n
give us your room, the better we'll be pleased; and be sure to make it
plenty of room, too; because we're all going to be ready to take
snapshots at any of you we see, after half an hour has gone by."

Kracker moved his lips, but strange to say not a sound proceeded from
them. The man was so completely overpowered by his emotions that for
the time being he had actually lost all power of speech. For this Thad
was pleased, because he believed that had the big prospector been able
to say one half that was bubbling through his mind, they must have
been treated to an awful exhibition of hard words.

So the three men turned their backs on their tormentors, and walked
away; but it was certainly true that their retreat did not smack in
the least of the jaunty and threatening manner of their late advance.
They had, as Giraffe crowed jubilantly, "the wind taken from their
sails, and just turned around, and went away."

"Wonder if we'll see anything more of 'em again?" remarked Bumpus, who
had really carried himself quite handsomely through it all; though
most of the time his eyes had seemed to be fairly bulging from his
head, and he could be heard saying words over and over to himself to
indicate surprise.

"I hope not," remarked Thad; "but it wouldn't surprise me if they
bobbed up again later on. You see, it's perhaps the biggest stake
Kracker ever played for; and for years now this hidden mine has kept
dancing before him, beckoning him on. He won't give it up easily, I'm
afraid. There, look at him turn, and shake his fat fist at us! That
shows how he feels about it. He'd just like to have us tied up right
now, so he could lay on the whip, good and hard. But boys, after this,
it's for us to keep a good lookout all the time. Such fellows as
Kracker and the others wouldn't hesitate at anything, if only they saw
a chance to win out."

And at his words Giraffe and his mates nodded their heads; but there was
no loud demonstration; for somehow they seemed to realize the gravity of
the game they were now playing, with the long lost mine as the stake.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SAFEST WAY OF "SHOOTING" A GRIZZLY.

Meanwhile, how fared the ambitious big-horn hunters?

They had started out, filled with a determination to accomplish
something, even if it took a couple of days. Indeed, the guide had
said to Thad before leaving that none of them need worry if the party
failed to show up at nightfall. The distances were so great