"What for?"
"I want to shoot them skunks on sight! They ain't fit to live."
"I don't think they will be back just yet. They went up into the mountain. But what is it all about?"
"I've struck a gold mine about five miles from here—a regular bonanza. Those fellows suspected it and followed me. Then they made me a prisoner and did all they could think of to get my secret away from me," answered Maybe Dixon.
CHAPTER XXVIII
STRIKING A BONANZA
After that the old miner told his story in detail, how he had wandered around the mountain for three days, trying several spots that held out a promise of gold. Some were fair, but the last spot he had visited had every indication of being a bonanza. He had marked it and then come away, thinking to take the news back to camp. On the way he had met an old prospector and had said he had found something quite good. He thought the old prospector, who could talk Spanish, must have told the two Mexicans. The Mexicans were nothing but brigands, and they had followed and waylaid him and dragged him to the shack. There they had tried by every means in their power to make Maybe Dixon reveal his secret, starving him and giving him no water, and hitting him with their pistols.
"The last thing they did was to promise to bring a rattlesnake to the shack. Then, if I didn't promise to lead them to the find, they would let the rattler bite me."
"What awful wretches!" gasped Si. "No wonder you feel like shooting them on sight."