“I know why they’re staying away such a long time,” Harry cut in, with a grin. “They’re up on top of the mountain waving the stone flag on the cliff. That’s a cheerful job, too.”
“My dear sir!” almost gasped Gilroy. “My information is to the effect that the flag on the cliff is really carved out of stone!”
“It certainly is carved out of stone,” Ned answered. “In any other event it would have come to an ignoble end long ago.”
“Who carved it there?” asked Harry.
“I have no information on the subject,” Ned replied, “except what common sense gives me. The mine under the mountain was undoubtedly discovered and worked by the Hoola Indians who first inhabited this country. Later on, the Franciscans came here and established their mission. Still later, the Spaniards came and claimed to own the country.
“It is my opinion,” he went on, “that the flag was carved there to stand as a lasting monument to Spain two or three hundred years ago. Probably the Hoola Indians, whose titles to the lands were recognized by the Spanish and Mexican governments, chose that form of a monument to indicate the location of the mine.”
“And so,” Harry exclaimed, “that stone flag has waved above millions in gold for hundreds of years, and no one knew the significance of it—no one except the Hoola Indians.”
“That’s the way it seems to me!” Ned answered.
Just as the coffee and the stew were ready for consumption, Jimmie came dashing into the camp, closely followed by the others, with Mr. Bosworth, unfamiliar with mountain work, puffing along in the rear.
“Mother of Moses!” cried Jimmie. “I smelled that stew away up on the snow line!”