"I—I will—will settle with you for this another time," came tartly from Job Haskers.
"Oh, come on, what's the use of talking to them?" growled Link Merwell. "Some day I'll show them what I can do!" And he moved on along the ledge.
"Some day I shall square up for this gross insult!" stormed Job Haskers, and then he followed Merwell, and Blugg and Jaley came behind them. Soon a turn in the ledge hid them from view of our friends.
"What nerve!" burst out Phil.
"That proves they are after the mine," came from Dave.
"Yes, and if they locate it they will try to prove that it wasn't my uncle's mine at all!" burst out Roger, bitterly. "I suppose they'll destroy all the landmarks—that is, if the landslide left any of them standing—and then what will I be able to do?"
"I think we had better go back and tell the others of this," said Dave. "After this, it may pay us to keep an eye on that other crowd."
"That's so," returned the senator's son.
With care the three chums retraced their steps, and half an hour later found them with Tom Dillon and Abe Blower. The two old miners listened with close attention to the tale of their encounter with the other party.
"You are right; we must watch 'em," said Tom Dillon. "They are a bad lot and will do what they can to make trouble for us, and keep us from locating the lost mine."