'Zekel--that is one of my mates--said, 'I know this cuss, Dave; it's the
chap that lived in that village close to where we were working six
months ago; they said he had been fossicking all over Arizona, and that
he was the only one who ever came back out of a party who went to locate
a wonderful rich spot it was said he knew of.

"'He tried over and over again to get up another party, but no one would
try after that first failure. We may just as well search him all over;
it may be he has got a plan of the place somewhere about him, and it is
like enough those fellows have killed him on the chance of finding it.'

"So we searched him pretty thorough, and at last we found a paper sewn
up in the collar of his jacket. Sure enough it was a plan. We did not
examine it then, for someone might have come along, and we might have
been accused of the chap's murder; so I shoved it into the inside pocket
of my shirt, and we went on. We looked at it that night; there was
several marks on it and names, one of which we had heard of, though we
had never been so far in the Indian country. Well, as you may guess, we
had some big talks over it, and at last we reckoned we would have a try
to find it.

"We had been lucky, and had struck it rich at the last place we had been
at, and we agreed, instead of spending our money in a spree or at the
monte tables, we would fit out an expedition and try it. Now I believe
that attack was made on me to try and get that piece of paper. The chap
who bolted may like enough have hid himself and watched us, and may have
seen us find it and me take charge of it. We thought more than once
since we came down here that we were being dogged by a greaser, but we
never thought about the paper. That evening I had been out by myself,
which I did not often do, for we in general went about together, and was