The night passed without incident, though Frank and Andy found it rather hard to drop off to sleep as easily as did the others. The movements of the tethered horses, the occasional call of an owl, the howl of a wolf, or the barking of a distant colony of prairie dogs, were all new and strange to the Easterners. Yet ere long they found themselves in dreamland.
"Well, there's only one thing to do," announced Mr. Thornton, at breakfast the next morning.
"What's that?" asked Billy.
"I'm going to finish that dam, and make the lake," the ranch owner said decidedly. "I'll beat those fellows at their own game. They have stolen my legal authority to proceed, but I'll go ahead and complete the dam, and fight it out in the courts anyhow. If possession is nine points of the law, then I'm going after those nine points. I'll flood the district and when they want what they claim is their property—but which isn't—they can look for it at the bottom of the lake. I'll finish the dam at once."
"And cover Golden Peak?" asked Billy.
His uncle laughed.
"What harm will it do?" he asked. "All that's there are some worthless yellow rocks, and those fellows are crazy to think there'll ever be a treasure found there. Yes, I'm going to flood it."
Billy and his chums looked at one another. There was the same thought in all their minds. They must go to Golden Peak before it was covered with water.
"I'm going on in to Sageville," continued Mr. Thornton, when the saddling-up had been completed. "You boys had better go on to the ranch with the others. Tell your aunt," he said to Billy, "that I'll be home as soon as I can. And also tell her what I'm going to do. I'm going to hire the biggest gang of men I can find, and put them to work on the concrete dam. We can fill in the gap in a week, and back up the water. Then I'd like to know where Shackmiller and his gang will be?"
He galloped off, and in due time the three boys and their escort of cowboys were at the ranch again. Mrs. Thornton was not a little surprised at the news they brought, and she had also been alarmed at their absence all night, but she had become somewhat used to the manner in which things were done in the breezy West.