Petersen shook his head.

"I think not. If they have, only they know it. They take no one into
their confidence. They went home for the winter last fall, and what
amazes me further is that they are getting up here so late this spring.
Here it is June. They should have been on the job six weeks ago, and in
order to do so they ought to have wintered in the hills. To me that
means something. It will be a wonder if this unusual move on their part
doesn't attract attention. You may believe they are watched. There are,
no doubt, those who are watching the Diggers, and who do not miss any of
their movements." The skipper hesitated, then brought a big fist down on
his cabin table with a bang that set the glassware jingling. "By George,
I begin to see a light!" he roared.

"What do you mean?" cried Chunky.

"What is it, sir?" chorused Tad and Ned in one voice.

"That accounts for Red Whiskers. That accounts for his presence on--"
The skipper checked himself suddenly. "But no matter. It isn't for me to
say." He lapsed into thoughtful silence. "Well, what do you think of the
story?" he asked a few moments later.

"It is all very remarkable," answered Butler. "Where are they
going--their destination, I mean?"

"You never can tell. They have explored pretty much all of the country
within a few hundred miles of here, and it wouldn't surprise me at all
if they had stumbled over the right place dozens of times and didn't
know it. But there is one significant fact. They have brought up a lot
of equipment this time. It looks as if they thought they had the place
pretty well located. It certainly does look that way. There's another
thing I forgot to tell you. This place, this pass where the gold is
supposed to lie, is the abode of a great and angry spirit."

"A really, truly spirit?" questioned Walter wonderingly.

"I can't say about the really-truly business," replied Captain Petersen,
with a grin. "I am telling you the story as I have heard it. Had Old
Hoots' tribe known that the Doctor went in there and dug out gold which
he salted away they would have put him to death. It's a sacred place. It
was then, and I'll wager it is now. You may believe that the
superstition has been handed down."

"But the Indians up here now are not at all savage, are they?" asked
Butler.

"Perhaps not where the white man has taken possession in force. But you
get into the far interior--there is a great deal of Alaska that the
white man knows very