"I'll show you this!" exclaimed the man fiercely, slapping the barrel of his rifle.
"You can't bluff us. We've got guns, too, if it comes to that!" cried Fred.
"I've give ye fair warning," repeated the man. "Ye'll find it mighty hard to buck agin the Gover'ment, and ye'll be sorry if ye try it. Ye'll see me again."
Turning, he stepped into the shadows and was gone. The boys looked at one another.
"What do you make of it?" Peter asked. "Is he a ranger—or a prospector?"
"They don't hire that kind of man for Government rangers," replied Horace. "And I'm certain there's no forest reserve here. Why, there's no timber worth preserving. He's a hunter or a prospector, and from his looks he's evidently been in the woods all winter, as he said. Perhaps he belongs to a party of prospectors who found a good thing last fall, and got snowed in before they could get out."
"Hunters wouldn't be so anxious to drive us away," said Fred. "They must be prospectors. Suppose they've found the diamond fields!"
They had all thought of that. There was a gloomy silence.
"One thing's certain," said Horace, "we must trail those fellows down, and see what sort of men they are and where they 're camped. We'll scout up the river to-morrow."
They all felt nervous and uneasy that evening. They stayed up late, and when they went to bed they loaded their guns and laid them close at hand.