The very next day Mr. Banta appeared. The boys had found an extra "find" that morning. Julian was rocking the cradle back and forth, and Jack was leaning over his shoulder to see what gold there was in it, when they heard the sound of horses' hoofs on the rocks, and looked up to find the miner and his partner, Pete, standing in the entrance to the valley.
"Now we will soon have this thing cleared up," exclaimed Julian, joyfully. "Mr. Banta, you don't know how glad we are to see you again!"
Mr. Banta did not say anything in reply. He and his partner rode slowly toward them, looking all around, as if they expected to discover something.
"Is it the ghosts you are looking for?" asked Jack. "Come along, and we will show them to you."
"Boys," stammered Mr. Banta, as if there was something about the matter that looked strange enough to him, "you are still on top of the ground. Put it there."
The boys readily complied, and they thought, by the squeeze the miner gave their hands, that he was very much surprised to see them alive and well, and working their mine as if such things as ghosts had never been heard of.
"Did you see them?" he continued.
"You are right, we did," answered Julian. "Jack, pull off your shirt. He has some marks that he will carry to his grave."
Jack did not much like the idea of disrobing in the presence of company, but he divested himself of his shirt and turned his back to the miners. On his shoulder were four big welts, which promised to stay there as long as he lived.
"It was a lion!" exclaimed Mr. Banta.