"I'll take good care they don't get hold of me," Frank answered. "Say," he went on, "if Jimmie is there, he must be in some hole under that rock—the one they came out of! If they turn away, I may be able to get in there and see."
"Wait until there is little danger of detection," Ned advised. "We don't know how many men there are in the party, remember."
The boys walked softly back to the north, keeping ridges and outcropping rocks between the canyon and themselves, and then crept softly down the slope so as to come out at the north end of the little cut. The men they were watching were frying bacon and boiling coffee now, and appeared to be thoroughly occupied with their tasks.
In a few moments both boys were within hearing, distance. The men were not talking much, however. In fact, they both seemed to be harboring a grouch, from the infrequent low, grumbling complaints which the boys overheard.
"I'm through with the bunch after this!" one of the men said. "I'm not going to do all the work and let some one else draw all the money."
"It is time we got out of here anyway," the other said. "Those fresh boys were around here this afternoon."
"Why didn't you plug them if you knew they were here?" demanded the other.
Frank nudged Ned in the side with his fist.
"Cheerful sort of people!" he said. "I'm looking to see something start soon."
"I didn't know at the time that they were here!" the man replied, with a snarl. "I'm no Indian sleuth. After they left I started through the grove and found their tracks. Good thing for them that I saw their tracks instead of their heads!"