CHAPTER XXIX.
A TRAMP WITH THE ROBBERS.
"Oh, it is gold!" exclaimed Jake, as Bob took the bag and bent over it; "it is not iron pyrites."
"Stow that about your clothes, Jake, and then we'll go on," said Bob; "and we want you boys to gather up provisions enough to last you for three or four days. But, in the first place, where are your revolvers?"
"Don't you see them hung up there, in plain sight?" asked Jack, pointing to the articles in question, which were suspended from the rack of the lean-to, in plain sight. "What are you going to do with us?"
"We are going to take you a three days' journey with us, and then turn you loose."
"Why can't you let us go now?" queried Julian. "We have nothing else that is worth stealing."
"No, but you are too close to Dutch Flat," Jake replied. "We haven't got anything against you, and when we get out there in the mountains—"
"You might as well shoot us on the spot as to lose us among these hills. I pledge you my word that we will not stir a step—"
"That is all very well," interrupted Bob with a shake of his head which told the boys that he had already decided on his plan; "but, you see, it don't go far enough. If you don't go to the miners, the miners will come here to you, so we think you would be safer with us. Gather up your grub and let us get away from here."