do it! He has a treasure map in his shack
that he paid five dollars for. He'd love to do it!"

However, when the cowboys heard how much it meant to the girls to have
the tunnel guarded against Kie Wicks, they entered into the spirit of
it, and even though they laughed and joked, they carried out the
Judge's instructions.

They moved all the professor's belongings over the mountain, and took
another tent and cots for themselves.

"There just naturally has to be two of us," insisted Seedy. "We'd be
scared stiff to sleep alone there, even with the professor."

"Which are you scared of?" laughed Tommy Sharpe. "Kie Wicks or the
ghost of the Indian Chief's daughter?"

"Both," returned Seedy pretending to shake with fright. "But I'm
mostly scared of that there ghost that walks."

The boys were hilarious as they unpacked their stuff at the Orphan
Annie claim.

"By rights we ought to camp in the canyon, we'll have to pack all the
water up the hill," suggested Tommy.

"You'll camp right at the mouth of that tunnel, boy!" insisted Enid,
and there was something of Tilly the Waif in her command. Tommy looked
up at her quickly, then burst into laughter.

"Yes'm," he said meekly with a twinkle in his eye. "I obey!"

They had the tents pitched and the girls were arranging the beds and
making them cozy when Judge Breckenridge returned, with a boy driving a
burro loaded with provisions.