While they were still talking the three came in sight of the ridge.
"Look there!" gasped Harry suddenly.
"Dolph Gage and his tin-horn crowd!" flared Jim Ferrers, in anger.
"Hang the fellow! This time I'll——-"
"Stop fingering your rifle, Jim," ordered Reade. "Remember, nothing like fighting! If they haven't filed notice in due form on the claim, we're safe yet. If they have——-"
"Look!" hissed Ferrers.
At that moment Dolph Gage could be seen nailing a sheet of white paper to a board driven into the soil.
"We've staked what you want, I reckon!" bellowed Gage laconically.
"Staked it in due form, too, if you want to know."
"I guess we've lost that claim," said Tom slowly.
"Have we?" hissed Jim Ferrers.