"Hang the fellow! This time I'll-----"

"Stop fingering your rifle, Jim," ordered Reade. "Remember, nothing
like fighting! If they haven't filed notice in due form on the claim,
we're safe yet. If they have-----"

"Look!" hissed Ferrers.

At that moment Dolph Gage could be seen nailing a sheet of white
paper to a board driven into the soil.

"We've staked what you want, I reckon!" bellowed Gage laconically.
"Staked it in due form, too, if you want to know."

"I guess we've lost that claim," said Tom slowly.

"Have we?" hissed Jim Ferrers.




CHAPTER VII

READY TO HANDLE THE PICK


"Keep off this ground!" yelled Dolph Gage, snatching up his rifle.

"Stop that nonsense," Tom bellowed back in his own lusty voice.