"One pony has gone, I see," Dave said.

"Yes; it is the gray. He had only seventy pounds, you know, so if one
was to go it were best it should be him."

"Well, let us mount and be off, lads; like enough those Indians will
have to ride forty or fifty miles to get round this canyon, and come
here, but, anyhow, we may as well push on. It is lucky the horses have
done well the last day or two, and that we have got our water-skins
full."




Chapter XVII.--Conclusion.


Another ten days of arduous toil, and, in turning a sharp corner in a
defile, they saw a number of men at work. As these heard the sound of
the horses' feet they threw down their picks and shovels, and seized
their guns.

"Don't say anything about the gold," Dave exclaimed to the others. "It
is lucky it is all covered up."

As soon as the miners saw that the new-comers were whites they lowered
their guns.

"Why, where on earth have you come from?" one of them asked, as they