"According to miners' law of this or any other district," was declaring Sol, "when a party can't work a claim by reason of lack of water or proper , they've a right to let it lie a certain length of time; can go out, and come back to it again, in the meanwhile."
 
"Yes, mebbe so," returned the giant. "But they got to give their intentions to the recorder, an' there ain't any such intentions on file."
 
"There are, too—or there ought to be," contradicted Terry, freshly excited. "I told the recorder myself—didn't I, George? I told him what was the matter, and that we were going away, and I told him to record the claims, and he said he would till we got back."
 
"Oh, you did, did you!" rasped the giant. "That'll do for talk, but whar's the proof?"
 
"When did you see the recorder, Terry?" asked his father.
 
"The very night before we left. He said the books were locked up, but he'd remember."
 
"Sure he was the recorder?"
 
"Of course he was. He'd just been elected. He's the 'Root or Die' professor. I know him and so does ."
 
"That's the man!" exclaimed Harry. "I'll go and get him." And away sped Harry.
 
"Furthermore and besides and notwithstanding, we've regularly bought this hyar property, and thar's the witness to the transaction," continued the giant, pointing to George. "We paid the price and it's been accepted, and when money has changed hands, that settles things."
 
Attracted by the dispute, other gulch people had begun to gather.
 
"That's right," pronounced two or three.
 
Terry felt his heart sink. Had he made a botch of the matter, with his hurry? George also was frightened, for he had paled.
 
"What property do you think you've bought, then?" demanded Sol.
 
"Everything: cabin and and all. And you can't touch 'em."
 
"Where's the bill of sale?"
 
"We don't need any bill o' sale to put us in possession. We've paid the money, an' hyar we air," replied Pine Knot Ike. "An' we're bad when we're riled. Nothin' riles us like bein' robbed, an' thar's nobody as bad as a man o' peace when once he's riled, stranger."
 
"But you couldn't buy that True Blue ," rapped Sol.
 
"Why not? We took what was offered. The two claims go together. Nothin' was said different."
 
"Why not? Because the Golden Prize and the True Blue aren't owned by the same party; that's why. The True Blue's the property of this girl here—has been transferred to her in due legal form, and her father holds it in trust for her, and these boys couldn't have sold it if they'd wanted to!"
 
"It is mine," piped Virgie. "It's been given to me and it's written down and those mean men sha'n't touch it. They're getting it all wet!"
 
"Whar are your papers an' whar are your witnesses?" challenged the giant.
 
"There's one witness," and Mr. Stanton at George. "You heard the words when the claim was given to Virgie, didn't you?" he asked.
 
"Yes, I did," affirmed George.
 
"And that other boy was one of the owners who agreed, and here comes the second former owner who signed the transfer for both."
 
"Down at Denver, before a public," panted Harry, arriving with the "Root Hog or Die" professor. "And it's been recorded."
 
"That is true," nodded the "Root Hog or Die" professor. "And I do acknowledge that I was asked to record this other claim also, and that I was told of the intentions and reasons when it was temporarily left unoccupied. I am responsible for there being no official , but I forgot. However, the verbal agreement is sufficient. I remember ."
 
"That to be seen," the giant—who seemed to be the spokesman for the Pine Knot Ike party. "As for that other prospect, we don't fight . It's a dry claim, anyhow; hasn't any water of its own an' never will have. As for this claim we're standin' on, we'll keep it. It's been duly bought, paid for, an' it's workable, an' that's enough. Ain't I right, boys?" he appealed to the crowd. "When money's passed an' accepted, that the sale."
 
The crowd shifted and murmured. Plainly, they were not very approving of the Pine Knot Ike party methods, but they had a strong sense of legal rights.
 
"'Pears like it was a deal in good faith," remarked somebody.
 
"You claim that cabin and everything in it, do you?" inquired Sol.
 
"Yes, sir! Everything on this hyar ground—fixtures an' improvements, an' don't you touch a finger to 'em," boomed the giant. "You an' your have got that dry prospect. Go over an' mine. Mebbe you can mine an' mebbe you can't, for you'll be drier'n ever as soon as we move that sluice to whar it belongs."
 
"Haw, haw!" Ike and the other man. "You can wait for a dew."
 
"No! You can wait for that sluice!" retorted Sol. He spurred his horse and in a jiffy was beside it. "You dare to lay hand on this or in any way and I'll show you what a Californy Forty-niner knows about protecting property."
 
"Ain't that our sluice?"
 
"Not an inch, now. You claim the cabin and all improvements on that other prospect—we claim the sluice and all improvements on this prospect. I reckon what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. This sluice is all on the True Blue ground."
 
"Hooray!" cheered the willing crowd.
 
"You'll have a sluice without water. Mebbe that's how they mine in Californy!" Pine Knot Ike. "That thar water's ourn as soon as it comes down the leetle draw ag'in. So we'll jest natterly turn it off on you."
 
"Not by a !" objected Sol. "That girl's filed on her water rights in this little draw, when her claim was recorded." He ran rapid eye along the Golden Prize surface. "And I reckon there doesn't any water go with that other prospect, anyhow! I've an idee the hundred feet ends short of the water."
 
"So have I," asserted Harry. "Give me room, gentlemen. Just to prove that my notion's correct I'll measure. That claim was only stepped off, in the beginning."
 
Harry fished a surveyor's tape from his pocket (evidently he had come prepared) and from the first claim stake, near the cabin, measured the length of the Golden Prize ground. The one hundred feet ended three yards away from the little stream course!
 
"The two properties join, so that puts the natural water on the True Blue ground," proclaimed Sol.
 
"Mebbe, when thar is water; but thar won't be any after we've started to use again on our other workin's up at the head," retorted the giant.
 
"You tried that once, but you can't do it a second time. We've filed our rights on the water coming down this draw, and here it is, and by miners' law we're entitled to our share."
 
"So are we, then, by thunder!" shouted the giant. "As long as there's water flowin' past, we're goin' to have some of it. That's miners' law, too. We can ditch some of it over——"
 
"No, you can't!" A new voice struck in, and a new figure appeared. Archie Smith! He held his side and panted for breath.
 
"What you got to do with it? Why can't we?"
 
"Because you couldn't have bought this claim even if you paid over the money. Do you want to sell? Do you want them for neighbors?" demanded Archie of Harry.
 
"We should say not!"
 
"Well, then," resumed Archie, panting, and addressing the Pine Knot Ike party, "you didn't buy the Golden Prize, because you couldn't. The boys didn't own it. They wouldn't take it from me; they said they'd work it while I was gone, and now I'm back and I won't sell—to you. And I order you to get off."
 
Terry looked blankly at Harry, Harry smiled at Terry.
 
"That's so." And it was so, now that they thought.
 
"B' gorry, the same thing happened to me," announced the voice of Pat Casey, "an' Oi lost me diggin's. Sure, it doesn't seem fair play—though Oi'm a friend to the boys."
 
"It is fair play, in this case," asserted Sol. "You see, gentlemen," he said to the crowd, "these two boys, Harry and Terry, came in here and proceeded to work this ground. They had the water and they to put in a sluice, and were beginning to wash out pay dirt, when those mean whelps, suspecting these were richer than they looked to be, turned off the water............